Master in Pastoral Ministry

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Browsing Master in Pastoral Ministry by Subject "Economic Status"

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    Impact of Economic Status on Small Christian Communities in Nairobi
    (Tangaza University College/Duquesne University, 2012) Dimba, Alex Okidi
    Small Christian Communities are little Church cells where the mystery is lived directly and with great simplicity and concern in the neighborhood. In the Lineamenta (Guidelines) of 2009 of the Second African Synod, SCCs are referred to as “Living Ecclesial Communities where the Church is modeled as a family”. I would like to re-echo these words that “SCC enables Christians to experience the Church directly” 1 as lived today. Our parishes today are functionally supported by these SCCs since they organize the parish activities. From my experience, SCCs have given our local Churches the core foundational value therefore they add greatly to the regular functioning of a parish. Without these SCCs, our parishes risk being rendered dysfunctional and ineffective. According to Dr. Lukwata, a priest from Masaka diocese-Uganda, says that “the brief history of the Church in East Africa reveals that SCCs were the basis of evangelization of the people around Lake Victoria from the onset that is between 1882 to 1885. SCCs have been very important in the life of the Church since time in memorial since they are modeled on the foundation laid by the early Christian Communities. Dr. Lukwata continues to say that it was hoped that in the context of political and ecclesiastical changes in the region, the SCCs would be instrumental in creating a self-supporting, self-reliant and self-propagating Church and that is why in the 1970s, the existence of SCCs resumed” 3 This study will dig deeper into the impact economic status has on SCCs and whether this impact influences the formation and composition of SCCs. St. Michael’s Archangel Parish is geographically situated in Langata, Ngei 1 estate, off Langata highway along Chweya Road. It has two serving priests that is Fr. Francis Kariuki who is the Parish priest and Fr. Mukui Joseph his assistant though they are helped by many other visiting priests. There is also a parish coordinator, Sr. Eunice Mueni who is also the one in charge of Sacristy. The parish is comprised of Christians from different social status mainly the rich from the estate and the poor from the slums. This has also influenced the formation of the Small Christian Communities whereby the composition of the membership goes along with identification of one’s socio-economic class.