The influence of children’s ministry practices on the spiritual development of children 6-12 years: a case of children’s ministries In Mbale

Abstract

This study set out to examine the influence of children’s ministry practices on the spiritual development of children aged 6-12 years in the selected four children’s ministries in Mbale city. The main goal of the research study was to investigate the influence of the children's ministry practices on the spiritual development of children 6-12 years in children’s ministries of Mbale district. In order to collect and analyze data, the study used a mixed method approach that combined qualitative and quantitative techniques. From the population of 66 people, a total of 57 respondents were chosen by simple random sampling to participate in the study, which employed a cross sectional design. To ensure the reliability and validity of the data collection instruments, the researcher carried out a pretest where questionnaires were given to 10 respondents before being issued to the final respondents. And in addition, several questions were adapted from the Adesola (2021), which were reviewed and revised, and others were added by the researcher to address the specific objectives of the study. SPSS was used to analyze the quantitative cross sectional survey data using descriptive statistics, while thematic analysis was used to evaluate the qualitative data. The investigation looked into how present activities in children ministry relate to factors of spiritual growth. The findings revealed that current children’s ministry practices had a weak prediction on the various aspects of the children’s spiritual development. The study concluded that existing children’s ministry practices have limited influence on children’s spiritual development because Sunday school was the main practice yet there are several of them. The study therefore recommended that children’s ministries were to explore other children’s ministry practices and implement more comprehensive practices to ensure the children’s spiritual development.