Transforming Youth Ministry Higher Education in Kenya: A Practical Theological Approach

Abstract

Youth ministry in Kenya is evolving. In the Presbyterian churches in Kenya for instance, new positions for full time youth workers show the increasing emphasis on youth work. However, youth workers in many of the Kenyan churches have not been trained in youth work. If trained, the curriculum of the institutions of training reveals a lacuna in a practical theological approach to youth work. This article argues that effective youth work lies at the nexus of theory, reflection and praxis, hence higher educational institutions and seminaries, in particular, must reconsider youth ministry education curriculum to meet the current state and need of youth in Africa. Using a desk study, this paper reviewed relevant literature regarding youth ministry in Higher education. Although Africa is seen as a young continent, yet many educational institutions lack curriculum that is contextualized for youth ministry. The practical theological approach of Richard Osmer is utilized in this paper by looking at what is happening, that is, the lacuna in youth work curriculum; the literature reveals that even though some form of training is happening, there is a need to further standardize the curriculum to include key courses that are crucial in youth ministry; the interpretive paradigm of “why” considers western approaches in classical theology that entrench youth marginalization in Africa; the study find out that most of the literature in youth ministry are written from a western perspective with only few African authors, the normative question, that is, “what ought to happen” considers a biblical-theology of youth work from various literature and some South African institutions and the pragmatic question, that is, “the how”, proposes Pan Africa Christian University as a model Kenyan institution that is transforming youth ministry education in Kenya through the various programs they offer in youth ministry.