Seventh-day Adventist mission strategies assessment among Rabai communities in coastal Kenya

Abstract

This project studied “Seventh-day Adventist Mission Strategies Assessment among Rabai Communities in Coastal Kenya.” Reflecting on the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is best to describe the mission as the backbone of Christianity. However, the church faces many cross-cultural challenges in achieving this goal. Certain socio-economic and political environments pose significant challenges to the church’s attempt to realize the mandate. The social and cultural challenges have surfaced with the mission endeavors in the African context. The Rabai people are among the indigenous people of the Mijikenda Coastal region of Kenya Coast Field. Despite the church’s commitment to effect its mission mandate, its previous efforts to engage the Rabai community have yielded limited success. Due to cultural, social, or spiritual challenges, the Seventh-day Adventists’ earlier attempts to reach out to the community have borne limited results. This study, therefore, evaluates and proposes of a mission strategy tailored to the Rabai community in Coastal Kenya, aimed at improving both outreach and retention within this population. The research interviews and focus group discussions in this study, revealed that the major activities for the Rabai community include selling coconut brew and small-scale farming. While undertaking such activities, the community faced environmental challenges and unemployment with negative impacts on their economic activities. During the research, it was observed that the Rabai community expects the church to support them mainly on preaching the gospel of repentance, church support on livelihood projects, addressing negative beliefs and partnership with community. The research established that media strategy is effective in soul winning due to it having wide coverage and more listeners, providing live coverage on TikTok and YouTube, Gospel music and programs that appeal to many, and providing opportunity for teaching people about God. The study therefore recommends that, that media strategy be approved by the church not only in Kenya Coast Field, but also researchers to come up with other strategies to ensure more effective ways to maximize mission in the coastal region of The Kenya.