A Holistic Strategy to Mentor Persons with an Addiction to Alcohol in the Kanyadhiang Seventh-day Adventist Church, Kenya

Abstract

This study focused on developing a strategy to mentor persons with an addiction to alcohol and integrate them into church life and ministry. Following an initial non-empirical observation, the researcher observed that newly baptized persons with an addiction to alcohol at the Kanyadhiang Seventh-day Adventist Church quickly relapse after a short stay in the church. The study examined biblical principles of mentoring and reviews related literature to develop a strategy for the recovery of persons with an addiction to alcohol in the church. In addition, the study investigates the reasons why they relapse to drinking after baptism. To solve the problem, the researcher used a mixed research method, which is a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. This involved digging into concepts, characteristics, symbols, and descriptions. This approach gave the researcher sufficient opportunity to delve into possible solutions to the research questions: What biblical-theological strategies are appropriate for an effective and viable mentorship program in the church community? What reasons make newly baptized members to relapse into alcoholism? And how do old members relate to newly baptized members? The mixed-method helped the researcher to gain a more complete picture of the research than the stand-alone quantitative and qualitative methods would do. The data gathered revealed reasons why persons with an addiction to alcohol are not retained in the Kanyadhiang Seventh-day Adventist Church. The reasons included a poor relationship with church members and a lack of a concrete program to disciple new converts. The study, therefore, attempts to develop a program geared towards teaching and mentoring baptized persons with addiction to alcohol to spiritually support them.