Assessment of the Social and Cultural Barriers to Planting Seventh-day Adventist Churches among the Luo Community in Siaya County: A Case Study of Ukwala Sub-location

Abstract

The Luo community residing in Siaya County, Ugenya Sub-County of Ukwala Sub-Location has remained inaccessible to the Adventist message despite the concerted efforts to reach them. The assumption that their unique social, cultural practices hinder the witnessing ministry has not been demonstrated. This study explored social, cultural factors hindering the work of reaching the Luos in Ukwala Sub-Location. After carrying out a community survey and analyzing the data, four social, cultural barriers emerged as follows: 1) the struggle for the preservation of their identity; 2) the institution of polygamy; 3) ancestral veneration, and 4) the region in Ukwala Sub- Location has been isolated to Adventists for some time. This study proposed four solutions of equal measure to mitigate the said obstacles. The first is the analysis of the strategies used formerly by Adventists in planting churches in Kisumu County. Second, are the cultural barriers that hinder Adventists in the planting of churches. Third, are the strategies used by the non-Adventists in planting churches in Ukwala Sub-Location within Ugenya Sub-County of Siaya County, and finally, the fourth one is the future approach purposely to level the ground for the missionaries to reach out and plant churches in Ukwala Sub- Location, also other people groups with similar features. I conducted a two-week evangelistic campaign at Ohagre in Ukwala Sub-Location where 24 persons were baptized, and a new Seventh-day Adventist congregation started at Ohagre village. The study includes the suggestion to enhance cross-cultural communication; promotion of formal education; application of beneficial Luo cultural customs; the total transformation of the Luo worldview and finally, developing accessibility avenues in future church planting in the Ukwala Sub-Location.