Religion and Theology

The Youth Ministry and Ethnic Clashes in Kenya
The youth in the church have turned out to be acknowledged in the last 50 years. It is rather a new occurrence for the church to target particular youth groups as we are seeing it done today in the modern youth ministries in churches.  A youth group is considered a necessity for most churches nowadays. It is presently expected that when families are searching for a new church, a good youth group is often a key consideration in their decision making.

 According to an article by Jedley Manimtim, it seems that the church is yet to wholly grasp the proper role of the youth ministry. This is because the youth inside the church should always portray a different picture in the society in regard to issues that affect the community and the nation as well. The church ought to assist the youth be able to understand that they are the church at the moment and not sheer spectators who are waiting to succeed the older people who are usually the leaders of the contemporary church. Many of the young people we have in church come from broken and distorted families thus they are surrounded by many challenges which sometimes make them not grow strong in their faith to God. This is the reason why the church ought to be making every effort to build self-confidence and self believe in the lives of the young people in church.

The Holy Scriptures consider the church as the Body of Christ which means it is a single unit with numerous parts.(1st Corinthians 12) This portion of the Bible shows us that even if the statement youth ministry is not openly mentioned every part of the church is obviously of  equal importance.
There seems to be a dilemma in that theirs is an agreement that the modern youth ministry has its own uniqueness and has already become its own church without much guidance. While diverse youth ministers as well as leaders would dispute that this is not the case, a great deal of interest is placed on developing the community and also growth of the church that the youth ministrys place within the bigger body can be forgotten2.

The aim of the youth ministry in the church is to train young people for a life of service and a cordial relationship with God and also help them to become future, responsible leaders in the society and the nation as well. If the church does not offer enough support and understanding on how be able to behave at different situations in the society  the young people in church will find it difficult in transition of their lives from the way they used to live before they came to church. The youth ministry in the church should always be emphasized as an equally important part of the church so that the youth would have an understanding of their roles in the church at large.

Some youth have strong convictions and they know what they believe. They are not worried about acceptance and are quite well set to stand alone. These may possibly find it easy to develop into leaders and influence a group of other young people in a positive direction. Others will probably be followers and will always find it hard to stand against a evil group or to boldly defy what they are doing1. Youth ministries can have positive benefit in the lives of other young people from non-Christian backgrounds. These ministries can represent a genuine opportunity for evangelism and outreach, and the unbelieving youth can be brought in and there is adequate wise mature leadership to reach them.

The youth representatives of Sudan Churches in their report points out that the youth are always seen and referred as future leaders. Thus the youth have a essential role to play in conflict resolution. Building peace between each other and participating in sustainable development. Many institutions as well as the church have treated the young people as passive objects rather than involving them in shaping the society today. There has not been much difference between the youth in the church and those outside the church mostly when it comes to ending what they deem to be unfair social orders in their communities. They always get themselves involved in fights and mayhem as they try to restructure the social fundamentals.

They add that this creates the idea that there is a need to refocus the energy that the youth possess the creativeness and innovations to realistic frameworks which would be geared towards conflict prevention, development, sports etc. This is through ensuring that the youth in church are architect as well as participating in promoting a culture of peace and acceptance among each other. The church has the capability to form a powerful and vibrant youth peace movements.

Without the youth in church organizing themselves to take up the challenge of  peace building among the areas which are affected by conflicts then they have no reason to call themselves Christians because they dont create such a reflection to their colleagues.

A Newsletter by the Anglican Church admits that many Kenyan youths regard themselves as Christian but they have constantly felt neglected by the church thus church attendance by the youth has dropped considerably. In my opinion the church is the primary vehicle that addresses their concerns and brings substantive change to their respective communities. The church has the capability to offer authentic hope and help through the power of Jesus Christ.

Challenges Facing the Youth Today
Each generation of youth has faced numerous weaknesses. But this particular time in history seems to offer the young problems which were not always that critical on some other ages. Their weaknesses and problems seem to be more dominant. Today we can see young frustrated confused, rebellious, involved in riots, steeped in crime and the era is characterized by suicide. It is certainly not being experienced by all the youth, but it is true of a distressingly large number of them.
In the report by the Young representatives of Sudan Churches the youth regardless of whether they are in church or not have numerous challenges that they face on daily basis. Some of them are

Hostility cultures during electioneering. This element has brought up a culture of hatred, jealousy and hostility among different ethnic communities. Besides it is the youth who are usually recruited and mobilized to fight as militias for each ethnic group. There is a need for the youth mostly those in church to take and dedicate all their energies in eradicating this evil culture in our country.

Poverty and Illiteracy Many young people are poor and illiterate and also possess inadequate skills. This is because many of them never have a chance to get a good education which would help them earn a good living.

Early Marriages Due to the fact that many young people are poor and inactive thus leading many of them to feel that marriage is their way out. Some of these marriages are prearranged by the parents who think of catching in on the dowry paid for their young daughters. Some of these are also products of cultural traditions held in some communities.

Lack of job opportunities Many young people have come to find it hard to get jobs since they lack adequate skills. This has lead to many being caught up in criminal activities. It also increases their idleness as the available manual jobs which would keep them busy are given to foreigners and the government as well as the church never comments on such issues.

Tribalism Many young people even in the church have learned from their parents on how to become tribal and create stereotypes to other tribes. This has been a challenge because the information gets to the belief system and thus ends up getting involved in tribal crashes.

There is also lack of enough facilities to train the young people and develop the talents they have thus lack of such entertaining centers hampers the capability for these young people to recognize their potential. This make majority of the youth to be hijacked by politicians who want to attain their goals through blood conflicts and these unemployed and hopeless young people become the main targets. This also makes youth victims and perpetrators of violence when they should be mobilized for Economic, community and church development.

Ethnic Clashes in Kenya
Nothing raises a great deal of horror and nervousness in Kenya as the idea of new ethnic conflicts, like those that rocked the country in the build-up to the 1992 multi-party general elections, 1997 and presently 2007. The wave of inter-ethnic conflicts in the Rift Valley, western, Nairobi, Nyanza, and some parts of the Coastal provinces went down in Kenyas history as the worst since independence.

Antony M. Wanjohi,   the director of  Research and projects  with Kenya projects Organization (KENPRO) say that whenever Ethnic clashes, have taken place in Kenya, they have commonly been instigated by  fear of loss of political power and the cost that might go along with such a possible occurrence for example loss of privilege and the benefits that goes with it.  In this regard it has been noted in different places that the only distinct pattern that comes out from the tribal clashes is that they appear to be linked to political tension in the body politic. For example the Rift Valley clashes took place while the political mood in the country was extremely charged due to external and internal pressure for political pluralism.

Chandra Lekha and Karin Wermester report that since 1991, around 2000 Kenyans have been killed and hundreds other driven from their homes in a string of tribal violent situations. The key perpetrators of these ethnic fights seem at all times linked to the political leaders of the country. The aims are understood as to drive out the minority ethnic tribes from particular regions in favor of the larger ethnic groups. It is time and again suggested that land scarcity and its allotment as well as other factors such as soaring population growth and ecological degradation have contributed to the tribal clashes experienced in Kenya.

This violent behavior is usually an ethnically defined expression of political differences. Ethnicity is the means of political violence and not the cause. Once the political classes achieve their goals and the government system is in place the situation perpetuates the possibility of future conflicts by sharpening the ethnic identity. It also promotes the principle that particular regions of the country belong to the groups who initially occupied them.

The government usually does very little to stop the clashes as they as they also have political interest that are brought by the outcome of such violence. These conflicts mostly in the Rift valley usually affect the production of food such as cereals, which the country relies on to feed the citizen during at all times.

Effects of the Clashes
In a research paper prepared for the USAID Conference on Conflict resolution in the Greater Horn of Africa June, 1997, Barasa Kundu Nyukuri notes that there are great costs of ethnic conflicts and fights as mentioned below.

Loss of human life The violence in 2007 resulted in the death of an estimated number of 1,300 persons. Most of the killing occurred in Rift Valley province, the worst being the burning of people seeking refuge in a church in Eldoret town.

Property destruction The bloodshed was accompanied by burning, looting, and destruction of both private and public property. Most of this occurred in parts of Rift Valley province.

Paralyzing the economy The political catastrophe that has prevailed in the country did not only cause loss of human lives, properties and livelihoods, it also had considerable impacts on the business of various public and private institutions. The degree of the impacts may have varied from institution to institution and from place to place. However, the violence reversed lots of gains that the country had made ever since independence. Different sectors were negatively affected. The water sector for example, was affected in four main areas operations, equipment and physical facilities, employees and their dependants and also the challenge in providing water to the displaced people. This impact was similarly felt in agricultural sector.

Rape This was in use as a tool of intimidation, with reports of the threat of rape being used to scare women from their homes. Other cases of rape appear to have been opportunistic, in that it was perpetrated by gangs of youth mostly in slum areas or targeted at women who were fleeing the violence7.

The Way Forward
If the young group of people were helped to take part in the nation building rather than being used to destroy it by politicians through violence, the countrys development would be higher than it is at the moment. This can only be improved through in the following ways

Establishing vocational and education centers which would assist to promote and also build capacities of these young people on issues like conflict transformation, human rights and even democracy. The church can also use these education centers to harness the talents of the youth. This would make them devote their energies and time on practicing the discovered abilities and talents for peace and sustainable development.  It may also produce technical skills which would assist them to earn a living. Promotion of gospel music training ministries would be a great encouragement for the young people to have faith in themselves. It may also help them to interpret their cultures in a spiritual oriented way of life.

Sports activities would also promote free interactions among the young people and thus discourage the youth from getting caught up in criminal activities and drug abuse that lead to violence.
The youth also need further support from the church since some church leaders do not give assistance to their youth ministries. Dialogue among church leaders and the youth and between youth themselves would promote healing and reconciliation process and maintain the values of peace, respect, acceptance and trust.

The creation of job opportunities for the youth should also be a priority for the church and the government5.

The Role of the Church
The church has a big role to play in building peace in the society. The youth are at its disposal and they can be used to help understand the Comprehensive Peace Agreements that have been made among various communities and groups so that they can also actively contribute significantly to the  implementations of such resolutions made to encourage harmony among rival ethnic tribes.. In the post election conflicts reconstruction in 2007, the church should have focused in fostering healing and reconciliation process that the youth frantically needed3.

The youths are the ones used in every occurrence of violence that happens in the country because they are energetic and strong enough to cause mayhem. Nevertheless, the church can give them hope including those who are victims of this evil in our society which is conflicts based upon ones tribe. According to Jean Paul, a survivor in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, he had hatred for everyone but he found solace and hope while he engaged in church activities and was able to relate what his family had gone through due to tribal hatred with what Jesus had gone through since birth to his death.

It is really unfortunate that after the general elections, many of the clash areas had been well-known with the kind of Christianity that tends to support the status quo and their establishment. During the clashes, it is true that several Christians did not stand above ethnic conglomerations as others were constantly mentioned by informants as inciters of the hostility.

Despite the popular perception of having 80 of the populace in the country being Christians, many of the people believe that the Christian faith has had little impact on the way Kenyans live with each other. It has always been felt that many of the Christians preach water and drink wine during the times if tribal clashes. That they have been hypocrites and that many never practice what they preach to the congregations.

Conclusion
The youth in the church should be able to help their colleagues to make commitments to work toward reconciliation, harmony and also development. This dedication should be used to transform the country for the better. I believe that the youth can and will play a big role in stopping future senseless killing of innocent people, rape of women and small girls, and other outrageous human rights abuse which occur during the time of such violence.

These undertakings cannot be accomplished by the youth alone devoid of support from other stakeholders, especially the church. The church ought to give the youth a hand and spiritual support so that the objective of achieving peace and tranquility in areas where such violence occurs can be realized. In this way the youth, in the church would feel motivated and confident to appreciate their full potential.

We ought to emphasize that it is not all young people who have turned into violent and tribalistic behaviors. It is also not all that are drunkards, drug takers the immoral and so on. Experience with young people in the past years convinces me that many youths are excellent, stalwart, strong, sober and serious Christians. It is true that some of these are misled by others into ways that are not forthe child of God. But there are those who shall stand for the Christian faith and walk confidently knowing that blessed are the peace makers, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

It also important to note there are others who have serious problems and guidance is truly needed mostly if they agree to give it a fair chance. The church needs to reflect more closely on the weaknesses of the young people and work with them to overcome them rather than merely hope that the whole thing will work out right. Some churches have even washed their hands on the issues that the Christian youths are facing as if nothing can be done. In support of the few good young Christians, we always need to put effort in correcting trends of godlessness that have shadowed our youth in the country.

We should carefully examine the sources and causes of these evils instead of simply weeping over the symptoms. While the troubles are from time to time complex and not easily resolved, the main causes of the problems are not in actual fact that far beneath the surface.