EFFECTIVE PARENTING OF CHILDREN ON CHURCH GROWTH (A CASE STUDY OF CHRIST APOSTOLIC CHURCH)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Concepts of effective parenting styles and church growth from Christ apostolic church perspective make up the integral part of this study. Baumrind’s (2013) model of parental authority with its multidimensional character, its typological clarity, and its empirical efficacy was used to investigate relationships between parenting styles in individuals’ families of origin and church growth. The concept of Church growth is that science which investigates the nature, function and health of the Christian church as it relates specifically to the effective implementation of God’s commission to ‘make disciples of all nations’. Church growth is simultaneously a theological conviction, and an applied science which strives to combine the eternal principles of God’s Word with the best insights of contemporary social and behavioural sciences, employing, as its initial frame of reference, the foundational work done by Dr Donald McGavran. Faith has been a vital part of daily living which has been best “transmitted and supported by lifestyle, in that life and behavior afford the child the concrete experiences necessary to frame an understanding of faith” (Dirks, 2011). Parents, or the primary caregivers in the home, have usually been responsible for establishing a lifestyle that guides a child’s spiritual development (Gangel and Gangel, 2009; Guernsey, 2008; Smalley, 2010; Strauss, 2010). Regardless of this phenomenon, a small amount of research has been designed to measure the effect a parent has on a child’s religious development (Meadow and Kahoe, 2010; Spilka, Hood, and Gorsuch, 1985). Freud (2011, 2011) hypothesized individuals’ God concepts are primarily projections of attitudes and feelings towards their own father. Rizzuto (2010) suggested that individuals’ concepts of God are largely projections of feelings and attitudes towards either one or both parents. Several studies concerning the kind and loving nature of God have been conducted from a psychoanalytic viewpoint (Spilka et al., 2010; Tamayo and Desjardins, 2009). The results of the studies have apparently supported a strong correlation between individuals’ perceptions of the loving and caring nature of God and individuals’ perceptions of the loving and caring nature of their parents. Yet, research has resulted in conflicted and mixed findings. Some study results have indicated no relationship between individuals’ God concepts and parent concepts (Vergote and Tamayo, 2011). Some studies have seemed to indicate a limited but statistically significant relationship between individuals’ God concepts and father concepts