Women empowerment and societal transformation: The voice of Women in Pastoral Ministry and Church Leadership of the Methodist Church in Kenya

Abstract

This study examines the voice of the women leaders in the Methodist Church in Kenya. It was noted that the MCK believes in the Priesthood of all believers and democracy where all her members are free to exercise their leadership gifts in their various capacities. Nevertheless, it was eminent that though women have accessed some lower leadership, they have not managed to get to some of the top positions in the church hierarchy. Thus, this thesis investigated the informing factors that contribute to the positioning of women leaders as well as the factors hindering their work for the MCK. A theoretical framework consisting of Gender and Empowerment, Patriarchy and Power theories informed this study. Being a narrative study, qualitative study method was employed with combined multiple sources of data. A semi-structured open-ended interview guide was used to conduct twenty face to face individual interviews and two focus group interviews. Church documents and writings were also reviewed to enlighten the study. The study reveals that although women are spiritually gifted and have reached some of the ranks of leadership in the MCK, still hurdles that center on religious and socio-cultural perceptions have continued to thrive against them, maybe explaining why they have not been able to rise to higher positions in the church leadership. The study has also given recommendations and suggestions for further research