Factors Influencing Church Growth Among African Diaspora Congregations in Liverpool

Ayokunle, Paul Araoluwa (2022) Factors Influencing Church Growth Among African Diaspora Congregations in Liverpool. Doctoral thesis, Liverpool Hope University.

Text Ayokunle's Finalised Dissertation.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 1 July 2026. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial. Download (2MB)

Abstract

This thesis explores church growth phenomenon among African diaspora congregations (ADCs) in Liverpool, United Kingdom (UK). Thus, it lies in the field of African Diaspora studies. Whilst significant volumes of work in this knowledge area have focused on various aspects of African diaspora Christianity, the church growth dimension,
in connection with Liverpool ADCs, remains unexamined deliberately. Yet these churches are springing up and multiplying within an interesting context and conditions that dictate their varying growth experiences. Indeed, ADCs must confront adaptive challenges that impact their sustenance and expansion as they do church in an unfamiliar land like the UK.
The aim of this study is to explore the elements influencing the church growth phenomenon amidst ADCs in Liverpool and to develop appropriate responses to the identified issues. The research seeks to answer the central question of what primary factors impact church growth among ADCs in Liverpool. It takes a qualitative research approach,
borrowing from ethnography. Hence, the inquiry, which investigates three ADCs, is an ethnographically-informed fieldwork and not a full-fledged ethnography. It employs semistructured interviews as the chief data collection tool and a grounded theory strategy for data analysis.
The key findings of this study include the overwhelming imprints of ecclesiology, contextual realities of the UK, and leadership on the church growth experience of the
research population. In response to these factors, the contextualised African way of being church, omolúàbí-shaped ecclesiology (OSE), emerges, nesting the Adaptive Leadership strategy (AL). While AL promotes a more effective leadership approach for Liverpool ADCs in tackling adaptive challenges, OSE, an extensive concept, touches on all three principal church growth elements identified. The African-shaped ecclesiology reflects the contribution that every culture can bring to global theological conversations and the attempts to know more about God. Indeed, it provides a contextualised, relatable, and attractive way of being the church, building bridges between ADCs and their Western hosts. OSE ultimately aids church growth by promoting multi-ethnic congregations, making the task of missio Dei more easily realised.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Additional Information and Comments:	Copyright © The Author 2023. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request.
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Creative Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities
Depositing User:	Matthew Adams
Date Deposited:	27 Jun 2023 15:48
Last Modified:	16 Dec 2024 15:18
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/3972

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