Abstract

TENAI, Noah K.. An enquiry on poverty discourses in public theology for the calling of the church to respond to poverty: A case for the Africa Inland Church in Kenya. In Skriflig (Online) [online]. 2016, vol.50, n.1, pp.1-8. ISSN 2305-0853.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ids.v50i1.2059.

As an emergent and rapidly growing international field of study, public theology has its focus on how Christian faith and practice impact on ordinary life. Its principle concern is the well-being of society. In Africa, and in Kenya in particular, where poverty levels are still high, there is a need to enquire into the value and efficacy of the poverty discourses in public theology, for the calling of the church to respond to poverty. One of the main and fast growing churches in Kenya, the Africa Inland Church (AIC), has vast resources used for, amongst other things, various on-going work amidst the poor and the vulnerable in remote and poor areas. Due to the unrelenting nature of poverty in Kenya, the AIC needs a theological perspective, which is sufficiently sensitive to poverty and can enable it to respond to poverty more effectively. Public theology's emphasis on gaining an entrée into the public square and adopting the agenda of communities, including public theology's calling on churches to actively participate in rational and plausible public discourses, can assist the AIC to respond effectively to the challenge of poverty in Kenya.

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