An assessment of the impact of marital cultural practices on the christian marriages at Mityana Seventh-day Adventist Church, Central Uganda Conference

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of cultural practices of marriage traditions and the impact that these traditions may have on Christian marriage among the members of Mityana Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church in Uganda. This study was embarked upon because marriage is one of the foundations of the church and society. Therefore, if marriage is not built on strong foundations, the individual, church, and society may suffer. Mityana SDA Church is primarily made up of three tribal groups—the Baganda, Banyarwanda, and the Bakonzo. While there are other small tribes in the church, these three major tribes have distinct cultural marriage traditions and are the focus of this study. The researcher used a set of questionnaires to collect quantitative data related to the marital status and perspectives toward marriage among Mityana members. It was found that of the 500 Mityana Church members, 39.4% (197) were married. Of that group, 42.1% (83) of respondents were in marriages that they described as having been approved by the Church, and 57.8% (114) were in marriages that they described as not approved by the Church. Respondents in all age groups expressed that they had challenges with marriage and how to live within Christian standards. Additionally, respondents indicated that following the biblical teachings on marriage was a challenge due to their tribal cultural marriage traditions; that they desired to more closely follow the biblical standards for marriage as practiced by the SDA Church; and that they wanted to learn ways to improve their marriage. In order to promote a positive impact and assessment, a seminar program was conducted in the Mityana Church based on Christian marriage principles. It was designed to raise awareness among the members. Visitation of married members was done by the pastor and elders, who received special training for visitation to discuss marriage. At the end of the training and visitation program, seventeen couples (14.9%) registered to be married with church approval. The study concluded that the biblical standard for marriage was desired among the church members in Mityana. It also showed that adequate education could help church members to make better decisions for marriage and provide ways for marriages to be closer to the biblical standard. The study offered recommendations for future study at the end of the paper.