Strategies to develop competencies of church clerks for effective service delivery in Sori Station Lake Victoria Field of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, West Kenya

Abstract

Church clerks play a very vital role in the Seventh-day Adventist Church organization. In their service delivery, they face various challenges such as catching up with technological improvement among others. Due to lack of knowledge, skills, abilities, training and the challenge of replacing the church clerks every year, it is hectic for the Field to have correct statistics, accurate and timely reports at our church level. Having scrutinized the challenges facing the service delivery of the church clerks of Sori Station in Lake Victoria Field, this study targeted strategies which can be used to develop competencies of church clerks for effective service delivery in Sori Station, Lake Victoria Field. In this study, descriptive study design and cross-sectional survey design were used with a targeted population of 63 church clerks, 63 elders, 63 treasurers, 5 pastors and 720 church board members of 63 churches of Sori Station of Seventh-day Adventist Church. Random Sampling was used to obtain a sample of 39(62%) church clerks, 39 elders, 39 treasurers, and 133 church board members. The data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed using Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study found that training, orientation, commitment, benchmarking, reelection, teamwork, seminars, workshops, job description, support from departmental heads, respect, good interpersonal relationship, provision of materials and electing experienced people who have the history of the church are strategies for equipping and empowering church clerks to perform their duties with effectiveness, efficiency and competency in their service delivery. This study has provided important principles to solve the current crisis the clerks in Sori Station are facing in relation to church statistical reports, good record-keeping at the local church.