Motivating Strategies for Professionals Participation in Church Development, a case of Atap in Dar es salaam

Abstract

The focus of this study was to develop motivating strategies for professionals to participate in church development. The study was concerned with the association of professionals/businessmen within the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church in Southern Tanzania Union (STU), more especially in Dar es Salaam city namely the Association of Tanzania Seventh-day Adventist Professionals (ATAP). The general objective was to analyze workable motivating strategies to motivate professionals in SDA Churches in Dar es Salaam to participate in church development. Specific objectives include: to establish the profile of ATAP members in Dar es Salaam, to determine the percentage of church members who are professionals in Dar es Salaam; to explore the key factors which make professionals not to participate in ATAP; objective was to suggest possible solutions for actively engaging professionals in church development activities. The study used questionnaires, interviews, observations and focus group discussions as methods of data collection, which were used to gather data from the field. Seventy-one respondents formed the sample size through which four objectives were achieved. Tables and figures were used for data presentation and discussions thereof. Findings were presented, discussed and conclusions from the research indicated that the church is aware of the presence of the professionals in the church. This means that any talent in the church cannot hide from the congregation. The study also found that, professionals are not used effectively for church development due to poor motivation, less church participation in other activities, selfishness among professionals, and some different social classes within ATAP members themselves. Areas for further study are recommended for implementation and evaluation of motivating strategies for professionals. The researcher gives room to any person who want to study on the implementation/evaluation of motivating strategies discussed in this study. Factors based on this recommendation are: first, to avoid plagiarism if another researcher repeat the same topic; second, study on implementation/evaluation of motivating strategies that have been outlined, discussed and recommended in this study, have never been done before. Therefore, a researcher recommends further study can be done on their implementation/evaluation.