Ministering to street children within the Kumasi Metropolitan Area: a comparative assessment of the role of the Kumasi Baptist Association and the Catholic Archdiocese of Kumasi
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Date
2011
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Abstract
Children on the streets have become a great concern to churches, organizations and governments in general. A number of children on the streets are homeless, threatened and rejected which has serious social and economic consequences on the country. The plight of these children sends a strong signal for reintegration into normal life in society. This is a major challenge to grapple with; not only by Baptists and Catholics but also the entire nation is involved. This essay focuses on a comparative assessment of the role of the Kumasi Baptist Association and the Catholic Archdiocese of Kumasi in ministering to street children within the Kumasi Metropolitan Area. It is the basis by which we examine the issue at stake and the way forward to rehabilitate street children, a number of whom have a psychological posturing at the face and are helpless victims of our time.
As long as we are responsible in propagating the gospel of Christ, the only way the Goodnews becomes beneficial is when it is applied to the social and economic lives of people. This, we think, presents a complete gospel to humankind, since God is concerned not only in meeting spiritual needs but emotional and material needs as well. The neglect of children appears as a crime against humanity which must seriously be addressed. It is time civil society becomes child friendly, considering the kind of trauma a number of them go through. If we ignore these children, they eventually lose their worth and become hostile to society. We need to take a second look at the plight of street children and how best they can be rehabilitated to contribute meaningfully to national growth and development. Humanity should identify with the poor street child who due to lack of opportunity on his or her part ends up in the streets. Categories of such children are mentioned in the write-up outlining what forces them to the streets. Recommendations and suggestions are made so as to help alleviate the plight of these children.
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A Thesis submitted to the Department of Religious Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Philosophy