Adventist Church on the Crossroad of Youth Managerial Leadership: A Study of Nyanchwa Station, South Kenya Conference

The involvement of young people in the leadership of the church is critical. However, various obstacles impede the involvement of young people in the managerial leadership of the church, where critical decisions about the church are made. Many Christian churches are experiencing a youth leadership vacuum in their structural organisation, which, if not addressed, will jeopardise their future. To properly tackle this problem, there is a need to research on the obstacles impeding the inclusion of young people in the managerial positions of the church in Nyanchwa Station, South Kenya Conference. The study was enucleated by the Leader-Member Exchange Theory that focuses on the rapport between a leader and each follower considered independently. The target population of the study was 300 participants, with a sample size of 169. Censuses, purposive and simple random, were employed as sampling techniques for specific clusters of respondents. The study found that the Adventist church in Nyanchwa Station is not cognizant of the fact that effective leadership should be grounded upon identifying challenges and coming up with strategies that solve these problems. It is recommended that adult church leaders and the church in general should overcome the power barriers between youth and adults and actively engage the youth in leadership roles of the church, and create opportunities for authentic decision-making within the top leadership of the church