Browsing by Author "Kitayimbwa, Lydia Nabunya Nsaale"

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    Communicating the Gospel in a digital age : a case study of the Dioceses of Kampala and Namirembe in the Anglican Church of Uganda
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-12) Kitayimbwa, Lydia Nabunya Nsaale; Cloete, Anita Louisa; Peel, Clayton; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Practical Theology and Missiology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In response to the influx of digital media use in daily life and church work, with a specific interest in the Anglican Church of Uganda (COU), this study explores and examines the communication of the gospel in the digital age: a case study of Namirembe and Kampala Dioceses in the Anglican Church of Uganda. The Church across the globe is integrating digital media into ministry and especially in the communication of the gospel. Through different digital media gadgets, platforms and applications via the internet, spiritual information is shared and accessed. In the COU’s Vision 2025 document, the COU encourages its priests and leaders to integrate digital media into church work to communicate the gospel and Christian values. However, the church leaders’ attitudes towards digital media use are not known. There is a gap in knowledge, and great need for theological guidance, approaches, training, and strategy for digital media use to communicate the gospel. To address the situation at hand, there was a need to do research to understand the digital communication situation and to engage in theological reflection on the digital media communication of the gospel. The research study set out to explore the COU’s understanding, attitude and approaches towards the use of digital media to communicate the gospel. To carry out the study, I made use of both literature and empirical elements to respond to the research question. As a study in practical theology, I employed Osmer’s Practical Theology framework. This qualitative case study design research set out to obtain in-depth and detailed information from the selected samples to understand the situation. To collect the data, I employed focus group discussions and Individual interviews with the selected participants. The Data analysis followed inductive coding via Atlas-ti computer software. In the findings, it was discovered that although the majority of the church leaders showed a positive attitude towards digital media use, they integrated it amidst technological, economic, social, and theological challenges. Participants expressed a need for an urgent technological and theological training to guide the users. I argue that the gospel message and theologies ought to be communicated via online faith communities using a blend of media converged into digital media while also applying theological approaches based on a theologically informed strategy. To communicate the gospel in the digital age, the study provides a theological reflection on possible approaches to digital communication of the gospel. It also proposes a theologically informed digital communication strategy, which may be employed in training church leaders and may also be applied in digital communication of the gospel.