The Extent to which Lay Readers in the Anglican Church are Equipped to Offer Counseling Services to their Congregation: A Case Study of Nairobi Diocese

Observable trends indicate that a religious leader can make any adherent into what he or she wishes them to be; they can make them shave their hair, sell their property, stop seeking medical intervention, adopt a specific dressing code, eat or not eat certain foods, adopt beliefs that change their perceptions of life, and the list is endless. This research focused on the “power” to influence that these religious leaders could have in the form of counseling skills. The survey aimed at establishing whether the Lay Readers, are well equipped with counseling skills, to assist them in the noble task of helping Christians in the Anglican Church. The survey was conducted in 18 of the listed 8 parishes in Nairobi Diocese. Purposive sampling was used to select the parishes. A total of 125 Lay Readers were reached of whom 65 responded to the questionnaire. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS). A combination of statistical, graphical and thematic techniques was employed in data presentation. The data collection took a period of 6 weeks. The findings indicated that counseling services are indeed offered in the Anglican Church; that a number of Lay Readers have taken a personal initiative to acquire skills in counseling, and that various parishes have formed counseling committees to offer free counseling service to their members. A few parishes have also taken the initiative to offer short courses in Lay Counseling, while others have sponsored the Lay Readers for counseling courses in other institutions. However, 54% of Lay Readers sampled have not taken any course in counseling and out of those who have trained, only 39.2% have taken courses lasting for one year and above. The researcher hopes that this information will be available to the planning team of Nairobi Diocese, headed by the Diocesan Bishop so as to:- i. Create awareness on the training needs of the Lay Readers and possibly adopt training in counseling as a core unit in the Annual Training Curriculum for Lay Readers. ii. Shed light on the need to find ways of offering and/or motivating the practicing Lay Readers to upgrade their skills in counseling. iii. Propose the need to create a data bank of the serving Lay Readers, and plan for their capacity development.