Premarital counselling programs and christian family stability in kisumu central sub region, Kenya

Background: Christian families are under threats in Kisumu central sub-Region of Kenya due to destabilization of the covenant of Matrimony, which if practiced would extol family stability. This follows rampant marital instabilities occasioned by among others; inadequacy or lack of premarital counselling programs. In the recent years, Christian premarital counselling programs haveproven to be a significant determinant for Christian Family stability. Demand for marriages of covenantal nature have continued to diminish despite the Church’s propagation and teachings on the sanctity of marriage and the need for premarital counselling programs. The government’s policies against all forms of illegal and unregistered marriages; the insistence that permanent separation and divorce could only be granted by courts on the evidence that all other forms of spousal mediation, counselling notwithstanding, had been exhausted, were consequently enacted to mitigate matrimonial instabilities. These were meant to foster family stability; which has not been the case. Objective: This study sought to examine the relationship between premarital counselling programs and family stability. Methods:It adopted a mixed methods design involving correlational and descriptive approaches. The target population was obtained from 26 Churches under the National Council of Churches of Kenya, with a target population of 10,997. The sample size was 462 respondents obtained using the fisher’s formula. Snowball as a form of purposive sampling was adopted to identify respondents. Stratified sampling was used to get the number of respondents in every Church. Semi- structured questionnaires, key informant interview schedules and Focus Group Discussions were adopted. Pilot study was conducted among similar Church families from Kakamega on a sample consisting of 10% of the respondents to establish reliability of the instruments. Responses in the questionnaires were tabulated, coded and processed using computer Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) program version 22 for quantitative data analysis. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were employed, together with inferential statistics such as Pearson’s Correlation and Multiple Linear Regression. Results: The study established a positive relationship between response of premarital counselling programs and family stability. Conclusion: In conclusion,the relationship between the Covenant of Matrimony and stability of Christian families in Kisumu Central Sub-Region was found to be positive.