Terrorism, Church and child protection; A case of Evangelical churches in Nairobi

It is estimated that terrorism has gone up by 309% in Eastern African region since 2010. The terrorist attacks mainly target churches and christian regardless of age group. in Kenya Baby Isinya who was shot in the head and... [ view full abstract ]

It is estimated that terrorism has gone up by 309% in Eastern African region since 2010. The terrorist attacks mainly target churches and christian regardless of age group. in Kenya Baby Isinya who was shot in the head and left an orphan when terrorist attacked in a church in Mombasa remains an image of Terrorism, the church and child protection.
This paper aims to present findings of a descriptive research on the role of the church in protecting children, a case of evangelical churches in Nairobi in 2015. One of the study objectives was to identify some of challenges of protecting children in the church.
The findings identified terrorism as one of the major risks of protecting children in Evangelical churches. Most children reported that they feared that by the fact the church is situated in the central business district it put them as target of an attack, while the pastors said that by the fact other churches have been attack makes it easy for them to be attacked. The findings also showed that the church is taking measures to secure children from attacks which include having security check up in the church entrance, having CCTV cameras installed around the church and having a check in check out system for children entering the children area. However the findings also all the churches that participated in the study had only one entrance to the church, the children workers have not been trained on child protection or what to do in an event of an attack.
The study therefor concluded that terrorism as number risk to children in the church, although the church has made effort to protect children from attack such security measure, alot still needs to be done which include training, risk preparedness and opening up the church.