ABSTRACT

The study ascertained the influence of faith-based organizations social agenda on community development in Abia State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with a target population of 556 registered faith-based organizations in Abia State. This comprises 356 congregational and 200 non-congregational groups. A sample size for the study was 236 faith-based organizations leaders in Abia State. This comprises 151 congregational faith-based leaders and 85 non-congregational faith-based leaders in Abia State. The sample size of 236 faith-based leaders was selected through Taro Yamane Mathematical model. Influence of Faith-Based Organizations Social Agenda on Community Development Questionnaire (IFBOSACDQ) was used for data collection. The questionnaire was validated by two (2) experts in the Department of Adult and Continuing Education (Community Development) and one expert from the Department of Science Education (Agric/Vocational Education) all from Michal Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike. Cronbach alpha method was used to determine the reliability of the instrument which yielded an alpha of 0.77. Five adequately briefed research assistants helped in the administration and collection of the instrument. Data generated for this study were analyzed to answer the research questions using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using t-test statistic at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that congregational and non-congregational faith-based organizations social agenda to high extent influence community development in Abia state. It also revealed that there is no significant difference in the mean response of congregational and non-congregational faith-based social agenda on community development. The study recommended Government/Faith-Based Partnership (GFBP) in the provision of community development programmes towards achieving sustainable development. There is also the need for the contemporary Faith-based organizations to sustain the legacies of their predecessors especially in the area of maintenance of prehistoric community development projects.