Empowering Leaders For Youth Nurture And Retention Through Social Media In Togo Conference

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue III, March 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

Empowering Leaders For Youth Nurture And Retention Through Social Media In Togo Conference

Sessou Kwasi Selom Pastor
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministry,
Adventist University of Africa,
Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

ABSTRACT
Young people in the Togo Conference complained that their leaders are not much involved with them in discussions held on their social media platforms. The statistics of the Seventh-day Adventist Church globally reveal that the church is losing its members among which there are a great number of young people. Most of these young people are social media users. Should church leaders use social media platforms to nurture Young Adventist Members in order to retain them in the Church in Togo? To answer that question, it was deemed necessary and important to obtain reliable empirical quantitative and qualitative data among young people and Pastors at Togo Conference. It is in this context that Interviews were conducted and quantitative studies were done at the Togo Conference to confirm the need for leaders’ empowerment for youth nurture and retention through social media. The study also provided Biblical and social principles for youth nurture through social media platforms in the Togo Conference.

KEYWORDS: Youth, Nurturing, Social Media, Retention.

PURPOSE: Whereas young people in the Togo Conference complained that their leaders are not much involved with them in discussions held on their social media platforms, it is essential to confirm that perceived need to empower church leaders in the Conference to nurture and retain young people through social media platforms. The paper seeks to document the cause of young people dropping out from the Seventh-day Adventist Church and proposes solutions to resolve this problem. The study will unpack the biblical principles for youth nurture, and how the use of social media feet in the ways to retain members in the church.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: This study, “Empowering Leaders For Youth Nurture and Retention Through Social Media in Togo Conference” is noteworthy for the reasons listed below:
A. It is a fact that young people today spend a greater portion of their time on social media, therefore reaching them through social media has become a necessity.
B. Young people often complain that their pastors and church leaders, in general, are neglecting this important tool for the nurture of the youth; part of the task of this study is to ascertain how pastors and church leaders are neglecting this important tool while laboring to nurture young people.
C. This study has provided practical approaches for using social media platforms for youth nurture and retention in the church.
D. The leadership empowerment model that has been presented in this project is intended to help pastors and church leaders succeed in their effort to retain youths in the church by utilizing the potential of social media.
E. Although Lomé, the capital city of Togo, has been used as a case for the study, the principles that have been provided in this research can be replicated in other parts of the world.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY: Social Media encompasses a wide range of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, and others. However, in this study, particular attention has been given to WhatsApp, the most currently used social media platform in Africa,” (Social Power, 2018) and the Telegram platform.
The study confines itself to young people that are based in Lome, the capital city so that implementation of the work will be thoroughly followed. At the same time, the data collected and analyzed has presented only one-time results that can become a learning tool for further implementation in other cities and church entities.

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