An Assessment of Information Flow Patterns of the Decade of Evangelism Strategy in the Church of Uganda.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess the information flow patterns of the Decade of Evangelism Strategy (DOES) in the Church of Uganda (COU) all the way from the Provincial headquarters down to the Parish congregations in Nakasongola Archdeaconry, Luweero Diocese. An assessment of the DOES information flow would assist both Luweero Dio- cese and the Provincial Office to understand the Church's communication system. The research methods used were based on two approaches: 1) Descriptive Survey and 2) Focus group discussions. However, the researcher analyzed some official documents and publications as well. The study was conducted among church leaders and the laity. These included 16 church employees and four former members of the DOES steering committees. The church employees were from the following levels: Archdeaconry; Parish Priests; Lay Readers; Luweero Diocesan staff and the COU Provincial Secretariat staff. One focus group discussion was held with one of the local church congregations members in each parish. The findings of the study were as follows: There were more DOES awareness created at the COU Provincial and Diocesan levels than at the Archdeaconry and Parish levels; some of the diocesan officials justified the launching of the DOES in Luweero Diocese to the need of intensifying evangelism work after the centenary celebrations of Christianity in Uganda and not to the Lambeth 1988 conference resolution; at the Archdeaconry level and parish levels, the DOES information was more synonymous with the short term implementation of the Diocesan and Archdeaconry levels oriented evangelistic missions respectively, than was the catching of the long term DOES vision; most of the written DOES information flowed from the top to the bottom, along the COU administration structure; the climax of the DOES communications at the Provincial, diocesan, diocesan and Archdeaconry, took place in the years 1991, 1992 and 1993 only; the use of the mass media for publicity yielded more results in Kampala city than at the Dioc- esan and Archdeaconry levels; there was more use of the oral medium in a person- to person contact than the use of letters and mass media; Meetings, correspon- dence and visitations formed the bulk of the DOES information flow.