| dc.description.abstract | This research intended to investigate and critically analyze the participation of the laity in their role in the mission of the Church, which is salvation for all mankind through evangelization, in light of Christifideles Laici. Christifideles Laici is a Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation of John Paul II of 30th Dec. 1988. It examines the laity’s understanding of their Baptismal duty and role and how they have upheld it in the service of the Church- Aboke Parish in particular. To realise this objective three Sub-Parishes: Aboke Sub-Parish, Ayer Sub-Parish and Otwal Sub-Parish were studied which crafted up the Parish.
The researcher used questionnaire and oral interview. Other secondary information was attained through observations, books and previous researches. The data was analysed using statistical methods. It was then tabulated using both qualitative and quantitative methods, in relation to the research problem to verify the validity of the hypothesis.
The research is divided into five chapters. Chapter one deals with the introduction and the background study of the problem in the area of research. Chapter two presents the literature review of the study. The third chapter presents research design and methodology. Chapter four gives the presentation of the findings from the field of research. Chapter five gives the discussion, summary, recommendations and conclusions of the research.
The findings of this research have indicated that, some Christians are involved in the Church activities, but deep critical research has shown that for some laity it is not stemming from their inner conviction that the Church is theirs and they are the Church; while other lay faithful are just observers, they feel that it is not their responsibility but it is for the ordained ministers like priests. This shows how much attention the Church should invest in, to inculcate that knowledge and understanding among the laity, to know who they are, that they are the Church and the Church is theirs, and that the Church is not a composition of building as some may think. But they make the Church and that they are to preach the word of God for the salvation of all mankind.
Pastoral planning should never be the work of one person alone, but praxis of the Church as a communal way even when final decisions are to be made by the competent authorities. These criteria do not give blueprints for neither action nor recipes to solve pastoral problems. They are inspiring points of reference that have to be present in the pastoral praxis of the Church in whatever activity the Church is involved. They guide Church leaders as principles for evaluation and planning, but they need to be applied according to different circumstances; time, place and persons. They summarize the praxis of Jesus as pastor, prophet and king according to the tradition of the Church.
In conclusion, all evangelization process must be in a Christo-centric presentation, Trinitarian Christo-centrism: Meeting Christ should lead to faith in the trinity, proclamation of salvation, message of liberation from the bondage of sin, ecclesial nature of the evangelical message, historical character of salvation, inculturation of the Christian message, integrity of the message, message that is organic and hierarchical, message with a meaning for the human being. | en_US |
