Prospects for Christian Youths’ Participation in Cross-cultural Mission Work among the Fali people of Mubi, Adamawa, Nigeria

Abstract

To address the observed apathy among youths towards cross-cultural missions, this study examined the prospects for the participation of Fali Christian youths in Mubi, Adamawa, Nigeria, in cross-cultural mission work. The objectives were to discover the current level of participation of Fali Christian youths in cross-cultural missionary work, to identify the motivating and hindering factors that influence their participation, and to identify actions that can promote their participation. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design method with 200 respondents. Positive Youth Development theory was adopted for this study. The findings revealed that the Fali Christian youths have not been participating reasonably in cross-cultural mission work to other tribes; despite efforts in spiritual formation, they are hindered by low levels of education and vocational skills and therefore lack boldness to engage in intercultural interactions; combination of actions that can be strategically pursued among them are facilitation of tertiary and higher education, higher theological and missions training, relevant vocational skills acquisition, funding for these, and establishment of creative access methods of missions-sending. This study contributes to the existing knowledge by providing extensive work on the Fali people and holistic capacity development for youths from indigenous backgrounds.