Abstract

Any pandemic disorganizes the life of the wider society. One of the manifestations of social activity is religious life. This study evaluated the impact of COVID-19 on the worship life of the PCC in the case of Kumba Presbytery.

It was a community-based study and simple random sampling was used to choose the respondents from the congregations that make up the Kumba Presbytery. The data was collected and was entered into Microsoft word excel 2016 and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).

A total of 45 respondents took part in this study which included 24 males and 21 females. The majority of the respondents were between the age range of 31-40 years, mostly married and all were Presbyterians, also from the Kumba Presbytery.

The COVID-19 lead to the closure of some congregations and the reduction of the number of worshippers in services. Many respondents had adequate knowledge on disease presence, transmission mode, and most measures put in place to reduce its spread.

In conclusion, this study showed the impacts of COVID-19 on the PCC in the case of the Kumba Presbytery.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

1.1 Introduction

Coronavirus Disease of 2019 or Covid-19 is an emergent infectious disease of the viral zoonosis type, caused by the coronavirus Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-corona virus2 (SARS-CoV-2) strain. The most common symptoms include fever, cough, fatigue, and respiratory difficulties.

In its most violent forms, the appearance of an acute respiratory distress syndrome may lead to death, especially of frail persons due to their advanced ages or in case of comorbidities. However, everyone is predisposed to contract COVID-19, which is mainly transmitted from person to person.

The COVID-19 pandemic has an extremely significant impact on the functioning of societies, as well as many sectors of economic life. It is very difficult to forecast the directions and depth of necessary changes during the development of the pandemic.

This is due to the fact that different scenarios and the pace of development of COVID-19 are considered in different countries. Thus, public policies used in the fight against pandemics are also different in individual countries. Assessments of social, economic, and cultural effects of the pandemic must be multidimensional, and thus, subject to significant uncertainty (Ragheb 2020:67; Bukowski 2020: 26).

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the virus that causes Covid-19 is a new coronavirus which means that it is likely no one has natural immunity to it. Covid-19 is more contagious than either Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) or MERS-CoV (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-related with Coronavirus) and crucially can be spread undetected, making it have a global effect in a very short time of its existence.

This has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to label it a pandemic and a Public health emergency of international concern. Most countries around the world are still in lockdown to avoid or slow the spread of the virus so that Covid-19 cases do not overwhelm their health systems.

Prominent among the many responses are the medical and political responses inspired by WHO. The WHO recommendations as in (Mbwoge: 2020), with respect to Covid-19, are being used by many countries and communities and even some churches, particularly the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC), as the protocol to contain the spread of the disease.

Looking at the effects the COVID-19 had on the PCC, Kumba Presbytery in particular, this study is aimed at evaluating the effects of the Corona Virus pandemic on the worship life of the PCC and Kumba Presbytery in particular.

1.2 Background Of The Study

It was at the heart of the second semester first block exams at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Kumba, when we assembled at the chapel and we were asked to leave campus because of the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic and its widespread infections and the fear of risking the lives of students. The students had to leave school abruptly and this was very devastating.

Going back to my home congregation, I realized the spread of the virus, the rate of infections, and the measures put in place by WHO, has made Christians stop coming to church, the few who came could easily be counted on the pews as; sometimes 10 Christians other times 7 and other times 11 would be present in service.

Even though the services were divided into three per Sunday, so as to follow maintain social distancing, it still did not help. It was only fluctuating within this range. The offerings too were not encouraging and the general output was low. The congregation could barely turn on their fans for fear of high electrical consumption and since they could not afford at that time to pay the bills due to low income from the congregation.

The Pastors found it difficult sometimes to come and meet the congregations empty and to celebrate the sacraments of Baptism and Holy communion since it will entail using the hands and everyone was skeptical about receiving communion elements from another.

All of the above and more prompted me to ask myself questions and to understand more about this virus and where it originated from and how much it has affected the entire PCC. I later realized it was not just in the East Mungo South Presbytery, but other presbyteries were also affected even Kumba Presbytery.

Chosen a topic on evaluating the impact of COVID 19 on the worship life of the PCC became my motivation and to focus on the Kumba presbytery as a case study. This is to evaluate; looking into the origin and background of the virus, the rate of infections, and how worship services in the PCC have been affected, especially with most services holding in the homes of Christians, online or zoom services and to name a few.

COVID 19has been a threat to human life for up to a year now and still killing humans to date. Also, mention are the different stages of the virus infections that have been discovered in some Asian and European countries today.

The loss of lives and family members losing their loved ones to the traumatic effects of the virus infection is alarming. So it is necessary to have a check on the origin of the virus, the spread, and the effects or how it has affected the church.

1.3 Statement Of The Problem

With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the PCC in general and Kumba Presbytery particularly suffered massive effects. One of the most prominent was the closing down of most parishes in the Presbytery which caused many Pastors in the Presbytery to be very mobile and more active with meeting up the spiritual needs of the Christians.

Pastors had to move from one house to the other, to pray with Christians, serve them communion and attend to their spiritual needs. Within this period, services were organized to follow the preventive measures put in place by WHO, the government of Cameroon, and the Moderator of the PCC; 50 persons per gathering of any nature and considering states orders that all churches should maintain social distancing and follow all the barrier measures put in place by WHO.

Hence, as a result of this, the normal functioning of the parishes in Kumba Presbytery like others was perturbed in several dimensions i.e., spiritually, economically, and politically. With this in mind, this study evaluates the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the worship life of the PCC with Kumba presbytery as a case study.

1.4 Research Hypothesis

Ha: To a greater extent, the Covid-19 pandemic has adversely affected the worship life of both the Christians and pastors of the PCC and Kumba Presbytery in particular.

H0: To a lesser extent, the covid-19 pandemic has not adversely affected the worship life of both the pastors and the Christians of the PCC and Kumba Presbytery in particular.

1.5 Research Question

With the above problem in mind, the main question which this study intends to answer is: To what extend has the broke out of COVID-19 affected the spiritual, social, and economic (financial strength) activities of the Kumba presbytery? In order to answer this question, the following questions must be tackled:

1. To what extent has the outbreak of COVID-19 affected the worship life of both the Christians and Pastors of the Kumba Presbyter?
2. Has the church in general and Kumba Presbytery in particular, being able to come out with any measures or strategies to fight the effects the pandemic had on her?
3. What means have been put in place by the PCC and Kumba Presbytery in particular towards surviving the pandemic?
4. What more can be done in order that the worship life of the church and Kumba Presbytery, in particular, to return and the ever-growing social and spiritual activities of the Church to return to normalcy?