Abstract:
The early Christianity-educational nexus formed the important milestone of further
participation of the church in development of education in western Kenya. Since then, the
church has continued to contribute and play an important role in this direction. The
purpose of the study was to establish the contribution of the Church of God in the growth
and Development of education in Bunyore girls' high, Kenya. The specific objectives to
the study were to; trace the origin of the Church of God in Western Kenya, identify
factorsthat made the Church to propagate the growth and development of Bunyore girls'
highschool and examine the infrastructure, land, materials and the Human resources the
churchprovided to enhance education in Bunyore girls' high school, Kenya. The study
was guided by functional theoretical frame work as expressed by Emile Durkheim and
Radcliffe- Brown the 16th century sociologists that proposed, a fact can exist without
being useful and it may outlive its purpose or it may change its function with time. The
research targeted 3000 former Bunyore girls' students, 200 former teachers, 7 former
principals and 30 elderly Church of God leaders. The research adopted a case study
research design. Purposive and snow ball sampling technique were used to select the
respondents needed for the research. Questionnaires and oral interviews were used as
instrumentsof data collection. Descriptive and content analysis were used to analyse the
data. The findings of the study were; the Church of God originated from South Africa
through Mr. Baker Wilson, the church constructed the classrooms and dormitories, it
provided both the land and human resources to Bunyore girls' high school. The study
concluded that the church of God has contributed to the growth and development of
education in Bunyore girls' high school and it has made social - economic impact on the
local society through the school. The study recommends that the church of God should
continue providing land, material and human resources to their sponsored school. The
significanceof the study was, policy makers can use it to formulate policies to encourage
active participation of the church to enhance education. The findings of the study may
help in shaping the involvement of the church in betterment of the relation ship between
the school and the government. It may also help in causing the church to further assist in
guidanceand counselling of students in their respective sponsored schools.
