Abstrakt

Influence of Religious Beliefs on Income Growth of Believers in Africa Inland Church Tanzania and Glory Church in Mwanza City

Deborah Andrew Ngusa and John Zephania Sweya

Religious beliefs provide mental images that motivate believers to adopt certain actions and behaviours influential to their engagement on income generation activities. Some of these beliefs have either positive or negative influence on income growth of believers. In Tanzania, there are religious beliefs that emanate in churches and they influence believers’ participation in income generation activities. As such, the discussion of this paper focuses on the research which was conducted to examine the impact of religiosity on income growth in church communities in Mwanza City. Specifically, the study explored religious beliefs that influence believers’ engagement on income generation activities in Africa Inland Church Tanzania (AICT) and Glory Church (GC) in Mwanza City. Primary data were collected through structured questionnaire to obtain quantitative information. Focus group discussions, participant observations and life history interviews were employed to get qualitative information for content analysis. Secondary data were collected by reviewing documents related to the study. The findings of this study revealed that the majority of believers (95%) reported that they adhered to religious beliefs that exposed them to behaviours and actions that influenced the extent of their participation in income generation activities into two dimensions either positively or negatively. However, believers were sceptical to explain the influence and some of them failed to integrate religious beliefs that yield either positive or negative outcomes on income growth. Therefore, this study recommends that there is an urgent need for religious leaders to teach clearly beliefs with positive influence on income growth of believers. They should also avoid misleading interpretations of their doctrines to minimize the negative influence of those religious beliefs on income growth of their followers.