| Faith-based organizations, particularly churches, have embraced education. Historically, churches, synagogues, and temples have been the sites for educational programming. Yet, a great concern among religious institutions is participation in educational activities. Many studies have identified barriers to participation in adult education among adult learners, mainly in formal settings (Isaac & Rowland, 2002). The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine barriers to participation as identified among 27 African Americans who are members of religious institutions, specifically three Christian Methodist Episcopal Churches. Focus group interviews, individual interviews, observations, fieldnotes, official documents, and membercheck were chosen for this study because they would allow the research subjects to speak more freely and directly-and hopefully more deeply, as well, about the research questions. The results from the study yielded six major categories of barriers that prevent African Americans attending a Christian Methodist Episcopal Church from participating in Adult Education: (a) lack of course relevance, (b) lack of confidence, (c) time constraints, (d) low personal priority, (e) cost, and (f) personal problems. Results from the study suggest religious educators within Christian Methodist Episcopal churches should closely monitor their policies and procedures for developing and promoting their educational programs and developing or enhancing teacher preparation techniques. Based on the results of this study, it appears that churches must be open to new course topics and different types of programming. This study also found that the religious educator could act as a barrier; church members do not participate in educational offerings because they are insecure about being in a group setting due to their lack of schooling; and that cost deters people from participating in educational offerings. |
