Title: Religious Leaders in Conflict Resolution and Peace Building; Lessons from Interchurches Council Kimanya Kabonera, Masaka City, Uganda
Authors: Kaggwa Barnabas
Wakhungu Nathan
Mark Kiiza
Volume: 10
Issue: 5
Pages: 362-382
Publication Date: 2026/05/28
Abstract:
This study examined the role of religious leaders in marital conflict resolution and marital peacebuilding in Kimanya-Kabonera. Religious leaders, including pastors and priests, frequently serve as the first point of contact for couples experiencing marital distress; however, their roles, strategies, effectiveness, and challenges remain insufficiently explored in scholarly literature. Guided by a mixed-methods research design, the study collected data from 109 respondents using questionnaires, interviews, and documentary review. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS, while qualitative data were analysed thematically. Findings revealed that religious leaders play a substantial role in resolving marital conflicts through pastoral counselling, scripture-based guidance, prayer sessions, dialogue facilitation, and follow-up support mechanisms. The most commonly reported marital conflicts included communication breakdown, financial disagreements, infidelity, domestic violence, in-law interference, and unmet gender-role expectations. In promoting marital peacebuilding, religious leaders employed both preventive and restorative approaches, including premarital counselling, marriage seminars, couples' fellowships, and continuous spiritual mentorship. The study further established that these interventions contribute to long-term marital stability by fostering forgiveness, empathy, effective communication, and conflict prevention skills among couples. Despite these contributions, several challenges were identified, including emotional fatigue, inadequate counselling skills, difficulties in maintaining neutrality, doctrinal limitations, confidentiality dilemmas, community pressure, insufficient resources, limited collaboration with professional counsellors, increasing mental health-related cases, and emerging social media-related conflicts. Nevertheless, religious leaders remain central actors in marital conflict management due to their cultural legitimacy, moral authority, and strong community trust. The study concludes that religious leaders make significant contributions to marital conflict resolution and peacebuilding; however, their effectiveness could be enhanced through structured counselling training, strengthened referral systems, and improved collaboration between religious institutions and professional service providers. The findings have important implications for policy, theology, mental health practice, and community development by highlighting the need for integrated and culturally sensitive support systems to promote stable and peaceful marriages.