Faith in Action: A Christian Ethical Appraisal of Poverty-Alleviation Interventions in the Anglican Diocese of Abuja, Nigeria 23 19

Abstract

Poverty remains one of the most persistent socio-economic and ethical challenges confronting societies across the world, and Nigeria is no exception despite its abundant natural and human resources. This study presents a Christian ethical appraisal of poverty-alleviation interventions documented within the Anglican Diocese of Abuja. Grounded in an integrated theoretical framework combining Christian Social Ethics, the Anglican Five Marks of Mission, and Amartya Sen's Capability Approach, the study critically examines documentary evidence relating to the diocese's reported interventions in education, healthcare, economic empowerment, humanitarian assistance, and community development. Employing a qualitative documentary research design, data were drawn from a defined and bounded set of theological literature, diocesan and denominational publications, and relevant empirical and policy studies published between 2010 and 2024. The findings indicate that available documentary sources report diocesan involvement in vocational training, educational scholarships, healthcare outreach, and support for vulnerable groups and suggest engagement in partnerships with government and non-governmental organizations. However, the study is careful to distinguish reported alleviation activity from demonstrated poverty reduction, given the absence of longitudinal outcome data in the sources reviewed. The findings further reveal that documentary evidence on financial resourcing, institutional capacity, monitoring systems, and beneficiary participation remains limited. The study argues that the Diocese's reported poverty-alleviation activity constitutes a documented expression of Christian ethical responsibility, while cautioning against overstating its measurable developmental impact in the absence of primary evidence. It concludes that the Anglican Diocese of Abuja, on the basis of available documentation, represents a significant faith-based actor in poverty-related intervention and recommends more rigorous monitoring, beneficiary-inclusive programming, and empirically grounded follow-up research to substantiate outcome claims