Adult Literacy and Christian Education: A Programme Design for Rural Churches in Bauchi State

This study designs a contextually appropriate adult literacy programme integrated within Christian education frameworks for rural churches in Bauchi State, North East Nigeria. Bauchi State has one of the lowest adult literacy rates in Nigeria, and rural churches represent an underutilised infrastructure for remedial literacy delivery in areas where government programmes are ineffective or absent. Using a participatory action research design, the study engages twelve rural church communities across Alkaleri, Tafawa Balewa, and Darazo Local Government Areas in a needs assessment and co-design process. Data are gathered through community mapping exercises, group interviews with twenty-five church leaders, and literacy needs assessment surveys administered to sixty adult residents. The programme design that emerges integrates basic reading and writing instruction with biblical literacy content, using scripture passages and church materials as primary literacy texts. Programme components include weekly literacy circles facilitated by trained church literacy mentors, church-based lending libraries, and family literacy nights. Evaluation criteria include functional literacy acquisition, church attendance, and reported confidence in community participation. The study recommends pilot implementation across three denominations in Bauchi State and calls for church-government partnership frameworks to sustain the programme beyond the pilot phase. Keywords: adult literacy, Christian education, Bauchi State, programme design, rural church