By MFIRI KENS HUNE Jonathan
Graduate of Advanced Studies

Doctoral thesis presented and defended
publicly with a view to obtaining the title of Doctor of Management Sciences

Jury:
President: Prof. MVUDI MATINGU Seraphin
Secretary: Prof GAMELA NGINU Odilon
Promoter: Prof MBWINGA BILA Robert
Co-promoter: Prof ILASHI UNSHENGWO Adolphe
Member: Prof NKWIMI AKOL Anicet Hénoc
Substitutes: Prof MUENYI KAMUINGA Honoré
Prof IKANSHA UKANTIKYE Willy-Patrick

SUMMARY

Faced with the strong competition observed in the Christian faith market in the DRC, Christian churches are called upon to implement effective strategies to better position themselves in this market. In such an environment, it is imperative
for the said Churches to understand the behavior of Christians.

Thus, our doctoral research led to the following results:

• The exercise of the Christian faith is motivated by material and immaterial benefits. In the ROC, there is a preeminence of material benefits, given the profiles of the Congolese who make them Christians attached to material rather than spiritual things. It is also influenced by socio-demographic, economic and
  geographical distribution of Christians, for which we have identified, for the DRC, the following factors: level of education, number of income-generating activities and place of residence.
• This exercise of faith by a Christian leads to his or her membership in a church. The Christian thus adheres to a church in relation to significant determinants which, according to the theory of membership, can be linked to factors relating to the organization of the church (reputation of the church, social support of the church), to social factors (quality of the faithful) and to factors relating to the leadership of the church leader (influence of the church leader, personality of the leader).
• To attract and retain loyal customers, following the theories of attractiveness, loyalty and satisfaction,
  Christian churches design strategies of differentiation mainly and concentration secondarily which ensure their positioning and which Christians also perceive through in particular the characteristics of the communication strategies of these churches.

Following the results obtained and in view of the deficiencies noted in relation to the inadequacy of behavioral models on the exercise of faith and on the adherence of Christians to a church, our study also proposed three
following explanatory models: the behavioral model of the exercise of the Christian faith, the simplified model of the exercise of the Christian faith and the model of the behavior of churches and Christians on the faith market, with a view to enabling:

• professionals (church leaders) to learn about the motivations for exercising faith, the factors that influence the exercise of faith and the factors that guide a Christian's membership in a church, so as to implement effective strategies to attract and retain Christians;
• scientists to internalize these different factors, constituting a starting point for the development of other models of behavior of Christians and churches, taking into account a multitude of other relevant variables not yet tested.

Keywords: Social marketing or non-profit sector marketing, religious affairs marketing or church marketing, Christian behavior, positioning or repositioning of churches, Christian faith market, churches
Christians.