Professional competency of religious officials abroad and challenges they face: The case of Germany

Presidency of Religious Affairs (hereinafter referred to as PRA) has sent religious officials abroad and started meeting the religious needs of people through official channels since early 1980s. One of the most important elements of religious services that PRA provides abroad is religious officials that give these services. Religious services in the countries that Turkish people live as immigrants differ from the ones in Turkey in having different background. Regardless having different backgrounds, the most important aspect of giving religious services is well-educated religious official that comprehend the importance of his or her duty. Therefore, it is crucial to be aware of professional competency of these officials and challenges they face in order to provide higher quality services. In this paper, we tried to evaluate whether religious officials consider themselves competent enough to fulfill their responsibilities, whether they have enough knowledge, skills and abilities to perform their jobs and problems they encounter while giving religious services. Meeting people face to face all the time and communicating with them directly give more impact to religious officials on spiritual development of the society which becomes more important when this profession is practiced abroad. Thus, educating more competent, informed and intelligent people who perform such important jobs and reducing their problems will ensure higher quality services without any doubt. The target population of the study is religious officials who work in the associations of Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs. In this study in which questionnaire technique is used, whether professional competency and problems of religious officials differ by age, educational background, gender and professional seniority or not is examined. Evaluations are carried out depending on the results of the study; suggestions and critics are presented.