Search

Background: The shifting identity of a first-year class over a decade in terms of demography and representation, inevitably led me to reflect deeply on what I teach them and how I facilitate the learning process. I had to pay close attention to decolonisation and contextualisation. The basic research question is: How does one reflect on the shifting identity of a first-year class and how does one decolonise a first-year module in Practical Theology and Missiology? Aim: To answer the research question by taking the following route. Firstly, aspects of the changed context and shifting identity will be discussed and secondly, attention will be given to what is meant by decolonisation, with specific reference to the curriculum. Thirdly, the focus will be on a proposed curriculum that uses a theo-dramatic approach. Fourthly, I reflect on the learning process (pedagogy) and how it also contributes to a shift in my own identity. Setting: The research is set against the backdrop of changes that took place over the last two decades in Higher Education in South Africa including the commodification of higher education, the lack of adequate financial resources and the #FeesMustFall movement. Methods: As the research design, a case study is selected for the study project. Results: The development of a new pedagogy. Conclusion: With this contribution I attempted to reflect, in the light of the changing profile of the class composition of a first-year module in Practical Theology and Missiology in terms of demography (BCI students), to what extent it also leads to a shift of identities.

Congregational studies: A rapidly developing field of study. Congregational studies are not so simple to define. This may be related to the relative novelty of the discipline, but also to the variety of people who practise it and the equally wide range of angles to the field. The purpose of this article is to look at various stages in the development of the field of congregational studies in the South African context, and more specifically within the Dutch Reformed Church over the past 50 years. The phases can be described as follows: the initial church-building phase, followed by the phase where the dynamics and identity of faith communities came into focus, and then by a phase in which the focus shifted to congregational studies specifically within the African context and greater focus on the empirical investigation of congregations in the form of various modes of congregational analysis, as well as the advent of a missional approach to congregations. A further and ever-evolving phase is the move towards a more aesthetic perspective of the field, known as a theo-dramatic approach. Together with the last phase, we just entered what I would call the post- COVID-19 phase. One can see massive changes in congregational ministry since the COVID-19 virus started to spread in South Africa. Overnight, ministers and church boards had to adapt to online modes of being and doing church and I am very sure this will be an enormous shift. In future we will certainly speak about church before and after COVID-19. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article looks at congregational studies from a historical perspective and reaches the conclusion that it is still a relatively young and developing discipline that can benefit from an aesthetical approach to the field. This challenges the traditional perspective that congregational studies are only interested in the analysis of congregations. This scientific approach strengthens newer hermeneutical interpretations of congregations. The fields involved are congregational studies, sociology and ethnography through the lens of critical qualitative research.

Background: Assessment of students for ministerial practice is traditionally performed through assignments and oral examinations, which often only concentrate on the knowledge component and outcomes of the programme. Assessing students in this way lead to a view of religious practitioners as people who are not really in touch with their parishioners and communicating in language that is not addressing their needs and this normally leads to a disjuncture between knowledge, practice and context. Disjuncture of this nature signals a need for a broader set of competencies than simply working with and analysing texts in theological education. Aim: The aim of this research is to develop a set of competencies that responds to the reality that the practice of ministry takes place within a rich diversity of postcolonial settings and practices. Setting: The research was done as part of my own interest in developing a competency framework for religious leaders. I am coordinating the Master of Divinity program as well as the Postgraduate Diploma in Christian Ministry at our Faculty of Theology. Both these programs directly relate to the preparation of students for ministerial leadership. Methods: The central research question of this study was formulated as follows: What are the central ingredients for developing a competency framework for ministerial formation from a postcolonial perspective at a research-intensive university in South Africa? The method that was used to answer the research question was a literary study of primary and secondary sources related to a broad set of competencies and then narrowing it down to religious leadership as well as some qualitative empirical research in the form of personal interviews. Results: The research in the article looked at the ways in which a competency framework can help translate generic graduate attributes into a set of competencies that is specific to the field of ministerial training. Some empirical work showed evidence of a growing postcolonial awareness in the development of these competencies. Conclusion: Through this research a competency framework for religious leaders has successfully been developed. The next phase of the research project will be to implement the framework, to have feedback and to make some adjustments.

The large number of xenophobic attacks that broke out in different places in South Africa during 2008 was still continuing unabated 10 years later. We were stressed to come to terms with the reality that this occurred in a country that is globally considered to be an example of reconciliation. It is clear that we were confronted by the politics of fear, which were manifested in xenophobia and all the other -isms. In this article, the primary causes of these xenophobic outbreaks were scrutinised and placed within the wider framework of a culture of fear. The central research question is: Why are we still struggling with this phenomenon more than a decade after it first appeared on South African soil? In-depth analysis will be performed on what is lying behind the culture of fear underlying these acts of violence. After exploring some of the factors related to a culture of fear by making use of a sociological frame, the author moved on to answer a second question: How do we, as preachers, researchers and practical theologians, respond in a theological way to the challenges posed by a xenophobic culture in our preaching activities? Finally, the impact of violence and fear on the practice of preaching within a Christian context was discussed.

We are busy celebrating 500 years of reformation and one of the basic convictions of the reformers was that we know to (W)whom we belong. During the student uprisings that we experienced in 2015 and 2016, it became clear that the notion of ‘belonging’ was deeply contested. Students still experience that black people are socially, economically and psychologically abused by the white systems, including university campuses.In empirical research conducted in 2016 with colleagues from five other faculties, these feelings and experiences of exclusion, of not belonging and of injustice among theology students and even some lecturers, were confirmed. This led to the basic research question focused on the subject field for which I am responsible at the Faculty of Theology: how do we work together as lecturers and students to help create such spaces of human dignity in the training of students who are busy preparing for ministry practice in a postcolonial African context in which they experience belonging? This article endeavours to provide an answer to this question.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The empirical part of the research was conducted by colleagues from five different faculties including Arts and Science, Engineering, Law, Education and Theology. In that sense, the research was not only intradisciplinary but also interdisciplinary.

The findings of the Archbishop’s Council in their 2004 report, to the effect that traditional forms of church in Britain are under threat because of changing cultural patterns, emphasise the need to re-think church for our contemporary contexts. The ‘Fresh Expressions of church’ movement is one such initiative identified and approved of by the Archbishop’s Council. This article reports on research undertaken in a practical theological interpretation of The Filling Station, a Christian ministry that has grown significantly in its 10-year history and was formed as a missional endeavour in recognition of declining church attendance in traditional churches in Britain. This work explores whether The Filling Station is a Fresh Expression of church and whether it meets the values of authentic missional churches. In examining whether The Filling Station ought to be considered for import into appropriate local congregational contexts, it enquires whether it satisfactorily addresses prevailing social trends affecting churches, including consumerism and the need for identity.

In a qualitative study recently carried out by the author amongst ministers in a Circuit of Dutch Reformed Congregations in a suburban context in the Western Cape, South Africa, respondents were asked whether they sensed a ‘shift of view’ concerning the role of leadership during the past 20 years in their respective congregations. The research results paint a picture of ‘the end of leadership’ at least in some form. One can also sense a ‘shift of power’ over the past two decades in these local congregations, indicating the changing dynamics of leadership. There seems to be a shift of power from the individual leader to the team, the group and the network. The aim of this paper is, firstly, to present some of the empirical results and then to reflect on the underlying reasons for this shift of power by giving a description of some broader philosophical and sociological perspectives influencing this state of affairs. This will be followed by a description of, and reflection on, theological developments on the Trinity and power that might help to understand the ‘end of leadership’ in some ways. The paper concludes with some thoughts on the role of power and leadership processes at work in local faith communities.

On 27 April 2014 we celebrated twenty years of democracy in South Africa. Celebrating this important day in our history also afforded us the opportunity to reflect on what has transpired in our country during the past two decades. From theories in theology and social sciences we learned that what is happening in the broader context in society directly influences the way we congregate in faith communities. And the way we congregate and structure faith communities once again influence the way leadership is exercised. In this contribution different theoretical constructs are used as interpretive frameworks to view the trans-formations that occurred in a Circuit of sub-urban congregations of the Dutch Reformed Church during the past twenty years, specifically concentrating on the leadership processes. The results of the data are also interpreted through the lenses of Mary Douglas’s ‘enclavement theory’ and do not only open up a window on the past but also provide some clues for looking at the factors involved in the processes of transformation that is so prevalent in these congregations. The article will conclude with some theological reflection on leadership practices related to these processes of transformation.

‘We must stop wasting our precious water – and also stop polluting it.’ These are the words of Dr Jo Barnes, Epidemiologist and Senior Lecturer in Community Health at the University of Stellenbosch’s Faculty for Health Sciences. Her research involves the quality of water in rivers and its health impact on communities. It is general knowledge that health services are struggling under the burden of diseases resulting from environmental pollution, particularly water pollution. This potentially avoidable crisis is slowly turning into a disaster. The article draws on a case study done in the informal settlement of Sweet Home Farm in Philippi, Cape Town, with the intent of compiling a descriptive empirical report on the way the community deals with human waste. In a next step, interpretive lenses are used to look with ‘deeper understanding’ at the problem of human waste and pollution. After that, the focus shifts to the problem of a theology of human waste, and the article concludes with suggestions on the role of religious leadership and ways in which leaders can play a constructive role in handling the crisis of a polluted context.Toilets in the modern water closets rise up from the floor like water lilies. The architect does all he can to make the body forget how paltry it is and to make man ignore what happens to his intestinal wastes after the water from the tank flushes them down the drain … Spontaneously, without any theological training, I, as a child, grasped the incompatibility of God and shit and thus came to question the basic thesis of Christian anthropology, namely that man was created in God’s image. Either/or: either man was created in God’s image – and has intestines! – or God lacks intestines and man is not like him. (Milan Kundera, The unbearable lightness of being 1984:132)Water is life, sanitation is dignity. (City of Cape Town, n.d., ‘Water and sanitation services standard’, Preliminary draft 2, March 2008)

Local leadership is crucial in Africa. This article focuses on leadership in African Independent Churches, more specifically on the leader of a local congregation of the Corinthian Church, Rev Dingani in Phepheni, Eastern Cape. The article is composed of two parts. The first part is a portrait of Dingani, mainly from an emic (inside) point of view. After a biographical sketch, his ministry and liturgical leadership are outlined, followed by a portrait of Rev Dingani as a theologian. The second part, which mainly takes an etic (outside) stance, places this portrait in a wider context of leadership in African Independent Churches and sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. After indicating some general features of African leadership, the article focuses more specifically on two leadership styles: 1. The humane-oriented and charismatic/value-based style. 2. The participative and autonomous style. By distinguishing this emic and etic positions, we confront Western and African epistemologies, without reconciling them in advance.

When developing new perspectives and paradigms for practical theology in South Africa, we obviously have to take our South African context seriously. We live in a post-conflict society in which gigantic sociocultural shifts have taken place since 1994. Many institutions and groups endeavour to address the conflict, injustices and pain of the past, including the Institute for the Healing of Memories (IHOM). The Institute makes use of a specific methodology in their workshops. Having participated in these workshops in congregational contexts as well as in the training of theological students, in this article I investigated the methodology of the Institute as a framework for new perspectives on practical theology in South Africa. Making use of Victor Turner’s theoretical construct of ‘social drama’ as one way of looking at the methodology of the IHOM, I reflected critically on the challenges that it poses to practical theology by making use of a ‘rhetorical frame’ and trying to delineate some constructive proposals for further reflections on practical theological paradigms and perspectives.

Social capital can be defined in various ways. In most of these definitions at least three dimensions can be distinguished. First there is �bonding� (the horizontal relationships between people operating within different social networks and with specific norms and values). The second dimension is �bridging� (bonds that transcend differences in religion, ethnicity, culture and socio-economic status). This dimension prevents horizontal ties from becoming the basis for narrow and even sectarian interests. Normally, a third dimension called �linking� also forms part of social capital, and ideological aspects come into focus here. This dimension includes aspects such as justice, political power and the equitable distribution of income and property. When leadership in Acts is analysed through the lenses of these multi-focal spectacles, interesting perspectives are discovered that can enrich theories on leadership. These discoveries can also open up new perspectives on aspects of being a missional church in our South African context from within the context of Acts.�

“Obedience to God” was the title of a sermon delivered by dr Beyers Naude on Sunday 22 September 1963 at Aasvoelkop Congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Scripture reading was taken from Acts 5:29 which reads: “We must obey God rather than men.” On that same occasion he announced his decision to accept the directorship of the Christian Institute of Southern Africa. These events introduced a new phase in the narrative of Naude and his relationship with his people. In this article notions like self-categorisation as part of Social Identity Theory were used as heuristic tools to explore in what ways this sermon-event played a significant role in a new phase of self-definition in Naude’s life story. At the same time the role of preaching as a process of social identity formation (self-categorisation) comes under the spotlight. In conclusion some pointers are given for reflection on the reformation of preaching within the context of the Twenty First Century by making use of the Confession of Belhar as a framework for interpretation.