Abstract
International political, social, economic and religious developments influence how local communities operate. The South African church society is influenced by such developments taking place globally and which clearly influence how local churches function. This article explores the role of the contemporary church as a ‘reformation agency’ in enhancing a socially transformative agenda in South Africa. A qualitative research approach – an interpretative phenomenology design – was employed to negotiate a shared understanding through conversation and intersubjective meaning-making with church ministers, with the primary focus being their subjective experience of the changing role of the church in enhancing a transformative agenda in a South African context. A purposive sampling (n = 6) consisted of local church leaders who participated in the face-to-face and telephonic semi-structured interviews to achieve the purpose of the study. The findings clearly show that deliberate and intentional actions by churches allow them to become a voice for the marginalised, to create spaces for searching for excellence and to increase the quality of servant leadership, all as vehicles for transforming church society. Furthermore, servant leadership is a social phenomenon, a philosophy-in-practice aimed at leading by example to achieve a common goal. To accomplish this, church ministers are required to spearhead the challenge as a prerequisite to creating ‘lived experienced’ opportunities for members as an inward-outward spiritual journey. Finally, church leaders believed that transformation is a secular dimension, but that it can also be aligned towards God’s redemption plan and enhancing a socially just transformation agenda. Ultimately, this study proposed several recommendations to allow the local church to be relevant in practicing and promoting stronger unity and reconciliation amongst all churches nationally and globally.
Highlights
International political, social, economic and religious developments influence how local communities operate
The main research question is: What role does the local church as a reformation agency play in enhancing a socially transformative agenda in South Africa? To answer the main research question, the following secondary questions were formulated: What is your view of transformation and how can your local church use this principle or strategy to bring change to better the lives of your congregation? Elaborate and give any examples of project(s) your church has implemented over the past 5 years regarding transformation
The biographical data of the purposive sampling consisted of four male (66%) and two female (34%) church leaders who participated in the face-to-face and telephonic interview sessions
Summary
International political, social, economic and religious developments influence how local communities operate. The South African church society is influenced by such developments taking place globally and which clearly influence how local churches function. Swanepoel (2000:21) is of the view that South Africa as a country experienced and continues to experience a number of problems and challenges, such as high levels of poverty, unemployment, murder, other crimes, human trafficking and drug abuse amongst the youth, as well as child and women abuse. These challenges outweigh the HIV and/or AIDS pandemic. The writer contends that the role of religion, and especially the roles of religious leaders – prophets, priests or pastors – is centrally concerned with addressing these challenges, whether through liturgies and other ritual practices, pastoral care, proclamation and interpretation, or helping to http://www.hts.org.za
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