No abstract available / Dissertation (MA(Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

Several theories have been used to capture the trend of a general decline in religiosity in Western Europe. The main assumption in most of these theories is that religiosity amongst the public has shifted towards a more private and individual form of belief that refrains from the traditional church-based belief. Contemporary Sweden is often singled out as a country where the secularization process has gone particularly far. The earliest results indicating a decline in church-oriented religiosity in Sweden goes back to 1955. The aim of this study is to investigate the Swedish public's religiosity and attitude towards the Church of Sweden's attempts at religious profiling in the early post-war period. The empirical data consists of a public opinion poll concerning the state-church and Christianity that was carried out in 1948. The result of the study indicates that only a minority of the Swedish public at the time subscribed to a church-based religiosity. Religion was increasingly seen as a private matter, a trend that becomes even clearer if one considers how the Swedes who participated in the opinion poll related to the Church of Sweden’s attempts to clarify its core beliefs.

The current study explored the contributions of the Salvation Army (TSA) to social organization in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Being one of the leading Church-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs), TSA plays a fundamental role in delivering social services to the DRC. To understand the organization's social activities in the African state, the researcher adopted a qualitative phenomenological research design to explore the lived experiences of the respondents on TSA's role as a social organization. A sample population of 10 participants (n=10) drawn from Kinshasa, DRC, was used, and in-depth interviews were adopted in collecting data. From the research, it was evident that the primary themes that emerged included shelter, disaster management, education, healthcare, and social growth and development. The research illustrated that TSA's services align with its principles and doctrines of helping humankind. TSA's goal is to alleviate the suffering of humanity by providing basic social services. Hence, TSA collaborates with other organizations, particularly the government, to address immediate social challenges affecting a particular community. The research concluded that TSA is a social organization driven by the desire to serve all people equally, whether believers or non-believers address social challenges impeding their well-being. TSA continues to play a pivotal role in alleviating the well-being of communities in impoverished Kinshasa, DRC.

FAJSTAVROVÁ, Elena. Palliative care in the Czech Republic. Comparison between church based and non-church based care institutes. The diploma thesis focuses on the palliative care in the Czech Republic, on the comparison between the church based and non-church based institutes. The thesis carries out a research in six different institutes providing a palliative care. Based on interviews with doctors, spirituals and patient the institutes provide answers to main research topics of the thesis. By analysis of the interviews the care in different types of institutes and also in the particular institutes is examined and compared. The final part of the thesis summarizes the research with a study of ethical issues in dying. The diploma thesis provides examples in theory and practise of end of life care. The thesis can be used as a source of information for those looking for a palliative care.

Following the completion of four minor research projects as part of a doctoral program at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, the writer developed an interest in the church-based values and beliefs held by students in Ministry Training Colleges (MTCs). The four minor projects revealed that a strongly embedded culture seemed to exist within the Assemblies Of God (AOG) in Australia. The aim of this study was to investigate the transmission of church-based values to students in an AOG, Ministry Training College (MTC) context. It undertakes this task by asking five Research Questions: What values are transmitted in AOG church contexts? ; From what principal sources do the values come? ; Why are the values transmitted in AOG church contexts? ; How, and by what means, are these values transmitted? ; and How and why would students choose to acquire these values? After briefly describing the religious context in Australia, defining the meaning of values, and examining various models of transfer, the dissertation includes a review of the literature relevant to values processes. The review is organized according to the Research Questions. From this, a theoretical explanation is produced that anticipates how values processes may impact on MTC students in an AOG context. A suitable method was selected, namely interactive interviews, from which to obtain data relevant to the Research Questions. Six student subjects from a MTC in Australia, as a selected group of AOG participants, were subsequently interviewed and the data were organized, presented and analyzed. The data analysis and interpretation confirmed the theoretical position taken as far as their overall applicability to values transfer was concerned, namely: the values transmitted are primarily charismatic values, with some lesser emphasis on character values; the sources from which the values come are primarily Christian-influenced; the values are transmitted in AOG contexts because AOG churches, departments and ministries aim to be change agents in the community, to promote church continuance, and to a lesser extent, to motivate their members; the values are transmitted through various AOG communicative methods and through utilizing suitable venues for facilitating transmission. Low-Road conditions (i.e., transferring values across highly similar situations) are utilized; and MTC students choose to acquire values because of their personal interests and passions, including their desire to be accepted within the AOG church. However, the data also indicate that the unique, personal characteristics of MTC students strongly impact on the way they engage with values processes. In short, the students are highly compliant and committed to the church. However, each student respondent has his/her own set of reasons and characteristics for cooperating with church-based values. The dissertation concludes by identifying a number of issues raised by the data, that need further investigation, and by discussing some of the implications arising from the data. Its key finding is that AOG students tend to eagerly acquire church-based values, even though they have different reasons for doing so, and that they present themselves to the AOG church as highly compliant. In this sense, students may be seen as &quotmade in the image of the church&quot.

African Americans carry a disproportionate amount of the health burden for chronic disease in the United States (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007). Diabetes, heart disease and cancer, to name a few, are diseases which prematurely capture the lives of African Americans. While chronic, these diseases are preventable with the advent of behavioral change. Physical activity is a primary contributor to longer life expectancy and fewer health concerns (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). While American society, as a whole, struggles to incorporate more physical activity in their lifestyles, African Americans exhibit higher levels of physical inactivity which correlates to higher instances of preventable and chronic health problems in this subgroup of the population. Thus intervention which addresses the specific needs of this community, the mechanisms by which to prompt behavior change and the most effective means to disseminate this information is needed to affect health behavior change in this population. The African American church provides an ideal vehicle by which to diminish these health issues as existing teaching, support and resource mechanisms can be utilized. The current paper explores the relationship between increasing intrinsic motivation through employing motivational interviewing as a strategy to increase physical activity among African Americans church members.

This thesis explores the increasingly relevant sanctuary phenomenon in the Canadian context by studying church-based sanctuary and Sanctuary City. These two main applications of Canadian political sanctuary experience differing successes and contrasting relationships with the state. The question underpinning this thesis is what characteristics explain why some sanctuaries are successful and what helps to explain the Canadian state’s respective response to these two sanctuaries. I argue that part of the answer lies in how sanctuary-providers configure four characteristics that are common to all applications of sanctuary. These four – intervention, space, the precarious subject of sanctuary, and transparency – highlight the aims and purposes of any given sanctuary as well as the relationship that sanctuary has with the state. Overall, I argue that Canadian church-based sanctuary has been a successful political sanctuary while Canadian Sanctuary City has not been successful. / Graduate

In lifetime risk for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) are at the greatest risk of all demographic groups. Creative modes of engagement have been established to reach this group in prevention efforts, including prevention programming in community-based organizations such as churches. Church-based HIV prevention is an emerging area of research and existing studies fall into one of three categories: BMSM’s perspectives on church and church-based HIV prevention, church leaders’ and members’ perspectives on HIV prevention in their congregations, and reported outcomes of HIV prevention interventions that have been conducted in church settings. Given the paucity of research in this area, a scoping analysis was conducted to survey the existing studies in order to identify overarching themes and gaps for future research efforts. In a review of the research, facilitators and barriers to successful implementation of HIV programming in churches emerged. Prominent barriers were stigmatizing sermons given in church and pastoral denial that HIV is a relevant issue to the Black community. Facilitators reported commonly were BMSM’s comfort found in faith and a pastor’s blessing of HIV prevention efforts in churches. Interventions primarily reported lessons learned in implementation of church-based HIV programs. A frequently reported lesson learned was the importance of close collaboration with participant churches to develop program curricula that were effectively couched within church doctrine, and that would be received well by church members. Some interventions also measured intervention efficacy outcomes, one of which showed a statistically significant decrease in HIV stigma post-intervention. This research has important implications for the effective development, implementation, and reporting of outcomes for future, church-based HIV interventions. As research in HIV prevention in the church continues to develop, it may be able to serve as a template for other community-based HIV prevention efforts and open doors for inclusion of other high risk groups such as injection drug users and sex workers.

Very little is known in the UK about how parental church-based ministry impacts the lives of their children. Clergy children themselves have rarely, if ever, been afforded the opportunity to formally express their views and opinions on this crucial aspect of their lives, to the extent that they have been described as a ‘lost voice’ in the Church. This thesis seeks to fill this gap in our knowledge with a combination of extensive literature reviews, data obtained from a Pilot Study using the social network system Facebook, and semi-structured interviews with six adult clergy children from different denominational backgrounds who are now ministers in their own right, and by so doing help raise their profile in the Christian community. Taken together, the data confirms that the church-based ministry of clergy parents does impact their children’s lives and that if responses are any indication, other clergy children too, are able to make their views and insights known if asked. In other words, their voices need no longer be “lost,” but can be heard. In so doing they offer a fresh perspective on the practice of church-based ministry. Based on these findings the thesis proceeds to outline the theological and practical implications for the practice of ministry with a call to affirm the importance of a person’s story in the task of theological reflection; to recognise the contribution of children’s insights to faith and practice, and the values on which pastoral care should be based as outlined by the participants themselves. It concludes by proposing that further research is required in order to ascertain the full extent on how church-based ministry impacts the lives of clergy children, a topic which in the UK still remains a largely unexplored aspect of Church life and practice.

Diploma thesis is focused on non-governmental and non-profit organisation's specifications. It is aimed mainly on church-based legal entity, foundations and endowment funds, civil associations, public beneficial association and universities. One chapter describes financial management of above-mentioned organisations and its specificities including planning, fundraising, operational management and evaluation. Methods of establishment, creation, cancellation, cessation and management of the organisation are described from legal point of view. In one part of the thesis I have concentrated on tax allowances within income tax, Vehicle Excise Duty, immovable property tax, capital transfer tax, gift tax and real estate-transfer tax. The following chapter focuses on accounting and its differences compared to companies. The aim of the practical part is to analyze the financial management of registered legal entity, which is estabilished by church-based legal entity -The Archdiocese Caritas Prague. The analysis focuses on content and progress of costs and revenues in period 2005 -2007.