Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1993. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 238-243).

This thesis is an exploration into the integration of a pastoral, narrative and family therapy approach with the purpose of developing an integrated family workbook that ministers, pastors, counsellors and families can use as a pro-active guide in counselling. It is a qualitative exploratory study using in-depth literature studies as well as in-depth interviews and research into existing family counselling models. Participants to the study were social workers, ministers, pastors, counsellors and psychologist. The in-depth-literature study focused primarily on the theory and practice of a pastoral, narrative and family approach and secondly on the history of psychology and theology integration.Both the literature study, research into existing family therapy models and in-depth interviews confirm to the research questions: Is it possible to integrate a pastoral, narrative and family therapy approach? Is there a need for an integrated family therapy workbook?-in that - families do not only struggle to cope on a socio-economic level (lack of income and housing for example) but the lack of morals and values and “get together” also plays a vital role. In the voice of participants: “Families need to discover their own family belief and faith system and hear the voices of one another, they need to be understood in terms of their religion, culture, tradition, history and life story”.Many counsellors use one preferred approach in counselling. Harm can come to clients in counselling who are expected to fit all the specifications of a given theory. Practitioners need to challenge and tailor their theory and practice to fit the unique needs of clients/families. This requirement calls for counsellors to possess knowledge of various cultures, be aware of their own cultural heritage, and have skills to assist a wide spectrum of clients in dealing with reality. Each theory has its unique contributions and its own domain of expertise. By accepting that each theory has strengths and weaknesses and is, by definition, “different” from the others, practitioners have some basis to begin developing a theory that fits for them. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology with specialisation in Pastoral Narrative and Family counselling)

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Faculty of Theology and Religion Studies at the University of Zululand, 2002. / The thesis of this study is that the concept of the church as oikost as found in. Luke-Acts provides principles to inspire the church to meet some present challenges- The concepts of church and family in the Gospel of Luke and in the Acts of the Apostles were examined. It was found that the first church community was constituted on the pattern of the extended family in the Greco-Roman world of the first century. This allowed for the development of a rich culture of interpersonal relationships. It was within this environment that the love taught and exemplified by Jesus found its first concrete expression. In family churches, comprising of between 50-100 members, care was taken of individuals in a holistic sense. This was especially important in a society that existed long before the invention of social services, pensions, hospitals and care for the aged. This example set by the first church had far-reaching political consequences. In the fourth century it was this kind of church structure that was taken as a model for the whole of the Roman Empire. This study reflects a distinctive choice regarding methodology in the application of a unique combination of both the contextual and social-scientific methods. A danger of contextual methodology is to concentrate on the present context at the expense of the context of the text. A deliberate attempt is made to avoid this by an inclusive approach of both contexts. The second part of the combination in the methodology of this thesis is the application of the social-scientific approach to the Biblical text and to our present context. This method is used as an extension of the contextual method, in order to avoid possible distortions caused by the latter. This pursuit does not seek to operate at the exclusion of other accepted approaches to the Biblical text, namely those of the literary, linguistic and historical, but functions eclectically whilst highlighting the rewards of the social-scientific methodology. The term 'social-scientific' is used in this study to broadly embrace the sociological approaches to the study of the New Testament text and to our present context. In addition to uncovering the social context of the Biblical text, this study is equally eager to understand the 'now' of one's own Sitz im Leben. Therefore, current social-scientific insights together with those from family sociology are utilised to balance the methodological framework. In short, a social-scientific understanding of the concept of oikos will assist in analysing the context of the Biblical text. A social-scientific analysis of the present context will facilitate a re-contextualisation of the church as oikos in the new South Africa. Chapter one outlines the methodology. A social-scientific study of the concept of oikos in Luke-Acts is engaged in chapter two. Chapter three commences with a sociological perspective of the family. This includes a contextual analysis of families in South Africa. The next chapter (chapter four) explores ministry perspectives to ascertain how the local church can function as oikos. Chapter five proposes a model for the ministry of the church while chapter six contextualises the church as oikos. A final concluding chapter summarises and synthesises the research.

Questionnaire responses of 244 active church members regarding the church's role in providing programs and services for family life needs and issues were analyzed. The sample were members of Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, 16 years old and older who attended at least one church service per month. The major predictors of a church member's general attitude concerning the church providing programs/services for family life are age and feelings of general needs of families in America. The younger members tend to be more interested in a wider variety of church sponsored programs/services while older members are less supportive of a broad spectrum of family life programs. The greater the church member's feeling of needs of families in general the more positive their expressed attitude about the church offering programs/services. There is also a systematic relationship between gender of the church member and their attitude toward the church providing family programs/services. Females tend to hold the stronger feelings, both positive and negative, while males tend to express the more moderate attitudes. A relatively strong positive correlation was found between the church member's awareness of the availability of a specific program or service and their perception of the appropriateness of the church offering the program or service. Counseling is perceived as a priority for the church to offer, with the exceptions of pregnancy counseling and financial counseling. Programs and services dealing with aging issues and for the elderly tend to be ranked low in priority for the church to offer, as well as programs and services in connection with community services. Systematic relationships between specific programs/services and various demographic measures or church involvement measures are also discussed. / Master of Science

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-123).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-171).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / Added title page in Korean: Kajŏng purhwa wigi ŭi yebang kwa kŭkpok ŭl wihan yŏngsŏng hoebok pʻŭrogŭraem kaebal. 880-02 Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-76).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1993. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-160).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, MO, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-134).

Thesis (D. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Seminary, 2006. / Includes abstract and vita. "November 2006" Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-155)