This study flows from an awareness of the crisis in the church, and specifically in the Dutch Reformed Church The Reeds, concerning the lack of faith identity as well as the lack of assimilation with the faith community after confirmation. The hypothesis chosen for this study, which also determined the opening argument, was that parental mentorship and involvement of parents in faith development assist in the development, understanding and living of children’s faith identity as well as their assimilation with the faith community after confirmation. The opposite of this is also made clear – a lack of parental mentorship and involvement of parents in faith development is the cause of the absence of faith identity and assimilation with the faith community after confirmation. From a perspective of building up the local church this hypothesis is examined theologically, psychologically and empirically. The study concludes that this hypothesis definitely holds ground. The role of the involvement or absence of parents in children’s faith identity and faith development is examined. The role of the faith community in supporting parents with their mentoring role is also probed and the results clearly indicate the need for an adjustment in the approach of the church’s youth ministry. Another meaningful finding is that there has been a shift in the past few decades (regarding where the responsibility for the development of children’s faith lie) from parents to the faith community. Parents were gradually shifted out of youth ministry, which caused the drop-off culture that currently exists. To ensure a generation that understands and live their faith identity and who are still actively involved in their faith community after confirmation, begs for definite action. To address this crisis, different strategies and action plans are proposed in order to move away from church-centred, home-supporting youth ministry to home-centred, church-supporting youth ministry. This implies long-term implementation and will result in parents once again taking primary responsibility for the faith development of their children. This further infers that faith communities must include parents in the ministry to children before and during their Sunday-school and catechism years. Copyright / Dissertation (MA(Theol))--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

Ten spyte daarvan dat die meeste skoolgaande jongmense in die Ned Geref Kerk kategese deurloop, en self in die finale jaar van kategese, word daar nie veel aandag aan lewenstories van die katkisante geskenk nie. Hierdie studie oor geloofsontwikkeling by `n groep katkisante word gedoen vanuit pastoraal teologiese perspektief en `n sosiale konstruksieteorie diskoers. Oor `n tydperk van `n jaar is daar deur middel van kwalitatiewe navorsing `n proses gevolg met `n finalejaarsgroep van nege-en-twintig katkisante met die doel om geloofsontwikkeling te laat plaasvind, deur aandag aan hulle geloofsverhale te gee met die oog op die skryf van `n eie geloofsbelydenis. Na die tyd is oor die proses gereflekteer. Drie aspekte het die studie gerig. Die konteks waarbinne die studie plaasgevind het, wat bestaan uit die gemeente, breër samelewing, paradigmas, verbande en verhoudinge waarbinne die proses plaasgevind het. Die inhoud van die kategese, wat deelnemend gekonstrueer was. Die groep van nege-en-twintig jongmense wat met finalejaarkategese besig was, word binne konteks betrek by deelnemende pastorale kategese. My metode was om binne die gemeente, in die kategese, `n ruimte te skep waarbinne die katkisante deelnemend die kategetiese proses gekonstrueer het. Sodoende sou die klem op deelname val wat die hooffokus van die studie is. Die aandag wat daar aan die katkisante se lewensverhale gegee word maak die narratiewe diskoers relevant vir hierdie studie. Kategese binne hierdie studie het 'n deelnemende karakter. Die volgende benaderings het die deelnemende karakter ondersteun. Die kategesepraktyk skuif na `n pastorale benadering. Die leerinhoude se klem verskuif na verhoudings. Die kategetiese inhoud word sosiaal gekonstrueer. Despite the fact that most youth from the Dutch Reformed Church are of school going age during their final year of catechism, insufficient attention is given to the life stories of these young people. My research project on faith development with a group of young people involved in catechism was shaped by a pastoral theological perspective and a social constructionist discourse. Over a period of a year a process of qualitative research was conducted with a group of twenty-nine young conformants. The aim was to encourage faith development by given attention to their faith stories with the intention for them to write their own confessions of faith. Afterwards the process was reflected on. The study was guided by three themes. The context in which the study was conducted, consisted of the congregation, society at large, paradigms and relationships in which the process took place. The context of the catechism was conducted is a participatory manner. The third theme was the group of twenty-nine young people that participated in their final year of catechism in which the context of participatory pastoral catechism was focused on. The approach that was followed, was create space within the congregation for catechism to be conducted in a participatory manner with the twenty-nine young participants. In this way participation which is the main focus of this study is accentuated. The attention to the life stories of these young people makes the narrative discourse relevant to the study. Catechism according to this study has a participatory character that is supported by the following approaches. The practice of catechism shifts to a pastoral approach. The content of the catechism shifts to relationships. The content of the catechism becomes socially constructed. / Practial Theology / D. Th. (Pastoral Therapy)

Ten spyte daarvan dat die meeste skoolgaande jongmense in die Ned Geref Kerk kategese deurloop, en self in die finale jaar van kategese, word daar nie veel aandag aan lewenstories van die katkisante geskenk nie. Hierdie studie oor geloofsontwikkeling by `n groep katkisante word gedoen vanuit pastoraal teologiese perspektief en `n sosiale konstruksieteorie diskoers. Oor `n tydperk van `n jaar is daar deur middel van kwalitatiewe navorsing `n proses gevolg met `n finalejaarsgroep van nege-en-twintig katkisante met die doel om geloofsontwikkeling te laat plaasvind, deur aandag aan hulle geloofsverhale te gee met die oog op die skryf van `n eie geloofsbelydenis. Na die tyd is oor die proses gereflekteer. Drie aspekte het die studie gerig. Die konteks waarbinne die studie plaasgevind het, wat bestaan uit die gemeente, breër samelewing, paradigmas, verbande en verhoudinge waarbinne die proses plaasgevind het. Die inhoud van die kategese, wat deelnemend gekonstrueer was. Die groep van nege-en-twintig jongmense wat met finalejaarkategese besig was, word binne konteks betrek by deelnemende pastorale kategese. My metode was om binne die gemeente, in die kategese, `n ruimte te skep waarbinne die katkisante deelnemend die kategetiese proses gekonstrueer het. Sodoende sou die klem op deelname val wat die hooffokus van die studie is. Die aandag wat daar aan die katkisante se lewensverhale gegee word maak die narratiewe diskoers relevant vir hierdie studie. Kategese binne hierdie studie het 'n deelnemende karakter. Die volgende benaderings het die deelnemende karakter ondersteun. Die kategesepraktyk skuif na `n pastorale benadering. Die leerinhoude se klem verskuif na verhoudings. Die kategetiese inhoud word sosiaal gekonstrueer. Despite the fact that most youth from the Dutch Reformed Church are of school going age during their final year of catechism, insufficient attention is given to the life stories of these young people. My research project on faith development with a group of young people involved in catechism was shaped by a pastoral theological perspective and a social constructionist discourse. Over a period of a year a process of qualitative research was conducted with a group of twenty-nine young conformants. The aim was to encourage faith development by given attention to their faith stories with the intention for them to write their own confessions of faith. Afterwards the process was reflected on. The study was guided by three themes. The context in which the study was conducted, consisted of the congregation, society at large, paradigms and relationships in which the process took place. The context of the catechism was conducted is a participatory manner. The third theme was the group of twenty-nine young people that participated in their final year of catechism in which the context of participatory pastoral catechism was focused on. The approach that was followed, was create space within the congregation for catechism to be conducted in a participatory manner with the twenty-nine young participants. In this way participation which is the main focus of this study is accentuated. The attention to the life stories of these young people makes the narrative discourse relevant to the study. Catechism according to this study has a participatory character that is supported by the following approaches. The practice of catechism shifts to a pastoral approach. The content of the catechism shifts to relationships. The content of the catechism becomes socially constructed. / Practial Theology / D. Th. (Pastoral Therapy)