The aim of this study is to examine the communication models with which the church works and if necessary, to create an alternative model. The criticism of the worship service requires that the church rethinks her activities. The target of the study is the Christian worship service as seen in the main stream of Protestant thinking in South Africa. In particular it looks at the Reformed-, Pentecostal- and Neo-pentecostal churchgroups. Church history shows that the church often gets involved with heresy, and that God ever so often brings His church back through specific reformations. In the light of this, the church should ask the right questions now to be able to give the right answers in the twenty first century. The liturgical crisis requires that ministers should lead worship with honesty and enthusiasm. Ministers will have to be careful not to try and produce or imitate God's work, but through the interaction between the people themselves and between God and his people, to be an instrument in God's hand. Therefore this study suggests principles which governs the communication in the worship service. The importance of this study lies in the fact that it tries to understand the very complex situation of communication in the Christian worship service. These peculiar dynamics is both unique and general. Unique, in the sense that the Lord Jesus Christ is present amongst His children, that God through grace intervenes in the lives of people and by this makes the most ideal communication possible. Generally, in the sense that it is through common everyday communication skills, that the worship service is experienced. The individual who attends the service will come to a specific understanding of the situation, through the normal human communication process. This study also designed a measuring device in the form of questionnaires to identify what people experience during the worship service. It comes to the conclusion that ministers must set up the most ideal situation for effective communication during services. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1990.

Zugl.: Hamburg, Univ., Diss., 2006

Thesis (PhD(Godsdiens- en Sendingwetenskap))--Universiteit van Pretoria, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 310-318).

Thesis (D. Miss.)--Reformed Theological Seminary, 1997. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 296-321).

Thesis (MA (Teol.))-Universiteit van Pretoria, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MA) Stellenbosch University, 1982. / No abstract

D.Phil. / This study investigates the management of burnout among ministers of religion in the Dutch Reformed Church ("NG Kerk") Synod of Southern Transvaal. Burnout is a common metaphor for a state of mental exhaustion, usually work-related. The traditional, and most frequently used definition describes burnout as "a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who do 'people work' of some kind" (Maslach & Jackson, 1986: 1). Research literature describes the general symptomatology of the syndrome, its preconditions, and the domain in which it occurs. From the literature it becomes apparent that burnout is a persistent, negative, work-related state of mind in 'normal' individuals that is primarily characterised by exhaustion, which is accompanied by distress, a sense of reduced effectiveness, decreased motivation, and the development of dysfunctional attitudes and behaviours at work. This psychological condition develops gradually but may remain unnoticed for a long time by the individual involved. Often burnout is self-perpetuating because of inadequate coping strategies associated with the syndrome. The more recent multidimensional theory describes burnout as an individual's stress experience embedded in a context of social relationships involving the person's conception of both the self and others. According to this view burnout is a psychological syndrome of emotional exhaustion (stress component), depersonalization (otherevaluation component), and reduced personal accomplishment (self-evaluation component), the product of a major mismatch between the nature of the job and of the person who does the job, and the index of the dislocation between what people are and what they have to do. Six areas of organizational life are identified which can cause the imbalance, mismatch or misfit between the person and work: Workload, control, reward, sense of community, fairness and values. According to the multidimensional view burnout is also seen as a syndrome of exhaustion, negativity, hostility, cynicism and distance, and inefficiency on one side of a continuum, while the opposite and positive side of the continuum is represented by a state of engagement, characterised by energy, positive and supportive involvement and a sense of efficacy and accomplishment. Burnout is not a trivial problem but an important barometer of a major social dysfunction in the workplace that says more about the conditions of their job than it does about the workers. It is therefore not only a problem of the individual worker, but involves the complex interaction between organization and employees, on personal and interpersonal level, and also of specific working conditions and the context in which the work is being done. This interaction shapes the way people see and do their work, and impacts on the well-being of the workers and the organization. Burnout is therefore not only related to negative outcomes for the individual, including depression, a sense of failure, fatigue, and loss of motivation, but also to negative outcomes for the organization, including absenteeism, turnover rates, and lowered productivity.

D.Phil. / This thesis can be regarded as an autoethnographic performance. It consists actually of two plays with ten acts. Most of them have changing scenes Play 1, titled Koringrosie en die kerk, consists of five acts, and tells the story of Koringrosie, the wife of the minister. Her experiences are described against the backdrop of her life in the parsonage. Play 2, Antoinette se doktorale reis with acts six to ten, represents the research story which tells the story behind the stage. True to ethnographic characteristics, these two stories are intermingled, and the reader/playgoer can decide for him- herself which one of the two plays he/she wants to experience first. The first story is an excerpt from the unpublished novel Koringrosie describing my life of twenty one years in a parsonage. With this study I revisit these parts. I started writing Koringrosie during August 1993 with the focus on the one hand to conserve the church culture from 1977-1998. On the other hand it was written to give me a therapeutic space in which I could escape when certain church traditions of an institution like the Church, tended to engulf me.

A new concept has appeared over the last couple of years, and it is receiving more and more attention in the media. Its name is postmodernism. Our children are experiencing it in the schools, on television, on the Internet, and magazines are full of it. Postmodernism is busy changing our society irrevocably, and has arrogantly seated itself in our Churches, preaching and Theology. According to postmodernism, there is no such thing as objective, firm and universal truth – everything is subjective, personal and relative experience. That is why postmodernism has brought the following problems to current preaching in the Christian Church. The preaching will eventually loose its grip on objective, revealed truth and will become morally accommodating, and stop proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the only Mediator. Soon the Church will forsake its faith, loose its identity and forfeit its calling. Lastly, the attack on preaching is not persecution, but making everything relative. The question is: will we still be able to preach Christ as the only way to the Father? The aim of this thesis is to see the challenges that the postmodern time frame has set for the current preaching, and to take the opportunities it presents, to preach the Word of God effectively. According to this thesis, the answer lies in confessional preaching by confessing Jesus Christ. / Dissertation (MA(Teologie))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

AFRIKAANS : Sewe kerkregtelike beginsels word in Hoofstuk 1 onderskei vir die beoordeling van die kerkreg en kerkregering van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk (=NGSK), Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in Afrika (=NGKA), Reformed Church in Africa (=RCA) en die Verenigende Gereformeerde Kerk in Suider-Afrika (=VGKSA) te wete: i. Christus as hoof van die kerk, ii. Die selfstandigheid van die plaaslike kerk, iii. Die karakter van die kerkverband, iv. Die karakter van die gesag van die meerdere vergadering, v. Die tugreg ten opsigte van ampsdraers, vi. Die appèlreg ten opsigte van besluite van die meerdere vergadering, vii. Die bevoegdheid van die meerdere vergadering met betrekking tot wanbestuur. Hoofstuk 2 handel kursories oor die kerkregtelike ontwikkeling van die Gereformeerde Kerke in Nederland (1816-1944). In dié hoofstuk word die grondslae en uitgangspunte van die Doleansiekerkreg aangeteken. Die Doleansie beoog nie om ’n nuwe kerkreg te ontwikkel nie, maar gryp terug na die sisteem van kerkregering soos vasgestel deur die Nasionale Sinode van Dordrecht (1618-1619). Beide die Doleansiekerkreg (oud kerkrecht) en die nieuwe kerkrecht het die kerkreg en kerkregering van die sendingkerke onmiskenbaar beïnvloed. Die studie is daarom interaksie tussen die insigte van A Kuyper, F C Rutgers, A F de Savornin Lohman, asook H. Bouwman, J van Lonkhuyzen, W A van Es, aan die eenkant en H G Kleyn, H H Kuyper, M Bouwman en Joh Jansen aan die anderkant. Die ekklesiologiese onderbou in die regering van die kerk asook die verskillende kerkregeringstelsels kom ook in die hoofstuk onder bespreking. Hoofstuk 3 dek kursories die kerkreg en kerkregering van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK) in soverre dit betrekking het op die kerkreg en kerkregering van die sendingkerke. Die NGK het aanvanklik die kerkregtelike beginsels, soos veronderstel word in die Algemeen Reglement voor het bestuur der Nederlandsche Hervormde Kerk in het Koningrijk (1816) , onderskryf en het by die daarstelling van die sendingkerke beide die teologiese insigte van Voetius met betrekking tot die sending in onder andere sy Politica Ecclesiastica asook Doleansiekerkregbeginsels geïgnoreer. In Hoofstukke 4 tot 7 word die kerkreg en kerkregering van die NGSK, NGKA, RCA asook die VGKSA gedek. Die onderskeie sendingkerke het sedert die stigtingsjare tot en met 1978, met die daarstelling van die eerste kerkorde, gepoog om hul kerkreg en kerkorde op Doleansiekerkregbeginsels te skoei. Van meet af is klem gelê op die selfstandigheid van die plaaslike gemeente, die konfederatiewe karakter van die kerkverband asook die tugreg van die meerdere vergadering. Gedurende die negentigerjare tot op hede het die meerdere vergaderinge van die NGKA, NGSK en selfs latere VGKSA hul gaandeweg die gesag toegeëien om sonder inspraak van die mindere vergadering ingrypende besluite met betrekking tot kerkeenwording, eiendomsreg en selfs die belydenisgrondslag te maak. In Hoofstuk 8 word die kerkregtelike beginsels wat uit beide die Doleansiekerkregbeginsels en die nieuwe kerkrecht in die voorafgaande hoofstukke onderskei was, in ’n kerkregtelike raamwerk gesinkroniseer. ’n Behoefte aan kerkordelike reëlings dat die meerdere vergaderinge in die geval van wanbestuur, onmag, dwaalleer of skeurmakery oor die reg beskik om in die bestuur van plaaslike gemeentes in te gryp en hul besluite in mindere vergaderinge te implementeer, word aan die einde van die dissertasie aangedui. ENGLISH : Chapter 1 entails the research methodology and theoretical framework of this dissertation. One can discern seven church polity principles in this chapter to adjudicate the church polity and church governance of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church, (=DRMC), Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (=DRCA), Reformed Church in Africa (==RCA) and the United Reformed Church in Southern Africa (=URCSA): i. Christ as head of the church, ii. The autonomy of the local church, iii. The character of the denominational ties, iv. The character of the power of the major assemblies, v. The power to discipline church officials, vi. The appeal right regarding decisions of the major assemblies, vii. The capability of the major assemblies regarding misconduct. Chapter 2 deals cursorily with the church polity development of the Dutch Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (1816-1944). The foundational grounds and main notions on Doleansie Church polity are being drawn in this chapter. The Doleansie did not try to develop a new church polity system, but is rather a regression to a system of church polity as enacted by the National Synod of Dordrecht (1618-1619). Both the Doleansie church polity (oud kerkrecht) and the nieuwe kerkrecht impacted the church polity and the church governance of the mission churches. The study is therefore a interaction between the notions of A Kuyper, F C Rutgers, A F de Savornin Lohman, and H Bouwman, J van Lonkhuyzen, W A van Es, on the one side and H G Kleyn, H H Kuyper, M Bouwman and Joh Jansen on the other side. The ecclesiological basis of the governance of the church as well as the different church polity system is also discussed in this chapter. Chapter 3 focuses cursorily on the church polity and church governance of the Dutch Reformed Church, (DRC) in so far it has implications on the church polity and church governance of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church, (DRMC). At the outset the DRC subscribed to the church polity principles as presumed in the Algemeen Reglement voor het bestuur der Nederlandsche Hervormde Kerk in het Koningrijk (1816) and ignored at the inception of the mission churches the theological notions of Voetius about mission in his Politica Ecclesiastica as well as Doleansie church polity principles. The overriding jurisdiction resided in the mission commission of the DRC. In Chapters 4 to 7 an attempt is made to investigate the church polity and church governance of the DRMC, DRCA, RCA and the URCSA. Since their inception the mission churches until 1978 with the acceptance of the first church order tried to base their church polity and church order on Doleansie church polity principles. From the outset the mission churches placed emphasis on the autonomy of the local churches, the confederative character of the denomination and the disciplinary power of the major assemblies. During the nineties up to date the major assemblies gradually usurped power to make decisions on church unification, property rights and even the confessional basis of the church without giving the minor assemblies the opportunity to participate in the decision making. The church polity principles, discerned out of the Doleansie Church polity and the nieuwe kerkrecht in the preceding chapters, are synchronized in Chapter 8 in a church polity framework. A need for church order regulations that give the major assemblies in case of maladministration, impuissance, heresy or schism the right to intervene in the governance of the local congregation and to implement their decisions in minor assemblies are presented at the end of this dissertation. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Church History and Church Policy / unrestricted