This essay is written in response to a lacuna that appears to exist within the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa with regard to the ancient and highly regarded ministry of spiritual direction. My primary assertion is that, in the light of what might be perceived of as a crisis of relevance in Presbyterian life and spiritual practice, spiritual direction offers one particular way of fostering an exciting and existentially relevant spirituality for the denomination. Through the hoped-for renewal brought about by direction, Presbyterians may well have something to say to a South Africa racked not only with violence and poverty, but also bored by an increasingly irrelevant Christianity. The essay traces that history of spiritual direction most apposite to Presbyterianism in South Africa. This includes an overview of aspects of the Celtic and African spiritual traditions with a view to finding any correspondence that would help to narrow the distance between the spirituality of its black and white members. It then asks questions about the character and tasks of directors. Highlighted is the task of fostering an awareness of God that is not purely ''heavenly minded", but is able to speak into the real issues facing Presbyterians today. The essay goes on to explore the relationship that should exist between director and directee, focussing for a moment on the direction necessary in the directee's prayer life. The essay comes full circle as it considers the implications of introducing direction more widely in this largely "directionless" denomination. As a microcosm of the country, divergent cultures are as much a reality in the P.C.S.A. as in the rest of South Africa. So respect for uniqueness and the practice of interpathy are encouraged as part of the familiarisation process. Throughout the essay, I attempt to show that spiritual direction is a means of allowing the directee to more clearly discern the voice of the Spirit, who constantly encourages the transcendence of self - viz. the breaking of and dying to old perceptions, habits and beliefs so that s/he might more fully enter into the mystery that one usually refers to as God.

This thesis examines the informal sector of the economy in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and the role the church can play in assisting those who are involved. In describing the nature of the informal economic sector the thesis investigates the reasons for the existence of the informal sector, namely the economic structural adjustment programme, unemployment, land and climatic conditions in Bulawayo, post independence political disturbances and easy entry into the industry; the types of the sector, namely, manufacturing and wholesaling, which has the clothing, steel and furniture manufacturing industries; the retail sector, which has the vegetable vending and the flea markets; and the service sector, which has the foreign currency traders and other activities such as television, radio and shoe repairs, prostitution, shebeens and pirate industries. The impact the informal sector has on established business has also been considered, and the role of the funders of the informal sector. Particular attention is drawn to the problems of the informal traders , which are identified as lack of legal protection and freedom of operation, lack of training, lack of access to business and marketing information, lack of credit facilities, lack of quality merchandise, the fact that it is considered illegal business, the problems of foreign currency, fuel shortage and high prices, lack of sanitary conditions, lack of adequate support from the city authorities, lack of equipment and lack of social security. The thesis then presents an argument for the church's involvement in assisting people engaged in the informal economic sector, with a reflection on the Biblical tradition and the concept of humanization. The projects of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa are discussed and attention is drawn to the background history of the activities and administration of the projects, the problems encountered and the way forward. Finally, the thesis proposes eight key strategic initiatives that the church can take. These are the change of attitude of the church in order to meet the needs of the church, advocacy to government, advocacy to banks and financial institutions, by establishing financial support for the informal industry, by supporting organizations such as BUTA and the formation of the National Association of the Informal Sector, by offering training and mentorship , by giving support and counselling and finally by giving of the church's own facilities where necessary and appropriate. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

This dissertation is an attempt to analyse and investigate ways of responding to the poor UPCSA missional approach to Zimbabwean society. The desire to write this dissertation was born out of the experience of working for the past six years as an ordained minister of this denomination in the Presbytery of Zimbabwe, there are six congregations with the right to call a minister, thirty grant receiving and fifteen preaching stations in the whole country which is serviced by thirteen ministers, including probationers. The UPCSA has a total of four thousand five hundred and ninety seven members not counting Sunday school children. The dissertation seeks to survey the history of how the people in the Presbytery of Zimbabwe came to be some of fewer memberships as compared to other denominations in the country. It will focus on colonial and post –colonial events, which led to evangelizing the nation. The spiritual weakness which the people of Presbytery of Zimbabwe (POZ) experience is a product of the evangelism mode of missional approach to society and the failure to contextualize the Good-News. This dissertation considers the possibility of how to correct this state of affairs. Spiritually weak people have been destroyed precisely because they have reduced them to products. How to understand the context and achieve that change is the central issue which the writer addresses in this dissertation. / Dissertation (MA Theol)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Church History and Church Policy / unrestricted