From Introduction: For many years I have been interested in the relationship between ethical and moral attitudes and values and religious belief. I became aware of a conflict in attitudes concerning the role of the Church in society as a member of the Methodist Church, and this stimulated me to study seriously the role of the Church in present day society. I found that members of the Wesley Guild, of which I myself was a member, conceived of the Guild in three forms: (a) as a social club; (b) as an institution for training in Christian service, both at the level of spiritual belief and practice and at the level of practical help to those in human need; (c) as an assooiation where individual spiritual values are fostered. Members differed in their view of the Guild, some seeing it in terms of all three enumerated forms, others emphasising one or two of these forms. This induced tension within the Guild. Wider observation led me to the view that this diffused concept of the Church and its functions was not peculiar to the Wesley Guild. It seemed to be general to the South African Church. I became confirmed in this view when, as a student at Rhodes University, I found that many theological students of different denominations shared it.

Thesis (MA)-- tellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa today is facing many social and welfare problems. Three of which are very prominent: named HIV/Aids; unemployment; and sexual and/or violent crimes against woman and children. With churches being some of the biggest and most influential nongovernmental organizations in the country, government is increasingly acknowledging that churches have a very important role to play in order to help curb social and welfare problems in the community. One inhibiting factor keeps churches from playing the role that government is expecting of them: the roles and expected roles of churches have not been quantified sufficiently. A geographical information system was chosen to help in this process of quantification. Previous studies related to GIS being used by social and welfare services showed that this software give these service agencies a powerful new way to analyse services in relation to clients and the communities in which they operate. The crux throughout the study is the process by which it is shown how a GIS can be used and is central from the process of data gathering, storing and manipulation of the gathered data, deriving information from it, through to communicating and visualising the obtained results. Key words: geographical information systems; GIS; ArcGIS; Statistica; Microsoft Access; church; NGO; social services; social problems; welfare services; welfare problems; data base; data base management systems; geodatabase; Factor Analysis; quantification / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hedendaagse Suid Afrika is daar 'n menigte van sosiale en maatskaplike probleme. Drie van die prominentste van die probleme is MN/Vigs, werkloosheid en seksuele en/of geweldsmisdade teen vroue en kinders. Kerke is van die grootste en mees invloedryke nieregeringsorganisasies in Suid Afrika. Die regering besef al meer dat kerke 'n belangrike rol kan speel in die aanspreek van die sosiale en maatskaplike probleme van die land. Daar is egter 'n inhiberende faktor wat kerke daarvan weerhou om dié rol te speel wat die regering van hul verwag; en dit is die feit dat die rol wat kerke speel, en die rol wat die publiek verwag kerke moet speel, nog nie gekwantifiseer is nie. 'n Geografiese inligting stelsel is gekies om te help in die proses van kwantifisering. Vorige studies waar daar gekyk is na die gebruik van GIS deur sosiale en maatskaplike dienste het aangedui dat die sagteware hierdie dienste 'n effektiewe en innoverende wyse gee waardeur hul dienste ontleed en gemonitor kan word. In die studie word gewys hoe 'n GIS gebruik kan word en sentraal is in die prosesse van data insameling, stoor en manipulasie van die ingesamelde data, hoe data omgesit word in inligting en laastens die kommunikasie en visualisering van die resultate wat verkry word.

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

The study strives to highlight the factors contributing to unemployment in South Africa, specifically economic factors. The primary focus of the study is to analyse the impact of unemployment within the economy. The core the underlying causes of unemployment within the economy are low standard of education, low standard of living, and ineffective macroeconomic policies such as Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR). The assumption of the study is that unemployment is a socioeconomic issue which the government is struggling to address adequately. The study outlines the challenges faced by the government in tackling unemployment. It also uses the Kuyga Township as a case study, analysing the impact of unemployment and poverty within the community. The government has made efforts to address the aforementioned issue. It established specific macroeconomic policies to remedy the situation. However, these policies fell short and were ineffective. The apartheid system created an environment that continues to perpetuate both unemployment and poverty especially within poor communities. Kuyga Township has a high rate of unemployment which contributes to poverty. The study’s aim was to investigate the impact of unemployment in Nelson Mandela Bay area, determine the rate of unemployment, and compare strategies, projects and or programmes creating job opportunities in the area. It evaluated the success and failure of policies and strategies formulated to combat unemployment and alleviate poverty. The study also strived to determine the number of individuals affected by unemployment in Kuyga Township and the Nelson Mandela Bay area. The study makes recommendation and proposes plausible measures which the government could implement in order to manage and curtail the prevalence of unemployment and poverty within the Kuyga Township. It also highlights the role thatbusinesses can play in creating employment opportunities within the community.

The issue of refugees in South Africa has come under the spotlight recently, particularly in the light of the xenophobic violence that swept the country in 2008. As a Baptist pastor, working in a congregation which has a vital ministry towards refugees, the writer became aware that only a handful of Baptist congregations in the Western Cape had a similar concern for refugees and asylum seekers. These observations raised the question of ministry to refugees on the part of Baptist churches in SA. As Baptist churches adhere to the principle of the supremacy of Scripture, the motivation for churches to minister to refugees should to be based upon biblical theology. This dissertation seeks to provide such a biblical theology of ministry to refugees that can in turn provide a basis from which local congregation can develop such ministry. To provide the context of refugees in SA, this study begins by outlining the phenomenon of refugees in the context of SA, as well as the conditions experienced by refugees. This dissertation further seeks to delineate a number of Baptist principles that relate to the issue of Baptist churches and ministry to refugees. It also seeks to look at the role that various Baptist agencies such as the Baptist Union of Southern Africa (BUSA) and the Western Province Baptist Association have to play in ministry to refugees. The study then goes on to discuss biblical material from both the Old and New The issue of refugees in South Africa has come under the spotlight recently, particularly in the light of the xenophobic violence that swept the country in 2008. As a Baptist pastor, working in a congregation which has a vital ministry towards refugees, the writer became aware that only a handful of Baptist congregations in the Western Cape had a similar concern for refugees and asylum seekers. These observations raised the question of ministry to refugees on the part of Baptist churches in SA. As Baptist churches adhere to the principle of the supremacy of Scripture, the motivation for churches to minister to refugees should to be based upon biblical theology. This dissertation seeks to provide such a biblical theology of ministry to refugees that can in turn provide a basis from which local congregation can develop such ministry. To provide the context of refugees in SA, this study begins by outlining the phenomenon of refugees in the context of SA, as well as the conditions experienced by refugees. This dissertation further seeks to delineate a number of Baptist principles that relate to the issue of Baptist churches and ministry to refugees. It also seeks to look at the role that various Baptist agencies such as the Baptist Union of Southern Africa (BUSA) and the Western Province Baptist Association have to play in ministry to refugees. The study then goes on to discuss biblical material from both the Old and New Testaments pertaining to refugees. The dissertation then seeks to develop a theology of ministry to refugees based upon the biblical material that can be used to motivate local Baptist congregations to minister to refugees. In the final section the theology of ministry to refugees is used to evaluate current models of ministry directed towards refugees.

Bibliography: pages 442-458. / PART ONE elucidates the theoretical basis of the study and its assumptions. After surveying South African church historiography and concluding that synchronic political economic history is seldom integrated into the Church story, it is argued that critical social theory should inform church historiography. An historical material framework is adopted and the relationship of theory and practice established... PART TWO, the bulk of the study, analyses the churches in context. To set the scene, the missionary period of the nineteenth century is discussed in relation to Victorian expansionism, concluding that, whatever their value, the missions were closely tied in to imperial interests and the penetration of capital, fundamentally altering the indigenous societies. This leads to a brief consideration of race and class in the South African political economy. A class definition is adopted that allows for fractions within the dominant capital-labour dichotomy. Finally, an overview of the first stage of industrialisation follows in respect of primitive accumulation, gold mining, farming, alcohol and domestic workers. With that background to the 1903-1930 period clear, extensive archival material is used to describe and analyse the churches in relation to their political economic context. The focus is the Church in industrialisation, including the shaping of its practice, polity and theology by the conflicts and interests of foreign and national capital... PART THREE returns to the earlier theoretical framework in order to found a theory of religion and theology. David Tracy's notions of the limits-to human agency and the limits-of experience locate the religious phenomenon in relation to empirical-analytic and historical-hermeneutic sciences. Questions of meaning, meaningfulness and truth are introduced. Utilising Theodore Jennings, William Lynch and Paul Ricoeur, the structure of analogical imagination is explored and applied to Bernard Lonergan's investigation of insight, to be finally related to religion as a way-of-being-in- the-world. Lastly, the culminating chapter pursues ecclesiological directions, within a historical material framework, applicable to a Church caught in social contradictions but anticipating an emancipated world, and concludes with a definition of the Church-at-the-limits.

school learnersChild-headed household is a phenomenon that is growing in South Africa. As such, it is imperative to uncover the realities of children in this situation. This study explores and describes the schooling experiences of secondary school learners from child-headed households. This qualitative study included a sample of 20 grade 10 and 11 learners from four secondary schools. Data were collected through structured interviews and document analysis. The Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyze the data. The findings suggest that secondary school learners from child-headed households live in poverty and encounter experiences such as absenteeism, psychological trauma, gender-based discrimination, lack of adequate food and scholastic materials, drug abuse and teenage pregnancy. These experiences impact negatively on their schooling. The study recommends that learners from child-headed households should get more care and support from educators and other stakeholders. / Science and Technology Education / M.A. (Socio-Education)

school learnersChild-headed household is a phenomenon that is growing in South Africa. As such, it is imperative to uncover the realities of children in this situation. This study explores and describes the schooling experiences of secondary school learners from child-headed households. This qualitative study included a sample of 20 grade 10 and 11 learners from four secondary schools. Data were collected through structured interviews and document analysis. The Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyze the data. The findings suggest that secondary school learners from child-headed households live in poverty and encounter experiences such as absenteeism, psychological trauma, gender-based discrimination, lack of adequate food and scholastic materials, drug abuse and teenage pregnancy. These experiences impact negatively on their schooling. The study recommends that learners from child-headed households should get more care and support from educators and other stakeholders. / Science and Technology Education / M.A. (Socio-Education)

This study seeks to investigate the practical strategies used by religious organisations in dealing with issues related to HIV/AIDS in Greater Pietermaritzburg. The study comes from the assumption that all religious organisations tend to structure and restructure themselves as a means of responding to and intervening in the problems of society. The study therefore argues that intervention in HIV/AIDS issues is one of the conditions through which restructuring of religious organisation in Greater Pietermaritzburg is currently evident. By way of conclusion then, the study attempts to answer the question as to what extent such interventions are sustainable. The interventions are sustainable in that they are, by and large, undertaken by the grassroots people who are directly affected and infected by HIV/AIDS. However, the interventions are often very variable, ad hoc and haphazard. Thus the study concludes that questions about the sustainability of such interventions still give unclear answers. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001

Diakonia is a Christian, church-based, development agency operating in the greater Durban area. It was conceived and established by the Roman Catholic Archbishop Denis Hurley. A qualitative, conceptual, and historical case study of Diakonia and its founder is undertaken. The case study seeks to reveal the nature and role of Christian non-violent social action for peace and social justice in South Africa between 1976 and 1982 – the first six years of Diakonia’s existence. Some of the questions that Diakonia raises about the role of religion in social change are explored, namely:  What is religion as belief and ideology?  What, if any, is the role of religion in social change?  Does the existence of an organisation such as Diakonia demonstrate that religion can directly and positively impact on non-violent human agency for social justice? An understanding of Diakonia cannot be divorced from its situation. The agency is therefore located within the historical configuration of the South African nation-state. In addition, it is analysed in relation the institutional Church; to opposition politics, both secular and religious; to civil society in relation to the state and social change and; to the place of non-government organisations in civil society. Non-violence debates on peace and social justice form an important part of this analysis. The study affirms that religion can make a significant contribution to social justice. Whatever advances social participation, non-violence, equality, liberty and, a better life experience for more of the population is an improvement on the existing state of affairs in a society. Religion therefore has a legitimate role to play in social change. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.