Original Research

Gemeentes as begeleiers van kollektiewe rouprosesse

Willem S. Boshoff
Verbum et Ecclesia | Vol 33, No 1 | a726 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v33i1.726 | © 2012 Willem S. Boshoff | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 08 March 2012 | Published: 07 November 2012

About the author(s)

Willem S. Boshoff, University of Pretoria<br> Ducth Reformed Church Hartbeesspruit-Queenswood, South Africa

Abstract

Local congregations as facilitators of collective grieving. Since 1990 South Africa has been characterised by far-reaching change in all spheres of society. A recent PhD dissertation completed at the University of Pretoria described the loss members of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) experience because of the rapid change. Experiences of loss are common enough to be described as collective experiences of a community. Resulting grief processes are long standing and unresolved. Grieving is the normal human response to loss, but many DRC members (and probably the denomination and the whole Afrikaans community), got stuck because of unresolved grief dynamics. The main contribution of this article is to argue that local communities of faith can serve its members and the community by accepting the task to initiate and guide collective grief processes. Intentional grief is seen as a ministry of hope, resulting in a new and more appropriate identity.

Keywords

samelewingsverandering; verlies; rou; treurtake; kwalitatiewe empiriese navorsing; Klaaglied

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