The restoration of human dignity in Mitchell's Plain : The Mount Hope account

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The researcher's purpose for writing this paper is first to tell the story of one particular community of faith called the Mount Hope church. In doing so, the spotlight would be placed on the plight and challenges of the Mitchells Plain township life, conditions and ministry.Secondly, the research was seeking to challenge the status quo of a serious lack of human dignity by showing how and why it needs to be restored.Lastly, to then answer the research question: 'How does one minister to marginalized and outcast people in such a way that their human dignity is restored?The researcher has furnished a definition and description of the background of the word township as well as follow four tasks of doing Practical Theology as reflected in the work of one scholar Richard R Osmer.The descriptive empirical section has highlighted the researcher's life story as key to the research, provided statistical details of the research context as well as individual testimony accounts of lives that have been transformed.The normative section has shown the importance of the prophetic mandate to discern the will of God for the research context.In the interpretive section the researcher has facilitated a dialogue between the descriptive and the normative sections to clarify the importance of system sensitive leadership.The pragmatic section is the last of the four sections where the researcher has shown the strategic output of the Mount Hope church through its leadership.The researcher has concluded by bringing all the chapters together again for the purpose of answering the research question: 'How does one minister to marginalized and outcast people in such a way that their human dignity is restored? It is clear that once they discover the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ and the acceptance and guidance of a faith community, they are on the road to restored human dignity.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University