Die kleuters van die Ned. Geref. Kerk Stellenbosch-sentraal se persepsies van lidmaatwees

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The church is commissioned to make disciples by baptising them and teachingthem what the Head of the church, Jesus Christ, taught his disciples. One of theaccents in recent literature is that faith development (making disciples) is alsoa socialising process. The church is one of the socialising agents and playsa special role in the faith development of each individual member, and especiallyin the faith development of the child. According to developmental psychology aspecial developmental task of the pre-school years is socialization. Theseyears are very important for socialising in general, and therefore for faithdevelopment as a socialising process.How successful is the socialising process when the pre-schoolers comprise avery small part of a congregation? The Dutch Reformed Church Stellenbosch-Sentraal has an aging congregation; pre-schoolers comprise a mere 3% of itsmembers. If they do not experience that they belong to the congregation and ifthere are insufficient opportunities for them to take part in congregationalactivities the necessary faith development (in so far as it'comprises socialization)is impaired.The body of the church should communicate to pre-schoolers that they formpart of the body. In our era of electronic communication it may happen thatcommunication between congregation and pre-schooler is unsuccessful whenthe congregation do not communicate purposefully and in the language and inthe range of perception of the pre-schooler of this era. The question is thereforeposed: How effectively does the Dutch Reformed Church Stellenbosch-Sentraal communicate to its pre-schoolers that they are part of the body ofthis church?In order to answer this question one should study the results of thecommunication process of the pre-schoolers. One should look at the cognitivecontents already established in the pre-schoolers, but this alone can bemisleading. The author holds the opinion that pre-schoolers form perceptionsabout the congregation in the process of communication. Their perceptions forma positive or negative filter through which all further communication is sent. Ifthe pre-schoolers have positive perceptions of this congregation, it will beconducive to further faith development. The problem is therefore posed: Do theperceptions of the pre-schoolers of the Dutch Reformed ChurchStellenbosch-Sentraal on the congregation show that they associatethemselves positively with the congregation?An answer to this question will enable the local church to evaluate whether itunderstands its role as socialising agent in faith development. This may lead toadjustments in its ministry. For the Christian church in general the processestaking place and being described in one specific congregation may lead toreflection and evaluating of similar processes taking place within every Christianchurch. Such reflection is even more necessary in our secularised pluralisticworld, a world in which the Christian church wishes to maintain the uniquenessand necessity of the Biblical salvation message.With the aim of discovering and describing their perceptions, all pre-schoolersin the congregation born between 01-01-1989 and 31-12-1990 were selectedand methods were designed to reveal and describe their perceptions aboutthe congregation. Their perceptions were revealed and described throughkinetic drawings (interpreted by more than one person), the design of aprojective measuring instrument with pictures and reporting (conversations). Atthe same time the attitude of the congregation towards these pre-schoolers weregauged by means of participant observation and in a random opinion poll.ConclusionsAlthough the researcher had (thanks to the research!) very good relations withmost of the pre-schoolers and they probably were inclined to give answers whichthey would regard as having a positive influence on that relationship, theiranswers during conversations with them point to positive perceptions ofaspects of the congregation of which they are part. Their good relationship withthe researcher is one of these positive aspects. It does not however necessarilyfollow that positive perceptions are in the majority. There are negativeperceptions as well. Some positive remarks made by the pre-schoolerswere cancelled in part by remarks by their parents indicating that they objectedto going to some of the meetings of the church.They used some surprising concepts about the congregation. In so far asfaith development contains a knowledge component (faith = knowledge + trust) itcan be accepted that the concepts that they use at the moment will form animportant basis for further faith development. Perceptions, unlike concepts,suggest something about the relationship between subject (child) and object(congregation). The concepts do not necessarily point to the existence ofpositive perceptions about the congregation. However, the researcher foundthat the cognitive basis was supported by a moderately positive affectivecomponent. It seems that there are several elements of enjoymenUpleasantness in• the socialising (fellowship) of the smaller primary gatherings such as familyprayers and get-togethers of a few families,• the service aspect of outreaches to small children in squatter camps atsecondary meetings such as kinderkrans, the weekly children's meeting(empathy, compassion, missions)• and the festive elements such as singing, lighting of candles, and going to thepulpit in family services as tertiary meetings.Whether these positive experiences resonate sufficiently in the words, deedsand attitudes of other (adult) members of the church remains to be seen. Theresearch has shown that the congregation is making adaptations in order toheighten the effectiveness of its communication and that the pre-schoolerspoint to these elements as pleasant congregational experiences. The researchalso showed that pre-school children need symbols to express their identificationwith the congregation. The church council should therefore stressrepresentative symbol communication and rituals in a building withoutimportant symbols such as a tower and bells, and where the neighbouringchurch building is rich in symbols.However, effective communication within a congregation is not only about visiblesymbols and rituals, but are about communication which is born in the heart of aloving Father God. In union with Jesus Christ, his Son and Head of the body ofthe church, members are involved in a great communication process of whichthe content may be typified as gospel (good news). In order to talk abouteffective communication, the congregation should listen to and search forthe vision of God, and they should expect the Creator Spirit to grant thecongregation gifts that can be used in the new communication era in orderto further the evangelical dialogue between God and the pre-school child(amongst others) and between the congregation and the pre-school child.Should the congregation not grasp that each member is there for the sake ofothers, the congregation is in danger of breaking up in generational or other groupings, not grasping the benefits from inter-generational gatherings whereeach group can contribute towards the faith development of other groups. Whenharmony, reconciliation and supplementation are pursued in a pluriform way inthe worship and service programmes of the congregation, the pre-schoolershould not be absent. When the pre-schooler forms part of this kind of worship,he finds his own meaning. The congregation is the setting where thisglorification of God is realised in the temporal. If this research contributestowards empowering the congregation to incorporate the pre-school children ofthe congregation in congregational activities in honour of God, to glorify Him,then this research may be regarded as the practice of successful practicaltheology.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University