Browsing by Author "Verwijs-Vogel, Elizabeth"

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    Marital Counselling in The Context of the Anglican Church of Rwanda
    (South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, South Africa) Verwijs-Vogel, Elizabeth; Song, Arthur; Song, Arthur
    SUMMARY: This thesis is based on the research that has been carried out on marital counselling within the context of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, Diocese of Kigali(EAR/DK). Marriage plays an important role in the Rwandan society, and the traditional Rwandan wedding customs are highly valued. Usually three legal paths are followed: the civil wedding before the government officials, the religious ceremony in the Church (where God‟s blessing is invoked over the couple) and the traditional wedding ceremonies before and after the other ceremonies. On one handa strong resistance to question or change to these ceremonies was observed, including in the case of a clash between traditional and modern culture. On the other hand a lack of knowledge of Church members and pastors on the Biblical principles of marriage was observed. The purpose of this research was to study the continuity and discontinuity of traditional Rwandan marriage customs in the Church in order to be able to make a contribution to the pastoral counselling in the Anglican Church of Rwanda. Thus the following questions were raised: What is the view and attitude of the Anglican Church in Rwanda on marriage? What is the view and attitude of the Church towards traditional wedding ceremonies? Does the Church offer (pre)marital counselling?One hindrance was that here was hardly any material available, mainly due to the emphasis on oral culture and the impact of the genocide on the country and the Church.To be able to present an overview of Biblical marriage principles, first the results of the exegesis of some key texts from Genesis 1-2, Matthew19: 1-12 and Ephesians 5: 22-33 were described. Aliterary research was done,about traditional Rwandan marriage customs(mainly based on the available literature of the fifties and sixties). To be able to get actual information, different interviews were carried out. Three senior leaders of the Anglican Church were interviewed. The pastors of the Diocese of Kigali were interviewed through a questionnaire with quantitative and qualitative questions, about their knowledge of and involvement in the traditional Rwandan marriage customs. Four married couples within the AER/DK were interviewed through in-depth interviews. The results of these interviews were described, compared with 5 one another, and with the findings from the literary research. Finally, these findings were compared with the Biblical principles, as they had been formulated earlier. The outcome of the research was that many of the traditional wedding ceremonies are still celebrated today, although some customs simply disappeared, have been abolished, or have changed in character.The principal conclusion was that the Anglican Church of Rwanda never really studied neither the Rwandan marriage customs, nor the Biblical principles. The Church did not formulate a view on marriage, and did not provide guidelines or teaching material for pastors. The pastors received hardly any training on the matter and a lack of knowledge of the pastors on Biblical principles was observed. The pastors seemed to put more emphasis on the traditional ceremonies than on the wedding ceremony in the Church, and were said to be very involved in them. Although pastors claimed to give premarital counselling, they were not equipped well for this task. The research showed that the pastors‟ teachings were more culturally oriented than Bible based. The results revealed that the Church is not prepared to give premarital and marital counselling, even when couples find themselves in a clash between three cultures: the traditional and the modern Rwandan cultures,as well as the Christian culture. It is recommended that the Church formulate a Biblical view on marriage, and provide proper teaching for its pastors to be able to teach a Biblical foundation on marriage, to equip couples for marriage and to help its members in case of marital problems.Apart from that, the traditional Rwandan cultural concepts of marriage ought to be reviewed. The Church would do well to study the traditional wedding ceremonies in light of the Biblical principles, and provide guidelines for its members.The candidate hopes that this thesis will contribute towards a better understanding of the Biblical concepts on marriage and that the Church will accept the challenge to elaborate on a theology on marriage, and provide proper education and Biblical marital counselling, in order to be able to build solid marriages that reflect the Biblical principles.