The Development of Pastoral Models for Counselling Pregnant Teenagers and Young Mothers from the House of Life, Durban, Kwazulu-Natal: The Marriage Model and the Crisis Intervention Model

Abstract

The theme of this study is the development of pastoral models for counselling pregnant teenagers and young mothers from the House of Life, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal on the Biblical principles of marriage and their options for an unplanned pregnancy. Osmer’s theological research model served as the point of departure in this study. Using an adapted version of Osmer’s model, the study started with the Interpretive task, which provided insights from the social sciences regarding the problem of teenage pregnancy. Chapter 2 focused on the prevalence of teenage pregnancy globally, and especially in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was found that teenage pregnancy and premarital childbearing are growing worldwide, since a large percentage of girls are becoming sexually active in their teens. Chapter 3 focused on the causes and consequences of teenage pregnancy and out-of-wedlock births. It was found that parental divorce increases the risk of teenage pregnancy and that the consequences of teenage pregnancy include the following: low academic achievement, poor health, dropping out of school, unemployment, single parenthood and higher levels of poverty. The descriptive-empirical task was described in chapter 4. An empirical survey was conducted among pregnant teenagers and young mothers from the House of Life in Durban KwaZulu-Natal, in order to ascertain their perceptions regarding the main reasons for teenage pregnancy.The main reasons associated with teenage pregnancy were found to include the following: The separation of the parents, the lack of sex education and the abuse of alcohol and drugs. The normative task was presented in chapters 5 and 6. Chapter 5 focused on the Biblical and theological foundations for marriage, divorce and remarriage in the Old Testament, while chapter 6 dealt with marriage, divorce and remarriage from the perspective of the New Testament, especially what Jesus said about divorce in Matthew 19:3-9. Under the pragmatic task two pastoral models were designed in chapters 7 and 8. Chapter 7 presented a pastoral model for counselling pregnant teenagers and young mothers from the House of Life in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal on eight Biblical principles of marriage using the letters of the word MARRIAGE (as an acronym) to describe each principle. Chapter 8 proposed a pastoral model, the Crisis Intervention model, for counselling pregnant teenagers from the House of Life, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal regarding their options for an unplanned pregnancy.