Browsing by Author "Vhembo, Webster"
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- ItemTowards the introduction of community development within a theological curriculum : Murray Theological College of the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-04) Vhembo, Webster; Bowers-Du Toit, Nadine; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Practical Theology and Missiology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Many church leaders in Zimbabwe are not equipped for the struggle against poverty in their context. This study is prompted by the desire to provide the church with expertise to meet the challenges and subsequently effect the desired change in the society. The study, therefore, deals with the question of an educational strategy that could be employed in order to equip the future clergy of the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe (RCZ) to meet the contextual challenges. The research attempts to provide (as an outcome) some guidelines towards the introduction of a curriculum design that could eventually produce ministers who are able to contextualise the theology in an African context - a brand of ministers who are sensitive to the needs of the community and ready to work as agents of change in the community of their service. When approaching the context of Zimbabwe, the church is viewed as a non-partisan agent that is likely to contribute to a holistic development as mandated in the Bible. It is, however, argued that the Biblical mandate could be hampered, when the seminary training of ministers offers little or no preparation for the kind of transformational ministry that incorporates Community Development. Its introduction within the Theological curricula at Murray Theological College will, therefore, enable the prospective ministers in the RCZ to become successful agents of change in both Church and society. To be credible, theological education should produce (as its outcome) responsible and productive ministers who have the ability to think critically on social related matters. Its curriculum should have multiple foci that stretch beyond a specific set of knowledge. Inserting development within a theological curriculum at Murray Theological College could possibly lead to that end and this could be the first phase of an educational strategy that could be employed in order to equip the future clergy of the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe to meet the contextual challenges.