Leadership South: Non-Therapeutic Ministry

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Non-Therapeutic Ministry

Dr. George N. Malek, a well known Church consultant in South Africa, a psychologist and theologian, states: "Ministry is not a therapeutic encounter, but the encounter with the Holy. Rapport establishes friendships and 'therapeutic alliance'. Ministry stands on its own every time." (Malek G N 1997:9). QUESTION: Is ministry a "therapeutic alliance"? Or does it facilitate an “encounter with the Holy”? What is the difference?

2 comments:

Steve Hayes said...: I've never heard of this Malek guy, but what he's saying sounds pretty weird to me.

But what does he mean by "ministry"?; March 10, 2008 at 12:15 PM
Thomas O. Scarborough said...: Dr. Malek was director of the Ecumenical Pastoral Institute in Cape Town. The last I heard, he was involved with Princeton Theological Seminary’s distance learning programme. As I understand him, he sees the possibility of a direct encounter with God, whatever that should mean. The quote clearly has its source in Rudolf Otto. This stands in contrast with e.g. the approach of J. Robert Clinton, for whom ministry is a “relational process”. Put simply, ministry may be seen as introducing people to God, or perhaps one could say invoking God in their situation (in whatever situation they happen to be) -- or it may be seen as a transfer of wisdom, information, experience, and so on. Certainly those two may overlap, but there is, I think, a fundamental difference between them, and a fundamental difference between ministry based on the one or the other approach.; March 10, 2008 at 2:19 PM

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Welcome

Again and again I have heard that access to Christian leadership thinking in the Global South is awkward. Not only is it hard to obtain the materials, but they are relatively few, and often they are published in languages other than English. Often, also, seminaries in the Global South will not use home-grown materials, but will import books from the Global North, teaching them in the context of their own Global South ethos. But apart from this, there is a real problem of parochialism in the Global North. If you are a seminary student in the Global North, take a look at your required reading. It is likely that 90-100% originates in the Global North.

I have served in leadership at local, regional, national, and international levels, with varied experience. I recently completed an MTh at the South African Theological Seminary in Johannesburg, and an MA at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California -- both in the fields of Christian leadership. When I started this blog, I considered that, being in the middle of my research, I could share some of the ideas and issues I am working through -- and perhaps engender some discussion.

In my experience, I would consider that the views of this blog are typically Global South. I consider that my colleagues in ministry would share many of these views. However, it stands to reason that this will not be so in every case.

I have used abbreviated references in some posts (e.g. Jinkins M 2002:23), which refers to the author, initial(s), year of publication, and page. In most cases, this should be sufficient for readers to locate the source.