Die toerustingstaak van die Gereformeerde predikant: ’n praktiese bedieningsmodel
The mininstry of the minister in the Reformed churches in South Africa is strongly influenced by the insitutional model of the Church. The result of this pattern of ministry is that ministry in general is solely dependent on the work of the particular offices of minister. elder and deacon. The community of the saints and the general priesthood of the believers are thus neglected. This article explores ways in which the equipping task of the minister can be effectively rearranged in order to enhance the upbuilding of the church. In conclusion, it is stated that the Reformed minister can equip the believers by simultaneously using two patterns of ministry. On the one hand, the believers can he equipped by way of the ministry of the Word and Sacraments in the worship service and by the ministry of the Word in catechetical instruction and parish visiting. On the other hand, the Reformed minister can equip believers by enabling people with the gift of leadership to lead small groups in the congregation, with the ultimate aim of building up the community of the saints and the general priesthood of the believers.
Die GKSA en sy gereformeerde identiteit: Kan dit behou word in ’n postmoderne gemeenskap?
The RCSA and its reformed identity: Can it be maintained in a postmodern community? This article focuses on the nature of reformed identity within the Reformed Churches in South Africa (RCSA). The central theoretical argument which is to be answered in this article, is how the reformed identity of the RCSA can be preserved in a time when there is little appreciation for absolute values; a time, as a matter of fact, where relativism sets the fashion? How should the RCSA accommodate the paradigm shift from modernism to postmodernism in the process of preserving their reformed identity? Answers to these questions depend on the RCSA’s experience of the paradigm shift in a changed society and their reaction towards this paradigm shift.
Do Potential People Have Moral Rights?
By a potential person I shall mean an entity which is not now a person but which is capable of developing into a person, given certain biologically and/or technologically possible conditions. This is admittedly a narrower sense than some would attach to the term ‘potential'. After all, people of the twenty-fifth century, if such there will be, are in some sense potential people now, even though the specific biological entities from which they will develop, i.e. the particular gametes or concepti, do not yet exist. For there do exist, in the reproductive capacities of people now living and in the earth's resources, conditions adequate to produce these future people eventually, provided of course that various possible catastrophes are avoided. Indeed, in some sense of ‘potential’ there have been countless billions of potential people from the beginning of time. But I am concerned not with such remote potentialities but with currently existing entities that are capable of developing into people.