’n Sosiaal-psigologiese perspektief op lidmate in die Mangaung-area se houding teenoor kerkvereniging in die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerkfamilie: ’n kruiskulturele ondersoek

Abstract

A social-psychological perspective on the attitude of members in the Mangaung area towards church unification within the Dutch Reformed family of churches: a cross-cultural investigation
Until recently, only one investigation had been conducted into church members’ attitudes towards church unification. This was done from a theological instead of a social-psychological point of view. The term “attitude” may be defined as the expression of inner feelings that reflect whether the person concerned has a favourable or unfavourable predisposition towards a certain object. Church unification entails the process of uniting separate church denominations within the Dutch Reformed Church family. The aims of this study were achieved by gathering data from respondents of six Dutch Reformed congregations (N=104; 46, 6%), as well as six Uniting Reformed congregations (N=47; 21, 1%). The remainder of the respondents came from five Dutch Reformed Church in Africa congregations (N=72; 32, 3%). A biographical questionnaire was used, as well as the Attitude towards Church Unification Scale. The influence of different variables such as language, gender, age, marital status and church activities on the attitudes of church members was investigated. It was concluded on the basis of statistical analysis that members of all the different denominations of the Dutch Reformed Churches had a positive attitude towards church unification. It was found that language was the variable that had the greatest influence on the attitude of church members.