Pastoral Care Regarding Sexual Addictions within the Context of the Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches in South Africa

Abstract

The practice of pastoral care is concerned with humanity’s total welfare encompassing the emotional, spiritual, psychological, and personal spheres as they pertain to, but are not limited to, sexuality-related matters. Pastoral care professionals are typically trained to deal with various personal challenges, including depressing sexuality-related issues and addictions. Although the topic of sexual addictions has received reasonable attention within the pastoral care framework, it continues to be considered taboo by most Christian believers and some pastors equally. As a result, pastoral care providers in countries like South Africa do not have solidified guidelines providing practical direction around the question of sexual addictions. Through the combination of the literature reviews and observations, the paper investigated possibilities of developing guidelines that pastoral carers can employ in addressing the challenges faced by those dealing with sexual addictions. These guidelines included an intervention referred to as “Promise Keepers” which focuses on married men, and Twelve Steps which is more popular as an intervention employed with substance abuse. Additionally, the paper presented the Falling Forward Manual, an intervention that focuses on Christian men facing challenges with sexual addictions. Beyond the scope of pastoral care and notwithstanding its focus on Pentecostal charismatic churches in South Africa, these guidelines will be beneficial to all churches in South Africa and beyond.

Keywords

• pastoral care
• sexual addictions
• sexuality
• interventions
• religion
• pentecostal-charismatic church