TRS

Joseph Amankwah, Revitalization of Pastoral Visitation

Short Biography:

Joseph Kwaku Amankwah was born in Ghana and spent seventeen years in England as a teacher and electronic engineer. Called to pastoral ministry in 2006, he has served the Ontario Conference of Seventh-day Adventists since then, pastoring the Hamilton Mountain, Mount Olive, and Philadelphia churches, and now the Cambridge and Waterloo churches. He holds degrees from Newbold College (BA Theology), Reading University (BEng) and Andrews University (MA Pastoral Ministry), and is a doctoral candidate in Practical Theology at McMaster University. Married with five children, he is passionate about helping members, especially youth and young adults, develop a contagious prayer relationship with God.

Abstract:

Why would a Ghanaian Seventh-day Adventist family in southern Ontario describe a missed pastoral visit as abandonment? This presentation draws on my doctoral research, a qualitative pastoral ethnography of fifteen participants from three Ghanaian Adventist congregations, to examine how in-person pastoral visitation relates to congregants’ spiritual well-being. Through my literature review and theological and theoretical perspectives using Ellen G. White’s theology of Christ’s shepherding presence and Berry’s acculturation model, with  Ubuntu as a lens of communal personhood, the findings show that the pastor functions as the head elder of the congregational clan, so his absence is felt as the community’s withdrawal. Participants described their faith as being pushed aside by the busyness of social and economic lives rather than abandoning it, and expressed no resistance to home visits, suggesting the decline of visitation lies in pastoral practice rather than in members’ desire. A non-Ghanaian widow’s testimony shows that the need is universal, though amplified by culture. I propose a five-element model for revitalizing visitation and name cultural resonance as a fourth dimension of visitation.

About TRS

The MDC Theological Research Seminar (TRS) is a bimonthly gathering for all MDC students and faculty. TRS meets from 1:00 PM to 1:50 PM on alternating Wednesdays, and includes about thirty minutes for the paper presentation and twenty minutes for discussion.

All advanced degree students are invited to present a paper and share your research with your colleagues. TRS is an excellent opportunity to “test drive” a paper you will be presenting at an upcoming conference and receive helpful feedback on your current research projects. Thinking about submitting an article to a journal and want some interaction first? TRS will provide it. Just published an article or an essay and want to share it us? TRS is an excellent opportunity to broadcast it.

This year the organizing committee consists of Dr. Cynthia Westfall, Dr. Lee Beach, and Dr. John Isaak. To submit a paper, contact a member of the organizing committee.

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