Pastoral guidance of Afrikaans-speaking millennials regarding life career development

Abstract

Millennials, also called Generation Y, are newcomers in a multi-generational workforce. These young adults as a cohort have their own characteristics, beliefs and expectations of the post-modern workplace. The focus of this study was not on their career assessment and career choices, but rather how to ascertain from empirical research and literature review ways for a pastoral worker to support them with life, work and career issues to enhance their faith and sense of purpose on their life career journey. The research is limited to Afrikaans-speaking millennials and the aim was to show how pastoral guidance can be used to aid them with life career development. A qualitative research was conducted by means of a semi-structured open ended questionnaire and in-depth interviews with selected white Afrikaans-speaking millennials as church goers from different denominations in a church setting. Richard Osmer’s model for practical theological interpretation and reflection was used for the research methodology. The purpose was to explore their situations, incidents and contexts pertaining to their life career stories. The study is conducted from a Reformed Theological perspective which holds that the Bible is viewed as the word of God and guided by the four core tasks of Practical Theology within the framework of Richard Osmer’s model. An integrated pastoral-narrative model in Practical Theology is proposed to show how millennials may be guided within South African context.