Coming out of hiding? A consideration of shame as it is manifest in the rural Midwest and how the church responds

• Main Author: Williams, Melody J
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2018
• Subjects: Clergy; Pastoral Counseling; Religion
• ISBN: 0438051513; 9780438051515

The purpose of this project/thesis is to address shame as it is manifest in both individuals and communities. The thesis is that there is a need for a greater understanding of shame and how it is manifest in the culture which we are serving, if we are going to effectively lead a congregation to greater wholeness in Christ. Those that are walking in shame use various methods to hide from Christ, one another, and from self. To understand the fullness of the gospel there needs to be greater understanding of how Christ came into the midst of our shame to lift us out. However, that truth cannot be fully embraced when the individual or community continue to hide those in shame. Although the Western church has typically presented the gospel in terms of Christ coming to forgive us of our sin, it is important to be able to present the message that Christ came into the midst of our shame and bestowed honor. This message is particularly important in rural Midwest communities that function more as honor-shame cultures than as innocence-guilt cultures. The project portion of this thesis was a sermon series which focused on shameful areas of individuals and groups in scripture and how God responded. Results were measured via a pre-and post-series Likert scale questionnaire to measure congregational responses. Observations, conversations, and an interview were also included. Although there was not a measurable change in congregational understandings of God, there were significant changes in how the researcher began to understand the community. Based on this new information questions for further discussion and research are proposed.