An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

Chapter 5 describes the power and control of the minister, the organizational cultures ofthe churches as religious and charitable bodies and compares them with the organizationalculture of secular organizations. It argues that the authority structure is related to thetheology of the Holy Spirit, and this governs religious practices such as „speag intongues‟ as well as spiritual healing, The discussion outline the relationship of theology toissues of power, authority and control in the church as an organization (c.f. Keay 1987).Although there are overarching commonalties, to provide an in-depth view of thedifferences, aspects of each congregation will be examined separately. The church as anorganization has similarities with other caring organizations where „care is fundamental tothe pact involving human beings and where care is more than a service industry.‟(Henderson and Atkinson 2003:7). Within both churches there are many sub-culturaltraditions but the main contrast examined here is between the overall black majority andwhite majority from a cultural and racial perspective. In addition to this, the organizationaland political culture is also examined.Chapter 6 describes evidence from the data about suffering as overt or covert pain. Thispain can be the result of physical, psychological, emotional or spiritual pain. The datashows persons who are suffering with physical, emotional or mental imbalances whichcould be short term or long term suffering. In any one human experience, there may be amixture of more than one element of suffering. One person can share another person‟ssuffering by empathizing with them, because they have experienced a similar situation oractually sharing the situation with them. The suffering of one family member radiates toother family members in varying degrees.Drawing on the literature on suffering, the concept of suffering in the bible and the17