Developing Spirituality and Character

8.2. Developing Spirituality and Character

Spirituality and Character are two basic elements needed to be developed among the indigenous Bugis Christian. Developing these elements are a significant way to make a strong foundation for the indigenous Bugis Christians so that they are enabled to stand firmly in their faith in their own context without getting trapped in syncretism or getting influenced by the secular world. There are two programmes suggested for this:

• Spiritual Care Spiritual care is one of the significant forms of ministry that need to be addressed among the Bugis people who live in this contemporary context, especially those who face depression, stress, and all kinds of problems which are linked to their spiritual lives. This approach is all about caring and nurturing with sensitivity, • Spiritual Care Spiritual care is one of the significant forms of ministry that need to be addressed among the Bugis people who live in this contemporary context, especially those who face depression, stress, and all kinds of problems which are linked to their spiritual lives. This approach is all about caring and nurturing with sensitivity,

to communicate with the heart of God. 48 In the midst of distressed conditions, addressing spiritual care seems like a challenge for our

own spiritual maturity. However, it is those unpleasant experiences which many times enable us to help others grow in spirituality.

On the other hand, spiritual care in the Bugis context is also intended to be a method for helping the Bugis Christians grow in maturity in their faith. It is noted that many among the Bugis Christian are not really rooted in their faith. They are living in what is called a dualism world, religious and secular, that so often does not interlace with each other in their daily life. In addition, many of the Bugis embraced Christianity following their leader or the head of household or it was just like an inheritance from generation to generation without proper understanding of the Christian faith. These nominal Christians need spiritual care to help them stand firmly in their faith especially when they live in an Islamic society as

a minority group.

• Indigenous Leadership Training To effectively carry out the ministry, Christian mission should provide training for the local people to reach their own community. This foundation helps them communicate the Word of God to their people using their own language, traditions, and culture in a contextually sensitive manner.

It has been noted in the history of Christian mission among the Bugis of a focus on leadership form used by the Dutch missionaries in training and equipping indigenous Bugis Christians to be leaders or ministers who successfully communicated the gospel contextually and brought people to embrace Christianity.

This form can be applied in the current context by training Bugis Christians to be potential leaders in the group or community. It is suggested to use the concept of ‘the Bugis for the Bugis leadership pattern’ which seems more effective in the Bugis context because those who are trained had known the context closely.

48 Penelope Wilcock, Spiritual Care of Dying and Bereaved People (Pennsylvania: Morehouse Publishing, 1996), 2.