What is the Church? This question has been asked in many times and places. In Sweden, it seems asif there's a general identity crisis among the churches. It seems like many churches don't know whythey exist, or at least they have a very vague understanding of the full meaning of the Church.Some 50 years ago, we had a new encounter in Sweden. Immigrants from Orthodoxcountries came to live here, and they brought their church and tradition with them.

AbstractGroup processes within the free play- in a socialpsychology perspective In our socialpsychology study we have demonstrated how children?s free play is by observing 2-5 years old children in preschool. We have also interviewed two preschool teachers. The major subject in this study is how children?s group processes expresses in their free play.

Burn out is common among people who work with other people and occurs in both ecclesiastical and non ecclesiastical context. In recent years, the phenomenon has attracted increasing attention in the Church of Sweden and among persons who hold a consecration service as priests.The purpose of this essay is to study the text material from the two authors (Lennart Belfrage 2009 and Martin Petré 2013) and to analyze and describe them. Another goal is to see how the coping theory may be helpful for this group of priests to handle the situation arising in the time of burnout.I have used the qualitative research and hermeneutics method for categorize and encode the material in order to interpret and understand the underlying causes that could explain burnout among priests in the Church of SwedenPargaments (1997) coping theory has been important for analysis and explanation of burnout among a group of priests in the Church of Sweden.In the result, I have found four components that may be useful in the understanding of the cause of burnout. The analysis shows that Pargaments (1997) coping theory is useful to manage complex situations for example burnout, among priests in the Church of Sweden..

Uppsatsen behandlar frågan om hur ämbetsbärare inom Svenska kyrkan använder timbreringar i deras heraldiska vapen. Detta bruk jämförs sedan med bruket Church of England samt Romersk katolska kyrkan, vilka har en reglerad heraldik, i motsats till Sverige, och Svenska kyrkan.I uppsatsen lämnas även förslag till timbreringar för Svenska kyrkan..

This study is a first attempt to try to understand what the variables could be that make the person responsible for the grave sign up for grave gardening services by the church or to maintain the grave by him- or herself. There has been almost no research done within this subject. This study has been made by a qualitative research method and interviews have been performed with both persons responsible for the grave who have gardening services made by the church and with those who maintain the grave by themselves. The characteristics that are affecting consumer behaviour and the buyer decision process are presented in the theoretical part of this study. That is done so it can be seen if a comparison between the results of the study and the basic theoretical concept is possible, resulting in an understanding of how the costumers think and argue about this question.

In this essay I plan to mainly write about the Christian church. However, I will shortly mention other parishes.In the first part I will in the first chapter write how the church saw earlier on HBLT (Homo-, Bisexual, Lesbians and Transgender) people. In the second chapter how the situation is today and finally in the third chapter I will try to see how the situation is in the future in both in a positive and negative aspect.In the second part I will write about Troy Perry, the founder of M.C.C. Metropolitan Community Churches). In the first chapter I will write shortly about when he was growing up, in the second about his vocation to become a minister and in the third chapter about his founding of M.C.C.In the third and last part I will in the first chapter write about the first years, in the second chapter about how it is today and in the third and last chapter what the elders in the church sees how the future will look like.My main question is to see if M.C.C.

The aim of this paper is to describe and explain how the separation between state and church effects the power relations between state and religious groups and organizations. Former state church, The Swedish church, is in this paper, not included in the definition of religious groups. The reform (?stat-kyrka reformen?) took place between 1995 and year 2000.I?m examining if religious groups had any influence on the reform. My expectation is to give a clearer picture of religious groups and its power position in Swedish politics and society.

For almost a century the debate about women as ordained servants in the Church of Sweden has raged on and on. The decision to open up the priesthood for both genders in 1958 was a milestone in the women?s liberation movement as well as it marks an important time in the church history. The debate has mainly been about how to interpret scripture, who has the right to do so, and so on. Feminist theology has become one way in recent decades to paint a wider and more nuanced picture of history and how to interpret the texts often used to repress women.This essay surveys some of the steps towards that decision, as well as it paints a rough picture of what leadership among women in the church could involve before ordination became an option.

This study is a reception analysis regarding the theology of Martin Luther, specifically in the areas of eschatology and anthropology, in to the funeral practices of the Church of Sweden (Svenska kyrkan).The main theme in the anthropology of Martin Luther is that of the freedom of all men and women. The price that we have to ?pay? for this freedom is that we need to act as humble servants to all other persons.The eschatological view of Martin Luther tells us that the only condition we need to fulfill in order to be admitted into God?s kingdom is faith alone.The Church of Sweden and their views on anthropology and eschatology are inspired by the writings of Martin Luther as it proclaims itself to be of evangelical Lutheran denomination, but it has incorporated other views as well over time.The conclusions of the study is that the principals guiding funeral practices, including eulogies held by priests during the funeral services, are in fact influenced by the anthropological and eschatological views of Martin Luther, and the study concludes that the theology of Martin Luther is a very good stand point for the Church of Sweden to stay relevant in today?s society..

The controversial phenomenon of ?seeker-oriented? megachurches are currently transforming the American religious landscape. These churches, some housing up to 30,000 worshippers every week, are targeting religious seekers as their primary objective. Their success in attracting and converting those who usually wouldn?t even think of attending church can in large parts be explained by changes in liturgy, the removal of visible theological discussion and use of shopping mall styled buildings, designed to make the religious seeker feel like home.

The purpose of this thesis is to study five pedagogue?s view of the free play and their view of the importance of the free play for children´s learning and development. I have chosen to use a qualitative research method in the form of interviews with five pedagogue´s from a preschool. The main research questions asked were:What have the pedagogues of view on the free play? How important believe the pedagogue that the free play is for children?s learning and development? What has emerged in the study is that educators have a positive view of the free play. They believed that the free play is important for children´s skills.

What does the Swedish church Västerås stand for today according to the employees and how do they want to profile themselves to the target group? What image and what expectations does the target group have of the Swedish church Västerås? How can the Swedish church Västerås communicate uniform, with the intent to create mutual value with the target group?The purpose of the study is to make recommendations to the Swedish church Västerås for their prospective communication plan by examining their profile and target group's image and expectations of the organization. The study also aims to examine how the Swedish church Västerås can communicate their brand uniform.The study applies a qualitative research with deductive approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with a sample of the employees and focus groups with a sample of the target group.Better match between profile and image means that SkVs employees better understand the organization and can communicate more uniform which leads to a stronger brand identity. If SkV understands what is relevant for their target group, they can reduce the total cost of customer delivered value and thus increase the total value.

For almost a century the debate about women as ordained servants in the Church of Sweden has raged on and on. The decision to open up the priesthood for both genders in 1958 was a milestone in the women?s liberation movement as well as it marks an important time in the church history. The debate has mainly been about how to interpret scripture, who has the right to do so, and so on. Feminist theology has become one way in recent decades to paint a wider and more nuanced picture of history and how to interpret the texts often used to repress women.This essay surveys some of the steps towards that decision, as well as it paints a rough picture of what leadership among women in the church could involve before ordination became an option.

The purpose of this essay is to examine how young members of Free churches relate to issues connected with lifestyle and identity, based on the changed conditions for the self in late modernity. More specifically, I want to examine how they deal with the increased degree of detraditionalisation and institutional individualization in late modernity.My research-question is:How do young members of Free churches relate to issues connected with lifestyle and identity, with the increased degree of personal freedom and institutional individualization in late modernity as a starting point?The empiric part of the essay is carried out by qualitative in-depth interviews with five young members of Free churches. These semi-structured interviews are focused on a number of different areas of the changed conditions for the self in late modernity.My theoretical perspective has been constructed from the theories of Anthony Giddens, Zygmunt Bauman, Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim. From these theories a focus on certain relevant areas of the condition of the self in late modernity, has developed.

The purpose of this thesis is to illustrate how non-profit organizations map the market of potential donors and how they apply their knowledge about the motives of the potential donors. The case-study of Church of Sweden Aid shows how a Swedish non-profit organization applies this in the daily work. In its strategic marketing the organization actively use marketing surveys in different forms. By employing an analyst Church of Sweden Aid has a possibility to make another step forward in order to understand its donor market and to adjust its strategic marketing plan to it. Church of Sweden Aid says that they don?t work with the donor?s motives.