Abstract:
The work presents the realities of 13 “unmarried” women involved in ministries and/or leadership positions, 7 from Mennonite communities in Colombia and 6 from Lutheran communities in southern Brazil, in relation to the processes of care they receive to face and overcome the crises inherent to the exercise of their ministerial or leadership functions within ecclesial communities. The research investigates and identifies the main crisis situations experienced by them, the main methodologies used to meet these needs, analyzes whether these have been effective in dealing with their particular dilemmas, clarifies some conceptual issues in relation to the various aid processes they receive; reflects on the importance and urgency of an accompaniment process for this group and, finally, presents some accompaniment proposals that include elements of the feminist perspective, important in meeting the needs of this group. The choice of participants was due to the fact that the researcher is part of a Mennonite community in Colombia and, in addition, has been developing her master's and doctoral studies in an educational institution of Lutheran denomination for more than four years, which facilitated the element of trust and knowledge of the contexts to be researched. The methodology used in this research corresponds to the field of social research, which is an exploratory research, of a qualitative type, which highlights the use of semi-structured interviews, by themes, which, using specific questions and, with a certain degree of structuring on the theme, allowed the participants to discuss the topic in question without being tied to the question formulated, but addressing the points of interest that the research aimed at, thus enabling the exchange of experiences between the interviewees and the interviewer, which enriched the process. The structuring of the interview facilitated the categorization of information and its analysis, evidencing situations of distrust, hierarchies and, showing that this group is not receiving adequate accompaniment from the leaders of their communities, which would help them to overcome situations of crisis of in an appropriate way, due to the lack of accompaniment programs that address their particular needs. Some significant findings of this work that we can highlight is the imperative need for accompaniment programs aimed, among other things, at the particular needs of building trust, listening and monitoring that this group needs. The perception then became evident of the need to promote an integral, comprehensive and continuous accompaniment in crisis situations, in order to reach not only the person in a crisis situation, but also the community, as part of the set of public actions that deal with this issue.
