當信仰遇見專業--基督徒社工生涯與專業的抉擇

Abstract

社會工作最早起源於基督教信仰的助人工作，宗教的價值觀與信念對專業發展影響甚深，後來社會工作開始專業化，便漸漸脫去原有宗教色彩，轉而強調科學慈善的理論與技術。然而，自1980年代新保守主義興起，以信仰為基礎的機構開始大量出現，加上案主多元靈性的議題開始被重視，信仰與專業之間的互動變多、衝突也變多，社會工作的專業發展該如何面對與基督教信仰的信念差異？而第一線基督徒社工在此發展氛圍中將如何選擇他們的生涯發展或機構？在社會工作的實踐過程中，又將如何面對信仰與專業的衝突與會通？目前文獻中有關這方面反思性論文尚未普遍探討，因此本研究期待從瞭解基督徒社工的經歷與反思，提供基督徒社工學生生涯發展的參考；或提供「以信仰為基礎的機構」選用社工時的參考資料。 本研究利用質性研究方法，透過半結構式訪談法進行研究，針對兩間基督徒社工人力比例不同的青少年基督教機構，各訪3位基督徒社工。研究發現：基督徒社工學生傾向選擇基督教信仰的機構展開社工專業生涯，並希望在機構中持續參與晨更或被允許禱告、組成團契等；本研究也發現信仰與專業之價值觀的衝突與會通確實存在，造成基督徒社工面對案主服務的掙扎。在建議上，本研究認為基督徒社工學生選擇基督教機構開始生涯發展是可行的，但須留意機構其基督徒社工人力比例對信仰重視度的差異。此外，當基督徒社工在社工實踐過程中發生信仰與專業價值上的衝突時，應該保持敞開與真誠的態度，並尋求相關諮詢，才會達到信仰與專業的真正會通。

The emergency of social work take roots in Christian philanthropy for caring the poor. The religious values of Christian belief laid base for the development of social work professional value system. However, in the later period of pursuing professionalization, social work emphasized more on scientific theories and helping techniques, less on Christian belief or philanthropy activities. During 1980s, under the neo-Conservatism ethos, the government brought about the religious churches or groups into social services delivery system, more social workers have been hired in faith-based organizations. Spiritual issues and ethical struggles began common in faith-based organizations when delivering the needy services to the disadvantaged population. How do the Christian social workers choose to work in faith-based organizations? And how do they deal with the conflicts between religious beliefs and professional values during the encounter? To investigate the career planning and belief conflicts, this study use a qualitative research approach to collect data. Six Christian social workers from two faith-based organizations, whose main clientele is adolescents, were indepth interviewed. The result indicates that Christian social workers tend to choose faith-based organization as the first career placements because those organizations maintain similar religious activities as they had in churches. These social workers do encounter conflicts and struggles when their clients’ issues are against their belief system or beyond their problem solving capacity. Implications for career planning and professional development are included.