Abstract:
Rape is an act of humiliation that leaves the survivors ashamed. They therefore often try and
hide from others and rarely seek help. Informal discussions with female ministers revealed
that some of them had counselled female rape survivors. A descriptive phenomenological
study, aimed at exploring and describing the experiences of female ministers in counselling
female rape survivors through individual interviews, was conducted. Six ministers were
interviewed. They experienced the dichotomy of being a woman and being a minister during
their encounter with rape survivors. As women, they became emotionally involved in the
suffering of the rape survivors, and as ministers they experienced that prayer and scripture
reading in collaboration with counselling promote healing. They also experienced that rape
survivors perceived them as approachable because of their gender, but less approachable
because of their status as ministers.
