This article draws heavily on the first author’s research on youth faith formation of South African Christian youths (e.g. Counted 2016a; 2016b; Counted & Moustafa 2017) to offer a pastoral response to the ‘pattern of youth attachment behaviour towards God in which the young person emphasizes the importance of needing care and emotional support in their faith experience’ (Counted 2016a:167). In a typical faith development scenario in young people’s pursuit of emotional security, God becomes the proximal attachment figure and a reliable caregiver in the absence of a parent or a relational other. This faith development perspective is very much nuanced in psychology of religion literature (e.g. Granqvist & Kirkpatrick 2016; Kirkpatrick 1992; 1998) and draws on insights from Bowlby’s (1969; 1988) attachment theory. The attachment-religion connection has been discussed as an aspect of adult attachment development (Cicirelli 2004), with its goal being to achieve a sense of ‘felt security’ with the knowledge of the whereabouts of God as a symbolic object of attachment through means of religious attachment behaviours such as reading the Scripture, seeking God through prayer and participating in religious activities that draw one closer to God (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick 2016; Kirkpatrick 1992; 1999). However, the problem with this kind of youth faith development is that it is not grounded. When God is perceived to be distant or not answering prayers, this may lead to a separation anxiety as some youth search for a new ‘caregiver’ because their needs for attachment are not adequately met.

While there is difficulty in defining every socio-psychological factor involved, this kind of religious attachment can serve as an opportunity for evangelical Christian communities (and other Christian communities) to increase their involvement in fostering a deeper caregiving environment. The term ‘evangelical’ itself is often poorly defined and used broadly in different research. In this paper, the term ‘evangelical’ will be understood as the modern Christian movement that is not defined by any one nationality, race, denomination or political affiliation. Evangelicalism is the collection of Christian believers across a broad spectrum who take seriously the content of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, the need for social activism and the missional imperative to share the good news of Jesus with the world. However, applying attachment theory to the evangelical mission is not a simple task. As noted by the 21st century theologian Carl F.H. Henry, ‘Evangelical theology, on the other hand, while preserving the Judeo-Christian verities all too often fails to project engagingly upon present-day perplexities’ (1999:10). Recognising the challenges of integrating historic evangelical vocabulary with contemporary psychological theory, this paper makes a case for integration of the Christian community into the individual youth’s spiritual growth programme and proposes a pastoral theology of juxtaposition as a framework of support to young people longing for a caregiving God who can help them not only to overcome their past, but also to adjust to a new reality (Clinton, Hart & Ohlschlager 2009). Drawing on Shenk’s (2014; 2015) treatment of the principle of juxtaposition, the authors propose in this paper a pastoral juxtaposition which stresses the need for the ‘powers of two’ in creating both relationships and opportunities that foster spiritual growth within the context of a church community. Pastoral theology of juxtaposition seeks to help the conflicted youth by identifying with them as Christ did through his incarnation. This incarnation process allows the pastoral counsellor or church community to validate the struggles of the conflicted youth by charging into their lives through the gifts of the Holy Spirit who stands as the advocate of those drawn to God, directing and guiding the youth in their walk with God.

British psychoanalyst Bowlby (1969; 1988) came up with an evolutionary theory of attachment that suggests that children are biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others to help them survive in and engage the world around them. He postulated that behavioural problems and tendencies could be attributed to early childhood years. This notion of attachment was very much influenced by the work of Lorenz (1935), who had earlier argued that attachment was an innate experience and thus has a survival value. In drawing theoretical insights from Lorenz, Bowlby (1969; 1988) reasons that attachment behaviours are instinctive and are therefore activated when a child is afraid and perceives their social environment as being insecure or senses separation from their caregiver. When separated from an attachment figure, the child seeks a surrogate attachment to act as a secure base for their development and personal growth, or a safe haven to turn to in times of perceived danger. Attachment with a primary caregiver functions as a prototype for all future relationships and disrupting such early attachment can have severe consequences for the child (Kobak, Zajac & Madsen 2016). Kobak and colleagues believe that a child should receive the continuous care and support from the attachment figure because separation from such caregiver can lead to distress and emotional turmoil. Although Bowlby largely assumed an evolutionary perspective in his focus on the attachment behavioural system and its manifestation in a child’s relationship with the parents, he stressed that attachment processes may have a broader implication for future psychological developments and relationships.

Over time, the attachment relationship with a primary caregiver forms what Bowlby (1969, 1988) referred to as the ‘internal working model’ of the attachment behavioural system, which is a cognitive framework for understanding self, others and the world-at-large. In other words, the social behaviour of a person is guided by their personal relationships, biographies, memories and expectations, as a result of their attachment working model from which they evaluate and direct their relationships with others (Bretherton & Munholland 1999). It is on this basis that several non-traditional applications of attachment theory have been proposed, exploring attachment to God (Counted 2016a, 2016b; Counted & Moustafa 2017; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick 2016; Granqvist et al. 2010; Hall et al. 2009; Rowatt & Kirkpatrick 2002), attachment to romantic partners (Holmes 2009; Hudson et al. 2014), attachment to place (Counted & Watts 2017; Scannell & Gifford 2010) and attachment to workplace (Hardy & Barkman 1994; Hazan & Shaver 1990). The application of attachment theory in understanding broader perspectives of social relationship dynamics is, arguably, without limit. Albeit scholars should take caution not to extend the concept of attachment beyond its valid limits because one weakness of attachment theory is that it lacks theoretical resources for helping one identify inauthentic attachments. This is where the idea of faith development in terms of attachment relationship with God, in the context of the evangelical Christian community, seems plausible on the basis that:

Kimbell (2001:354–355) argue for this methodology, writing that:

Attachment theory was recently applied in a study (e.g. Counted 2016a; 2016b; Counted & Moustafa 2017) with South African Christian youths, from which Counted (2016a) described youth faith experience as an attachment experience and a ‘caregiving faith’ in which youth develops an attachment behaviour towards God who is perceived as a symbolic attachment figure in times of emotional separation from a primary caregiver. In this kind of faith experience, the young person emphasises the importance of emotional support and the need for a divine-omnipresent caregiver. Other studies (e.g. Hall et al. 2009; Kirkpatrick 1992; 1998; 1999) also support this notion of a caregiving faith development and the idea that attachment experiences with primary caregivers can be linked to faith experiences and the desire for God among people of faith.

The idea of a caregiving faith experience is not new in psychoanalytic theory. Sigmund Freud first proposed similar understanding of religion in his account on the origin of religion, where he recognised God as a kind of fictionalised parental figure (Freud 1927; 1961). However, by focusing only on the developmental deficit that leads to distorted beliefs about origins of faith experience, Freud’s argument is flawed by a genetic fallacy (judging a phenomenon based on its origins) because one can experience God in adolescence and adulthood as an attachment surrogate as a meaningful source of hope, protection, and security, thereby disproving Freud’s discrediting of religious faith. Other post-Freudian psychoanalytic traditions took a different turn on religion and were more open towards religion, while also positioning it as a ‘childish’ behavioural pattern that narrates the story of a religious believer’s need for emotional security. Post-Freudian psychoanalytic debate on religion moved away from the initial ‘Freud’s instinctual model of human motivation and replaces it with an essentially relational vision of human beings’ (Jones 1996:24). This rethinking of relational paradigm began with the work of Fairbairn (1952) who introduced object relations theory, a theory later adopted by Rizzuto (1979) to further develop Freud’s thesis on the origins of religion. Rizzuto moved away from the Freudian notion of God as an internally generated object to that of an object relations model, which positions religion as an experiential knowledge of the Divine in terms of a believer–God relationship and representations that are captured in a variety of relational God images and schemas. The object relations approach to religion conveys an idea of a relational model of human nature, giving rise to Bowlby’s (1969) development of attachment theory that eventually emerged out of the debate on post-Freudian psychoanalytic theory. Kirkpatrick and Shaver (1990) (also see Kirkpatrick 1992) first introduced the concept of religion as an aspect of attachment experience that considers the affectional bond between a religious believer and their divine attachment figure.

These historical concerns in terms of Freudian psychoanalytic account to religion have resulted in resistance to utilising attachment theory within the evangelical Christian context. Despite these concerns, a sufficient body of research supports the existence of an attachment to God as an articulation of a caregiving faith within a variety of faith communities, having implications for mental health and psychological outcomes (e.g. Bradshaw et al. 2010; Ellison et al. 2014). The idea of a personal relationship with God in Christian contexts accounts for how ‘the attachment system provides a means for making God’s presence to us more immediate, personal, and concrete’ (Boccia 2011:24). In addition, the application of attachment theory to faith development ‘may help us to understand experiences reflected throughout the history of the church and captured with phrases such as “dark night of the soul”, or “wilderness experience”’ (2011:24). The meanings attached to such experience may very much outweigh the history on individual basis. As a symbolic attachment figure, proximity to God can be expressed through various channels of religious attributions in diverse spiritual healing contexts such as prayer, reading religious texts, rituals and meditation (Williams & Watts 2014). A ‘caregiving faith’ is therefore a phrase used to describe a spiritual experience which precipitates from the internal working model in the attachment behavioural system of the individual. Counted (2016a, 2016b) conducted interviews with young people between the ages of 18 and 35 who developed this kind of caregiving faith, many of whom had experienced emotional difficulties, attachment separation and abandonment relating with their primary caregivers – mostly their parents.

As an illustration, Counted (2016a; 2016b) tells the story of Josiah who was passionate about his education and determined to make the best out of life, but his father was an alcoholic; he was often not home, or if he was, he was either drunk or depressed. When Josiah was in Grade 11 and getting ready for his matric exams, his mother was critically ill, which meant that neither parent was able to provide him with the emotional support he needed when preparing for his exams. Reaching out for a secure relationship with someone that was not out of reach, Josiah found God, yet still struggles with feelings of anxiety about God abandoning him just as his biological parents did. He constantly feels that he is unworthy of God’s love and needs to do more to please him, even though he comes to church regularly and prays from time to time. Another story shared in the study was that of June, who was abandoned by her mother who had left for London to support her family when she was in grade 1 and just about 8 years old. The physical and emotional impact this had on her during her formative years has made her wary of allowing people into her life and forming attachments. Her fear of being hurt again led her to finding God, whom she feels will always be there for her in a way which her mother was not. Nevertheless, she still experiences feelings of anxiety, despite acknowledging that:

Now a university student, June often kneels in prayer to God, hoping she will fill the void in her.

The stories of Josiah and June are only two examples of how negative experiences with a caregiver (whether it be a parent, a friend or any other person with whom we have had an emotional attachment) can have a profound effect on how we perceive ourselves and desire others. The two stories have one thing in common: they show how experiences with primary caregivers establish the model for exploring self and desiring God. This model is seen regulating the attachment behaviours of Josiah and June, and many other youths, as they sought a relationship that would heal the wounds of their past and attend to their need for care and quality attachment. These kinds of emotional compensation experiences have been substantively studied in attachment to God research as the first pathway to faith development among insecurely attached individuals (e.g. Counted 2016a; Hall et al. 2009; Kirkpatrick 1998; 2005). This first pattern shows how the caregiving faith of young people is developed following experiences of abandonment and emotional betrayal with insensitive caregivers.

The second pattern observed in the study (i.e. Counted 2016a) saw securely attached South African Christian youths developing perceived connections with God as a surrogate attachment even though they had sensitive caregivers. One such story is that of Marley who left her family home for her first year of university studies. Although she seems to have a secure attachment with her parents, she formed a relationship with God after she had moved from home for her studies. Having a relationship with God seems to enhance the emotional security that Marley already enjoys with her parents. This faith development pathway has been extensively studied in attachment to God research as the correspondence hypotheses (e.g. Counted 2016a; Kirkpatrick 1998, 2005; Kirkpatrick & Shaver 1992). In both pathways, there is a sudden need to navigate the relational world and develop an attachment with someone (or something) stronger and wiser among the youths, thus allowing their attachment goals and perception of others to permeate their relationship with God. The need for caregiving is justified because of the difficult or secure experiences with primary caregivers, most of whom happened to be family members (especially their parents), serving as a security-enhancing or affect-regulating experience. However, data evidence in the study with South African Christian youths (e.g. Counted 2016a; 2016b) suggests that young people are more likely to compensate for the ‘abusive’ relationships experienced with their parents by turning to God as a surrogate attachment. The consequence of having abusive and dysfunctional family relationships is that the abused often respond by developing insecure coping styles such as being anxious, dismissive, fearful or even abusive, in order to block their conflicting and shameful past experiences (O’Keefe 1995; Schumacher & Leonard 2005). On the other hand, others may seek for a surrogate attachment in another potential caregiver like God to heal the wounds of their past and inspire a sense of hope for a healthy future.

When young people are deprived of love and care they are more likely to search for it elsewhere. Some find it in their romantic partner, school, workplace, fraternity and friends or in any object or person that they think can be a reliable source of support to them. Some end up finding this advantage in God. They are in a relationship with God because he is perceived as a caregiving figure who can fill the void of a lost or abusive attachment with his radiant love and presence. The idea of the existence of God as a caregiving figure is also theologically grounded. The Bible tells a relational story of God’s love for humanity, one which has been expressed to his creation through the incarnation of Christ, and the sending of the Holy Spirit in continuation of the communion fellowship with the Trine God (Bosch 1991). God reveals himself as a caregiver to those drawn to him offering comfort, protection and security for believers (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick 2016). This relational attribute of the Christian faith suggests that the notion of attachment is central to Christian theology, as it binds most believers to a caregiving God who is perceived as stronger, wiser, all-knowing, holy, a haven of safety and secure base, and one from whom separation may trigger negative emotions. In the Bible, God is often referred to the as the protector of the saints (e.g. Ps 127:1; Ps 54:4), a friend closer than a brother (e.g. Pr 18:24), a way maker (e.g. Is. 43:16–19), the greatest high priest (e.g. Heb. 4:14–16), among others. No wonder King David referred to God as his ‘Shepherd’ in Psalms 23. Many other metaphors are used to express this unique attribute of God in the Bible as a caregiving figure for his followers. The ‘personification’ of God as a caregiving figure demonstrates how he is perceived as an important source of attachment-related ‘felt security’ among Christian believers (Granqvist et al. 2010; Kirkpatrick 2005).

To further probe the concerns raised in this section, a question that comes to mind could be, ‘What happens next after developing a relationship with God because of a separation experience with a primary caregiver?’ Counted (2016a) noted in his study that much of the issues young people had with their primary caregivers were also manifested in their new relationship with God. For example, most of the young people who were insecurely attached to their primary caregivers were also insecurely attached to God because the same working model of attachment that was developed during experiences with primary caregivers was also in action when assessing God’s existence as an attachment figure. According to the attachment to God theory, individuals who struggle in their relationships with primary caregivers, having insecure working models, are also likely to struggle in their relationships with other objects of attachment (e.g. God) (Kirkpatrick 1999; Richert & Granqvist 2013). Ano and Pargament (2013) have reported insecure attachment to God as a predictor of spiritual struggles. Hence, even though the relationship with God was used as a means of alleviating the pain and entanglements of past relationships, maintaining and sustaining such relationship would be a difficult hurdle for most of the young people.

Emotional distress and spiritual struggles are often experienced in a caregiving faith experience, particularly when the individual perceives God as being insensitive to their feelings and seeks to make sense of the insecurity they experience in their relationship with God (cf. Counted 2016b; Ellison et al. 2014). This insecurity and emotional tension can often lead to emotional turmoil and spiritual struggles because the psychological and spiritual needs of the youth might not have been immediately met by God (Counted 2016b). The youth, at this stage of making sense of their new relationship with God, begins to explore other social and religious landscapes in search of meaning while simultaneously developing their caregiving faith. For example, they can turn to their church community or role models for acceptance and deeper understanding to help them navigate the compass of their relationship. While it is acknowledged that conflict may help foster autonomy in the youth, attention is also drawn to the mental health implications of forming a caregiving faith experience. Ano and Pargament (2013) have linked insecure attachment with God to spiritual struggles. Counted and Moustafa (2017) report a correlation between insecure attachment with God and feeling out of touch with one’s self (inauthenticity). Therefore, it is worthwhile exploring a theology of spiritual care that can respond to the youth’s caregiving faith development because this kind of faith experience thresholds the beginning phase of a spiritual journey for most youths. However, if the relationship with God is perceived as insecure, wherein God, being the caregiver, is viewed as ‘demanding’ too much too soon or is perceived to be inaccessible or insensitive, this may also lead to anxiety, spiritual struggles, and doubt about one’s ability to maintain such a relationship (Counted 2016b; Shin 2009). Studies (e.g. Counted & Moustafa 2017; Exline et al. 2013; Ringel 2008; Reinert 2005)) have shown that these negative emotions and perceptions of the self are often shaped within the context of a church community. As a result, the youth may be stuck in a constant state of searching for their identity and maintaining their new unpredictable relationship. This rapid onset of self-consciousness is the ignition that triggers core questions of identity among young people (Erikson 1968).

Shenk (2014; 2015) in his books on the principle of juxtaposition examines how the relationships between two variables may drive creativity, which, in turn, is used to thrive in conflict. The premise of his argument was that the human brain is wired to collaborate. Hence, even when one is alone, they are in a sense working together with a voice inside their head. He further argues against the idea of solitary genius by drawing on neuroscience and cultural history to demonstrate through his research that the most significant and creative works in human history came from collaboration with a pair as its primary embodiment. Juxtaposition is therefore the act of placing two or more things side-by-side or in close proximity to each other so as to attain a creative space within which a breakthrough can be achieved. The core value of this creative space is the juxtaposition of mutual interests which Shenk (2015) describes as the:

Our proposal for pastoral juxtaposition in spiritual care is theorised within the context of evangelical theology. As noted previously, this Christian movement is subject to a variety of definitions from authors of differing traditions. Hunter (1983), for example, defines evangelicalism as a Protestant phenomenon recognised for its theological stance in terms of the inerrancy of Scripture and the divinity of Christ. This definition, however, is unnecessarily limited to the Protestant faith, and within this paper the term ‘evangelical’ will be understood as encompassing subgroups within both the Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions. Evangelicalism, in this larger context, is the collection of Christian believers across a broad spectrum of faith traditions who take seriously the authority of Bible as God’s revelation to mankind and belief that the essence of the Christian faith is founded on the doctrine of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ (The Concise Oxford Dictionary 1978).

In this section, we propose a pastoral theology of juxtaposition to show how the idea of the ‘powers of the two’ in spiritual care can aid in fostering spiritual growth despite the development of a caregiving faith. Pastoral juxtaposition offers interventions for the spiritual struggles associated with feelings of insecurity in maintaining a relationship with God through reparative trusted relationship with a pastoral counsellor or a church community. We argue that the corrective relationship with a trusted Christian counsellor or church community could transform the nature of the insecure working model of attachment which guides the youth’s relationship expectations, enabling the youth to attain greater sense of earned security in their relationship with God. Theoretical insights are drawn from the Christian theology of incarnation and pneumatological ecclesiology, while also demonstrating how stories of God’s love can create an atmosphere for the expression of love in terms of building trusted relationships with conflicted youths. Kimball et al. (2013) have proposed that alternative trusted relationships can serve as corrective measures, altering the insecure perception of one’s internal working model of attachment. In addition, we propose that working side-by-side with the Holy Spirit as a surrogate attachment is an important second step in pastoral juxtaposition, as will be made clearer.

A proposal of pastoral juxtaposition has been used as a creative container in which the conflicting stories and biographies of young people can be reframed from a trinitarian perspective in such a way that promotes intimacy, identification and accountability in a spiritual healing context. Firstly, we argued that the spiritual struggles faced by young people may be traced to the history of their caregiving faith development, which is often a representation of their previous attachment experiences with primary caregivers, leading to insecure attachment to God representations and spiritual struggles. Secondly, we offered a pastoral theology for responding to youth caregiving faith experiences which first engages in an incarnation praxis that ensures that the pastoral counsellor or church community embodies the life of an ‘incarnate figure’ by entering the world order of the conflicted youth to identify with them as Christ did through his incarnation. This incarnation praxis in pastoral juxtaposition also points to the truth that we make our best work, and live our best lives, by charging into each other through the ‘power of two’. This movement in the paper brings us to the next phase of pastoral juxtaposition, which is an attachment-affiliation with the person of Holy Spirit as our ultimate attachment figure, standing as our counsellor and advocate in times of conflict. Pastoral juxtaposition recognises the presence of the Holy Spirit in continuing the work of incarnation in terms of spiritual nurturing and fostering spiritual growth. However, while there might still be ambiguities around the proposed theology of pastoral juxtaposition, we invite other scholars to engage with this theological thought in order to give further clarity and help illuminate the importance of this theology for assuring and enhancing spiritual growth within and outside the context of a redemptive community.