Christian Church Research Articles

Pelatihan Pembuatan Tepung Pisang dan Produk Olahannya Bagi Ibu-Ibu Anggota PW Jemaat GKI Getsemani Kotaraja, Jayapura

Banana is the well-known fruit plant with nearly every part of the plant can be used or consumed. Banana fruit are rarely converted into banana flour, especially in Jayapura. Instead, they are typically eaten raw or processed into fried or chipped bananas. This community service project's objectives were to: (a) spread knowledge of the advantages of banana flour; and (b) teach people in making processed banana flour so that it can be sold for profit rather than just for personal use. After a lecture on banana flour benefit, participants were given the opportunity to make cakes using the flour. This project was conducted on August 26 and September 2, 2023 with 27 participants from the Gethsemane Indonesian Christian Church Women's Fellowship in the Kotaraja Jayapura area as participants. Banana flour was made using the drying method in the sun or in the oven. Cake products made from banana flour made in this activity were banana flour cookies and brownies. This activity received a good response and high satisfaction from activity participants, with the rate to 97%.

Church Financial Demands and Christian Church Attendance in Kyeizooba Sub County, Bushenyi District of Uganda

Church financial demands has led to lack of trust among church leaders and their believers due to frequency of the financial demands from church members without accountability to the members. This has brought lack of trust among church leaders by followers hence reducing attendance of Christians in church and occasioned the creation of different churches by the members due to mistrust between each other. In the light of the above observations, the study calls for Church preachers to explicitly explain God’s word and bring their worshippers to knowledge of God. The church should start self-sustaining projects like rearing cattle, chicken and other agricultural projects so that its treasury can be increased. There is need for churches to form worship memberships’ care team that review the attendance of their worshipers. Finally, there is need for leaders of the church to constantly visit the homes of their Christian brothers, pray for them so that their investments can be blessed by God. Keywords: Christian church, Church financial demands, Membership, Religious market, Worshippers

Religious infrastructuring in Ghana: the aesthetics and politics of infrastructural augmentation in Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity and the Indigenous Religious Tradition

ABSTRACT This contribution explores the ‘infrastructuring’ of religious sites and practices in Ghana’s Ashanti region, particularly in Pentecostal-Charismatic Christian (PCC) churches and Indigenous Religious Traditions (IRTs). By ‘infrastructuring’, I mean the purposeful complexification and augmentation of infrastructural arrangements encompassing both material (physical) and immaterial (organisational, communicative) dimensions. The first part explores a PCC case study, Prophet Boateng’s Power Chapel Worldwide (PCWW), investigating the aesthetic, economic, and political implications of infrastructuring Pentecostalism. The second part, which is a novel addition to the discourse, focuses on the emergence and expansion of heavily infrastructured IRT shrines and practices through the case of Kↄmfoↄ Oforiwaa’s shrine. I argue that the aesthetic operations performed by religiously configured buildings can help generate assemblages of people, aspirations, and meanings constituting more comprehensive economic and political processes.

Chaotic charisma: religious noise, crowds, and infrastructural disruption in Dar es Salaam’s Sinza ward

ABSTRACT This contribution explores the weaknesses, breakdowns, and possibilities of religious infrastructure in the Sinza ward, a multiconfessional residential suburb in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We focus on instances of infrastructural disruption connected to the grassroots activities of charismatic Christian churches and, to a lesser extent, Islamic piety movements. Through interviews, focus groups, fieldwork, and quantitative data, this study shows how the activities of grassroots faith groups exercising their right to the city in an infrastructurally fraught environment may exacerbate urban planning fault lines. This may result in hazards such as noise pollution, traffic congestion, and issues of structural safety and decorum. Religious sites and related assemblages may thus turn into ‘architectures of disruption’ generating uneven geographies of urban wellbeing. We posit that, despite these problems, religiously connoted urban assemblages are here to stay, and infrastructural thinking may productively be applied to this new normal.

Uloga i (ne)potrebnost za tišinom u štovanju

The author of this article explores whether there should be a space for silence in the worship of God in believers’ lives, church services and the part of the service in which God is praised with songs. To carry out the study, the author compared worship services of two churches in Zagreb – the Evangelical Pentecostal Church “Rock of Salvation” and the Church of Christ (on Kušlanova Street). The author analyzed the presence and role of silence, considering the non-use of musical instruments in the Church of Christ and concluded that the “empty” space in the church service between individual smaller parts is used in various ways. The author presented different definitions of silence or quietness, which nowadays for many no longer means absolute silence, by putting in dialogue the interviews with the pastors of the mentioned churches – Ratko Medan and Mislav Ilić – and the reflections of theologians and experts in the field of Christian services. The same problem is also put against the backdrop of modern times that are both unfamiliar and uncomfortable with silence.

Complexity and Timeliness of the Term “Christendom” for Ecumenical Ecclesiology

Complexity and Timeliness of the Term “Christendom” for Ecumenical Ecclesiology

The Differences in 21st-Century 4C Skills Among Diverse University Choirs in China

Choir singing originated from the choir of Christian churches in medieval Europe and first appeared in the 1st century. However, the focus of choir education had long been on musical knowledge, neglecting the cultivation of practical skills, resulting in variations in skill performance. In the 21st century, choir singing flourished, particularly in Chinese universities. Aligned with modern educational trends, choir singing aimed to foster students' 4C skills: critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration. Music educators gradually emphasized skill development, recognizing it as essential for students' future lives and careers. Nevertheless, the cultivation of these 4C skills remained at a preliminary stage, with varying understandings of skills across different universities leading to differing skill levels among choir ensemble students. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the disparities in the development of 4C skills among choir ensemble students from diverse Chinese universities. Three universities of different types were selected for the study, and a quantitative approach was employed through a case study to examine the differences in students' 4C skill development in the 21st century. Because most of the research was qualitative. Researchers distributed an online survey to all students in the music school's choir ensembles of the three universities, collecting a total of 220 valid responses. The analysis revealed that students in universities with a stronger musical emphasis exhibited a positive attitude towards skill cultivation and development. These findings provided valuable insights for the future of diverse forms of choir music education in terms of skill development.

Концепция души христианских учителей Ранней Церкви

The article is devoted to the teachings about the soul, which were developed in the early Christian tradition before the 4th century. There is no shortage of research on this topic, how-ever, in this article, firstly, no attempt is made to develop a uni-versal patristic teaching, but, on the contrary, an overview of the entire variety of ideas that were formed in the Early Church is give; secondly, the observation is made that the opinion ac-cepted among scientists about the unconditional adherence of Christian authors to one or the other philosophical schools are not supported by the sources. Christian writers argue with their contemporary philosophy, and at the same time rely more on the authority of St. Scriptures and the church tradition, creative-ly reworking the philosophical heritage. Christians use only the general idea of the soul, which was developed by the Greek philosophical schools. Idealistic teaching was spread among the Hellenized Jews of the Diaspora. Christian church teachers used both the «Platonic» immaterial concept of the soul, as well as the «Aristotelian» materialistic one. The author of the article concludes that the choice in favor of one or another model de-pended more on regional specifics. In those provinces of the West and East where the degree of Hellenization was higher, there is a greater attraction to Platonic idealism. On the contra-ry, in Roman North Africa, where Hellenistic culture did not spread, and as the local population as a whole tended to reli-gious literalism and materialism, typical for Punic culture, the materialistic doctrine of the soul also spread. Since it is in Ro-man Africa that Latin Christianity was born, it is in it that Christian materialism would develop. It is precisely caused by cultural specifics of the Mediterranean regions, and not by the difference in Greek and Latin languages, that is usually esti-mated as a core factor of the split between teachings of the soul in the Eastern and Western Christian thought.

Leading Maranatha Reformed Church of Christ beyond hundred years through serving and cell groups

Leading Maranatha Reformed Church of Christ beyond hundred years through serving and cell groups

Федеративная модель Церкви в западном богословии

The author attempts to reconstruct in the most general detail the history of the application of federative terminology to the description of the structure of the Christian Church. The concept of federation appeared in the 18th century in the works of Protestant church historians who believed that the formation of the initial church structure was modeled on the federative political structures that emerged in Greco-Roman antiquity. Further mastering of the relevant political terminology by church authors was facilitated by the formation of the theory of political federalism in the 19th century and its popularization in the political and public life of many states. The author shows how since the end of the 19th century the concept of federation has been applied to the church constitution at its modern stage. This practice was especially characteristic of the representatives of the Anglican Church, in whose official rhetoric the image of federation took an important and prominent place. It was in the midst of the Anglican Church that the formula of the Church as a federation was born. Thanks to Protestant influence, federative terminology enters the language of ecumenical theology, being used there in particular to denote an intermediate form of ecclesiastical union. However, federative formulas in ecclesiology were accompanied by constant criticism, mainly for allegedly bringing with them alien and profane associations. An irreconcilable position was taken by Catholic authors, who for a whole century have been developing a theological refutation of ecclesiastical federalism. Under the influence of their criticism, as well as significant historical and ideological changes, the image of federation gradually disappeared from the language of Christian theology, surviving ultimately in the form of a general and unanimous denial that the Church is not a federation. The author is trying to show that despite some artificiality in the use of federative terminology, there were certain theological insights behind its use concerning the status of particular Churches and the nature of their mutual unity. These intuitions were largely ignored by the general development of ecclesiology in the twentieth century with its main interest in the global and universal dimension of the Church.

Defining the sanctissimus

This article presents the results of a programme of investigation into vallum enclosures around known or suspected early Christian church sites in eastern Scotland. Survey and keyhole excavation results are reported on for four sites: Abersnithock, Aberdeenshire; Migvie, Aberdeenshire; Glamis, Angus; and Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross. At each site a combination of aerial survey, geophysics and evaluative excavation revealed rectilinear or curvilinear ditched enclosures centring on the position of the church, with radiocarbon dating showing these enclosures are of early medieval date. The significance of the church vallums are discussed, including their role as marking the sacred precincts of the early church and the significance of such large enclosures in the early medieval landscapes of Pictland. In addition to the early medieval results, the geophysical survey at Dunkeld revealed part of old Dunkeld town, which was burnt down and abandoned after the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689.

The Encounter of Christianity With The Old Religion of Minahasa

The purpose of this article is to carry out an in-depth analysis of the encounter between Christianity and the old Minahasa religion. The problems that arise related to the revival and re-existence of old Minahasa beliefs affect the faith of congregation members in Minahasa today. Christianity has been embraced by the Minahasa people since 1831 and has transformed Minahasa culture. The way to transform it is through the preaching of the Gospel and Christian religious education. The research method used to solve this problem is a qualitative research method with stages of collecting scientifically tested literature exploration such as books and journals, without ignoring field data. Through this discussion, the author offers a new perspective that the old Minahasan religion needs to be studied critically and constructively to highlight the local wisdom contained in it in order to enrich theological efforts within the Evangelical Christian Church in Minahasa. The author's thesis is that the manguni bird is a form of local Minahasa cultural wisdom, enriching the theological efforts of GMIM congregation members. The author then differentiated this thesis in depth with the following systematics: First, the religion of the Minahasa tribe, Second, the entry of Christianity in Minahasa, Third, the encounter of Christianity with the religion of the Minahasa tribe, Fourth, GMIM theology in its service. The end of this article is a conclusion which confirms that the goals have been achieved and problems have been answered.

The Church in the context of corruption: A case of the Church of Christ in Zimbabwe

Corruption has caused serious dysfunction in most of the public institutions in Zimbabwe. The effectiveness of public institutions on providing meaningful services today hinges upon the capacity of the Church and other social institutions to combat corruption. Regrettably, corruption has infected and affected both the Church and the secular institutions. This theoretical qualitative study explores the potential of the Church of Christ in Zimbabwe (COCZ) in curbing corruption in Zimbabwe. It employs a combination of the Christological kenosis and Ubuntu or Hunhu as its theoretical lenses. The article argues that the Church has great potential to tackle corruption. The potential of the COCZ manifests in its organisation and public engagement. The restorative nature of the COCZ Restoration Movement (RM) magnifies scripture, the gospel of Christ (Christological kenosis) as a tool of conviction and behaviour change in public spaces to combat corruption. These unique attributes of the COCZ provide the rationale for choosing it as a case study in this article. The data were collected through the engagement with literature largely from the Zimbabwean scholars on the subject and the COCZ documents. The findings were that the COCZ can only unlock its potential if it is committed to taking a self-introspection and reconfigure itself in order to take a robust anti-corruption stance.Contribution: The study poses questions about the potential of the Church’s voice, through the case of the COCZ, in the context of corruption in Zimbabwe. It pushes for the Church to reclaim its authentic status in order to root out corruption and have relevance in the Zimbabwean communities’ lived experiences. Religion has always claimed higher ground in ethical and moral issues, but there is scanty literature on the COCZ’s role in combating corruption in Zimbabwe. The study maintains that the Church has a consequential opportunity to either drive the agenda to end corruption or lose relevance due to perceived complicit attitudes towards the same.

Do religious and cultural considerations militate against body donation? An overview and a Christian perspective.

The development of anatomy as a scientific undertaking appears to have left little room for religious and cultural input into the conduct of anatomical investigations. This has been brought to the fore by questionnaires regarding the willingness or otherwise of individuals to donate their bodies for dissection, with higher levels of willingness from those without religious affiliations. This has led to the assumption that there is inherent opposition to body donation by those with a religious stance, although there has been little exploration of this. This is increasingly important with growing awareness that anatomy is an international discipline, leading to increasing attention to the religious and cultural contexts within which it is practiced. There is a diversity of responses toward body donation within different countries, as well as by those influenced by Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Additionally, there are diverse cultural attitudes within Confucianism in Asia, Zulu in Africa, and Māori in New Zealand. Even those within the Christian church are influenced by a variety of values, some of which are in tension, with emphasis on the sacredness of life and the significance of burial being negative toward body donation, with informed consent and altruism pointing in a positive direction. The challenge for anatomists is to understand those within their communities, seek to appreciate their perspectives, and also make known the potential of body donation and dissection for enhancing medical practice and improving the education of future health workers.

Renovating House Church Assumptions

Missiologists have often claimed that early Christian house churches could not have surpassed 15-30 people. The argument often centers on two prongs—persecution and space. Persecution kept house churches relatively small to avoid visibility. The size of Greco-Roman houses kept churches relatively small due to space limitations. For some missiologists, these limitations became advantageous and led to rapid multiplication as the church grew "sideways." This article questions both of these assumptions and instead provides evidence that early Christian churches could and did embrace several models based on their particular context.

The Role of Institutions in the Civilization Schism (the Case of Christianity)

The geopolitical transformations of recent decades have added to the topicality of the study оf civilizational differences between the East and the West relevant. Religion is often cited as a contributing factor to these differences. This can be confirmed by the example of the split of the Christian Church into the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches and, as a consequence, the emergence of the Western and the Eastern Christian civilizations. As a rule, the authors “isolate” religion from the social system, considering it independently of all other spheres, as the primary factor that triggers the emergence of civilization. In this work, the emergence of a new Western and Eastern Christian, is considered within the framework of the institutional approach, as a process of formation of a certain complex institutional structure that regulates the life of society and consists of a whole complex of interconnected and interdependent economic, political, and socio-cultural institutions, including religion. This process can begin in the bowels of the “mother” civilization, causing its crisis. The stages of development and resolution of such a crisis are analyzed using the example of a split in the united Christian world using a matrix approach. This approach assumes that civilization is characterized by a civilizational matrix formed by an institutional core that simultaneously contains market and redistributive institutions on the basis of dominance/complementarity, and a shell that includes cultural-religious and national-demographic characteristics, the naturalclimatic and material-technological environment. The necessity of both strengthening dominant institutions in the institutional core and creating balancers (complementary institutions) for the sustainable development of civilization is shown.

Attitudes of Black American Christian church leaders toward Opioid Use Disorder, overdoses, and harm reduction: a qualitative study.

Black American Christian church leaders are trusted community members and can be invaluable leaders and planners, listeners, and counselors for Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) sufferers in the opioid overdose crisis disproportionately affecting the Black community. This qualitative study examines the extent to which the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and beliefs of Black American church leaders support medical and harm reduction interventions for people with OUD. A semi-structured interview guide was used to conduct in-depth interviews of 30 Black Rhode Island church leaders recruited by convenience and snowball sampling. Thematic analysis of the interviews identified four themes: Church leaders are empathetic and knowledgeable, believe that hopelessness and inequity are OUD risk factors, are committed to helping people flourish beyond staying alive, and welcome collaborations between church and state. Black American Christian church leaders are a critical resource in providing innovative and culturally sensitive strategies in the opioid overdose crisis affecting the Black American communities. As such, their views should be carefully considered in OUD policies, collaborations, and interventions in the Black American community.

How the Fourth Statistical Account of East Lothian Recorded Developments in the Church in the County Between 1945 and 2000

This article will use the Fourth Statistical Account of East Lothian, which was produced by a consortium of local history societies, to provide a case study of how the church in the county developed between 1945 and 2000. Because East Lothian is the only Scottish county to have a fourth statistical account, the study provides a unique opportunity to trace the development of the church within a Scottish local authority during the second half of the twentieth century. The article will use, as its main sources, essays on four established denominations and the sections on ‘Belief’ in each of the parish entries. It will detail how the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Methodist Church contracted between 1945 and 2000; show that, while the Roman Catholic Church was more stable, it began to suffer from a lack of vocations and the disinterest of younger members of the Catholic population, and that, while the Baptist Church increased its presence in the county and Pentecostal congregations and ‘house churches’ were formed, the Brethren and Church of Christ both declined and, as a consequence, these other churches remained on the margins of the church in East Lothian.

Traditional Eye Practices: Economics and Visual Status of Users in North Central Nigeria.

Traditional medicine is a constellation of practices, approaches, knowledge, and beliefs, which encompass material-based medicines, spiritual therapies, and manual techniques applied individually or combined. This study seeks to determine the cost and visual status of traditional eye treatments users among new patients at a health facility. This is part of the study titled "Traditional eye practices: A facility-based study in North Central Nigeria." It is a cross-sectional, facility-based study conducted between July 2013 and June 2014 on new patients seen in the eye unit of Church of Christ in the Nations Rehabilitation Center, Mangu. Interviewer-administered structured questionnaire was used to gather information on patient demographics; cost of traditional eye medication and manipulations and visual status of new patients were recorded. The use of traditional eye treatment was reported by 134 (4.3%) of the 3113 new patients. Traditional operative couching of lens was more expensive than using traditional eye medications (P < 0.001). Payment modality varied, and poor visual status was significantly higher among traditional eye treatment users (P < 0.001). Since most respondents who had their eyes couched or used traditional eye medicine were able to pay such high price with dissatisfaction and poorer visual status, they should be able to pay for modern cataract surgery with good outcome. There is a need for health education of the general public about the deleterious effects of traditional eye treatment.

Utopia as compensation for secularization

In this article, I argue for an historical understanding of the relationship between ideology and utopia/utopianism that positions the latter as a specifically modern compensation for the loss of the cosmologically grounded, unitary ideology supplied by the late medieval Christian Church. This claim relies upon but revises Fredric Jameson’s early theorization of the collaboration between ideology and utopia/utopianism, which emphasizes that utopian elements allow ideology to offer subjects a ‘compensatory exchange’ for their complicity. Developing my central argument requires considering the current viability of the ‘secularization thesis’, which classically associated modernization with secularization but which has undergone heavy criticism and revision by social scientists over the past half-century. These theoretical discussions, finally, are couched within a critical appraisal of the status of utopianism in contemporary politics.