Ministry Of Church Research Articles

Christ Would Break Your Tongue

“Christ Would Break Your Tongue” is part of my on-going exploration of growing up as a United Church minister’s daughter in small-town Ontario. In the title poem, I inquire into the interstices of gender, voice, and authority. In “Dominion” I grapple with how the Christian underpinnings of Western culture place humans above other creatures and lifeforms to the detriment of all living beings. In “Billy Stewart’s Geography” I begin to explore the church’s role in political oppression, colonialism, and residential schools, building on my poetic interests in family dynamics and place (Stewart, 2003; 2012). I use poetic inquiry (Butler-Kisber, Guiney Yallop, Stewart, & Wiebe, 2017; Faulkner, 2009; Galvin & Prendergast, 2016; Prendergast, Leggo, & Sameshima, 2009; Thomas, Cole, & Stewart, 2012) as a research method to reflect on and through language, letting the poems be the plumb-line of the research process. Poetry’s use of the associative, the particular, and the unconscious allow me to explore terrain which may have been previously un-worded. This is needed to write through shame and grief. I believe with Orr (2002) that “the more of our own stories that we can tell, the richer and more complex our selves become. The richer a use we make of our past experience, the more open we are to present experience” (p. 102). This openness is crucial in the search for word and action. Educator Maxine Greene (1977) calls us to be open or “awake.” How can poets be awake to this complex social/political moment and use their craft to speak? Poetry works with stories and lyric which are once personal, ideological and often shaped by religion. As a white settler Canadian, I strive to uncover the complicity of my religious and Northern Irish background in hierarchical and oppressive relations. My hope is to provoke.

인구절벽시대의 균형목회

인구절벽시대의 균형목회

Michael RICHARDS, A People of Priests. The Ministry of the Catholic Church, Foreword by Cardo B. Hume, ed. Darron, Longman & Todd, London 1995, 148 pp., 12,5 x 20.

Michael RICHARDS, A People of Priests. The Ministry of the Catholic Church, Foreword by Cardo B. Hume, ed. Darron, Longman & Todd, London 1995, 148 pp., 12,5 x 20.

ФАКТОРНА СТРУКТУРА ОТРИМАННЯ СТУДЕНТАМИ ІНФОРМАЦІЇ ПОЛІТИКО-ПРАВОВОГО ЗМІСТУ І ЇХ ДОВІРИ ДО НЕЇ

The author has analyzed the issue of factor structure of receiving the information of political and legal content by students and their trust to them. The results of the empirical research of factor structures of using the sources of political and legal content by students and students trust them are presented. It is found that students often apply to sources with minimal social distance for receive information (social networks, thematic Internet sites, friends and acquaintances, family members). The least they use information from methodologists of educational work, church ministers and activists from religious communities. The six-factor model of using sources is reconstructed, which includes scales: 1) obtaining information from the main subjects of political and legal interaction; 2) receiving information from the media; 3) obtain information from university functionaries; 4) receiving information from students; 5) sources with a minimum social distance; 6) receiving information from religious organizations. Most students trust the family members, friends, acquaintances; teachers representatives of civil society. Anti-trust is politicians, activists of political parties, representatives of the authorities. A five-factor model has been constructed, which includes the following scales: 1) trust in representatives of the educational environment of university; 2) trust in the media; 3) trust in a close environment; 4) trust in representatives of civil society; 5) trust in the authorities. Empirical studies of the full cycle of intrapsychological processes of information processing of political and legal content from the moment of familiarization with it until the decision of the person to trust will be important.

THE SCRIPTURE IN THE PUBLISHING PLANS OF THE MOTHER SEE HOLY ETCHMIADZIN

The Armenian Church from the beginning had a great interest in publishing the Holy Bible. However the political conditions until 70-ties of XVIII century didnt allow to develop the publishing business neither in Western, nor in Eastern Armenia. Exactly because of this reason the Armenian catholicoses tried at any cost to support the publishing business abroad. In this period the activity of printer's ''Holy Etchmiadzin and st.Sargis'', which was established in Amsterdam, became a new phenomenon in the Armenian book-printing. By virtue of work of this printinghouse and the efforts of former chancellor of the Mother See Voskan Yerevantsi the first Armenian Bible came into being. In the XVIII-XIX centuries the political conditions didnt allow the Mother See to focus on the research and preparation of the text of the Bible.It seems that Mother See Holy Etchmiadzin yielded to Mekhitarists the primacy of research in this field. The catholicoses Macar Teghutetsi and Khrimean Hairik, lived in the late 19th - early 20th century, focused attention of the congregation of Vagharshapat on the republication of the biblical texts. Unfortunately the work was interrupted. As it was unclear how to present the text of the Bible to the reader. If Karapet Ter-Mkrtchean set a goal to restore the classical condition of the text, the greater part of the spiritual estate required in a short time to publish a Bible that satisfies the religious needs of the Church. Another part of the believers and Church ministers hoped to have a Bible translated into a language understandable to the people. I suppose that these opposite goals also contributed to the termination of the work. One should regret that to this day it is not known where are kept the results of the work done under the leadership of K. Ter-Mkrtchean. From the standpoint of stimulating the publication of the Bible important was the celebration of the 300th anniversary of publication of the Bible of Voskan, which was initiated by catholicos Vazgen I. The rather serried phalanx of armenologists got down to work, and thanks to their efforts in 1996 the Bible was translated into the Eastern Armenian language. The most important achievment of the last decades was the publication of dozens of scientific biblical texts. Today the preparation of the scientific text of the Bible remains one of the most important tasks facing modern Armenology and the Mother See Holy Etchmiadzin.

Kerk in context

Organized religion can be found at places that are normally closed for ordinary people. Representatives of this religion are active in care institutions, in the army and in prisons. This however creates tensions between the professional norms of these institutions on the one hand, and the norms of the religion on the other. Recently, four publications appeared that address these questions. First, Gärtner considers the religious activity in these non-church surroundings as exemplary for religion in high modernity. Second, the dissertation of Huyzer discusses the role of official church ministry in care institutions, a role which is not taken for granted. The book of Van Iersel, third, shows that the social teaching of the church can be of help to make relevant the role of the churches in spiritual care at the military institutions. Finally, the volume of Eyk et al. about spiritual care in prisons makes clear that institutional care needs the church office and the parish structures outside the institution. The conclusion is that exactly this last aspect has been neglected in most studies, and that spiritual care in institutions cannot be disconnected from religious organization outside these institutions.

Mapping the “Greatest Domestic Mission Field” in a New Educational Landscape

greatest domestic mission field: that is how the Right Reverend Roger Blanchard described ministry in higher education in the early 1950s. At that time, ministry in higher education was generally overseen by ordained chaplains, working on college and university campuses primarily with students, providing regular worship and fellowship through Canterbury Clubs and other programs. Many Episcopal clergy (myself included) found their vocations through these chaplains and ministries. And I am a Christian today not by upbringing but because of the lived faith of Christian campus activists. In this legacy I am not alone: many people who grew up in the Episcopal Church, or another church, or no church at all found their way to the Christian faith through these ministries. Hence, Bishop Blanchards comment.A lot has changed since then. In the 1960s, the median age of college students began to rise (as it had after World War II), as did the proportion of students not living on campus and of those studying part-time rather than full-time. Curricula and enrollment demographics changed and diversity increased-all important and mostly good things. This meant that the shape of ministries changed from chaplaincy to churched undergraduates to something broader and often more systemically-oriented. In the ministries in which I have been involved, for example, we have worked with large numbers of students of color from largely homogeneous neighborhoods not only in terms of their own adjustment, but also in terms of what the educational institution ought to be doing to provide them support and to help others in receiving the gifts they bring. Where educational institutions often have a dominant culture-based on race or ethnicity, socio-economic background, or religion-institutions and their members often need to be reminded that fostering diversity cuts both ways.Though many have seen campus ministry as a specialist field, as compared to parochial ministry, the ministers themselves know that they are required to be generalists with a very wide range of knowledge and skills. While a major part of the work of campus ministers has always involved providing worship, social functions, and individual spiritual and pastoral guidance to undergraduates, it also involves ministering in the workplace with workers and supervisors of all sorts, including on occasion mediating conflicts between administration and staff, or faculty and administration. Campus chaplains engage in values-based discourse with faculty groups, and accompany campus and community activists involved in a wide range of issues of justice and quality of life. Chaplains work with people in their family lives and all that entails, as well as help undergraduates make the transition from adolescence to adulthood. And of course they are also writing sermons, planning and presiding at worship services, praying and reflecting, having important conversations, visiting those in distress, and doing everything else that goes with ministry.All this takes place not just in the contexts of particular campuses, but also in the midst of changing times in church and society. During the political turmoil of the mid-1960s through the 1970s, there were considerable debates in the Episcopal Church about whether the church's ministers ought to be involved in progressive or conservative political movements on campus. There were concerns about the link between some campus groups and the General Convention Youth Program. The demands on the church's resources were high, and those resources had stopped growing. Funding of positions in ministry in higher education was severely cut, as were the resources provided for the national staff to bring together campus ministers for continuing education, coordination, and mutual support. Ironically, when trust in institutions declined in the 1960s and 1970s, the role of campus ministries in calling institutions to account was curtailed.As resources continued to dwindle into the 1980s and 1990s more of the work of campus ministry came under the aegis of clergy in parishes close to colleges and universities, whether or not any students came to church on Sunday morning. …

Light from the “Dark Ages”: Lessons in Faith Formation from before the Reformation

This article explores how parish members in the later medieval era in England learned the Christian faith through a variety of means (e.g., preaching, liturgical calendar, art, music, poetry, drama, confessional instruction, spiritual kinship relationships, catechetical instruction) with an eye on what we might learn from this era that could strengthen the church's educational ministry efforts in the present.

A Framework of Pastoral Counseling for Psychological Maladjustment in Christian Celebrities

This study is a follow-up study to the preceding studies that argue religions work as a moderator regarding the stress and the suicidal thoughts of celebrities. The preceding studies showed that whether celebrities have religions or not had some significance in that religions worked as a protective and moderating factor. Nevertheless, the Korean society has seen that a large number of celebrities who took their own lives were actually Christian. This means more profound exploration into the question why some religiously devoted celebrities chose to take their own live, from the perspective of pastoral counseling. Thus, this study looks at some negative emotions experienced by Christian celebrities and at how these emotions do not get enough protection from the Christian religion, and in turn, develop into psychological maladjustment and later suicidal acts by studying literature and analyzing cases. Through this, this study makes some suggestions as to how Christianity today and the pastoral ministry of church can provide celebrities with some practical help in terms of counseling, while admitting that religions play an important role in understanding the psychology of celebrities and in providing a preventive factor to their suicidal acts.

Psychological capital and work behaviour–related outcomes among South African church ministers

This cross-sectional study purposively sampled ( n = 191) church ministers from all nine South African Provinces to investigate the relationship between psychological capital, work outcomes, and well-being among the church ministers in South Africa. A psychological capital questionnaire, the Minnesota satisfaction questionnaire, organisational commitment scale, orientation to happiness scale, satisfaction with life scale, and general health questionnaire were used to collect data. The results revealed that overall psychological capital not only had a positive relationship with job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and well-being but was also predictive of the mentioned constructs. Findings from this study encourage organisations in general, and church ministry in particular, to enhance individuals’ level of psychological capacities for institutional and individual growth and thriving.

Diakonia: In Conversation with John N. Collins

The work of John N. Collins on the διάκον- word group makes an important contribution to understanding church ministry. Although it receives much attention and support, there is some criticism of Collins’s exegesis. If his conclusions are accepted by churches, there will be an impact on their ministry. It is therefore important that his underlying assumptions be thoroughly tested. This article analyzes Mark 10:45 in the context of that Gospel and particularly in the context of Mark 8–10. Collins’s supposition that διακονία is never done out of love or compassion for other people is found wanting. Rather, Mark describes Jesus’s διακονία as done out of compassion and love for others, and as an envoy of God.

A Catholic Minority Church in a World of Seekers, edited by Staf Hellemans and Peter Jonkers

A Catholic Minority Church in a World of Seekers, edited by Staf Hellemans and Peter Jonkers

The Development of Official or Classical Ministry in the Catholic Church: A Historical Overview

That the official Ministry of the Catholic Church has undergone a great deal of metamorphosis over the centuries, needs no gainsaying. This is largely owing to the turn of events in Christendom over the ages, especially in relation to the constant touch with diverse cultures of the world. This work gives a brief overview of the development of it while employing the historical, sociological and descriptive approaches. This led us into tabling a few challenges associated with such a development in the course of time. The process of development of official or classical Ministry in the Catholic Church has been an arduous task, considering the enormous bottlenecks involved. All through the biblical era, post-biblical epoch, the Middle Ages, the reformation period, the Counter Reformation age to the contemporary/Vatican II era. It is thus submitted herein that since the Church is dynamic with the nature of her ministries being statutorily geared towards action and service and not power and honour, the servile spirit of the official Ministry should be better embraced rather than that of mere ecclesiastical status. The official Ministry ought to catalyze, promote or encourage and animate the Ministries of the unordained since there are “variety of ministries” within the Ministry of the Church. With the need for inculturation or modification of ecclesiology in the Church and the fast-expansive nature of the Church and its attendant shortage of priests, this rediscovery poses a new challenge of service.

‘Glocal’ and integrated churches within a practical theological imagination of ‘home away from home’: towards a ministry of migrants and refugees in diaspora

Migration has become a major global challenge in recent years. Host countries’ responses to migrants are varied – some accommodate and integrate migrants, others are apathetic, and migrants face exclusion and violent rejection. This suggests that host countries have developed mechanisms to cope with the challenges posed by migrants. Migrants have also developed systems to mitigate the impact of the challenges they encounter, such as the establishment of churches in their host countries. These churches may be referred to as ‘glocal churches’. In view of this, this article considers a practical theological imagination of ‘home away from home’ as a migrant-theological and ministry-informing approach and draws on the theological notion that all humans are foreigners (or migrants – homo viator) in whichever life spaces they exist. This study argues that this approach provides a crucial nexus and challenge for church ministry integration in contexts of migration and challenges countries to be hospitable based on Imago Dei (theology) and human dignity (human rights) principles. It is argued that maintained Imago Dei and human dignity provide a critical link between churches and a nation. Furthermore, the notions of ‘inclusiveness’ for host people and ‘home away from final eschatological home’ for migrants provide a practical theological imagination that challenge a host country’s citizens to positively consider migrants and migrants to avoid self-exclusion practices and establish integrated churches and communities.

A Qualitative Analysis of the Experience of Female Chinese American Church Leaders: Associations with Gender Role, Culture, and Work-Family Balance

This qualitative study explored the unique experiences of seven Chinese American female church leaders, providing examples of the barriers they faced as women and those resulting from cultural conflicts, as well as the impact these factors had on their roles in church ministry. Specifically, the findings addressed the impact of gender roles and culture on these leaders’ experiences and the extent to which they were able to achieve work-family balance. The study highlighted the challenges of working with a culturally diverse population as well as the struggles these female leaders faced in a male-dominated field. Furthermore, the factors influencing work-family balance were examined along with strategies for avoiding burnout. Taken together, these findings provided insight into the distinctive experiences of female leaders in ministry and the ways in which churches might be able to better provide for these leaders.

Mobilizing and Equipping the Church for Soul Care and Counseling: A Classic Resource Updated and Revised

Lay Counseling: Equipping Christians for a Helping Ministry (Revised Edition) by Siang-Yang Tan and Eric T. Scalise, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016. 318 pp. ISBN 978-0-310-52427-4, $19.99. Many years back, my inspiration willingly subject myself the five years of deprivation and torture associated with doctoral studies in professional psychology came from a relatively short stint as a college pastor. I had sensed a call shepherd souls, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ ... (Ephesians 4:12, English Standard Version). And yet as I walked alongside this small group of college students, I grew painfully aware of my own inadequacies and deficits in my shepherding efforts, especially as they applied the care of the many mental health concerns that arose in these students' lives. Now, as a licensed psychologist and a pastor, I still haven't forgotten that call. While the state psychology licensing board may have commissioned me practice mental health counseling within the state of California, the lack of an ecclesial body commissioning me practice pastoral counseling activities within the church troubled me. My intention in becoming a psychologist was not corner the market on counseling and soul care within the church--far from it; from my perspective, doing so would have been ask the church abdicate one of its most crucial responsibilities. In line with the Reformation principle of the priesthood of all believers, Paul Stevens (2002) asserted that the work of the pastor was not do all the work of the ministry himself/herself, but rather equip all the saints do this work. Extending this point, I believe that it is not the role of mental health professionals (even Christian ones) perform all the care and counseling work of the church; in fact, part of the important role that such individuals play is equip the church body for this kind of work. I don't think it will take much convincing for Christian therapists agree on the point that the church needs equipping in this regard, for it is commonplace hear sentiments like the one expressed by one of my colleagues not too long ago, Sadly, it's the church that keeps me in business. If the training and equipping of the church body for care and counseling work is indeed an important priority of Christian mental health professionals, a body of knowledge needs exist that outlines best practices, common approaches or models training, ethical considerations, and biblical foundations for such activities. The development of this body of knowledge and literature is crucial given how many Christian mental health professionals (such as myself) were trained in non-religious public institutions and never had opportunities incorporate church ministry into their professional development; moreover, it is unfortunately unlikely even for clinicians (at the masters-level or doctoral-level) trained in Christian institutions receive dedicated instruction in this regard either. Accordingly, when Dr. Siang-Yang Tan (Professor of Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary and Senior Pastor of First Evangelical Church Glendale) published the first edition of his book, Lay Counseling: Equipping Christians for a Helping Ministry back in 1991, it addressed this very important gap and eventually established itself as the classic text on the subject. Now, 25 years later, Lay Counseling has been revised and updated for the first time include new chapters on ethical and legal concerns for lay counseling ministries as well as chapters on stress, burnout, and self-care among lay counselors. The remaining chapters have been revamped include new examples and illustrations as well as recent theoretical and empirical research. In all, this revised text represents a comprehensive, definitive, up-to-date resource for individuals interested in developing a new church-based lay counseling ministry or already actively engaged in an existing ministry. …

Theatrum Cometicum Stanisława Lubienieckiego młodszego jako przykład zainteresowań astronomiczno-astrologicznych arian.

The Polish Brethren called “Arians” and “Socinians” were members of the Minor Reformed Church of Poland that existed in Poland from 1565 to 1658. Their biggest cultural center was Rakow. There was the Racovian Academy founded in 1602 and closed in 1638. The Racovian students were taught Latin, ethics, rhetoric, mathematics, politics and natural science (e.g. cosmology). One of the most prominent representatives of the Racovian Academy was Stanislaw Lubieniecki the Younger. He wrote very important work about comets –- Theatrum cometicum , parts 1–3 (1666–1668), in which he described 415 comets from the biblical epoch of the deluge up until 1665. This work is also an interpretation of his views on the so-called cometary determinism. Thanks to Theatrum cometicum , Stanislaw Lubieniecki the Younger deserved to be called an “astronomer” although he did not receive astronomical education.

Role Model of the Christian Evangelical Church in Minahasa (GMIM) in Community Empowerment through Chruch-Owned Enterprise

This study aimed to identify the factors supporting the economic development of the people of the church and build a proper model of how the church can contribute more in order to develop the economy of the people of the church through the establishment of a business organization, a church-owned enterprises that can empower businesses owned by members of the church. The high economic growth achieved by the local government of North Sulawesi in 2013 that is equal to 7.45%, with a nominal value of Rp. 53.4 trillion should have been able to deliver community of North Sulawesi Economy leads to a better level. However, the opposite happened. The poverty rate in North Sulawesi rose up from the September 2012 stood at 7.64% or 177.54 thousand souls be in by 8.50% or 200.16 thousand at September 2013. On the other hand, can not be denied is still pretty much found the church's role in the economic life of the congregation was limited to rhetoric alone. Church stuck on the activities that are ceremonial so practical activities undertaken as a concrete manifestation in the middle of church members and the community as a form of church services still felt very minimal. Participation and involvement of the Church in building the economy and living standards towards developing a prosperous life still need to be improved in concrete actions in daily congregational life. For this reason it is necessary to build a new paradigm regarding the direction and purpose of the church ministry as an affirmation of the Three Church Task were Marturia (Fellowship), Koinonia (Testimony), and Diakonia (Service). With the paradigm of the reformative and transformative deacon then to enlarge the welfare of the Christian Evangelical Church in Minahasa (GMIM) development will be supported by economic development factors based church people, especially small businesses and medium enterprises (SMEs), among others: 1) GMIM’s role; 2) the employer; 3) credit institutions; 4) SME entrepreneurs; 5) relevant agencies; and 6) Church-Owned Enterprises (BUMJ). From here can be produced Role models of the Christian Evangelical Church in Minahasa (GMIM) in Community Empowerment through Church-owned enterprises.

Christian ministry and theological education as instruments for economic survival in Africa

There is a conflict over whether Christian ministry and theological education should be pursued with an expectation for economic survival. The rise of Christian ministry practice emphasising wealth and prosperity has heightened commodification of the Christian ministry. Church ministry and theological education are being used as instruments for economic profit. The link between theological education and Christian ministry, among other things, is that church practices and ministry expressions reflect the underlying theology. In such a situation, this article reflects on the following questions: How are Christian ministry and its undergirding theology being utilised as instruments of economic prosperity in Africa? What is the theological education approach that is employed to support this ministry approach? The article attempts to establish an understanding of ministerial practise that has biblically and theologically informed views of material wealth. It begins by examining the traditional missionary model of ministry as a sacrificial act and responses by African clergy. This is followed by examination of the development of the view of ministry as a means of economic survival and commodification of ministry and theological education in Africa. It concludes by providing an evaluation and proposing a way forward.

Exploring the role of the church as a ‘reformation agency’ in enhancing a socially transformative agenda in South Africa

International political, social, economic and religious developments influence how local communities operate. The South African church society is influenced by such developments taking place globally and which clearly influence how local churches function. This article explores the role of the contemporary church as a ‘reformation agency’ in enhancing a socially transformative agenda in South Africa. A qualitative research approach – an interpretative phenomenology design – was employed to negotiate a shared understanding through conversation and intersubjective meaning-making with church ministers, with the primary focus being their subjective experience of the changing role of the church in enhancing a transformative agenda in a South African context. A purposive sampling (n = 6) consisted of local church leaders who participated in the face-to-face and telephonic semi-structured interviews to achieve the purpose of the study. The findings clearly show that deliberate and intentional actions by churches allow them to become a voice for the marginalised, to create spaces for searching for excellence and to increase the quality of servant leadership, all as vehicles for transforming church society. Furthermore, servant leadership is a social phenomenon, a philosophy-in-practice aimed at leading by example to achieve a common goal. To accomplish this, church ministers are required to spearhead the challenge as a prerequisite to creating ‘lived experienced’ opportunities for members as an inward-outward spiritual journey. Finally, church leaders believed that transformation is a secular dimension, but that it can also be aligned towards God’s redemption plan and enhancing a socially just transformation agenda. Ultimately, this study proposed several recommendations to allow the local church to be relevant in practicing and promoting stronger unity and reconciliation amongst all churches nationally and globally.