Church Family Research Articles

Abstract B034: Understanding how family dynamics influence discussions about prostate cancer: A PEN-3 model analysis of shared risk communication within African American families

Abstract Background: Race and family history are important risk-stratifying variables for prostate cancer prevention and control. Despite their elevated risks for developing and dying from the disease, African-Americans are less knowledgeable about their shared familial risk than the general population. African American family structures are quite diverse. However, the manner in which this diversity influences the flow of shared risk information is largely absent from the literature. This study uses the PEN-3 cultural model to investigate how family dynamics influence prostate cancer information sharing within African American families. Method: Twenty-three members of ten families with African-American men completed semi-structured interviews in 2018 - 2019. Using a non-probability sampling scheme, nuclear, blended, extended, single-parent and cohabiting families were recruited to participate. The interview guide was structured to elicit information about participant's (a) family descriptions/family dynamics, (b) health communication patterns, (c) motivations for sharing health information, (d) health communication approaches, (e) handling of withheld information, and (f) generational communication strategies. All audio-recorded interviews were conducted by three African- American investigators and transcribed verbatim by a professional transcriptionist. All verbatim transcripts were entered into MAXQDA qualitative software for analysis using the PEN-3 model dimensions. Results: Cultural Identity - Personal/Extended: Families were more supportive of sharing sensitive health information with kinship group members who are viewed as close than distant. Neighborhood: The church family was sometimes viewed as an extension of the immediate family, particularly in situations where family members are geographically dispersed. Relationships and Expectations - Perceptions: Indirect communication is acceptable for relaying general information with young people, but direct communication is preferred for older adults. Cultural Empowerment - Negative: Withholding information to protect other's emotions can sometimes result in feelings of exclusion or mistrust when those being protected discover that information was withheld. Conclusion/Discussion: These findings highlight the complexity of family dynamics in communicating shared prostate cancer risk information within African American families. The generational divide in communication preferences suggests that strategies are needed to bridge that gap. Citation Format: Levi Ross, Michael A. Preston, Linda Collins, Florida Uzoaru, Torhonda C. Lee. Understanding how family dynamics influence discussions about prostate cancer: A PEN-3 model analysis of shared risk communication within African American families [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr B034.

Factors Leading Young Christian Adults to Elope in the Anglican Church of Kenya, Taveta East Archdeaconry

This study sought to establish factors leading young Christian adults to the practice of eloping among youth in the Anglican Church, Taveta East Archdeaconry. It was guided by the Human Psychosocial Development Theory, Ecological Model Theory, and Moral Development Theory. It adopted a descriptive research design. The target population was eloping aged 20 - 40 years, 5 clergies, and 61 parents. The study used a purposive sampling method. The study’s sample size was 176. Face-to-face interviews were used for the clergy. Focus group discussions were used for the parents. The questionnaires' accuracy and reliability were verified by the inter-rater method. The analyses made use of the statistical package for social sciences version 28. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, such as frequencies, mean, and percentages. Qualitative data was organized into themes for analysis. The study findings include; factors such as; peer influence, financial difficulties in a family, little guidance and counseling in church; parents’ support for eloping practice; phone; youth failing to embrace the Christian faith, which contribute to the practice of eloping among the Christian youth in Taveta East Archdeaconry. Language barrier posed a challenge to some respondents. Some were more conversant with Kiswahili than English prompting the translation of questionnaires from English to Kiswahili. Questionnaires require more time to reach the respondents, filling and returning them. This was solved by early communication to clergy and timely distribution. The number of respondents per focus group in some parishes was less than expected. This was solved by increasing the number of respondents in another station.

Church Ministry Participants' Learning Participation Motives Effect on Servant Leadership

This study was conducted in order to investigate the structural relationship between the learning participation motive effect on servant leadership in the church family ministry program and the sense of community. First, analyzing previous studies, a structural model was developed. Then, in the effort of verifying the structural model, 607 responses out of 700 questionnaires distributed into nationwide churches and institutes participating in church family ministry program were collected as target data. Informations on learning participation motive, servant leadership, and sense of community were collected through the questionnaires after the church family ministry program. In order to study the structural relationship between the servant leadership effect on learning participation motive and the sense of community, the collected data were analyzed according to structure equation model analysis. As a result, the structural model this study suggested was found proper. Accordingly, it was verified that the sense of community carrying the effect of intrinsic and extrinsic motives, two of learning participation motives, affected servant leadership. Also, it was verified that the subfactors of the sense of community played important role in enhancing servant leadership in cause and effect relationship between learning participating motive and servant leadership. Therefore, in church family ministry program, it can be suggested that moderating sense of community under the consideration of participants’ intrinsic and extrinsic motives makes moderating the level of learning participation motive possible.

Rethinking the place of the family in the post-Covid church in the UK: an exploration of families’ engagement with church during and after Covid

ABSTRACT The family's role in nurturing children's faith became critical during the Covid-19 pandemic. The ways that churches addressed the needs of these families during the pandemic revealed much about church leaders’ understanding of the place of the family in Church. This article looks at faith nurture in the family and role of the church in this task. Robust connections between church and family which are essential for the holistic nurturing of child’s faith were disrupted by Covid-19 restrictions. The research involved an online survey of 175 church leaders and 209 parents, with the addition of focus group interviews of 36 children and 18 parents in the aftermath of this disruption. The findings provide insights into church leaders, parents and children’s family ministry experience, and their hopes for future engagement. Data analysis revealed the severity of the disruption and a sense of disconnection between families and Church. The discussion argues this has had a lasting impact on family church relationships and considers parents’ hopes for a welcoming listening church community. In conclusion, we argue that there is an opportunity to learn from the pandemic experience, listen to parents and children and re-imagine the family's place in Church.

Susa Young Gates: Daughter of Mormonism

Susa Young Gates: Daughter of Mormonism

Reclaiming the Revolutionary

Reclaiming the Revolutionary

Kształtowania się ustroju niezależnego od Rzymu Kościoła mariawitów (1887–1914). Zagadnienia kanoniczno-prawne

Development of the system of the Mariavite Church (1887-1914) independent of Rome. Canonical and legal issues Although the beginnings of the Mariavite Church have been quite extensively discussed in contemporary Polish historiography, the canonical and legal issues concerning the development of the structures of that denomination seem to be an insufficiently researched area. Indeed, almost all publications on the history of that movement mention particular levels of the Mariavite church and monastic administration, however they do not answer the basic question about the reasons why the Mariavite Church did not accept the episcopate or synodical system but the monastic one and adapted to congregationalism imposed by the authorities. The article, using methodology typical of historical and theological sciences, organizes the previous knowledge on the organization and system of Mariavite congregations within the Catholic Church (1887-1906), as well as at the time when the independent of Rome Mariavite Church developed (1906-1914). The author also answers the questions about possible reasons for adopting the monastic system, unique in the family of Old Catholic Churches.

The ministry of reconciliation: why the churches owe the message of reconciliation to a divided world

The theme of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches reads: Christ's love moves the world to reconciliation and unity. This subject is obviously a lot timelier than those who chose it may have thought. In these days, what would our world need more than reconciliation, peace and unity? And not only the world is in need of reconciliation, but also the Church. Many of the traditional schisms still exist, but even in the family of Orthodox churches which always has been proud of preserving the unity of the Church there is a deep split. One part of it is of the opinion that the allegiance to the nation and its war is more important than the unity and loyalty with a sister Church. Therefore, the question arises: is it true that “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity”? This article examines what the Bible really says about reconciliation and unity and the effect of Christ's love in view of the Church and the world.

South Africa’s Reformed Churches improved aspects of the Dutch church polity in the 19th century

Systematic theology determined church polity, and that had an influence on church history. Thus, the Church Order of Dordt (1618/19) was for centuries the standard of church polity within the Reformed Church in the Netherlands until it was replaced by the General Regulation (1816). Because this church played a major role in the development of the reformed churches in South Africa, the assumption was that the mainline churches in South Africa closely followed the example of the Netherlands. This article aimed to evaluate the development within the mainline churches in South Africa regarding three aspects: the delegation by a church council to broader (major) assemblies; the naming of the presbytery as a circle; and finally, the composition regarding a synodical commission. A comparison was made between the densely populated Netherlands and the scantily populated South Africa. For a comprehensive view, both demographical and geographical differences, as well as political and historical developments were considered. The outcome clearly showed that church polity cannot be applied in the same manner in different locations. The majority Reformed Churches in South Africa (the Dutch Reformed Church – the whole family of churches); the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika) followed the same route. The only exception was the Reformed Churches in South Africa (Gereformeerde Kerke in Suid-Afrika).Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This paper contributes to a new appreciation for these three aspects as still being regarded as true church polity, but in a ‘decolonised’ way from the Dutch situation during the first half of the 19th century.

Macedonian Orthodox Church-Archbishopric of Ohrid and Its Arduous Road to Autocephaly

The aim of this paper is to examine the recent developments related to the Macedonian Orthodox Church–Archbishopric of Ohrid, the acceptance of the canonical status by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the conferring of status to autocephaly by the Serbian Orthodox Church in 2022. From the ecclesiological and the liturgical aspect, the MOC-OA is no longer in isolation and is part of the family of Orthodox churches through the restoration of Eucharistic communion. The final step, the granting of a Tomos by the Ecumenical Patriarchate is expected, which would make the MOC-OA the first by all recognized and accepted autocephalous church in the 21st century.

Abstract PO-188: The relationship of intervention attendance, changes in self-efficacy, social support, health behaviors, and weight loss outcomes among overweight Appalachian adults

Abstract Objectives: To determine whether self-efficacy and social support mediate the association between intervention attendance and changes in health behaviors; and to quantify the dose-response relationship between changes in health behaviors and weight loss outcomes. Methods: Data were from a group-randomized trial that compared a 1-year faith-based weight loss intervention to an active control group among overweight Appalachian adults in churches. Participants from the weight loss group who completed the 12-month assessment were included. Intervention attendance was defined as the percentage of sessions attended. Baseline and 12-month data on weight, self-efficacy for physical activity (SEPA), social support for eating healthy (SSEH), social support for physical activity (SSPA), exercise, and dietary intake were used. Mixed effect models were used to control for the random-effect of geographic regions. Results: Among the 243 included participants, most were female (76.2%), white (97.5%), and married or living with a partner (81.2%). After the 12-month intervention, participants lost 1.12±0.33kg weight, increased 0.44±0.13 servings/day of fruit and vegetable, reduced 321.55±41.99kcal/day of caloric intake, improved SSEH from family and friends, and increased SSPA from the church family (all P<0.05). Each 10% increase in intervention attendance was associated with higher odds of increased SSEH from family (OR=1.17, 95% CI=1.06-1.30) and friends (OR=1.16, 95% CI=1.04-1.28), and higher odds of increased SSPA from the church family (OR=1.27, 95% CI=1.12-1.44). SSPA from the church family mediated 96.7% of the association between intervention attendance and total exercise MET·min/week. Although intervention attendance was associated with increased walking MET·min/week, SEPA, SSPA from family/friends/church did not mediate the association. Additionally, with every 100 kcal decrease in caloric intake, weight and BMI decreased at 12-months (0.15±0.05kg, P=0.002; 0.058±0.017kg/m2, P=0.001). After adjusting for exercise, each 100 kcal decrease in caloric intake was associated with a decrease in weight and at 12-months (0.17±0.05kg, P=0.001; 0.065±0.019kg/m2, P=0.001). Conclusion: Social support from the church family plays an important role in increasing physical activity. There was a dose-response relationship between daily caloric intake and weight loss among Appalachian residents. Strategies to improve social support and reduce caloric intake are needed to improve the efficacy of weight loss through lifestyle modifications for this population. Citation Format: Xiaochen Zhang, Ryan D Baltic, Abigail Shoben, Electra D. Paskett. The relationship of intervention attendance, changes in self-efficacy, social support, health behaviors, and weight loss outcomes among overweight Appalachian adults [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: 14th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2021 Oct 6-8. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-188.

Reforum: A brief but not unimportant chapter in the Dutch Reformed Church’s apartheid saga

In 1985 when storm clouds were gathering over South Africa, and a state of emergency was declared, a group of members of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) Family, clergy as well as laity, founded an organisation, Reforum. The two-fold aim of Reforum was to provide a prophetic witness against apartheid, calling the DRC to take leave of its theology of apartheid, and, secondly, to work towards the reunification of the DRC Family. The article researches the original Reforum documents, minutes, reports, conference material and letters, that hitherto laid untouched in the DRC Archive, in Pretoria. The programme of Reforum, especially the national and regional conferences held by the organisation over the 7 years of its existence, is discussed. The initial negative reaction of the DRC officials and synods, as well as the critique from some in the Dutch Reformed Mission Church and the DRC in Africa that Reforum was not radical enough in its approach, are recorded. The summation, at the end, is that Reforum did play a significant role, albeit humble and short lived, in the annals of the DRC’s apartheid saga. Relevance: The DRC’s apartheid saga, the story of a church that had over many years lived with apartheid and even provided a theological argument for separate development, eventually came to the point where the DRC not only repented of its past, but declared apartheid and the theology of apartheid a sin and a heresy, continues to fascinate historians, including church historians. For South African Christians, clergy as well as laity, it helps explain their often troubled past, as well as present. The often neglected story of Reforum and the role and contribution of the organisation in this process needs to be recorded. Original research: the author provides original qualitative research, using material that had lain untouched in the DRC Archive for three decades. This may be considered to be a preliminary study. The archival material merits more and deeper attention. It may well provide material for post graduate research.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The research is of value for the study of South African general history, South African church history, ecumenical studies, and practical theology.

APLIKASI KIDUNG PUJIAN BAHASA DAWAN “SIT KNINO” BERBASIS ANDROID

Based on the development of technology years by years, the side of human being’s life cannot separated from the changing of time nowadays, including the development android application form which is studied from book become digital application that can be accessed easily by Smartphone. Android mobile phone is a good medium to develop an application about the content of a book. One of the application worship song “sit knino” is a worship song used by congregations on church or Sunday service and family service. The worship song sit knino has blessed for the growth and matured the faith of congregations who used it. Year by year the quantity of people who used it always raised, so the needed of good quality and quantity also raised, instead of the sit knino worship song used by people right now still on book form and the availability for printed sit knino also limited. Application sit knino worship song on android form is an application which is implemented on android Smartphone that can give easier for Smartphone android user especially for congregations on worship while God’s word service.

Interchangeable Bodies: International Marriage and Migration in the Eighteenth-Century Moravian Church

This article investigates the extent to which the theology and structure of marriage within the German Moravian Church functioned to connect and grow the Church as an international network across the Atlantic world in the eighteenth century. Specifically, it argues that Moravian conceptions of marriage facilitated intentional international partnerships that led to the relocation and migration of many European women as Moravian missionaries throughout the eighteenth century. In some instances, early Moravians lived in sex-segregated communal housing and viewed sexual intercourse as a sacred unification with Christ, free of human desire. Part of the Moravian impetus to be “everywhere at home” required preventing individual congregational differences in order to create a larger international community. If the Church aimed to view all brothers and sisters as productive bodies to serve the growth of the community, then these bodies needed to be interchangeable and unrooted to a specific space. The premeditated practice of intermarriage between congregations meant that there were not individual groups that practiced the Moravian faith, but rather a singular global church family. Based on an analysis of Moravian missionary women's memoirs, this article begins to delve into the social and geographic mobility available to these eighteenth-century women through a nonnormative marital structure.

A Study of the Learning Participation Motive Effect on Servant Leadership and the Mediating Effect of the Sense of Community : Focused on Church Family Ministry Program Participants

A Study of the Learning Participation Motive Effect on Servant Leadership and the Mediating Effect of the Sense of Community : Focused on Church Family Ministry Program Participants

Understanding the impact of COVID-19 in the spiritual life of the Church community

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world in extra-ordinarily negative ways. Its impact has been felt in government circles, families, communities and churches globally. Spiritual leadership together with church members or congregants has also suffered a great deal. The pandemic has successfully disorganized societies and religious communities. Its spiritual impact has been felt by church leaders and congregants alike. This study investigated the spiritual impact COVID-19 has imposed on church leadership and congregants. It also explores how some church leaders performed their pastoral ministry under COVID-19 conditions. To achieve the set objective, a qualitative methodology and interpretive paradigm were adopted. In-depth individual interviews with church leaders and church members from Christian churches were used to inform the study. Ten churches that operate within the Esikhaleni raternity, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, under uMhlathuze municipality participated in the data generation process. The study comprised a sample size of four church leaders and eight church members from ten churches. A total number of 12 twelve heterogeneous individual participants were purposively selected. Findings revealed that the prevalence of COVID-19 led to lockdown restrictions and as such, church house closure impacted the church family positively as well as negatively. The study recommends that church leaders be proactive in accommodating change and equip their congregants accordingly. Secondly, churches should adapt to multi-staff ministry where lay people are actively involved in educating congregants about pandemics in general and how to cope spiritually. Third, it is argued church leadership should embrace virtual and internet ministry so as to continue to offer spiritual support to congregants.

Church Endowments and Family Inheritance in 18th-Century Moldavia

Church Endowments and Family Inheritance in 18th-Century Moldavia

Love Manifested as Unity and Division; Baptist Identity at Romney Street Baptist Church, 1815–1854

ABSTRACT The church minutes of Romney Street Baptist Church from the nineteenth century offer a glimpse into Baptist identity. For this small church in Westminster, identity was constituted by love for God and members, manifested in practices of unity and division. Unity was emphasised through an emphasis on membership and regular participation in church life. Members were subjected to disciplinary division when they behaved in ways perceived as unloving to God and one another. Such discipline aimed to encourage members towards repentance and a re-embracement of loving unity. Unity was a vogue subject in this era due to the rising evangelical emphasis on inter-denominational unity. However, these Particular Baptists saw unity as something which still ought to be protected and, thereby, restricted. Baptist identity was marked by the dual importance of unity and division, both of which were underwritten by love for God and fellow members of their church family.

Is there any hope for church unity?

his article gives some perspectives on the causes of the Reformed Churches split since the time of reformation and how these divisions impacts on church unity discussions today. Since reformation, church divisions took place in various forms and discussions about church reunification became a focal point in the reformed world. These splits amongst reformed churches seem to have caused traumatic stress and inflicted deep wounds that are very difficult to heal in full, especially in the context of South Africa. This article briefly looks at some causes of split in the reformed world by paying attention to the work of Lukas Vischer and also by sketching some few causes of church split within the Dutch Reformed family of churches in the South African context. This article does not really pay attention to an in-depth discussion on church unity, rather, it places the interest on issues of church divisions which impact negatively on the true unity of the church. A question can be asked: can we really hope for a genuine unity of the church given the history of these splits? Put it differently: Is there any hope for an authentic church unity amongst reformed churches locally and globally? The article argues that the history of these divisions makes it very hard if not impossible to hope for an authentic church unity, given the currently lived experiences of divisions, the irreconcilability of people and the unhealed wounds inflicted in the past. For an authentic church unity to be achieved and lived positively, the article suggests that injustices of the past needs to be addressed, especially between the Dutch Reformed family of churches.

The Incomplete Circle: Dialectics of Social Structure and Theological Conviction for Greater Unification in the DRC Family (1994–2016)

This essay proposes that despite an ingrained awareness in the Uniting Reformed Church and the other members of the Dutch Reformed Church family that church division was born from socio-political and theological factors, the orientation of all parties to the unification process was to prioritise the theological conviction side and downplay the socio-political, allowing it to function surreptitiously and essentially undermining the possibilities for greater progress. This essay will highlight the discourse of church assemblies indicating the trends and arguments relating to unification. It will secondly draw on the reflections of the Afro-American philosopher Cornel West to cast light on the tasks of any church unification process that strive to enhance both reconciliation and transformation. In the light of the theoretical framework of West, it will proceed to posit certain tasks that the unification process must address in order to make any sustained progress.