Young Church Research Articles

Exploring the Challenges and Benefits of Online Worship within Rural Congregations in The Episcopal Church (USA): Listening to Rural Lay People

ABSTRACT Employing data from the Covid-19 & Church-21 Survey that drew responses from 4,536 members of The Episcopal Church (TEC), this study analyses comments made by rural lay people regarding their perceptions of the challenges and benefits of online worship. Challenges identified were few and centred on technological and content limitations. The perceived benefits were numerous and included: convenience and accessibility, availability of other church services, connecting with other communities and congregations, and increased opportunity for faith development. Holy Communion and its place in the online space divided opinion. These data are set alongside findings from surveys of Church of England congregations in the UK and of Christian denominations in the USA. Rural lay people in this study saw maintaining both online and in-person provision as the way forward, provided consideration was given to the impact on younger church members and to the financial implications of a such a hybrid model.

Działalność pastoralna Kościoła w świetle Dossier Europejskiego Zgromadzenia Synodalnego

Started by Pope Francis in 2021, the Synod on Synodality is intended to be a guiding principle for the self-awareness of the Church in the coming decades of the 21st century. The Church faces numerous challenges as a global institution, grappling with various issues among its followers who currently inhabit all continents. The situation of young churches in Africa, emerging after the era of colonialism, is different, as they seek their own identity. Similarly, the Church operates differently on the Old Continent, permeated by ideas of freedom, secularism, and liberalism. This article focuses on certain topics presented by participants of the synodal meeting in Prague in early 2023, addressing the functioning of the Church in Europe. The content of the article centers around the discussion of the idea of synodality and its place in the history of the Church and its current ecclesial vision. It then explores the relationship between mercy and truth in theology, openness to contemporary culture while preserving tradition, and the dynamics of power competition within the Church. All of these aspects are presented based on the Dossier of the Synodal Meeting in Prague, which outlines practical and pastoral challenges for the Church’s activities in Europe.

Stressed young adults: an emerging issue in Catholic youth organisations

The aim of this study is to learn about the demographic profile, information and communication technologies (ICT) tools, and internet platforms used by Catholic young adults in youth organisations under San Antonio de Padua Parish in the Province of Laguna, Philippines, during the COVID-19 pandemic. It made use of both descriptive and exploratory research that employed online interviews through ICT tools and online media platforms. Twenty (20) young Catholic adults in youth organisations were interviewed from the church list of youth organisations. The results showed that most participants were working students and belonged to lower-income families. They experienced school and work stress, demanded work efficiency and time pressure on school requirements, internet connectivity issues, and limited support from peers and family members. As explored, the causes of stress made them feel mentally and physically exhausted, and they felt the burden of multi-tasking as students, workers, and church members. The research also suggests an innovative implication for stress management and mitigation schemes through ICT tools and proposes the creation of an online education website by any Catholic Organisation to monitor young church members for Online stress mitigation sessions and stress management satisfaction.

Tambaram, 1938: Christianity's shift to the Global South

The World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910 was followed in 1928 by a Conference in Jerusalem. Jerusalem emphasised ‘the younger churches’, the term then used for the churches that had resulted from missionary work. This article examines the International Missionary Council's conference of 1938, held at the Madras Christian College, Tambaram, near Madras. It had over 470 participants from 70 nations. A feature of great significance was that participants from what we now call the Global South were in the majority. This aspect has been noted, but not explored in detail. A book that was produced for the Conference, Evangelism for the World Today, edited by John Mott, which included many contributors from the Global South, has received virtually no coverage. This article examines Mott's neglected book, the role of Africans at Tambaram, the voices of women and the ongoing influence of the Conference.

Doubt and Desire

Doubt and Desire

Woody species diversity, structural composition, and human use of church forests in central Ethiopia

Church forests on the premises of Ethiopian Orthodox Churches have been recognized as refugia of tropical plant biodiversity within the predominantly agricultural landscape matrix. Understanding the species composition, population structure, and human use of trees in forested areas is crucial for sustainable conservation efforts. We investigated these features in mixed natural-planted church forests in central Ethiopia. Three forests associated with churches for 37–50 years were surveyed to assess: (i) the diversity and population characteristics of woody species depending on the age of the church forest, (ii) the use of trees by humans, and (iii) church forests’ contribution to the conservation of threatened species. Vegetation and ethnobotanical data were collected via forest inventory of 24 plots sized 0.04 ha and through a rapid rural appraisal conducted in 120 households. Thirty woody species, twenty-eight indigenous species, and two exotic species were identified. The three church forests were floristically different, with only four tree species in common. Most indices of diversity and population structural parameters of woody species were higher in older than in younger church forests, presumably due to a longer tradition of forest conservation. All church forests presented inverse J-shaped size-class distributions, indicative of populations with good recruitment potential. Woody species were mainly used for medicine, construction wood, and firewood. Eighteen threatened species were recorded; however, few conservation activities besides social taboos were revealed in the examined forests. Our findings highlight the role of church forests in the conservation of woody species diversity, and the need to strengthen current strategies to support long-term biodiversity conservation.

Competing Visions of Mission and Unity among Japanese Protestants and Missionaries in Japan (1859–1912)

AbstractAfter a brief clarification of terms, this article focuses on the early history of the minority Protestant movement in Japan around the turn of the 20th century, examining rival perspectives on mission and unity among certain Japanese church leaders and Western missionaries. The sudden rise of Japan as the regional political power in Northeast Asia strongly influenced both constituencies, albeit in differing ways. While Protestant missionaries imagined Japanese Christians as future agents in their strategy for world evangelization, Japanese Protestant leaders were more modest, focusing their energies on the development of an independent national church. They did hope that their theological “liberation” from British, Dutch, and German confessional traditions would inspire similar theological developments in “younger churches” elsewhere. In light of the Japanese case, the author turns to John 17 for a “post‐instrumentalist” proposal for Christian unity and mission grounded in the inner life of God and wonders if such a perspective may be better attuned to the polycentric ecumenism of this new era of World Christianity.

Mary as "Model for the Young Church" According to Pope Francis

Mary as "Model for the Young Church" According to Pope Francis

From converts to cooperation: Protestant internationalism, US missionaries and Indian Christians and ‘Professional’ social work between Boston and Bombay (c. 1920–1950)

AbstractThe 1920s and 30s were a high phase of liberal missionary internationalism driven especially by American-led visions of the Social Gospel. As the missionary consensus shifted from proselytization to social concerns, the indigenization of missions and the role of the ‘younger churches’ outside of Europe and North America was brought into focus. This article shows how Protestant internationalism pursued a ‘Christian Sociology’ in dialogue with the field’s academic and professional form.Through the case study of settlement sociology and social work schemes by the American Marathi Mission (AMM) in Bombay, the article highlights the intricacies of applying internationalist visions in the field and asks how they were contested and shaped by local conditions and processes. Challenging a simplistic ‘secularization’ narrative, the article then argues that it was the liberal, anti-imperialist drive of the missionary discourse that eventually facilitated an American ‘professional imperialism’ in the development of secular social work in India. Adding local dynamics to the analysis of an internationalist discourse benefits the understanding of both Protestant internationalism and the genesis of Indian social work and shows the value of an integrated global micro-historical approach.

The Missional Future of Free Churches in a Secular Context: A German Case Study

Abstract Similar to most Western nations, Germany has experienced a history of secularization, resulting in church decline. However, some Christian communities have been less affected by decline. The historical free churches (Freikirchen), usually of an evangelical nature, have not only developed a more explicit missionary identity than the mainline churches, some of them have also been able to experience church growth against the larger trends. In this paper quantitative and qualitative data are presented based on a study of the Bund Freier evangelischer Gemeinden (BFeG) in Germany. These data show that general church growth and conversion growth are correlated, that young churches grow better (in both respects) than older churches, that the net conversion growth (conversions minus decline) of younger and older churches is overall largely the same, and that growth results in Berlin outperform the results in other cities and in the BFeG as a whole. These results are put into context by extended case studies of two churches, one old and one young, and they are discussed with a view to existing studies of (free church) mission in the West.

A young church in mission or maintenance mode?: A case study of the Bantu Presbyterian Church of South Africa (1923-1999)

The Bantu Presbyterian Church of South Africa (BPCSA) was the first autonomous South African church to be established in 1923 as the result of the work of the mission of a Church of European origin (CEO). It had taken one hundred years after the first missionaries of the Glasgow Missionary Society and subsequently the Free Church of Scotland and the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which united in 1900 to form the United Free Church of Scotland, had arrived in the Eastern Cape to form an autonomous church. It would continue to pursue its missionary strategy for the next seventy-six years until it united with the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa in 1999 to form the Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa. The aim of this article is to explore the extent to which it remained true to the mission of its founders and God’s mission as it became institutionalised. The ecumenical aspect of mission has already been dealt with and will not be considered here. This particular article will concentrate on internal church policies and activities including the role of missionaries, evangelists and church associations, theological education and socio-political issues. This is predominantly an exercise in primary archival research.

Dr. Thomas A. Lambie: Missionary-Entrepreneur in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Abyssinia, and Palestine

Dr. Thomas A. Lambie was spiritually nourished within the American United Presbyterian Church. He served as a missionary in British Sudan (1907–17, 1938–42), Abyssinia/Ethiopia (1918–36), and Palestine (1946–54). Using gifts of diplomacy and medical prowess, Lambie, from 1927, headed the Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) in Abyssinia, which sought to evangelize the primal religionists of southern Abyssinia. During ten years of pioneering mission effort by Lambie and nearly 100 SIM cohorts, a young church of fifty baptized believers was formed. He was instrumental in building a hospital in Abyssinia and, later, a tuberculosis sanatorium in Bethlehem, Palestine.

Organizational Justice in Young Churches: Maximizing Fair Treatment of Others and Responding to Violations

Organizational justice is the perception that one is being treated fairly in an organization, especially by those who hold power, such as the leaders within a church, both lay and staff. These perceptions of fairness (or lack of fairness) will influence church members’ commitment to, satisfaction with, and involvement in their church, as well as their psychological and spiritual well-being. Young churches are especially susceptible to the consequences of violations of organizational justice because young churches experience frequent changes in programs and delegation of responsibilities. Leaders of young churches should seek to maximize organizational justice, grounded in biblical principles, in order to have a healthy, functional body of believers who work together to serve God. These leaders need to respond to justice violations with humility, managing any conflicts that occur in effective and constructive ways. They must also work to prevent organizational justice violations in young churches from becoming engrained in the churches’ culture.

Prve kršćanske zajednice / First Christian communities

Christianity, having developed in a Jewish setting, quickly separated from Judaism and opened itself to the aspirations of the Greco-Roman world. This paper will explore the first Christian communities in Jerusalem, Antioch and Rome, from whence Christianity spread to the ends of the Mediterranean basin, that is to say, through the Roman Empire. Each of the aforementioned communities, which were very well respected, will be discussed with regards to the date of their foundation, the source material concerning these communities, and their prominent characteristics. In other words, this paper will discuss the spread of Christianity, with reference to the question of the triumphant campaign of the young Church from Jerusalem to Rome. After the acceptance of pagans into their communities, Christianity as a new religion began to gain importance, and the number of adherents grew quickly. The Christian community was declared an opposition to imperial government, and was already heavily repressed by the mid-1 century. The communities that survived repression sought peace; that is, collaboration between the Roman state and the “early Church”, which was seen as a new institution. The cult opened itself more and more to the outside world and different cultures, which led to the mingling of Christians and pagans, leading to many theological disputes, especially concerning the “divinity” of Jesus Christ. Between the 1st and 2nd st century the beginnings of Christianity should be viewed as an organization in which commissions and administrations are present, as the number of believers grew and the need for better organization arose. The basis of the rapid expansion of Christianity in the old world should certainly be viewed in its universality. The author of this paper touches upon the question of the beginnings of Christianity in Dalmatia and Pannonia, side by side with Roman culture. Christianity was not very influential in the Roman province of Dalmatia until the mid-3 century, even though it is likely that there were smaller Christian groups here, as well as organized Christian communities.

Emerging Christianity in Cambodia: People Movement to Christ or Playground for Global Christianity?

Present-day Christianity in Cambodia is less than thirty years old; virtually all traces of its earlier history were eradicated by the Khmer Rouge. The article offers a portrait of this young church and introduces mission patterns, growth factors, and challenges for this emerging church. It critically discusses the entanglement of global and local factors, as well as the diversity of mission agents engaged in Cambodia. The article concludes that churches successfully present themselves as a training ground for emerging global citizens, attracting young people to a faith movement that connects them with a global network.

Young People and Church Since 1900. Engagement and Exclusion, written by Naomi Thompson (2018)

Young People and Church Since 1900. Engagement and Exclusion, written by Naomi Thompson (2018)

Between hope and fear: Anthropological analysis of the Revelation to John

On the basis of structuralist interpretations of religious narratives, the text offers an analysis of the messages contained in the Apocalypse, determined by the preteristic approach and the value of those messages for the original context in which the book is written. By analyzing the text pronounced by the main characters of the narrative in structurally distant episodes, a paradigmatic connection is established that reveals the relevant meaning of Revelation. First, paper analysis Jesus' letters addressed to young Christian communities in Roman Asia, from the beginning of the text. Then, it is analyzed the Third Angel's speech from the middle of the book. Finally, the message of the very God at the end of the text is seen. Through the analysis of formulatory statements and metaphors, the Apocalypse is recognized as a epistle addressed to a young religious movement that is in the middle of the process of establishing its identity, but also undoubtedly in a difficult and turbulent period full of challenges for the young Church.

Główne tematy teologiczne Drugiego Listu św. Piotra

The author of the Second Letter of St Peter wrote at a time when therewere false prophets and teachers among Christians, whose erroneous learningseemed very attractive to many, and therefore became a serious threatto the young Church. Because of their strong influence and the danger thatmany who were unstable in faith and morals would follow their example,Peter sharply denounced their teaching and scandalous conduct. Above all,however, he wrote his letter to remind Christians of the apostolic teachings they once gave them. This article presents the main theological topics thatare the content of the teaching of the author of the Second Letter of StPeter: the divine authority of Jesus Christ (Christology), the salvific willof God and Jesus Christ (soteriology), the promise of the Lord’s secondcoming (eschatology), the authority of the Holy Scriptures and its properinterpretation, and moral life based on the Gospel.

Motywacje wolontariuszy Światowych Dni Młodzieży 2016 - wyniki badań

Człowiek nie umie żyć bez miłości i bardzo często odczuwa potrzebę dzielenia się miłością z otaczającym go światem i innymi ludźmi. To właśnie troska o dobro drugiego człowieka, inspirowana szlachetnością i wrażliwością serca, powinna być podstawą każdej działalności filantropijnej i wolontariackiej. Wolontariat jako idea szczególna pozwala na ratowanie ginącej nadziei na lepsze jutro i życie. Bez nadziei przecież trudno normalnie egzystować, a każdy nowy dzień jawi się jako smutna konieczność. W sposób szczególny pragniemy przyjrzeć się motywacji wolontariuszy, którzy poświęcali nie tylko swój czas, ale również swoje zdolności, umiejętności czy dobra materialne do dyspozycji młodego Kościoła. zagadnienie to jest nie tyle interesujące, ile niesie ze sobą ważny aspekt praktyczny. Poznając główne motywy wolontariatu, jesteśmy w stanie poznać jego istotę, zrozumieć siłę napędową działania danych jednostek. Ważne jest to również z punktu widzenia samych wolontariuszy. Jeśli będą znali motywy swojego działania, dużo prościej będzie im wybrać takie świadczenia, które pozwolą im osiągnąć określoną satysfakcję. Ważne jest przecież, aby wolontariusz miał poczucie, że jego praca jest potrzeba i ma jakiś sens. to przekłada się na jego zaangażowanie. W wolontariacie przecież nie chodzi o satysfakcję o podłożu finansowym, ale o taką, która wynika z chęci pomocy. Często taka motywacja jest nieporównywanie wyższa, niż materialna. W niniejszej pracy zawarte są wyniki badań naukowych dotyczących motywacji wolontariuszy podczas ŚDM 2016.

Book Review: Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church

Book Review: Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church