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The Social Role of Worship: A Reading of Micah 6:1-8
Get PDFThis thesis provides exegesis of Micah 6:1-8 with particular focus on the relationship between worship and social ethics, as well as a consideration of the implications of this passage for the Chin Christian community
The Church’s Call to Minister to Refugees: A Case Study on Liberian Refugees in Minnesota
Get PDFThe paper is divided into seven chapters. Chapter one explores a brief historical background of the Liberian Refugee Crisis. Chapter two discusses ministering to the refugees: a Biblical foundation. Chapter three quickly reviews different ways of ministering to Liberian refugee families. Chapter four identifies challenges that refugees face. Chapter five explores the potential blessings that refugees bring. Chapter six highlights the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among refugees. Finally, chapter seven addresses the conclusion
Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow: Innovating, Evaluating, and Improving Worship to Participate in God\u27s Mission
Get PDFThis case study asks how a Cathedral might innovate, evaluate, and improve worship to participate more fully in God’s mission. Theoretical frameworks include: Missional Church (Zscheile, Keifert, Bosch), Adaptive Leadership (Heifetz, Linsky), Playful Acts in Scripture (Taylor), Doxology (Anderson), and utilizes Mixed-Methods Social Science Research. The central findings are that participation leads to transformation in worship, engagement helps communities innovate together, and innovation requires prolonged investment. Theoretical codes yielded a model of church as sailing vessel: seeking transformation, balancing identity with financial realities, dependent on trust, steered by a sense of shared purpose, and powered by the Holy Spirit’s wind
Leadership and Faith Formation in Youth Ministry: Explaining the Relationship Between Leadership Experiences and Faith Formation in Middle School Students
Get PDFThis research project explained how leadership experiences of middle school age students during their time in a youth ministry Confirmation program affected their faith formation. The lenses of Believing, Behaving, and Belonging were helpful in framing a missional view of faith formation. Results revealed these four aspects of leadership experiences to be important to the youth: leadership and helping others are connected, relationships are integral and vital within these experiences, there needs to be an element of fun by making the experience enjoyable and/or meaningful, and leadership experiences bring relevance to a student’s faith both inside and outside of church
A Reinterpretation of Chin Christian Spirituality Beyond One Century in the Light Of Martin Luther\u27s Freedom Of a Christian
Get PDFThis thesis examines a brief history of Chin Christianity which primarily focuses on the hlimsang movement, the revival movement, and the free evangelist movement that impacted contemporary Chin Christians’ understanding of Christian spirituality. The preachers of the three movements solely emphasized Martin Luther’s notion of “justification by grace through faith alone.” Unfortunately, they minimize the preaching and teaching of the good life and works in Christian life which Luther emphasized and discussed in his treatise Freedom of a Christian. As a result, Chin Christians emphasize too much the significance of Christian spirituality with emotional expressions in the worship service. Faith and Good works and the good life are not balanced enough.
Therefore, this thesis briefly examines Christian spirituality in the Bible and in the history of Christianity in order align the Chin Christians’ misunderstandings of Christian spirituality with biblical spirituality. This research finds that Luther never rejected the good life and works in the Christian life as found in Freedom of a Christian.
This thesis also attempts to stress that Christian spirituality goes way beyond an emotional feeling. It is a long spiritual journey that walks with the Spirit and keeps in step with the Spirit until the end of our mortal life on the earth. Christian spirituality is described as quality of life in which inner faith in Christ is lived out through the good life and good works
Unity and Diversity: How a Bilingual-Multicultural Congregation Reflects the Nature of the Trinity in Unity and Diversity
Get PDFThis project used the lenses of adaptive change, transculturation, church size theory, love the stranger, led by the Spirit, unity and diversity in God’s family, imago Trinitatis, and missio Dei to study how action research interventions might affect a culturally diverse congregation. It was found that understanding culture is complicated, homogeneous units typically stay apart but do come together, crossing boundaries of homogeneity is difficult, ongoing education helps for transculturation, transculturation comes mostly through conversation, and people can experience Trinitarian equality through transculturation. In short, the Common Culture of a Community is Cultivated in its Context through Conversation and Communion
The Healing at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-18): A Study in Light of the Archaeological Evidence from Bethesda, Jewish and Greco-Roman Practice, and the Johannine Narrative
Get PDFOral History Interviews in the Congregation – Part 2: Planning the Project and Next Steps
Get PDFThis article focuses on choosing interviewers and interview subjects for a congregational oral history project
