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Land and Deliverance: Urban Ministry as a Church Legacy Model
No full textThe goal of this project is to theologically confront the Church’s consumerism which has created a spiritual exile for itself, an exile which has helped contribute to the slow death of the American mainline church. As churches die and try to invest in a legacy which carries their reputations forward, they go through a discernment process as to the content of that legacy. One model for churches to consider is an investment in urban ministry. Being confronted by the needs of an urban population, namely, the homeless, not only forces a church to confront its own consumerism, but it also is of benefit to the local community.
As First Presbyterian Church of San José (First Church) closed in 2019, a motion was made to the Presbytery of San José to invest the proceeds from the sale of their church property in a base of urban ministry to carry on the legacy of the church. An Administrative Commission was appointed to do the work of that motion. This project is a summary of that work done on behalf of the Presbytery.
An analysis of the project also demanded an interpretation of the history of the San Francisco Bay Area dating back to the colonization of the California coast by the Spanish in the eighteenth century. The Gold Rush of 1849 also had a significant impact on the diversity and development of the area and led to the planting of First Church. Issues relating to the doctrine of discovery and American exceptionalism apply. This thesis concludes that issues of land and exile from the prophetic books in the Old Testament have applications for the church today as it makes decisions around land relative to its own exile
A Listening People: Hearing God\u27s Voice at the Turnpike Road Church of Christ
Full text linkThe goal of this study is to equip a group of eight-to-twelve women and men from the Turnpike Road Church of Christ in Ignatian spiritual discernment so that they may confidently and assertively hear and respond to God’s voice.
The Church of Christ has a limited history and practice of engaging in a conversational relationship with God. The dominant founding figure of the Church of Christ, Alexander Campbell, was essentially a Lockean empiricist who regarded the Bible as the only reliable and trustworthy guide. The Holy Spirit was relegated to the Bible meaning one encountered God and his guidance through the Bible only. This view dominated the theology and practices of most Churches of Christ until the early-twentieth century. Slowly congregations began questioning this theology and started adopting a theology open to a greater role of the Spirit directly at work in the lives of Christians.
This project will address this need by teaching and equipping a small group of men and women in a life with God theology, and spiritual discernment from an Ignatian perspective. For three months they will practice the Prayer of Examen to awaken their hearts, minds and souls to the movements of the Spirit in their daily lives as well as their responses to these divine interactions. They will learn the Rules for the Discernment of Spirits to prepare them to test the movements in their hearts. They will meet with me for spiritual direction monthly to help them learn to see, name and hear God in their daily life. Through the teaching and practices they will learn the theology and spiritual practices that will open them to confident and joyful live life with God
Engaging and Discipling Nones: A Missional Coaching Handbook
Full text linkThe goal of this project is to create a Missional Coaching Handbook that can be used by pastors and church leaders to coach parishioners on how to engage and disciple the Nones in their unique context toward holistic gospel flourishing. A gap exists between missional understanding and missional praxis in the churches of the Association of the Churches of God in Oregon and Southwest Washington. A new discipleship model needs to be implemented that utilizes coaching to equip parishioners to reach the Nones in their communities.
This study explores the history of the Association and the changing understanding of mission through the years. The project also examines the challenges facing the diverse communities that make up the Association in the wake of the disintegration of Christendom and the rise of the Nones. Through an examination of literature and the critical theology of the Missio Dei, a revised understanding of missional ecclesiology was deemed critical if the church hopes to reach the Nones.
This study used a coaching model to activate the missional imagination of those being coached and to help them develop “missional moves” into their neighborhoods in response to the handbook. A group of pastors in the Association was enlisted to coach parishioners through the content of the handbook. The goal of the project is to find a way to move parishioners from consumers of religious goods and services to true missionaries in their neighborhoods to help reach the Nones and bring kingdom flourishing.
A missional coaching approach was helpful in assisting parishioners to gain a better understanding of how they can impact their community. However, due to the small number of participants, more study is needed to see if this approach can be effective in bridging the gap between knowledge and practice over a long period of time
Program Development of a Graduate Psychology LGBTQ+ Diversity Course
No full textNumerous studies have demonstrated that affirmative cultural diversity courses significantly increase graduate students’ competency when treating diverse clients (Morgan Consoli & Marin, 2016). However, the number of such courses that adequately address Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and other sexual minorities (LGBTQ+) topics are staggeringly low (Rock, Carlson, & McGeorge, 2010). Across America’s graduate programs, graduating students have demonstrated incompetency to work effectively with LGBTQ+ individuals (Bidell, 2013). As LGBTQ+ persons are not readily identifiable and comprise over 20% of America’s millennial population alone, all psychologists will likely work with this population at some point and thus need to be competent to do so (GLAAD, 2017). This resource development aims to design a solution: a 10-topic graduate psychology LGBTQ+ diversity course. It will demonstrate the need for such a course, address potential pedagogical issues, and propose the lesson plan for 10 core topics to best enhance understanding, self-awareness, and competency to work with LGBTQ+ individuals clinically, in research, or assessment
Promoting Pastor Spiritual Vitality in the Christian Reformed Church Through an Online Toolkit
Full text linkSpiritually healthy pastors are good for the Church.[1] This seems commonsensical, yet many pastors in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) do not engage in the healthful habits and relationships necessary to grow and sustain their spiritual wellbeing. Pressures from without and within often result in neglecting the very habits and companions promoting their spiritual flourishing.
To encourage the spiritual wellbeing of CRC pastors, this project provides an online spiritual vitality toolkit. This resource includes: Assessments for strengthening self-awareness, a chart for discerning spiritual companions, Christian practices making room for God, guidance for gathering with peers, resources for pastor retreats, tips for creating a rule of life, and a bibliography for deeper exploration. As a result of using the toolkit, clergy will cultivate the lifelong practices and holy friendships necessary for growing in communion and cooperation with God.[2] With growing commitment to their own spiritual lives, pastors will “make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).
Part one of the project introduces the ministry challenge of healthy spirituality for CRC clergy. It explores three significant ministry contexts in which these pastors live and work and how these affect their spiritual health. Part two provides theological reflection on the spiritual life and its connection to the pastoral vocation. Based on Scripture, Reformed writings, and contemporary sources, it argues the indispensable role of spiritual companions and practices for clergy spiritual health. Part three explains the ministry initiative rising from this reflection and describes its goals, timeline, along with the people and resources needed to carry it out well. Finally, this section assesses the effectiveness of the toolkit.
[1] This truism is implied in Peter Scazzero’s book The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship that Actually Changes Lives, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 20.
[2] According to Gregory Jones and Kevin Armstrong in their book Resurrecting Excellence: Shaping Faithful Christian Ministry (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2006), lifelong practices and holy friendships are fundamental for the well-being of ministry leaders
Countering Systemic Abandonment by Creating Systemic Change
Full text linkIn recent years, the United States has seen a rapid rise in the number of adolescents experiencing anxiety and depression. As has been noted by researchers, this growth is linked to the changing culture and the new challenges facing adolescents. To address this, this ministry project will create an online training seminar for youth workers that will help them identify and respond to the underlying issues in students’ lives leading to anxiety and depression.
The first part of the project explored the social science as it relates to the rapid growth that has been observed in adolescents experiencing anxiety and depression. It gave special attention to how the rise of systemic abandonment has created an environment where students are apt to succumb to anxiety and depression. The second part of this project focused on the biblical and theological teachings that are relevant to this specific ministry challenge both in regards to developing a proper understanding of mental health struggles and exploring the biblical mandate to pursue, welcome, and include those who are on the fringes of society into the family of God. Specifically, it focused on how these teachings relate to how the Church is called to engage adolescents who are struggling with anxiety and depression.
The third part of this project focused on the creation and implantation of an online training seminar that equips and empowers churches to effectively ministers to adolescents who are struggling with anxiety and depression. It reviewed the data presented in the project, the theological implications of the training, assessed and outline the new ministry initiative goals, strategy, and established a methodology of the training. It also includes a review and assessment of the initial training and notes changes for future adaptations
Relational Psychoanalysis and Christian Spiritual Direction: A Critical Review of the Literature
No full textSpiritual direction and psychotherapy are neighboring disciplines that share in caring for whole people (Benner, 2002; Harborne, 2012). Although they are separate traditions with different languages, psychology is seen as an important resource for spiritual direction (Barry & Connolly, 2009). Classical psychoanalytic (e.g., Freud) and depth psychology (e.g., Jung) theorists from the early 20th century have heavily influenced contemporary spiritual direction literature, resulting in an implicit psychology from deficit-based conceptualizations and hierarchical relationships (Bidwell, 2003, 2009). Without considering contemporary relational theories, spiritual direction literature undervalues the director-directee (horizontal) relationship (Hardy, 2000). Benjamin’s (2018) contemporary relational psychoanalytic theory, specifically the goal of mutual recognition and the concepts of the Third, provides a deeper relational perspective for spiritual direction. By applying a process-oriented methodology (Dueck, 2002), Benjamin’s (2018) theory is integrated within the author’s theological tradition and spiritual direction training to provide a deeper understanding of the relational dynamics that exist in the director-directee relationship. Examples and implications are given for how the director-directee relationship is a penultimate telos that serves the ultimate telos in spiritual direction, the directee’s relationship with God
Self-Compassion and Self-Coldness: Effects on Psychological Well-Being and Distress in Cultural Context
No full textSelf-compassion has been found to be beneficial for both increasing an individual’s well-being and alleviating distress. Recent literature has suggested that the positive subscales of self-compassion (self-compassion) and the negative subscales of self-compassion (self-coldness) are two factors that have unique relationships with well-being and psychopathology. In Western contexts, self-compassion has been found to relate more strongly to well-being, while self-coldness has been found to relate more strongly to psychopathology. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether these unique relationships can be observed across cultural contexts. I compared samples of university students in the United States (US; n = 165) and Hong Kong (HK; n = 141). I found that self-compassion and self-coldness may relate to each other differently based on the cultural contexts. For the US, I found that self-coldness and self-compassion are negatively related to each other and that self-coldness more strongly predicts decreased well-being and increased distress. For HK, I found evidence that self-compassion and self-coldness may be orthogonal, and that self-compassion and self-coldness had more balanced effects on well-being and distress. Future research in Chinese cultural contexts would benefit from utilizing two factor structure to examine the benefits of self-compassion. Further research on how these relationships may differ across Asian contexts is needed
Adolescents’ Post-Conflict Amelioration of Anger and Sadness via Affective Perspective-Taking
No full textThe aim of the present study was to examine how adolescents’ experiences of anger and sadness after recent conflicts are differentially modulated by a brief, affective perspective-taking task (Take Perspective). Participants were 196 girls and 106 boys enrolled in California high schools who engaged in an affective perspective-taking intervention within the novel CharacterMe app. Results supported that guided socioemotional training via technology can benefit adolescents’ affective recovery and coping responses after emotionally-heightened events. Support was found for hypotheses that adolescents’ anger and sadness would be ameliorated from worst point to post-intervention through their participation in the Take Perspective challenge. Per a mixed-design analysis of variance (ANOVA), results confirmed that Asian/Asian-American participants’ amelioration of their post-conflict anger differed according to reported conflict type. Additionally, ethnicity and gender differences were found for participants’ peak experiences of anger and sadness. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed
Lifting the Veil: The Role of Black Christians in Leading Racial Reconciliation within American Evangelicalism
Full text linkThe unique perspective of Black Christians is essential in leading racial reconciliation efforts within American evangelicalism.
This dissertation will use W.E.B. Du Bois’s notion of “double consciousness,” articulated in his classic work, The Souls of Black Folk, as a framework to examine whether Black Christians, namely the Black Church and Black evangelicals, should use their unique position to lead the truthful examination necessary for authentic healing and racial reconciliation within the American Evangelical Church. Du Bois observed that African Americans exist in duality—as both insider and outsider—and, as a result, are positioned to offer a distinctive critique of American life. Similarly, the Black Church and, to some degree, Black evangelicals have never been fully embraced by the evangelical mainstream and occupy a unique space within American Christianity that allows them to speak authoritatively in efforts around racial reconciliation. The Black Church and Black evangelicals are fluent in mainstream evangelical orthodoxy and orthopraxy, but are also in touch with the pain that exists at the margins of American church life and culture. Believing traditional definitions of reconciliation to be inadequate, this dissertation will articulate a new, theopolitical framework for directing reconciliation efforts. This new framework incorporates elements of biblical and political conceptions of reconciliation.
This study concludes that while the reality of sin ultimately prevents the full expression of racial reconciliation, American evangelicalism must continue to press toward it under the leadership of Black Christians. The earnest seeking of reconciliation can itself contribute to a degree of harmony and healing. The theopolitical framework of reconciliation articulated in this work provides important elements for consideration in the effort, including opportunities for truth-telling, collectivism, contextualization, and reparations