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Storydwellers: A Narrative Approach to Teaching Scripture to Adolescents
Get PDFA narrative approach of teaching Scripture to adolescents is an integrative methodology that draws from both narrative theology as well as developmental psychology. It considers both the narrative of the Bible and the psychosocial development of people during adolescence, which happens narratively. A narrative approach to teaching Scripture to adolescents offers the redemptive narrative found in the Genesis to Revelation story as a possible world by which adolescents can interpret their lives.
When constructing their identity through the lens of the Christ event, adolescents are grafted into God’s story as active agents in God’s redemptive plot for the world. To inhabit the world of Scripture is to embody a new identity as adopted children of the triune God and participate in the interlocking of heaven and earth through Christ. The goal of a narrative approach is to help youth to see that they are not just viewers, but that they are both characters and co-authors in the midst of a redemptive saga produced by God. The great task of those who teach Scripture to adolescents is to help them discover that God has invited them to be active agents in the epic drama presented in Scripture. A narrative approach invites adolescents to reconstruct their past, perceive their present, and imagine their future autobiographically in light of the biblical narrative.
As adolescents psychosocially write themselves into the biblical drama in consort with the triune God, and the larger believing community, the way they view themselves and interact with the world becomes congruent with God’s revealed reality. Ultimately, it is by the enactment of Scripture that adolescents are fused into the family of Christ and ushered onto the world stage where they live out their identities as God’s saints within the biblical drama of redemption
Tasty New Sauces from Tired Old Pots: Factors Influencing the Use of African Proverbs in Ministry by Leaders of the Church of God in Côte D’ivoire
No full textThis study grows out of a desire to see Christian leadership that is culturally appropriate and effective developed in and by the African church through African methods of values transmission—particularly the method of African traditional proverbs. The research reveals that various factors impact how proverbs are used to transmit values within the context of the church and wider society. My central research issue is to identify those factors that impact the effective and appropriate use of African proverbs in ministry by African church leaders in Côte d’Ivoire.
Part 1 examines literature regarding African traditional proverbs and their significance in African society. Following a survey of literature on leadership within an African context, I examine the literature on the use of African proverbs in church contexts. The findings suggest that while considerable literature is available from Africa’s anglophone contexts, relatively little is available from the francophone contexts and particularly from Côte d’Ivoire. This attests to the need for such research.
Part 2 presents the research accomplished using three methods: direct observation, a survey of pastors, and focus groups of pastors, preachers, and laypeople within the Church of God in Côte d’Ivoire. I divide findings into two categories: those relating to proverb use in general society and those concerning proverb use in church contexts. From the data analysis, I have drawn five prevailing themes indicating factors that impact proverb use.
Part 3 presents my proposal for integrating proverb use in more effective ways within the Church of God in Côte d’Ivoire, beginning with IBAO, the Bible training institute of the church. The model of change dynamic proposed and applied to IBAO students and teachers is Peter Senge’s Five Disciplines of Learning Organizations.
The study concludes with missiological implications and recommendations for both Western missionaries and Africans. These include further steps within the current context as well as proposed areas of further study in related contexts. I close by acknowledging the great extent to which African proverbs merit further study, as they offer a deep well of insight into African worldviews and cultures that is often neglected by Western scholarship.
Mentor: Elizabeth L. Glanville, Ph
Integracion Comunitaria, Un Modelo Misional de Discipulado de la Primera Iglesia Bautista de Maywood, CA
Get PDFEl meta de este proyecto es crear un experimento misional comunitario, donde como iglesia vamos a trabajar juntamente con las familias inmigrantes hispanas para trabajar juntos en un proceso de integración en la comunidad de fe. El objetivo es lograr un sentido de pertenencia de nuestras familias hispanas en la comunidad donde viven y la iglesia local.
En la primera parte de este proyecto, describo los inicios de la Primera Iglesia Bautista de Maywood dando una mirada a la historia de su fundación, la visión, su expansión y las desafíos enfrentados cuando los cambios comenzaron a ocurrir. Despues presento un estudio de la comunidad de Maywood comenzando con un análisis de la lectura de la ciudad y un estudio sistemático de la economía de la población para conocer la realidad financiera de la comunidad, la demografía y educación para conocer la realidad de la comunidad inmigrante hispana que vive en Maywood. La segunda parte, es una interpretación bíblica de la misión de Dios. Es un estudio bíblico teológico de algunas narrativas del Antiguo y NuevoTestamento para ver el desarrollo de la misión de Dios y el papel que el esperaba de su pueblo. La tercera parte presenta una manera práctica y elementos esenciales de un modelo misional que conduce a las personas de la comunidad en una jornada de discipulado desde el primer contacto hasta la integracion en la familia de la iglesia. Esta modelo incluye la conexión de las personas en los grupos pequeños, un proceso para equipar a las personas y la formación en el discipulado cristiano.
Concluyo con una reflexión de los resultados, examinando los testimonios de las personas que participaron, los recursos de estudio y los cuestionarios entregados para conocer los retos encontrandos y evaluar las areas donde necesitamos mejorar
A Kenotic Theology of Empowerment and Abundance: Liberating Prosperity Theologies for Ordinary Human Flourishing
No full textProsperity theologies have been widely critiqued for their seemingly deficient theological nuance and irresponsible embrace of consumerist ideals. Yet, prosperity theologies continue to be among the fastest-growing movements around the world and are particularly well-embraced by the poor. Is it possible that the poor are finding something genuinely life-giving in prosperity theologies that its critics have overlooked?
This study examines this possibility by exploring the ways that prosperity theologies are empowering people to overcome their internal narratives of victimization so they can pursue flourishing lives. Expanding on these liberative elements in prosperity theologies then reveals the profound contributions this movement can make to the contemporary theological study of human flourishing in the immanent frame.
To develop these arguments, this study engages the following key tasks:
First, it seeks to articulate alternative theological supports and ministry practices for prosperity theologies to give them broader credibility in the theological arena.
Second, it argues that the liberative elements of prosperity theologies center on its embrace of a comprehensive materiality of salvation and on its effectiveness in empowering people to overcome their internal narratives of victimization.
Third, it establishes that these empowering dimensions of prosperity theologies find strong points of resonance with contemporary research in the behavioral sciences making the value of these prosperity theologies for a “this-worldly” view of human flourishing quite significant.
Fourth, it points the way to the maturing of prosperity theologies by holding a tension between hunger for breakthroughs and contentment in limitations.
And fifth, it proposes that a kenotic model of the goodness of God undergirds prosperity theologies and can be constructively expanded to include the empowering (intrapersonal), hospitable (interpersonal), and liberative (systemic) dimensions of overcoming victimizations.
The radical affirmation that eschatological shalom is now within the reach of faith leads us to a theology of empowerment and abundance. This consists of a full endorsement of empowerment as a legitimate task of theology, a recognition that we live from the super-abundance of God towards us, and an appreciation for the ways that living for shalom changes the way we apply our faith in this life
