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Enabling the Bury Methodist Circuit to Focus on Being a ‘Discipleship Movement Shaped For Mission’
Get PDFThe goal of this doctoral project is to lead the Bury Methodist Circuit in the United Kingdom into a restructuring of leadership and oversight to enable the circuit and its fifteen churches to better serve the contemporary age in discipleship and mission. This is in line with the tag line of the British Methodist Church—“a discipleship movement shaped for mission.”
The author serves as superintendent minister of the Bury Circuit and is due to retire in August 2019. Serving previously in two other circuits in the United Kingdom and nine years in Hong Kong reveal how the Bury Circuit needs to be reoriented for mission to its local community and to embrace a priesthood of all believers by encouraging and enabling lay ministry. The Methodist Church is in decline and there is a shortage of ministers. In the likely event that ministers leaving the circuit will not be replaced, the traditional solution of spreading ministerial resources over an increasing number of churches has been shown to be a recipe for accelerated decline. This project will facilitate a better alternative that will focus on mission and not maintenance.
The project is divided into three parts. Part One will include an introduction and will share the context of the British Methodist Church and the Bury Circuit, including the development and importance of lay ministries within the Methodist Church. Part Two will present a theology of biblical leadership and spiritual gifts, pointing to the priesthood of all believers, drawing on the works of Paul Bradshaw, Martyn Atkins, Malcolm Grundy, and Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. Part Three will present the alternative thinking arising, the process to restructuring, and the outcomes expected and will establish the target audience, the leadership and training, and the process of implementation and evaluation
Contextualised, Memorable Training: A Strategy for Training Disciples in Papua New Guinea
Get PDFThe Christianisation of Papua New Guinea is a remarkable achievement in world mission. It has resulted in the vast majority of the population identifying themselves as Christians. There is, however, widespread recognition that many if not most of these believers have not progressed in their Christian journey since conversion and many have lapsed back into traditional beliefs and practices.
This project arises out of an invitation from the Melanesian Evangelical Churches of Christ to develop training that assists pastors and church leaders to improve discipleship outcomes for their people. In response to this invitation, the goal of the project was to equip church leaders in Papua New Guinea to develop disciples by providing a simple discipleship model that can be adapted for their local context.
Discipleship in the Gospels takes the form of a progressive journey to maturity rather than a single moment of conversion. Studies by Engel and Norton, and Willow Creek Community Church have reflected this through the creation of spiritual growth continua that describe several progressive stages on the journey to Christian maturity. This project examines such models and, coupled with biblical reflection and cultural insight, seeks to utilise them to create a spiritual growth continuum that is relevant for Melanesian believers.
This continuum forms the basis of a training experience that utilises stories, diagrams, and other oral learning methodologies. A transcript of the training experience including diagrams forms the final part of the project. An evaluation of the project and reflections on its effectiveness is also provided
Crossroads Retreat: A Spiritual Discernment Journey for Those Facing Major Life Decision
Get PDFThe topic of spiritual discernment is certainly one of the most challenging aspects of the pastoral role. Congregational members are at times presented with major decisions, placing them at the crossroads of life. Assisting such parishioners, to discern the will of God, is a fundamentally important element of the pastoral role.
This project proposes a Spiritual Discernment Retreat, which seeks to synthesize wisdom on discernment from the early desert dwellers, St. Ignatius Loyola and Dallas Willard. These writings are highly regarded for their insight into discernment. Focusing on their combined wisdom will provide a trustworthy foundation spanning two millennia, thus offering helpful principles for a discernment journey.
The Spiritual Discernment Retreat will be offered to people within Coast Community Church who are facing important, life-shaping decisions. The retreat will be preceded by two weeks of preparation and groundwork and followed up by a one-week period of consolidation and confirmation. Together, these three weeks will seek to provide an opportunity for the participant to consider their decision within the context of God’s sovereign will and their unique calling.
Part One investigates the ministry context of the church and the community, seeking to explore factors contributing to the issues of isolation, financial stress, tiredness and frustration, for those living on the Central Coast. These challenges have detrimental effects on the well being of local congregants and can lead to veritable struggles when seeking to discern the will of God. The church has responded to the spiritual needs of its members by developing a series of spiritual retreats, where individuals are given the opportunity, teaching and time to invest in their relationship with God. In addition to these retreats, the Spiritual Discernment Retreat will be offered to those in the church struggling to gain clarity and conviction from God, when seeking his will. The context of a retreat will provide the much needed and valued time and space to seek God’s leading.
Part Two explores wisdom from three traditions on discernment: the desert dwellers, Ignatius and Willard. Though these authors are separated by many centuries, this paper seeks to draw on their convictions on discernment. Part Two will also use Jeremiah 6:16 as a framework for the development of a discernment journey and to present a solid biblical and theological structure for individuals when seeking the will of God.
Part Three describes the content and implementation of the Spiritual Discernment Retreat, including the important role of the two weeks preceding the retreat and one week following. All together the discernment process extends to a three-week journey, where participants are led through proven Biblical principles drawn from three traditions known for their wisdom and value on discernment. Upon completion, the hope is for church members to be able to confidently make their decision with a Godly conviction and peace
Pentecostalism Re-imagined: Reconfiguring Pentecostalism in Twenty-First Century New Zealand
Get PDFThe goal of this ministry-focused paper is to outline a leadership development process through which Assemblies of God pastors in New Zealand might engage in critical reflection regarding the nature of Pentecostalism. With Pentecostalism increasingly understood as a contemporary methodology of church, this project seeks to instead define Pentecostalism via six markers consistent within the Pentecostal movement over the last one hundred years – theological simplicity, pragmatic methodologies, missional energy, pneumatic expectation, ontological enchantment and relational tribalism. Each marker is deemed to be adjustable, and this project encourages a reimagining of Pentecostalism with adjustments made to Pentecostalism’s normative settings. It is hoped that this will preserve the strengths, while mitigating the weaknesses, inherent in Pentecostal ministry.The paper begins with an historical overview of Pentecostalism, exploring the evolution of the movement. A brief history of the Assemblies of God in New Zealand is provided, as well as a series of contextual considerations. A theological reflection is then offered in relation to the six defining markers of Pentecostalism, with suggestions made regarding the adjusting of each.The final section of this paper explores a leadership development project in which a group of pastors formed a learning cohort designed to explore Pentecostalism and ways in which it might be re-imagined. This cohort engaged in a process of reflection via an online forum, theorization in a seminar setting, ministry experimentation in their own local church contexts, and then further reflection to assess the impact of the experimentation phase of the learning process.The desired outcome of this initiative was that pastors would be provided with critical tools while being encouraged and equipped in their ministry roles, with a reimagining of Pentecostalism opening the door to effective modes of ministry beyond that of a contemporary methodology of church
COLLECTION 0094: Material from the Oberlin \u2757 Faith & Order Meeting, 1956-1957
Get PDFPhotocopies of the preparation documents and documents produced at the 1957 Faith & Order Meeting at Oberlin, Ohio on the theme of The Nature of the Unity We Seek. The collection includes an invitation and promo CD for the 50th reunion of Oberlin ’57, held in 2007, on the theme On Being Christian Together
COLLECTION 0108: Gospel Music Collection of Kenneth S. Bates, 1953-2005
Get PDFThe Gospel Music Collection of Kenneth S. Bates, 1953-2005 consists primarily of audio cassette tapes within the Gospel/Christian tradition, radio program recordings from 1980 to the mid 2000’s, a collection of Gospel LP recordings, and a modest number of compact discs. The collection also includes one box of personal documents
COLLECTION 0105: Collection of Original Manuscripts by Fred Bock, 1953-1998
Get PDFFred Bock (1939-1998) was a respected leader in Church music. He was a noted composer, arranger, clinician, studio musician, organist, pianist, choral director, and music publisher.
This is a collection of his original manuscripts
COLLECTION 0004: Papers of Joseph Mattsson-Boze, 1932-1988
Get PDFJoseph Mattsson-Bozé became a leader in the Latter Rain, a splinter movement within Pentecostalism in the 1940s and 1950s. His papers range in date from 1933 to the early 1970s and include correspondence with significant figures in classical independent Pentecostal circles. A full run of the Swedish journal Trons Härold, which became the English journal Herald of Faith, can be found in the collection. Other short-lived Swedish and English journals help comprise the Mattsson-Bozé Collection. These papers, along with the DeGregorio Papers, constitute a rich resource for independent or nondenominational Pentecostalism. The collection includes material on: Immigrant Churches; Latter Rain; Independent Pentecostal Churches; East African Revival; Revival in Argentina; Rock Church (New York, NY); Philadelphia Church (Chicago, IL); First World Pentecostal Conference (1949); William Branham; Henry Carlson; and Clair Hutchens.
The current arrangement of the materials is the work of Martha Nelson, Joseph Mattsson-Bozé\u27s longtime secretary. Additional material on Mattsson-Bozé can be found in the Lewi Pethrus Archives in Sweden and the Dagen newspaper