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Encountering Light in Dark Seasons: Ecclesial Practices That Nurture Wellness in the Caregiver of Special Needs Children
No full textIn this research, I explore the challenges that caregivers of special needs children face while trying to connect and grow within a faith community. Pentecostal churches, in particular, struggle in responding to distressed believers when there has not been a working, coherent theology of suffering or disability. Pentecostals display considerable faith for divine intervention in the midst of sorrow. Although sickness and disability is a part of life, many would convey a singular purpose for suffering, “so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (Jn 9:3). But what happens when the miracle does not come and God seems silent?
The findings in the qualitative data answered why the disabled community is generally disconnected from the abled faith community. The interviewees shared common challenges that hinder spiritual and communal growth, while also providing insight into significant disciplines that nourish their spiritual life. The pace and burden of life is so strenuous that isolation, exhaustion, and spiritual confusion are consistent challenges in the life of a caregiver.
The caregiver did not want another program or temporary fix to make them feel better for a moment. A more substantive change was needed. The ancient practice of embracing a rule of life emerged as a holistic approach that could lead to flourishing. The ecclesial community can assist by offering practical care that would ultimately provide the space necessary for practices such as spiritual friendship, hospitality, lament and Sabbath rest.
If the ecclesial community is going to be successful in integrating caregivers into the life of the church, then the onus is on abled community to generate a welcoming atmosphere. It takes intentionality, patience, and Christlikeness to look the caregiver in the eye and ask, “Could I hear your story? What is it like to care for a special needs child?” The research and literature show that caregivers are feeling less and less comfortable in a church setting. However, the discomfort and distrust diminishes when the imago Dei is appreciated in all.
Mentor: Elizabeth L. Glanville, Ph
Members of Athens Christian Center Engaged in Local Missional Ministries
No full textThis research investigates the factors that motivate Athens Christian Center members to be engaged in local missional ministries. Over the years, Athens Christian Church members have gladly gone on short mission trips to a foreign country but they are not keen or enthusiastic about local missional engagement.
The body of this research is the analysis of data collected from twenty one interviews, four focus groups and a survey. The interview participants were members of Athens Christian Center Church who were engaged in local missional ministries. The four focus groups consisted of a mixture of participants. Some of those participants were engaged in local missional ministries and some were not. The seventy survey respondents were Athens Christian Center church members who had never been engaged in any local missional ministries.
The conclusion was the emergence of four key factors responsible for motivating people to be engaged in local missional ministry. These factors comprise the personal, church, local missional ministry, and culture factors.
All of the above factors in combination with the literature review have led to a change plan for Athens Christian Center.
Mentor: Evelyne Reisacher, Ph
The Apologetics of Hope: Imagination and Witness in the Age of Authenticity with Special Consideration of the Work of George MacDonald and Marilynne Robinson
No full textThis dissertation argues that Christian witness in a secular age is in need of a more comprehensive understanding of how the dialectic of faith and doubt is experienced imaginatively, and not just intellectually. Doubters require more than good arguments; they require an aesthetic sense, an imaginative vision, and a poetic embodiment of Christianity: what it feels like to live with Christian faith. I offer an account of how imaginative engagement is central to the apologetic task by framing secularity as an imaginative crisis and then exploring two case studies of imaginative apologetics, to construct a theological model of how imaginative engagement may open a new space to consider the possibilities of faith.
Chapter one draws from Charles Taylor’s account of secularity to sketch the missiological context for my argument. I seek to demonstrate that secularity is an imaginative crisis: finding faith is integrated with the quest for authenticity, a felt sense of ownership of the direction and design of one’s life. Authenticity can have both thick and thin versions, and Taylor’s account of secularity highlights the need for an apologetic method that invites thicker versions of authenticity.
Chapter two considers apologetic methodologies in light of Taylor’s diagnosis. I orient the discussion around Friedrich Schleiermacher’s apologetic of feeling, drawing attention to his followers as well as to his critics. The goal is to listen to these voices and to highlight the need for broader theological horizons against which a thick version of authenticity can emerge.
Chapter three seeks to provide such horizons by articulating a constructive theology of the imagination. I distinguish between three overlapping aspects of imagining: aesthetic sense (where a world of meaning impresses itself on the imagination), orienting vision (where the imagination expresses itself towards the world), and poetic practice (where space is made for negotiation of sense and sight). This also requires a description of how God engages, how sin impairs, and how grace renews the human imagination, and I work within the Calvinist theological tradition to give such an account.
Having articulated the problem and sketched theological horizons for imaginative apologetics, the next two chapters seek generative models for imaginative apologetics in a Calvinist key. George MacDonald and Marilynne Robinson provide these models. MacDonald and Robinson rarely make direct arguments. Rather, they thrust the reader into the midst of stories that imaginatively embody the faith’s appeal to the human person. My goal was to discern MacDonald’s and Robinson’s method not primarily as rhetorical strategy but as the natural out-working of their theology. For both thinkers, this theology of divine address works itself out in novels that look for God in the most ordinary experiences of life.
In chapter six I draw the first five chapters together to sketch the contours of an imaginative apologetic approach. I offer three desiderata for an imaginative apologetic approach, corresponding to the three dimensions of imagining outlined in chapter three
Why Christian Leaders Must Acquire Wisdom
Get PDFThe thesis of this project is that intentional and explicit wisdom development in Christian leaders needs cultivated using current leadership development approaches. Like other nations, the Israelites valued wisdom. In the Old Testament, hokhmahi is used to identify the insight into the nature of things obscured by complexity and uncertainty. Israel’s wisdom is exegeted by Jesus Christ. The nature of things can now only be properly understood in him. This dissertation argues that the nurture of wisdom among Christian leaders is a much-needed addition to their development.
Leadership development is determined by what leadership is. The first part of this dissertation considers the contemporary understanding of leadership. The Christian understanding of leadership and how it compares with the general understanding of leadership is then considered. Lastly, observations is made on the role of wisdom in leadership.
In the second part, the current research on wisdom is considered. Furthermore, biblical wisdom is compared to the general understanding of wisdom. Drawing from observations from the first part about what makes good leaders, reasons why acquiring wisdom may help leaders to become better leaders are explained. Leaders must make good judgments in a context of chaos and uncertainty, balancing the demands of the self and the environment, between personal, interpersonal and interpersonal interests, between the present and the distant future, between the good and right for the individual and that of the whole, and between results and values. Wisdom will enable a leader to better meet these challenges.
Although knowledge can be directly transferred and its reception and acquisition tested, the nature of wisdom and the task of Christian leadership defies the direct teaching of wisdom. Hence, in the final section, an analysis takes place regarding models for wisdom nurturing and how these can help shape similar processes for the development of Christian leaders
Campus Sexual Violence: The Impact of Disclosure on Mental Health
No full textA mixed methodological approach was used to examine the impact of disclosure characteristics on mental health among individuals who have experienced campus sexual violence occurring at Christian and non-religiously affiliated universities. After completing an online survey, a sample of 97 participants qualified for the study. No disclosure and disclosure to both formal and informal sources were related to more symptomatic distress when compared with informal disclosure only. High positive informal reactions were also associated with more symptomatic distress among survivors disclosing to both formal and informal sources. Additionally, initial disclosure latency was negatively correlated with symptomatic distress. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed
Fuller Magazine, Issue 009, 2017 - Shalom
Get PDFSince 2014, Fuller Magazine has been published for the global community of Fuller Theological Seminary. The sections of Story, Theology, Voice, and Departments are to reflect the life of Fuller in all her permutations: this is who we are, what we are talking about, and who we are becoming together. The editorial content of FULLER magazine reflects the opinions of the various authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the views of Fuller Theological Seminary.
Table of Contents
STORY
12 Start with Coffee storyteller: Christina Miller
18 The End of the World as She Knew It storyteller: Katherine Lee
24 This Is What It Means to Wash Someone’s Feet storyteller: Becky Still
28 Limping Toward Sunrise storyteller: Kutter Callaway
32 In Transit storyteller: Michael Wright
THEOLOGY
38 The Shalom for Which We Yearn by Mark Labberton, Guest Theology Editor
40 Shalom as Wholeness: Embracing the Broad Biblical Message by Leslie C. Allen
44 The Church in a Time of Conflict: Bringing Shalom to Persons in Situations of Internal Displacement in Colombia by Lisseth Rojas-Flores
50 Embodied Shalom: Making Peace in a Divided World by Jer Swigart
52 Kerygmatic Peacebuilding as the Practice of Biblical Salam by Martin Accad
60 Shalom Justice by Clifton R. Clarke
66 Shalom as the Dual Approach of Peacemaking and Justice-Seeking: The Case of South Korea by Sebastian C. H. Kim
70 Passing the Peace: A Pneumatology of Shalom by Patrick Oden
VOICE
78 Scripture
84 Wisdom
90 Preaching
DEPARTMENTS
8 From Mark Labberton, President
98 New Faculty
99 Recent Faculty Books and Publications
100 Benediction
100 About Fuller Theological Seminaryhttps://digitalcommons.fuller.edu/fuller-magazine/1008/thumbnail.jp
Impact of Parental Immigration Status and Child Access to Health Care on the Mental Health of Latino Citizen-Children
No full textApproximately 4.5 million U.S.-citizen children live in mixed-status families with at least one parent of unauthorized immigration status. According to research, immigration and legal status of parents have a significant impact on citizen-children’s well-being. The purpose of this project was to study the impact of parental immigration status on the mental health of Latino citizen-children living in mixed-status families and its interaction with child utilization of health care services. It was hypothesized that parental legal status would have a direct impact on citizen-children’s mental health, significant over time. Parental legal status was also expected to interact with child utilization of health care services in impacting citizen-children’s mental health. An association between unauthorized parental immigration status and higher reported mental health problems was expected. Multivariate ANOVA results indicated that parental legal status had a significant main effect on child internalizing and externalizing problems with greater problems reported for children of detained and deported parents than for children of legal permanent residents (LPRs). Although all children significantly improved over time, this significant group difference remained at a 6-month follow-up. There was no significant interaction effect of legal status by time. Child utilization of the California Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, also had a significant main effect on child outcomes for children of parents with unauthorized status, regardless of parental contact with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). There was no interaction effect of legal status by child Medi-Cal utilization for parents of unauthorized status
