Christianity Commons^™

Project Portfolio: Cultural Humility: Equipping Ministerial Leaders To Navigate Ever-Changing Cultural Landscapes, Caleb Lu

Doctor of Leadership

In the modern quest for competency, efficiency, and production, humility seems to have been forgotten as a key component to what Christ-like leadership looks like in churches and in ministry. Biblical humility requires one to consider one’s relationship with God2 and one’s relationship with others, as Paul details in Philippians. In interviews with Chinese-Americans in Chinese heritage church contexts, multicultural church contexts, and non-church contexts, the cultural divide between older and younger generations (exacerbated by power dynamics)3 was often highlighted as a main reason they did not feel seen or heard. The need, then, was for church and ministry leaders …

Trauma Informed Theology: A Framework For Developing A Culturally Competent African American Intimate Partner Violence Curriculum For The Pentecostal Clergy, Bridget P. Robinson

Doctor of Ministry

The objective of this dissertation study is to increase the awareness of intimate partner violence (IPV) among Pentecostal clergy. African American women experience higher rates of intimate partner violence in the United States. There are unique risk factors for IPV in the African American community, considering the social and cultural context of the African American experience during colonization and post-colonization. Throughout these experiences, the Black church has consistently served as a steadfast source of hope for the community. However, considering the concerning prevalence of IPV among the African American community, church leaders may not be aware of the profound effects …

Conflict Between The Clergy And The Laity In The Quaker Church In Kenya, John Muhanji

Doctor of Ministry

The Quaker church missionaries came to Kenya as part of the West's Christian movement to the dark continent. Historians have usually referred to the Society of Friends' spiritual life as quietism, which did not resonate well with African spirituality which was disregarded by the missionaries as evil. Africans unquestioningly believe in the supreme creator of the universe and humanity. There is no ethnic group in Africa that does not have a specific name for a supreme God.1 Therefore, the Quaker belief that "there is that of God in everyone" was not considered by the Western missionaries that Africans believed in …

Not-Quite-Equal: Mentoring Women For 21st Century Leadership, Susan Rose

Doctor of Ministry

Women are being ordained to ministry in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at a higher rate than men, but they are not achieving parity in ministry opportunities, salary and benefits. Women comprised 52% of the ordinations in the PC (USA) denomination from 2006-2018. However, they receive fewer full-time positions, fewer congregational positions, less pay for the same positions as men, and Board of Pensions benefits at a lower percentage than men. Reviewing the history of women’s leadership in the church contextualizes biases and prejudices women continue to face today. In Section 1, this paper examines the history of women’s leadership in …

The Relationship Between Self-Compassion, Religion, Gender, And Objectified Body Consciousness In Christian Nazarene Women, Arielle R. A. Marston

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Body shame and objectification of the female body are well known contributing factors in physical and mental health issues including high stress, eating disorder symptomatology, depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Religion plays a role in body shame and female objectification through both scripture and theological writings although this relationship remains inconclusive. Self-Compassion has been found to be a mitigating factor with regard to body shame in college and caregiver contexts. The Church of the Nazarene promotes itself as supporting female leadership and roles within the church. Since religion and gender roles seem to play a role in body shame and …

How To Be A Quaker In The Twenty-First Century, Dave Votaw

Seminary Masters Theses

Contents

Origins of the Project

Why Teach Friends Distinctives?

Review of the Literature

Testimonies, by Ben Richmond (FUM)

A Family of Friends, by Jack Willcuts (NWYM)

Quakerism 101, by Shirley Dodson (FGC)

Friends Way, by Richard Jones (FUM)

Declaring Our Faith, Brian Daniels, ed. (FUM) Let's Be Friends, Dorothy Barratt, ed. (EFI)

Format of the Lessons

How to Be a Quaker in the 21st Century

Lesson 1 - A Testimony as a Communication of Truth

Lesson 2 - The Presence of Christ

Lesson 3 - The Presence of Christ in Worship

Lesson 4 - A Sacramental View of Life

Lesson …

A Nomenclature Of Brazilian Spiritism And An Evaluation Of Christian Defenses, Donald Lloyd Watson

Western Evangelical Seminary Theses

Spiritism is one of the oldest cults in existence. Practically every major civilization has indulged in spiritistic practices. Through the centuries it waxed and waned in popularity, but still it managed to survive until this present day. Estimates of the number of practicing Spiritists are as high as half a million in the United States and more than three million in Brazil.l Good statistics are difficult to obtain because of the stigma attached to one who claims to be a Spiritist.

The ancient history of Spiritism is both interesting and informative. In the literature of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Chinese and …

The Origin And Development Of The Mar Thoma Church Of India, M. Matthews

Western Evangelical Seminary Theses

The purpose of this study was to make an intensive survey of the origin and develoment of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of India. The name 'St. Thomas Christians' came to be known among the Church historians and among several Christian writers much earlier on account of the long standing tradition that St. Thomas, one of the twelve disciples of Christ, brought the Gospel to the South Western coast of India early in the second half of the first century and founded the first seven Churches in South India. The reliability of this tradition has been a matter of much …

Age-Group Doctrinal Training And The Assemblies Of God, Roy Lyn Schmidt

Western Evangelical Seminary Theses

For years Protestantism has had many denominations, mainly because of variant doctrinal beliefs. Denominations who feel their existence is justified and who feel the truths for which they stand are worth perpetuating, have the solemn responsibility of indoctrinating their followers in the basic doctrines of the Bible as well as the distinctives for which they stand. When properly done, doctrinal trainings should assure a denomination of its continued existence, and the perpetuation of the truths for which it stands.

Accepted evangelical leaders indicated that doctrinal training was closely related to the destiny of a denomination, and most evangelical Protestant churches …

A Proposed Program Of Junior Church Camping With An Evangelistic Emphasis, Alfred Bohr

Western Evangelical Seminary Theses

As camping continues to grow as a vital part of the Christian Education program in the church, camp leaders are constantly seeking new and better tools to perform a more effective job. The church has been quite active in developing the program of camping for young people but has seemingly ignored the children. It wasn't until the 1930's that any rapid advances were made in junior camping. Consequently, any development in the camping movement for juniors has been carried on by secular agencies. These programs are very excellent, but they do not fully meet the need of the church camp, …

A Comparative Study Of The Wesleyan-Arminian And Calvinistic Doctrines Of The Perseverance Of The Saints As Set Forth By Selected Representatives, M. Edward Hegle

Western Evangelical Seminary Theses

The Christian doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is an important teaching in the field of Christian theology. Perseverance is persistence in a state of grace until it is succeeded by a state of glory. Bible believing Christians in the evangelical churches have not been in complete agreement in their views of this important Christian tenet.

As one who has anticipated serving in the pastorate of the Evangelical United Brethren Church the writer was aware of his need to be able to guide the people in his parish to an intelligent understanding of this tenet and lead them in …