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Reformed Worship (Rw) 121 - Advent / Christmas (September 2016), Reformed Worship Editors

Reformed Worship Magazine

Features

Worship Series: The Senses of Christmas by Mark Vande Zande....3

Sing 10: Modern Arrangements for Advent by Phil Majorins....11

Advent Then and Now by Peter Schuurman and Mark Wallace....19

Articles

Editorial: Soli Deo Gloria by Joyce Borger....2

Seeing the Sacred in the Ordinary by Phil Schaafsma....24

For Pastors: Thirty Years in Reformed Preaching by Scott Hoezee....28

Q&A: Lament and Praise as a Way of Life by John D. Witvliet....30

Universal Design for Worship by Barbara J. Newman....38

Growing Up in Worship: An Interview with Ken Medema....41

A Decade of …

Healthy Churches Grow, Rodney Mills

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

Change will not occur until there is a sense of urgency. Church leaders and their members have long tolerated the atmosphere of ill health. Their current state of dysfunction has been going on for so long that the members often believe it is normal and therefore to be expected. Excuses are made to maintain the status quo and as a result nothing improves in the life of the church. For lasting change to occur, church leaders and members must sense the urgency of the situation and determine that doing nothing is worse than the anticipated pain of changing long-standing practices …

A Strategic Plan To Develop A Healthy Church, Jeffrey Hackley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Not all churches are healthy; however, to be effective, churches must be healthy. The purpose of this thesis project is to assist pastors in developing strategies for church health. When the work of evangelism is a stated goal, the greatest catalyst for the community is the presence of a healthy church. This thesis project will clarify the biblical definition and purpose of the church and describe the characteristics of church health as suggested by experts. This thesis project will also share a brief history, vision, and ministry example of church health, and analyze and evaluate the current condition of Mount …

Concordia Seminary Summer 2016, Jeffrey Kloha

Concordia Seminary Magazine

Ready for the Call

Southeastern Alumni Magazine- Summer 2016, Southeastern University - Lakeland

Southeastern Alumni Magazine

Fuel the Fire, a Capital Campaign of Southeastern University, is a multi-year campaign to help with campus expansion in order to meet the demands of our rapidly growing community. The campaign seeks to positively impact SEU through a variety of areas, including but not limited to: the Jannetides College of Business and Entrepreneurial Leadership, Pathways School of Excellence, Doctor of Ministry program, Fire athletics, The SEU Leadership Forum, Revolution Film Festival, Enactus and many other areas of campus life.

How Donald Mcgavran Has Impacted One Urban Church Plant And Indirectly Influenced Thousands Of Other Churches: An Analysis Of The Journey Church Of The City, Nelson Searcy, Matthew C. Easter

Great Commission Research Journal

This essay offers five specific principles from Donald McGavran that have directly influenced The Journey Church in New York City, San Francisco, and Boca Raton, Florida, and indirectly thousands of other churches (through the writing and coaching ministry of Nelson Searcy with Church Leader Insights). McGavran’s principles of missionary eyes, goal setting, assimilation, homogeneity, and a Great Commission focus have proven invaluable in this church plant and offer a similar value to other churches seeking to make a difference in their communities.

Book Review: Leading Church Multiplication: Locally, Regionally, Nationally By Tom Nebel And Steve Pike, David Yetter

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

The Case For Prioritism: Part 2, Christopher R. Little

Great Commission Research Journal

Debate is no stranger to evangelicalism. Rigorous dialogue among evangelicals ought to be welcomed as it clarifies issues, forms convictions, and sets agendas. The missiological disagreement between prioritists and holists is a case in point. Prioritists feel constrained to redress holistic reconfigurations of such fundamental concepts as gospel, kingdom, and mission. For the sake of the nations, this article seeks to compare and contrast prioritism with holism, trace the historical emergence of evangelical holism, offer reasons why prioritism more accurately represents a biblically informed approach to mission, and concludes with means by which readers can determine which viewpoint to affirm …

Donald Mcgavran: An Evangelistic Missionary, Gary L. Mcintosh

Great Commission Research Journal

During the second half of Donald McGavran’s time in India from 1937 until the early 1950s, he worked as an evangelistic missionary among a low caste tribe of people. This article follows his story of planting fifteen churches, seeing new believers come to faith in Christ, and the further developing of his principles of church growth.

Spirit-Empowered Discipleship In Acts, Yan Chai

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Discipleship study had unavoidably been focused on the Gospels, and rightfully so. Whereas missions and church planting tended to occupy centre stage in the study of the book of Acts, and discipleship was often overshadowed. Nevertheless, Spirit-empowered discipleship, undoubtedly, had played a crucial role in the explosive growth of the early church. The purpose of this project is to utilize the four “E” principles of discipleship implicit in Acts: empowerment, exhortation, encouragement and exaltation to galvanize growth in Faith Hope Love Chinese church. It shall investigate the discipleship pattern that existed, apply the underlying principles given, and subsequently, analyze the …

Easter 6 Series C 2016, Phillip L. Brandt

Sunday's Sermon

This PDF comments on the readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Series C, and offers up sermon ideas.

Initiating A Missional Mindset : The International Leadership Institute's Eight Core Values As Impetus For Missional Living, Kenneth R. Ott

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Partnership Between Churches And Para-Church Organizations In Nigeria : Trends, Implications And Prospects, Sunday H. Daleng

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Means To An End : The Sustainability Of Bivocational Ministry, Marc B. Donaldson

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Exploration Into Small, Rural, Declining, Near End Of Life-Cycle Church Turnaround In The Wesleyan And United Methodist Church, Marcel Allen Lamb

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

First Succession : From Founding Long-Term Pastor To Second Pastor, Robert Wayne Vester

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Discovering Principles Of Resilience In Ministry, Paul Richard Campbell

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Interim Ministry : An Intentional Support For Managing Pastoral Transitions Among English-Speaking Congregations In The Central District Council Of The Assemblies Of God Of Malaysia, Chee Keong Cheong

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

To Study The Church Growth Of The Hong Kong Evangelical Church From 2003 To 2012, Shui Lam Lai

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Exploring Intercessory Prayer As It Relates To Spiritual Warfare Preaching At Mount Zion Christian Church, Vernon Langley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The focus of this thesis is exploring the influence of intercessory prayer; from the standpoint of spiritual warfare preaching. Present day homiletics concentrates on the method of sermons by applying information within the message to a great story and powerful scriptural passages which is imperative to make the sermon thought provoking and applicable to contemporary congregations. However, there is another element to preaching the gospel, which has gotten considerably less attention in modern day study. How the evaluations of Divine powers of intercessory prayer operate behind the discourse, and spiritual powers of darkness that endeavor to obstruct the reception of …

It Doesn't Feel Like Church To Me, Laura Callarman

Leaven

No abstract provided.

It Doesn't Look Like Church To Me!, Kent Smith

Leaven

No abstract provided.

Voluntourism, Aaron Baart

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"The missio dei is God’s work in the world. Missions, both long- and short-term, must always exist in submission to God’s work."

Posting about increasing impact in mission work from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/voluntourism/

Apostolic Church Planting: Birthing New Churches From New Believers. By J. D. Payne, Anderline Brady

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

APOSTOLIC CHURCH PLANTING: BIRTHING NEW CHURCHES FROM NEW BELIEVERS. By J. D. Payne. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press (2015). Softcover, 126 pages.

The heart of Apostolic Church Planting is understanding and establishing how church planters define the local and universal church. In the words of the author, “ecclesiology is supremely important. It shapes everything” (p. 21). Over his years of training church planters, Dr. J. D. Payne encountered questions that were not addressed in his previous work Discovering Church Planting. Thus Apostolic Church Planting, in Payne’s words, “is my attempt to respond to some of those questions and …

Ite, Missa Est! A Missional Liturgical Ecclesiology, Eugene Richard Schlesinger

Dissertations (1934 -)

Since the latter half of the twentieth-century, a great many churches and ecclesial communities have agreed that the basic contours of what is called an ecclesiology of communion represents their own self-understanding. Communion ecclesiology centers upon a vision of the church as sharing together in the life of God, with ecclesiastical apparatus such as office, liturgy, and sacraments seen as facilitating this communion. Understood in this light, communion ecclesiology represents a movement away from overly juridical accounts of the church and toward a more organic conception of the church. For nearly the same time frame, a parallel missiological consensus has …

Uamsho, Uhuru Na Umoja = (Revival, Freedom And Unity) : The Transnational Faith And Identity Of Tanzanian Christians Negotiating Diaspora Life In The United States, Grant Brandon Miller

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Developing Healthy Disciples In The Korean-American Church, Kyung Seo

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Korean-American congregations within the Presbyterian denomination need to implement a Bible-centered discipleship model in order to become a more spiritual and viable Christian church. As the Senior Pastor for the Columbia Korean Presbyterian Church (2009-2014), the author utilized qualitative and quantitative analysis when interviewing church pastors within the Korean-American Presbyterian Churches of America. The surveys identified the need for a practical model of spiritual growth to develop healthy disciples within the Korean-American Church. Based upon the biblical principle of Christian discipleship, the author developed an overall a three-level strategy of making healthy disciples.

Business As Mission And Mission As Business: Case Studies Of Financially Sustainable Christian Mission Ventures With A Focus On Anglican Dioceses In East Africa, Dennis Obura Tongoi

Business as Mission Theses and Dissertations

Anglican dioceses established by The Church Mission Society and other Western-founded Christian denominations in East Africa were envisaged to grow and become self-governing, self-propagating and self-supporting. The first two goals (to be self-governing and self-propagating) have more or less been achieved. The third goal (the pursuit of self-support) is at a critical stage, especially considering that resources, in terms of funding and personnel, are in decline. This research sought to document the factors that contribute to, or hinder, the role that lay people (business people in particular) can play in sustaining the ministry and mission of Anglican dioceses. The research …

Calvin Theological Seminary Forum: March 2016, Julius T. Medenblik, Cory Willson, Mary Vanden Berg, Sarah Schreiber

Calvin Theological Seminary Forum (2002- )

Articles
3 - From the President: How Now Shall We Live? by Jul Medenblik
4 - Every Believer Called to Mission by Cory Willson
6 - Prayers from the Missional Conference by Mary Vanden Berg and Sarah Schreiber
8 - Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics by John Bolt
9 - Meet Herman Bavinck by Jessica Driesenga
12 - Fostering Formation for Mission in Our Classrooms by Kristy Manion
15 - Is There a Future for Sacrifice? by Erin Zoutendam
16 - Taste and See Israel Trip by Paula Seales
18 - Church Growth and Its Challenges in Ethiopia by Fikre Norcha

Formulating An Effective Means Of Bringing More Adult Males Into Active Participation In The Church, Nicholas Salifu

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

The purpose of this Major Applied Project (MAP) is to interview active Lutheran male adults to discover why men perceive Christianity as a “White man’s religion” and further discuss how to effectively teach people about what Christ has done for all mankind. This study, I strongly hope, will provide resources to teach Kusasi men why they should stop their worship of idols or ancestors, fear witchcraft, and also accept monogamy as the God pleasing design of marriage.