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Establishing A Revitalizing Strategy For Church Planters: An Analysis Of Church Planting Trends Of The 21st Century Within The Published Works During The Past Thirteen Years (2001-2013) In America, Ji Woon Choi

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Church planting is the most valuable method to spread the Gospel, and God wants to see His churches everywhere. Nevertheless, many church planters have produced strikingly different results; depression or growth. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and research about current church planting trends within the published works during the past thirteen years (2001-2013) in the United States and to suggest a healthy church planting and growth model for local church planters in America and the World. After the analysis of the current trends in the 21st century, the particular statistical evidences and theological views about this study …

Becoming A Disciple-Making Church: A Strategic Transition For Dongshin Apostle Community, Hyuk Lee

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Dongshin Apostle Community (DAC) transitioned from being a traditional church of 210 members to a hybrid church of 700 members through an organic movement called Jesus Hope Movement (JHM). In recent years, however, DAC has also plateaued in its growth due to the limitations of its institutional structure. In order for DAC to become a healthy growing church once again, it must become a disciple-making church that implements strategic biblical steps of transition that will push the church to become more organic. This thesis project will examine diverse organic factors within DAC that enabled its growth and transition to a …

The Virgin Mary On Screen: Mater Dei Or Just A Mother In Guido Chiesa’S Io Sono Con Te (I Am With You), Timothy J. Johnson, Barbara Ottaviani-Jones

Journal of Religion & Film

Guido Chiesa’s Io Sono con Te (I Am with You) offers a unique, albeit controversial take on Mary, the mother of Jesus. Filmed in Tunisia, and subject to criticism by Italian Catholic authorities and film critics alike, Io Sono con Te presents a rich anthropological-theological reflection on religion, culture, gender, and sacrifice. Not surprisingly, Chiesa draws on René Girard’s scapegoat theory throughout his film as he fashions Mary as the forceful protagonist in a familiar yet controversial story.

Sustainable Faith: How The Neuroscience Of Emotion Promotes Spiritual Transformation, Christine M. Mutch

Doctor of Ministry

Current research indicates that well-intentioned practices and programs aimed at forming people into the image of Christ are not producing the intended results. One roadblock is the misunderstanding and lack of value placed on the role of emotion in the transformation process. The purpose of this dissertation is to present neuroscience research about the integral role of emotion in one's life, and suggest practical ways to capitalize on emotion to effect transformation.

Chapter one describes the goals of spiritual formation, in contrast to current attitudes and practices of those inside and outside the church. It provides a basic introduction to …

Sending Students: Addressing Barriers University Students Face In Going To The World As Missionaries, Shane Sebastian

Doctor of Ministry

"The Bible recounts how God has used people of all ages and backgrounds to advance His purposes. Many of the most remarkable events of the biblical story involved young people. It should not be surprising to find that in recent centuries, many of the greatest things God has done to fulfill the Great Commission have been done with university students." —David Howard

University students on campuses today will be leaders tomorrow. According to recent statistics, there are approximately 150 million college students in the world today, roughly 2% of the world’s population. Though this may be a small fraction of …

Male Call: The Role Of The Church In Awakening Young Men To Their Vocational Purpose, Thomas G. Shaw

Doctor of Ministry

Many young adult men are struggling in their transition from adolescence to adulthood. Unique challenges converge in their quest for vocational discovery and career choice. The church is largely ignored as a guide as they make choices about work and career. Christian churches have been slow to provide practical guidance in faith and work; especially for disciples with an interest in professions and careers outside Christian ministry. There is a need for an informed church to guide young men so that they may reach their potential through the discovery of calling and vocation. I propose that the church must assume …

Promoting Missionary Mutual Care Through Spiritual Community, David L. Shepherd

Doctor of Ministry

Personal struggle and the stressors that catalyze them are inevitable in missionary life. When overly focusing on ministry and enculturation demands, cross-culturally based Christian workers can often neglect intra and inter-personal spiritual formation. The result of such neglect is a lack of purpose, vitality, endurance and effectiveness, and in some cases, the missionary leaves the field altogether. For missionaries to thrive and succeed requires that they place a high priority on mutual and intentional care. Therefore, I will explore the necessity and means of cultivating spiritual community among on-thefield missionaries for their mutual care and development. Chapter 1 introduces the …

Support Groups For Men: Encouraging Healthy Relationships With God And Others, John Henry Mckinney Ii

Doctor of Ministry

Over several decades, societal shifts have dramatically impacted masculinity. One school of thought, hypomasculinity, views men as dominant, controlling, and abusive. Their approach to reforming men is pedagogy. Hypermasculinity—another school of thought—considers culture as domesticating men. Often, they see reform occurring through men’s support groups.

There is an intentional design to domesticate men, making them softer and more manageable. Obviously, there is nothing immoral about desiring the transformation of man. The issue is not the desire but the methodology supporting it. So, how is change to be successfully implemented?

Some churches are offering men support groups. Such groups provide recovery …

The Equipping Church Overview, Theology Of Work Project, Alistair Mackenzie

Theology of Work Project

1. What is God’s Mission in the World?
2. How does human work connect to God’s work?
3. What does this mean for people’s daily work?
4. How can we equip our people for God’s work in the world?
   • Equipping churches have a vision of God at work where their people work
   • Equipping churches actively hunt for examples and resources
   • Equipping churches connect daily work to worship
   • Equipping churches address the opportunities and challenges their people face at work
   • Equipping churches invest resources in equipping people for daily work
   • Equipping churches create structures to sustain this ministry
   • Equipping churches empower and collaborate with people …

Cultural Bias In Missionary Education: The Unintentional Dynamic Of Trained Incapacity, Birgit Herppich

Papers

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Latino--Anglo Gap: A Transition Towards A Cross-Cultural Church At First Baptist Church, Robbins, North Carolina, Ernesto Robledo

Doctor of Ministry Projects

In its 2,000 years of existence, the church has remained mostly segregated in regards to the inclusion of other cultures within one setting. Christians from various traditions have spent centuries trying to be more like Jesus as they worshiped in many different settings. Even though the church has been active for so long, the reality is that she has been predominantly white. Through an intentional pastoral project, twenty-four individuals participated in a four-week bilingual Bible study and a community-wide missionary event. These purposeful interactions proved that the church can change her traditional ministry pattern by engaging members of the Latino …

Covenant, Particularity, And Inclusion: An Analysis Of Isaiah 56:1-8 And Its Implications For Modern Jewish And Christian Communities, Alison Hartke

Master of Arts Theses

No abstract provided.

Mission At And From The Margins: Patterns, Protagonists And Perspectives, Peniel Jesudason, Rufus Rajkumar, Joseph Prabhakar Dayam, I. P. Asheervadham

Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series

This volume revisits the 'hi-stories' of Mission from the 'bottom up' paying critical attention to people, perspectives and patterns that have often been elided in the construction of mission history. Focusing on the mission story of Christian churches in the South Indian state of Abdhra Pradesh, where Christianity is predominantly Dalit in its composition, this collection of essays, ushers its readers to re-shape their understanding of the landscape of mission history by drawing their attention to the silences and absences within pre-dominant historical accounts.

Global Diasporas And Mission, Amos Yong, Chandler H. Im

Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series

The movement of people from their homelands is increasing exponentially. Such waves of both immigration and migration triggered by various factors have created new opportunities for the church and its mission. This volume explores such global diasporas from both ecclesiological and missiological perspectives. Its various case studies invite reconsideration of the missionary and evangelistic task of the church in response to contemporary global dynamics. The image of the dandelion on the front cover symbolizes diverse people groups dispersed around the globe, even as the Christian imagination views such dispersal as being carried by the winds of the Holy Spirit.

Masters Of The Faith, Elmer L. Towns

Course Texts and Sunday School Campaigns

No abstract provided.

A Divine Round Trip: The Literary And Christological Function Of The Descent/Ascent Leitmotif In The Gospel Of John, Susan Elizabeth Humble

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The thesis of this dissertation is that the Descent/Ascent Leitmotif, which includes the language of not only descending and ascending, but also going, coming, and being sent, performs a significant literary and christological function in the Gospel of John. The Evangelist's Descent/Ascent Leitmotif becomes the Gospel's organizing principal, drawing together a constellation of verbs and a number of themes, including Jesus-Son's origin, identity, relationship to God, authority, signs and works, life, and glory.

In the introductory chapter, after providing a layout of the dissertation, the discussion turns to the spacial dimensions and christological importance of the vertical and horizontal depictions …

Ecotheology And The Parables Of Jesus: Creative Re-Readings Of Parables In Light Of The Environmental Crisis, Anita L. Peebles

Honors Papers

In this paper I demonstrate how adopting a scriptural hermeneutic based in Rosemary Radford Ruether’s prophetic principle can cultivate the ability of Christian communities to interpret Scripture based on their own community context. I will provide an interpretive framework for rethinking relationships between humans, nature, and the Divine that can serve as a correction for entrenched reading practices that reinforce Christianity’s complicity in environmental degradation. I use reader-response theory to conduct literary-critical readings of three well-known parables from the Gospel of Luke. The parabolic structure of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation informs my view of the parables as inherently subversive and …

'To Open Eyes That Are Blind . . . ' [Isa 42:7]: Senses, Idolatry, And Unity In Isaiah, Kelsie Job

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the theme of sense-lessness throughout Isaiah in connection with the sin of idolatry and prophetic expectation that Israel and Judah will one day be reunited. It explores Isaiah's use of a metaphorical trope to communicate the spiritual reality of Israel's insensibility and Isaiah's anticipation of YHWH's restorative action on their behalf. The restoration of Israel's senses portrays Israel's metaphorical features (eyes, ears, hearts) finally fulfilling their proper purpose before God (seeing, hearing, understanding), which are representative of the deeper spiritual reality that they at last will find their proper function as the people of God. Their senses …

'Whence This Evil?' A Critical Assessment Of (Anti)Theodicy And Innocent Suffering In Lamentations 3, Mark P. Stone

Theses and Dissertations

Recent scholarship on Lamentations has focused on the voice of Daughter Zion in chapters 1-2. Arguing that the frank protests constitute an antitheodicy, interpreters have placed these poems in opposition to the voice of the man in Lam 3, specifically 3:21-42. This Wisdom-like, paraenetic section is seen to put forth a theodicy, counseling penitent acceptance of God's righteous judgment. The present study argues instead that, when incorporated into the rhetorical movement of Lam 3 as a whole, 3:21-42 instead constitutes an antitheodicy consonant with Lam 1-2. It is proposed that Lamentations manipulates the expected theodicy solution until it has been …

The Pedagogy Of Hip Hop In Teaching Missiology: Exploring A Project Based Learning Environment Using Elements Of Hip Hop Culture As The Curriculum, Daniel White Hodge

Papers

No abstract provided.

Engaging In Pneumatic Mission Praxis, Robert L. Gallagher

Papers

No abstract provided.

Redesigning Missiological Education For The Twenty- First Century: International Joint Degrees In Development Studies And Missiology Through Institutional Partnerships In The Americas, Kevin Book-Satterlee

Papers

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Founded Upon A Rock: Doctrinal And Temple Implications Of Peter’S Surnaming, Matthew L. Bowen

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

The famous Petros/petra wordplay in Matthew 16:18 does not constitute Jesus’s identification of Peter as the “rock” upon which his church would be built. This wordplay does however identify him with that “rock” or “bedrock” inasmuch as Peter, a small “seer-stone,” had the potential to become like the Savior himself, “the Rock of ages.” One aspect of that “rock” is the revelation that comes through faith that Jesus is the Christ. Other aspects of that same rock are the other principles and ordinances of the gospel, including temple ordinances. The temple, a symbol of the Savior and his body, is …

Eden University—Nurturing Life For The Real World, Jordan Guy

The Asbury Journal

Teachers are responsible for equipping students with wisdom for survival in the “real world.” One method for fulfilling this task is to trans- port three essential elements from the Garden of Eden into the classroom environment. This means: 1) exposing students to every “tree” in the gar- den, 2) inviting “the serpent” into the classroom in order to make every decision tempting, and 3) reflecting together on the benefits/consequences of every decision. Students and teachers who explore, wrestle with, and reflect on real world problems first in a nurturing community are better equipped to survive and even thrive in the …

Reading A Protoevangelium In The Context Of Genesis, David Pettus

Eruditio Ardescens

This article proposes that the case for a ‘messianic’ reading of Gen. 3:15 is cumulative. No single individual argument is decisive and it is virtually impossible to sustain a robust protevangelium interpretation of this text within the context of Gen. 3 alone. However, as already pointed out in the introduction, isolating Gen. 3 from its literary/historical context in the book of Genesis does not lead to a fruitful resolution of its meaning but at best creates a hypothetical reconstructed meaning behind the text which becomes difficult to sustain in light of the interpretation of the 'seed' in the entire book. …

Genesis: Declaration Of God's Blessing - Chapter 2 From "Abrahamic Blessing: A Missiological Narrative Of Revival In Papua New Guinea", Sarita Gallagher

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

No abstract provided.

"A Spreading And Abiding Hope": A. J. Conyers And Evangelical Theopolitical Imagination, Jacob Shatzer

Dissertations (1934 -)

In this work I argue that A. J. Conyers provides a promising example for countering various weaknesses in evangelical theopolitical imagination. I make this argument in two ways. First, I provide a critical reading of Conyers's overall scholarly project, seeking to understand it in its own context and in conversation with other scholars. In particular, I draw on the influence of Jürgen Moltmann, Johannes Althusius, Eric Voegelin, the Southern Agrarians, and Richard Weaver on Conyers's thought. I then focus on Conyers's political theology, exploring how he diagnoses the modern world and what he proposes for remedies. I explore Conyers's political …

Symphonia Catholica: The Merger Of Patristic And Contemporary Sources In The Theological Method Of Amandus Polanus (1561-1610)., Byung Soo Han

CTS PhD Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation intends to answer, by investigating the merger of patristic and contemporary sources in the theological method of Amandus Polanus, a significant question concerning the way in which the intellectual and methodological eclecticism of the Reformed was able to establish a coherent “system” of thought capable of defense as not only confessional but also orthodox in its theology and broadly catholic, drawing both on the thought of the Reformers and on the resources of the great tradition of Christian thought that extended back to the church fathers. From a methodological perspective, Polanus’s development from the Ramistically-organized doctrinal framework of …