Practical Theology Commons^™

Higher Education As Mission, Lewis Edwards, Kenneth Nehrbass

Great Commission Research Journal

While missiologists have been paying attention to business as mission, few have studied the value of securing teaching positions in foreign secular universities as a missionary method. This article bases “Higher Education as Mission” on the Apostle Paul’s four-fold taxonomy for reaching the educated and uneducated at home and abroad. Teaching in universities can be a legitimate platform for gaining an entry point in restricted access countries. More than that, as Christian scholars pursue excellence in their own academic fields, they can model to the future elites of societies what it means to follow Jesus in every aspect of our …

Orthodox Background Believers: Listening And Learning, Cameron D. Armstrong

Great Commission Research Journal

Evangelical church and organizational leaders in majority-Orthodox Romania often find themselves at a loss in understanding how to conduct outreach to Orthodox people. Often the cultural differences between Orthodox and evangelical Romanian Christians seem impassable. One approach is that of listening and learning from the transformational narratives of evangelical Christians converted out of Orthodoxy. The following article moves in this direction through qualitative analysis of conversion stories by four Romanian Orthodox background believers. Five common themes that arise from the data are discussed. The article concludes by offering an initial “evangelism rubric” to better posture evangelical groups to begin outreach …

Leading Through Growth: The Role Of The Lead Pastor In The Large Church, Stephen Grusendorf

Great Commission Research Journal

In order to be an effective leader, the large church lead pastor must recognize and respond to the ever-shifting organizational dynamics of his church. This article highlights the distinctive organizational dynamics of large churches as opposed to churches of other sizes. It will seek to identify the unique responsibilities that leading a large church places on the lead pastor. Finally, this article will describe the particular organizational perils and opportunities present as the lead pastor transitions a church through the various stages of organizational growth.

Book Review: Growing God’S Church: How People Are Actually Coming To Faith Today By Gary L. Mcintosh, Garrett R. Eaglin

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: The Benedict Option: A Strategy For Christians In A Post-Christian Nation By Rod Dreher, April Berg

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Church Planting In The Secular West: Learning From The European Experience By Stefan Paas, John P. Thompson

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Propers 7 (Pentecost 3) Series A 2017, Phillip L. Brandt

Sunday's Sermon

This PDF contains comments on the Propers for the Third Sunday after Pentecost and ideas for preaching and proclamation

Trinity 2 One Year Series 2017, Phillip L. Brandt

Sunday's Sermon

This PDF comments on the Pericopes for the Second Sunday after the Trinity in the One Year Series and offers ideas for preaching and Proclamation

Propers 6 (Pentecost 2) Series A 2017, Phillip L. Brandt

Sunday's Sermon

No abstract provided.

Trinity 1 One Year Series 2017, Phillip L. Brandt

Sunday's Sermon

No abstract provided.

Festival Of The Holy Trinity Series A 2017, Phillip L. Brandt

Sunday's Sermon

No abstract provided.

Feast Of The Holy Trinity One Year Series 2017, Phillip L. Brandt

Sunday's Sermon

No abstract provided.

Feast Of Pentecost One Year Series 2017, Phillip L. Brandt

Sunday's Sermon

No abstract provided.

Feast Of Pentecost Series A 2017, Phillip L. Brandt

Sunday's Sermon

No abstract provided.

The Aging Process And How That Affects Judgement And Choices In Youth Ministry, Ricky Harris

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis will explore the correlation between developmental life stages and how these stages affect student ministers’ approaches to ministry in southern Baptist churches. The rationale for this thesis is to help student ministers realize that longevity in their vein of ministry is achievable and also to provide a guide for how they may process aging in ministry. Search committees will be able to use this information while seeking to fill this staff position, considering the needs of their congregation and students. Books and journals will be reviewed for content on developmental life stage characteristics. Student ministers will be surveyed …

A Study Of The Principles Of Missional Pastoral Leadership For South Korean Churches, Ilkeun Lee

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Since 2000, the Korean Church has increasingly lost public confidence. The reason for this is that pastors have focused on church growth. They have entirely missed the essence of missional ecclesiology. However, the church is generated from the mission of the triune God to redeem all creation. The church should not be identified as a building or a place but as the people of God who are to be sent into the world to participate in the mission of God. The purpose of this thesis project is to present the principles of missional pastoral leadership for an existing Korean church …

Lcms Identity And Mission In The American Urban Context: Engaging Conian Black Theology Through Strategic Lutheran Missiology, Gregory Seltz

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Seltz, Gregory P., “LCMS Identity and Mission in the American Urban Context: Engaging Conian Black Theology through Strategic Lutheran Missiology.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2017. 304 pp.

This dissertation addresses the challenges of the American urban context by dialoging with James Cone’s Black Theology in order to construct an LCMS urban missiology. This LCMS urban missiology is a dynamic, Two-Kingdom, sacramental engagement strategy that addresses the issues endemic to the urban community for the sake of the community and for the sake of the Gospel. The American urban setting is fraught with challenges: identity politics, ethnic-sociological fragmentation, and the delegitimation-politicization …

Evaluating Missionary-Care Responsibilities: A Guide For Sending And Supporting Churches, Donald Hall

Masters Theses

A thoughtful approach to global missions requires a team of support personnel. This team, composed of the sending church, the supporting churches, the missions agency and other supporters, is effective when it works together to recruit, train, and maintain a healthy missionary workforce, but a sub-standard support structure jeopardizes the mission. Sadly, many sending churches do not properly understand or fulfill their missionary-care roles and responsibilities. This project provides a biblical, philosophical, and practical methodology by which churches can properly evaluate their responsibilities and address gaps in their missionary-care ministry. In the model presented in this paper, the sending church …

Toward Just Hospitality, Ron Bruner

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

The ministry of Jesus moved through times of seeking justice, sharing hospitality, and withdrawing for prayer. Though inescapably “other” because of his divine identity, he sought solidarity with humans by becoming human and interacting with humanity through hospitable practices. The Ancient Mediterranean customs of hospitality were well-defined, but Jesus took this powerful cultural framework and changed its practice so that it produced reconciliation and justice.

This work briefly reviews the practice of hospitality in the time of Jesus. It also presents the work of scholars identifying linguistic markers that would have cued readers in the Ancient Mediterranean to recognize a …

Ignatius: A Guide For Congregational Discernment, Benjamin Gensic

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

Congregations find themselves living in transformative times, but transformation is often an act of subtraction, which means congregations find themselves living in anxious times as well. Within this context, it is tempting for congregations to base decisions on either financial constraint or political expediency. However, such superficial discernment is incapable of guiding congregations wishing to respond to God’s activity in the world. This author argues that Ignatius of Loyola provides congregations with an alternative.

To accomplish this, the author walks the reader through the basic principles of Ignatian spirituality and discernment, making suggestions for how these can impact congregational decision-making …

Cruciformity, Differentiation, And Christian Spiritual Formation, David Hooper

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

This paper is an examination of two seemingly counterintuitive concepts in Christian spiritual formation. The concept of cruciformity presents the goal of spiritual formation as kenosis, or “emptying oneself of self.” The differentiation of self, as presented in Systems Theory, defines maturity as possessing a clear sense of self. Cruciformity, with its call to kenosis, does not seem to value individuality, making it susceptible to the trappings of enmeshment that emerge from an unbalanced focus on others. Cruciformity seems to judge differentiation as being too balanced, reserving for itself a degree of self-focus that would be deemed inappropriate. It is …

Easter 7 One Year Series 2017, Phillip L. Brandt

Sunday's Sermon

No abstract provided.

Easter 7 Series A 2017, Phillip L. Brandt

Sunday's Sermon

No abstract provided.

Número 26: Sexto Domingo De Pascua - Domingo De Trinidad

Estudios Exégeticos Homiléticos

Domingo 05.05.2002 – Sexto Domingo de Pascua – Samuel Almada
Salmo 66:7-18; Hechos 17:22-31; 1 Pedro 3:13-22; Juan 14:15-21

Domingo 12.05.2002 – Domingo de Ascensión – Samuel Almada
Salmo 47; Hechos 1:1-11; Efesios 1:17-23; Lucas 24:44-53

Domingo 19.05.2002 – Pentecostés – Samuel Almada
Salmo 104:25-35; 1 Corintios 12:3-7;Hechos 2:1-11; Juan 20:19-23

Domingo 26.05.2002 – Domingo de Trinidad – Samuel Almada
Salmo 8; Génesis 1:1-2:4; 2 Corintios 13:11-13; Mateo 26:16-20

Número 25: 2º Domingo De Pascua - 5º Domingo De Pascua

Estudios Exégeticos Homiléticos

Domingo 07.04.2002 – 2º Domingo de Pascua – Mercedes García Bachmann
Salmo 16; Hechos 2:14, 22-32; 1 Pedro 1:1.3-9; Juan 20: 19-31

Domingo 14.04.2002, – 3er Domingo de Pascua –Mercedes García Bachmann
Salmo 116:1-3.10-17; Hechos 2:14.36-41, 1 Pedro 1:17-23; Lucas 24:13-35

Domingo 21.04.2002 – 4to Domingo de Pascua – Mercedes García Bachmann
Salmo 23; Hechos 2:42-47; 1 Pedro 2: 19-25; Juan 10:1-10

Domingo 28.04.2002 – 5to Domingo de Pascua – Mercedes García Bachmann
Salmo 31:1-5.15-16; Hechos 7:55-60; 1 Pedro 2:2-10; Juan 14:1-14

Número 24: 3º De Cuaresma - Domingo De Pascua De Resurrección

Estudios Exégeticos Homiléticos

Domingo 03.03.2002 – 3º de Cuaresma – Néstor Míguez
Salmo 95; Éxodo 17: 3-7; Romanos 5: 1-11; Juan 4:5-26 (27-42)

Domingo 10.03.2002 – 4º de Cuaresma – Néstor Míguez
Salmo 23; 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Efesios 5:8-14; Juan 9:1-41

Domingo 17.03.2002 – 5º de Cuaresma – Néstor Míguez
Salmo 130; Ezequiel 37:1-14; Romanos 8:6-11; Juan 11:1-45

Domingo 24.03.2002 – Domingo de Ramos – Néstor Míguez
Salmo 118:1-2,19-29; Isaías 50:4-9; Filipenses 2:5-11; Mateo 21:1-11

Jueves 28.03.2002 – Jueves Santo – Néstor Míguez
Salmo 116:1,10-17; Éxodo 12:1-14; 1 Corintios 11:23-26; Juan 13:1-17

Viernes 29.03.2002 – Viernes Santo – Néstor Míguez
Salmo 22:1-23; Isaías …

Número 23: 4º De Epifanía - 2º De Cuaresma

Estudios Exégeticos Homiléticos

Domingo 3.02.02 – 4º de Epifanía – J. Severino Croatto
Salmo 37:1-11; Miqueas 6:1-8; 1 Corintios 1:18-31, Mateo 5:1-12

Domingo 10.02.02 – Último de Epifanía o Transfiguración – J. Severino Croatto
Salmo 2:6-11; Éxodo 24:12-18; 2 Pedro 1:16-21; Mateo 17:1-9

Domingo 17.02.02 – 1º de Cuaresma – J. Severino Croatto
Salmo 32; Génesis 2:4-9, 15-17; Romanos 5:12-19; Mateo 4:1-11

Domingo 24.02.02 – 2º de Cuaresma – J. Severino Croatto
Salmo 121; Génesis 12:1-4; Romanos 4:1-5, 13-17; Juan 3:1-17

Número 22: Epifanía - Tercer Domingo De Epifanía

Estudios Exégeticos Homiléticos

06.01.2002 – Epifanía – Pablo Andiñach
Isaías 60:1-6; Salmo 72; Efesios 3:1-12; Mateo 2:1-12

13.01.2002 – Bautismo de Jesús – Pablo Andiñach
Salmo 29; Isaías 42:1-9; Hechos 10:34-43; Mateo 3:13-17

20.01.2002 – Segundo Domingo de Epifanía – Pablo Andiñach
Salmo 40:1-11; Isaías 49,1-7; 1 Corintios 1:1-9; Juan 1:29-34

27.01.2002 – Tercer Domingo de Epifanía – Pablo Andiñach
Salmo 27:1-6; Isaías 9,1-4; 1 Corintios 1,10-17; Mateo 4,12-23

Easter 6 Series C 2017, Phillip L. Brandt

Sunday's Sermon

No abstract provided.

Easter 7 One Year Series 2017, Phillip L. Brandt

Sunday's Sermon

No abstract provided.