The subject of social involvement though, still under debate and being pursued by the Church of Jesus Christ even this time around has not wholly been appreciated by most Pentecostals. This is despite the fact that some of the early Pentecostals, including the early Church as seen from the ‘Acts of the Apostles’ chose to pursue social dimension of the gospel in addition to the Church’s mandate of ‘pure evangelism.’ Although social involvement has been at the very heart of Pentecostal theology, traditionally speaking, PAOG (Z), being one of the Pentecostal groupings has been seen to place much emphasis on ‘pure evangelism’, rather than ‘embracing’ both forms of missional dimensions. However, this trend is slowly changing as observed from the social involvements that some of its congregations and institutions are currently undertaking. This study views that part of the reason for the lack of an all-round social involvement’ by all the PAOG (Z) congregations lies in its theology of mission and thus critically examines it. The other aspect is the non-utilization or recognition of known professions of clergies that could normally enhance social involvement in most of its congregations. Next it makes an in-depth study of one PAOG (Z) - PAOC run projects and few congregations for the purpose of doing a social impact assessment, which has shown positive impacts in the communities that these projects are being undertaken. The study also reveals that the lack of clear constitutional guidelines concerning this has contributed to the absence of social programs in most of its churches resulting in not having a strong ‘social’ voice compared to the Catholic Church. The thesis uses a modified “praxis cycle” to structure its theoretical framework and research methodology. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

So much has been said about the involvement of the Church in socio-economic and political development globally, in Africa, and in South Africa in particular. The appalling fact is that division of the Church into several denominations, and also division along racial and tribal lines, has crippled the much-needed unity for rural, urban and human development. This division, especially when it is expressed within the body of a particular denomination, tends to cut asunder all the connections between the Christian faith, with its concern for love, reconciliation and justice, and the striving to make life worth living for the poor and the marginalised in society. The impact of the Church in community development is very likely to be zero if the Church is divided against itself within racial lines, doctrinal issues and lack of cohesive leadership structure. The focus in the present study is on the Assemblies of God denomination in South Africa. This Church fully reflected and manifested the racial complex of South Africa. The Assemblies of God denomination, instead of creatively making this racial complex a prototype ofChrist's wise blending of his twelve Apostles from various social and tribal backgrounds, used this mosaic complex to destroy and to operate as a divided people along racial lines. The justification for this found expression in the ways and manners in which important doctrines such as ecclesiology, eschatology, soteriology and Christology were taught and upheld by each group in the Assemblies of God. This being the case, the Assemblies of God denomination sought to contribute to development along racial and group lines. Some of the groups became involved in community development and made meaningful impacts. Others did not concern themselves with development, yet others found dualism, individualism and privatisation of faith as the best way to excuse themselves from community development and/or anything that has to do with improving better the life ofthe poor. Did the Church work together or did different groups engage development from their own contexts? The thesis is that the Assemblies of God failed to work together in unity. They operated as a divided group. This is an unhealthy testimony to the world, to whom Christ had told his Church to shine as lights in darkness and to serve as salts to preserve. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

Internet-based distance education (IDE) continues to grow in popularity and ubiquity. Acceptance of IDE among Christian higher education institutions has also increased. However, these institutions seek assistance. Such was the case with the nineteen institutions endorsed by the Assemblies of God (AG). The AG's oversight organization (The Alliance for Assemblies of God Higher Education, Alliance) was asked by member institutions for IDE aid, resources, and direction. To understand the current environment of IDE within AG higher education, an organizational discovery case study reviewed the historical IDE trends within AG higher education, surveyed institutional faculty members and administrators as to their IDE beliefs and situations, and analyzed the data collected. From the research findings, the Alliance gained a better understanding of the needs and intentions of its member institutions. It also realized the aid and resources to offer its endorsed institutions, what endorsement requirements were needed for spiritual development in an online distance education setting, and an overall IDE direction that the organization could provide or facilitate. To aid the organizational discovery, a research framework was created that the Alliance could reuse and share with similar organizations for their own internal discovery.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:48:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Joede Braga de Almeida.pdf: 936791 bytes, checksum: eddc7af80aab9106afbc55aad4037eb3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-03-06 / This work deals with the lifestyle and the habits built and developed by the leaders of the Assemblies of God in Brazil and imposed upon its members over the years called uses and customs. Such practices were created and introduced in the community to separate it from the world and to help the believer in the process of sanctification. Very stringent in the early decades of the Twentieth century, these rules went through a process of relaxation due to industrial development and technological and social changes occurring in Brazil in the last decades. The prohibitions with respect to how to dress, sports, the use of television, movies, dances and various practices of entertainment still cause tension between the old and the new leaders of the Brazilian Assemblies of God. This work presents the historical roots of the modern Pentecostal movement, its insertion in Brazil, the birth and growth of the Assemblies of God in Brazil. It studies its main characters, the mechanisms and documents that show the creation and the effort to protect its followers from the worldly influences around him. This work also addresses the issues that challenge the Assemblies of God in the post-modernity, especially those related to bioethics. / O presente trabalho aborda o estilo de vida e os hábitos construídos e desenvolvidos pelos líderes das Assembléias de Deus no Brasil e impostos sobre os seus membros ao longo dos anos. Os chamados usos e costumes foram criados e introduzidos na comunidade para separá-la do mundo e ajudar o crente no processo de santificação. As regras, apesar de muito rigorosas nas primeiras décadas do século 20, foram passando por um processo de flexibilização devido ao desenvolvimento industrial e tecnológico e às transformações sociais ocorridas no Brasil nas últimas décadas. As proibições com relação à forma de se vestir, esportes, o uso da televisão, cinema, danças e várias práticas de diversão ainda causam tensão entre os líderes mais antigos e os mais novos nas Assembléias de Deus brasileiras. Além disso, o texto apresenta as raízes históricas do movimento pentecostal moderno, sua inserção no Brasil, o nascimento e crescimento das Assembléias de Deus no contexto brasileiro, suas principais personagens, os mecanismos e documentos que demonstram a criação e o esforço feito para proteger os seus seguidores das influências mundanas ao seu redor. Da mesma forma, estudam-se ainda temas que desafiam as Assembléias de Deus na pós-modernidade, principalmente questões relacionadas com a bioética.

Esta Tese investiga a constituição de sujeitos-jovens assembleianos na contemporaneidade, ancorando-se nas interlocuções dos referenciais teóricometodológicos dos Estudos Culturais em Educação, dos estudos sociológicos e antropológicos sobre juventudes e religião. A primeira parte da Tese permite compreender a juventude enquanto categoria contingencialmente construída, colocando em pauta como irrompe uma série de discursos e práticas que passam a assumir os jovens como front de diferentes investimentos, inclusive religiosos. Traz um panorama do campo religioso, percebendo a emergência ou re-apropriação de valores éticos e morais em tempos de encurtamento das fronteiras e alargamento da diversidade de opções que impulsionam sucessivos fluxos migratórios e movimentos de missionação evangélico. O tema assume relevância de estudo diante do crescimento da população evangélica e de seu promissor mercado cultural, os quais criam investimentos sobre os jovens a fim de interpelá-los em seus discursos. A segunda parte da Tese analisa a constituição de sujeitos-jovens mediante suas trajetórias de inserção à crença que, resguardadas suas especificidades, parte das seguintes condições: crescer no Evangelho ou converter-se ao longo da vida. As análises incidem sobre dois eixos centrais: os investimentos institucionais da igreja e, no caso dos crescidos no Evangelho, da família na orientação de determinados modos de viver e se constituir como sujeito imbricado a crença; concomitantemente, analisa os investimentos dos próprios sujeitos sobre si, interpelados por outras formas de experimentar a condição de ser/estar jovem presentes em tempos de fluidez e provisoriedade. Metodologicamente, a pesquisa desenvolveu-se mediante a inserção etnográfica junto a jovens da Igreja Evangélica Assembleia de Deus no município de Novo Hamburgo, no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, entre os anos de 2011 e 2012. Desdobrou-se junto a jovens da comunidade assembleiana de Lisboa, Portugal, em 2013. Foram realizadas observações-participantes em espaços institucionais com forte investimento sobre jovens e dos próprios jovens – como congressos, encontros de louvor e oração, cultos e demais espaços de estudos – e nas incursões em outras instâncias do cotidiano, buscando aproximação às culturas, sociabilidades, lazeres, consumos, relações nos espaços escolares, trabalho – em seus trajetos e projetos de vida. A Tese infere que há reconfigurações nos modos de constituição dos sujeitos na contemporaneidade, percebidos nos modos de pertencimentos e sentidos de vivenciar a condição de ser evangélico, o que não remete a formas de resistência juvenil, mas novos modos de existência evocados pela condição de ser/estar jovem, afinal, ao mesmo tempo em que buscam se manter portadores da promessa de salvação, os jovens ensejam ser portadores da condição juvenil. / This PhD thesis investigates the constitution of the young at Assemblies of God church in contemporary world, based on interlocutions of theoretical and methodological references of Cultural Studies in Education and sociological and anthropological studies in youth and religion. The first part displays the concept of youth as a category built contingently, and tables the origin of a series of discourses and practices that assume youth as a front of different investments, even religious ones. It brings a view of the religious field through the awareness of the emergency of regaining ethical and moral values in times of shortened frontiers and enlarged diversities of options that impulse successive migratory flows and evangelical missionary movements. This subject assumes the relevance of the study in the face of the growth of evangelical population and its promising cultural market that has invested in the young in order to be able to question their discourses. The second part of the thesis analyses the constitution of the young through the insertion trajectories to their faith that arise out of the following conditions considering their specificities: being raised according to the Gospel truth or being converted along their lives. The analyses incur two central topics. The first focuses on the institutional investments of the Church. And the second focuses on the faithful who raised according to the Gospel truth and on the guidance of their families on how to live and constitute themselves as individuals committed to their faith. Concurrently it analyzes the investments of the individuals in themselves, who are tempted by other ways of experiencing the condition of being young in a time of fluidity and temporariness. The research was developed methodologically through the ethnographical insertion next to the youth of Evangelical Assemblies of God church in Novo Hamburgo, a city located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 2011 and 2012. Another part of the research was developed in the Assemblies of God community in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2013. Participant observations have been done in institutional spaces with a strong investment in the young, who have also been agents in this process – such as conferences, worship and prayer meetings, services and other study meetings – and in other kinds of daily incursions. These observations aim the approximation of culture, sociability, entertainment, consumption, relationships in scholar environments and work in the life trajectories and projects of the faithful. The thesis infers that there are reconfigurations in the ways of the constitution of subjects in contemporary world, perceived in the ways of belonging and experiencing the condition of being evangelical. This fact does not remit the ways of juvenile resistance, but new ways of existence evoked by the condition of being young, since the young aim to live according to their juvenile condition and, at the same time, to keep on being carriers of the salvation promise.

Following the completion of four minor research projects as part of a doctoral program at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, the writer developed an interest in the church-based values and beliefs held by students in Ministry Training Colleges (MTCs). The four minor projects revealed that a strongly embedded culture seemed to exist within the Assemblies Of God (AOG) in Australia. The aim of this study was to investigate the transmission of church-based values to students in an AOG, Ministry Training College (MTC) context. It undertakes this task by asking five Research Questions: What values are transmitted in AOG church contexts? ; From what principal sources do the values come? ; Why are the values transmitted in AOG church contexts? ; How, and by what means, are these values transmitted? ; and How and why would students choose to acquire these values? After briefly describing the religious context in Australia, defining the meaning of values, and examining various models of transfer, the dissertation includes a review of the literature relevant to values processes. The review is organized according to the Research Questions. From this, a theoretical explanation is produced that anticipates how values processes may impact on MTC students in an AOG context. A suitable method was selected, namely interactive interviews, from which to obtain data relevant to the Research Questions. Six student subjects from a MTC in Australia, as a selected group of AOG participants, were subsequently interviewed and the data were organized, presented and analyzed. The data analysis and interpretation confirmed the theoretical position taken as far as their overall applicability to values transfer was concerned, namely: the values transmitted are primarily charismatic values, with some lesser emphasis on character values; the sources from which the values come are primarily Christian-influenced; the values are transmitted in AOG contexts because AOG churches, departments and ministries aim to be change agents in the community, to promote church continuance, and to a lesser extent, to motivate their members; the values are transmitted through various AOG communicative methods and through utilizing suitable venues for facilitating transmission. Low-Road conditions (i.e., transferring values across highly similar situations) are utilized; and MTC students choose to acquire values because of their personal interests and passions, including their desire to be accepted within the AOG church. However, the data also indicate that the unique, personal characteristics of MTC students strongly impact on the way they engage with values processes. In short, the students are highly compliant and committed to the church. However, each student respondent has his/her own set of reasons and characteristics for cooperating with church-based values. The dissertation concludes by identifying a number of issues raised by the data, that need further investigation, and by discussing some of the implications arising from the data. Its key finding is that AOG students tend to eagerly acquire church-based values, even though they have different reasons for doing so, and that they present themselves to the AOG church as highly compliant. In this sense, students may be seen as &quotmade in the image of the church&quot.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-140).

<p>This dissertation explores the history of the Assemblies of God's Home Missions to American Indians, the development of an American Indian leadership in the denomination and the development of a Pentecostal Indian identity. The history that is told in this work is that of a century-long struggle by American Indian Pentecostals for autonomy, leadership, and recognition within the Assemblies of God. I argue that the AG's efforts to establish indigenous churches in its home missions work to American Indians bore two important and largely unanticipated consequences. The first was that it prompted American Indian Pentecostals to forge a new identity: fully Indian and fully Pentecostal. The second was that it forced white Pentecostals to own up to their belief in the indigenous principle: that God's Spirit fell equally on peoples, without regard to ethnicity or social standing. I focus mainly on giving voice to the Pentecostal Indian actors in this history, in order to fill in the gaps on a group of modern Pentecostal believers that were almost never written about in the histories of the movement.</p><p> I have rooted this work in the history of American religious history, as well as Native American history and the history of American Pentecostalism. The majority of the sources come from the Assemblies of God's archives, chiefly, ministerial files, Pentecostal periodicals, letters, tracts, meeting minutes, and self-published autobiographies.</p> / Dissertation

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-183).

Pentecostalism is well known for its active involvement in evangelism. But it is true to say as well that questions have been asked about the social upliftment dimension of the Pentecostal mission. This study will focus on the Assemblies of God church. The main reason for this is that, of all the Pentecostal churches in South Africa, the Assemblies of God has probably had the biggest impact in the rural black communities. To undertake the study I will do the following: • Outline the problem that necessitated commencement of this study, formulate hypotheses and identify methods of research in this first chapter. • Attempt, in chapter two, to outline the historical background of the Pentecostal mission in general and the AOG in particular, describing its theology and evangelism and their impact on the socio-political situation in South Africa. • Conduct in-depth Case Studies, in chapter three, of a range of individuals who are converts of the AOG mission. • The fourth chapter will ask whether the Redemption and lift hypothesis throws any light on the study. • The last chapter will consider how other theological models consider the issue of mission. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.