Text in Afrikaans / Hoe kan die kerk, spesifiek ook die NG Kerk in Namibie, gestruktureer word om werklik relevant te wees in 'n samelewing waarin soveel veranderinge plaasvind? Eers word gekyk na die Praktiese Teologie as navorsing random die kommunikatiewe handelinge in diens van die evangelie; 'n definisie wat werk met 'n bepaalde verhouding tussen kerk en wereld. Daarna word die groot sosiale, staatkundige en godsdienstige veranderinge in die samelewing bespreek waarin die kerk hom bevind. As antwoord op die vraag: "watter kommunikatiewe handelinge in diens van die evangelie kan van die kerk 'n wesenlike faktor vir die evangelie in die wereld laat wees?", bespreek hoof stuk 3 dan die moontlikhede wat die model van die kerk as dienskneg inhou vir die kerk se invloed en rol in die samelewing. Die laaste hoofstuk wys veral op die belangrike rol van lidmate en kleingroepe in die strukturering van die kerk om so 'n dienskneg-kerk te wees. / How can the church, particularly the Dutch Reformed Church in Namibia, be structured to be truly relevant in a society where so many changes occur? Chapter 1 concerns Practical Theology researching communicative acts in the service of the gospel; defining a specific relationship between the church and the outside world. This is followed in Chapter 2 by a discussion of the churches' role regarding the enormous social, political and religious changes in society. In reply to the question: "which actions of communication in service of the gospel can assist the church to be a substantial factor to promote the gospel in the world?", chapter 3 looks at the possibilities that the model of the church as servant has for the influence of the church in the society. The last chapter refers particularly to the important role of laity and small groups in the structuring of the church to serve the community. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology)

This study describes and analyses lay training programmes at Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation (MEF) with emphasis on: Women's Training; Conference, Research and Development; and Youth Leadership. Mindolo is seen as an expression of the church's presence in society and a symbol of hope, peace and reconciliation. Lay training programmes at Mindolo aim at equipping Christians to act as 'leaven', salt and 'light' in society. The values and morals of the African people could be the basis of such teaching. The study discusses how the term 'laity' has negative implications such as regarding the laity as non-competent or specialist because they are not priests or theologians. It illustrates that although the majority of Christians are women, leadership in the church is dominated by men. The study illustrates how critical it is for Mindolo to evaluate its original vision in light of current challenges and promises. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / MA (Religious Studies)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:19:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SILVA, Wallace.pdf: 1422584 bytes, checksum: 7228c37a39018e146a606d8ac637d419 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The proposal of this study is to investigate the understanding of the role of the Church and its faithful in the world, according to the publications of the Pentecostal Church of Christ in Bra-zil (ICPB) and to interpret the results in dialogue with the social, cultural, economical, reli-gious and political context of Brazil at the time. As period we propose the years 1935-1986, which includes the time of ministry of the founders, Horace and Carolyn Ward, Chester and Rachel Miller and Annie and Russel Frew, from the United States; the time of Ernst Grimm, an Estonian preacher; and the time of José Pinto de Oliveira, the first Brazilian elected general superintendent. The emphasis in these personalities also becomes plausible as they have been during the timespan under investigation the main church writers or authors of the texts to be interpreted in this work. The hypothesis of this work is that a growing awareness for social is-sues can be related to the rise of a Brazilian leadership. Although this dynamic is interrupted with the emergence of the military dictatorship in 1964, it is resumed in the late seventies of the last century. As method we propose to analyze the theological and doctrinal teaching found in official publications of the ICPB, such as their official journals, Brazilian and Ameri-can, its book editions, Sunday School material, minutes of its general conventions and books and notes or drafts written by the pioneers above mentioned. We conclude that the theologies and context analyzes found in the publications, justify a more diverse understanding: first, it can be shown, in religious and political terms, that existed a greater proximity between the views expressed by the authors and more conservative (or even reactionary) currents of the country. On the other hand, we identified aside of this dominant discourse a dissonant ap-proach with the potential to serve as a starting point for a more significant engagement in the society by the ICPB and its membership, including the denunciation of socioeconomic injus-tice, and that the respective discourses are pronounced more among national leaders. / O objetivo desse trabalho é investigar a compreensão do papel da Igreja e do fiel no mundo segundo as publicações da Igreja de Cristo Pentecostal no Brasil (ICPB) e interpreta os resul-tados em diálogo com o contexto social, cultural, econômico, político e religioso do Brasil da época. Como recorte temporal propõem-se os anos 1934-1986, o que contempla a época da chegada dos/as fundadores/as, Horace e Carolyn Ward, Chester e Rachel Miller e Annie e Russel Frew, vindos dos Estados Unidos; a época de Ernst Grimm, um pregador estoniano; e a época de José Pinto de Oliveira, primeiro brasileiro eleito superintendente geral. A ênfase nestas personalidades se torna também plausível por serem durante este tempo os principais escritores da igreja, autores e autoras dos textos a serem interpretados neste trabalho. A hipó-tese desse trabalho é que, paralelo à ascensão da liderança brasileira, ocorre uma crescente sen-sibilização para questões sociais, apesar de que esta dinâmica seja interrompida com o surgi-mento da ditadura militar a partir de 1964, mas, retomada já na década setenta do século pas-sado. Como método propõe-se a analisar o ensino teológico-doutrinário encontrado em publi-cações oficiais da ICPB, tais como os seus jornais oficiais, brasileiro e estadunidense, as suas edições da revista da Escola Dominical, as suas atas de convenções gerais, bem como livros e anotações e rascunhos de autoria dos/as pioneiros/as acima mencionados/as. Conclua-se que as teologias e análises do contexto encontradas nas publicações, justificam uma compreensão mais diversificada: por um lado, evidencia-se, em termos religiosos e políticos, uma maior pro-ximidade entre as posições defendidas pelos autores e as correntes mais conservadoras (ou até reacionárias) do país. Por outro lado, transparecem ao lado desse discurso dominante aborda-gens dissonantes e com o potencial de servirem de ponto de partida para uma atuação da ICPB e da sua membresia mais relevante na sociedade, inclusive a denuncia da injustiça socio-econômica, e que estes respectivos discursos são encontrados mais entre lideranças nacionais.

This thesis examines the view on society in an early 20th century Swedish periodical journal of liberal theology, Kristendomen och vår tid (Christianity and our time). During the late 19th century, a new school of liberal theology gained influence among various protestant theological faculties in Germany. In emphasising the ethical teachings of the historical Jesus of Nazareth as the basis for Christianity and a worldly kingdom of God, liberal theologians advocated social and political reform, becoming influential in German society at the turn of the century. As this liberal theology was adapted in Sweden, a group of priests and theologians founded the journal KVT as a medium for spreading liberal theology to their peers, but also, this thesis suggests, to advocate a particular view on society and role for the church and the priesthood in a way similar to the development in Germany. The analysis of the view on society in KVT suggests a shift over time regarding the expressed purpose and role of church in society, which can be understood within the context of contemporary development of political life in Sweden. In the early 1900s, an ideal of a church highly active in social welfare practices in society is apparent in the journal, whereas in the 1920s the role and main purpose of the church is understood rather as a sort of societal moral consciousness.