This content analytic study identifies the messages employed in the song lyrics of Andrae Crouch, a gospel artist, musician and songwriter. Several chapters equip the reader with a rationale for examining music as rhetoric, black gospel music and the lyrics of Andrae Crouch. The remaining chapters address the methods and procedures used to analyze the lyrics of Crouch and provides an overview of the findings. / Based on a content analysis of protest and labor movement songs by Knupp (1970), the author devised a coding scheme and tested for purposes of exhaustive, mutually exclusive and independent categories and reliability. / The author and another coder content analyzed twelve record albums containing ninety-seven gospel songs by Crouch. Eight of the twenty-six categories used in the study proved to be exhaustive, mutually exclusive, and coded reliably. Additionally, experts on the Bible and gospel music were employed to analyze the lyrics for the use of lyrical ascription. / The study reveals that Crouch's lyrics transcend economic, racial, and social issues and address the individual's spiritual growth. Crouch's use of biblical lyrical ascription was explicit in 53% of his songs with 76% coming from the New Testament. Traditional song lyrical ascription was identified in only 4% of Crouch's lyrics. Finally, Crouch's lyrics represent three distinct periods. The first period, Albums 1-6, reveals the explicit use of "Jesus," "Christ," "Lord," "God," and "Savior" in Crouch's lyrics. The second period, Albums 7-11, use these names the least; however, Crouch's secular appeal is the highest. Period three, Album 12, shows Crouch returning to his initial style to depict God in his lyrics. / Avenues for future research on gospel music are described after the research methodology has been reviewed. Improvements for content analyzing the lyrics of gospel songs should result. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-12, Section: A, page: 3955. / Major Professor: Thomas King. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

<p> The church provides a loving community dedicated to leading people to Jesus, educates them to Christ-like maturity, encourages believers to use their God-given gifts in the world, and provides a safe atmosphere where God's people can exalt Almighty God. However, the Church must learn to assimilate fallen brothers and sisters who repent of their sins back into the life and ministry of the church. This study provides solid theological and conceptual principles for church discipline, the necessity of confronting sin, and the redemptive process of restoring people into the family of God. It teaches church communities the elements of restoration and the positive effects forgiveness makes on individuals and the Church community. This project aims to give the church a practical guide to assimilate believers back into the life and ministry of the church. </p><p> The project reviews secular scholarly literature to discover the elements of forgiveness from a psychological perspective and examines the effects of forgiveness upon a person's brain, body, and behaviors and focuses on the elements of conflict resolution, apologies, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Furthermore, the research presents five motives for forgiveness, defines the five social institutions, and relates forgiveness to occasions when people break folkways and morays. </p><p> Through two seminars, participants learned the elements of restoration. Survey results from the pretest and post-test revealed that people believe in a biblical restoration process, but do not practice the principles of restoration.</p>

<p>Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is professional theological education that emphasizes experiential learning through a process of action and reflection referred to as the "clinical method." In Clinical Pastoral Education, theological students, ordained clergy, and qualified lay persons, under the direct supervision of a trained supervisor, are given opportunities for learning and growth in the art of pastoral care. CPE seeks to integrate knowledge and insights from theology, the behavioral sciences, and learning theory into pastoral functioning. </p><p> This ministry project examined the future of Clinical Pastoral Education in light of a profound cultural shift toward a postmodern worldview, and presented an integrative theistic model for a basic unit of CPE that addressed the most pressing challenges that epitomize this paradigm. It incorporated three of the most salient dimensions of postmodern contextualization, a sense of community and relationship, an appreciation for diversity, and a holistic approach focused on the whole person with emphasis on emotional health and well-being and spiritual formation. Since Clinical Pastoral Education is first and foremost theological education, the primary goal of this program was "to prepare God's people for works of service" (Eph 4:12 NIV) </p><p> The ministry project was designed as an extended, part-time unit of CPE. The clinical setting was Sentara CarePlex Hospital in Hampton, Virginia. The age range for participants was limited to the generations most affected by the postmodern worldview. Since CPE is graduate-level theological education, the targeted age range for participants in this project was from age 26 to age 51.</p><p> The integrity of the CPE learning process requires small group interaction. Five chaplain interns were participants in this ministry project. Because of sample size, a qualitative approach which relied on the self-report of the participants was used in evaluating the ministry project. The responses given by the CPE interns who were a part of this study strongly supported the premise that an integrative, theistic model for Clinical Pastoral Education designed specifically for postmodern individuals would be efficacious in helping them meet their professional ministry goals, equipping them to do the work of ministry in their churches and communities. </p>

<p> As people groups have immigrated to the United States, churches have struggled to keep up with the demands of discipleship. Culture, language, and communication have proved to be formidable challenges, particularly when the written materials used to disciple people are construed with an inherent American bias. This research project sought to address this ministry problem by utilizing the concept of cultural transposition. By having a multicultural work group transpose a portion of American-based discipleship materials, this project attempted to determine whether the transposed materials are more understandable to a multicultural church congregation than the original. The study also analyzed the interactions among the transposition group to identify common problems that culture groups experience in understanding American-based materials. </p>

<p> This research project will examine the facets of call and which facets are apparent as a struggle for women of the African Diaspora in discerning their call and how spiritual formation and direction influence the health and wellness of these women as they journey through their call. Respondents will consist of women of the African Diaspora enrolled in seminaries in New York City and the northeastern part of the United States. </p><p> An objective is to record the narratives of the respondents as present and future leaders and to describe and analyze the content and structure of the narratives. The central theme of this study is call from a womanist perspective and the influence of spiritual formation on call. To address this issue an interdisciplinary approach is utilized to recognize the study's respondents as a distinct group within twenty-first century ministry confines. </p>

<p> For many years, churches have known that young people have not found the corporate worship of their congregations meaningful. To churches' credit, they have both acknowledged the problem and tried many different solutions to fix it. Unfortunately, most solutions lose steam after changes to the style of the corporate worship service. This dissertation suggests that the problem is not the style of music or the formality of the liturgy, but rather the inability of congregations to help young people anticipate an encounter with God in worship. After examining John Wesley's understanding of religious experience and worship as well as the historical shifts in liturgical practice of American Methodism, I use qualitative research methods to detail the experience of corporate worship for teenagers in three United Methodist congregations. Then, leaning heavily on the work of Howard Thurman, I propose a theology of magnitude that suggests that the Church is the normative home for the anticipated encounter of God. Finally, I propose five strategic turns necessary to return magnitude (the significance which comes from the anticipation of an encounter with God) to worship in United Methodist congregations.</p>

<p> The purpose of this case study was to qualitatively examine how narratives and imagination can be a source of transformative learning within adult Christian education. Participants in the study met the following criteria: (a) over the age of 25 and involved with normal life requirements; (b) capable of critical, reflective and problem solving thinking skills; and (c) currently involved with Christian education in their local United Methodist Church. Data were collected through both a pre- and post-interview, observations made during an eight week class, and through completed assignments. The results of this study indicated that an adult Christian education program that incorporated narrative, imagination, and critical reflection as teaching tools could impact the students in their spiritual transformation and assist them in implementing their faith into their everyday living. This study also confirms the complexity of the praxis aspect of transformative learning, and introduces the educator to myriad variables that pertain to adults and their ability to engage in transformative learning activities.</p>

<p> This study explores the factors that affect the conversion trajectories of post-immersion missionaries. The data has been culled from focus group interviews and subjected to analysis from the perspectives of social philosophy, sociology, religious conversion theory, and Catholic Social Teaching. It follows the practical theological method known as &ldquo;shared Christian praxis.&rdquo; </p><p> It details the impediments to the subsequent deepening of conversion in the societal, ecclesial, interpersonal, familial, and intrapersonal spheres, namely, post-immersion depression, culture shock, feelings of guilt regarding one&rsquo;s own relatively luxurious living conditions, blaming God for the obstinate pervasiveness of extreme poverty and political injustices, and communication difficulties between the missionaries and their non-missionary family members and friends.</p><p> It concludes that the aforementioned discouraging factors can be effectively countered via attention, during the post-immersion stage, to the missionaries&rsquo; expressed needs to continue to meet regularly with their respective missionary communities, to deprivatize their visions of spiritual conversion, to live a less opulent lifestyle, to participate in hands-on community service projects in conjunction with local poor people, to continue attempting to contribute to the reign of God locally, and to speak publically about their missionary experiences. It also finds that guided prayer methods, communal liturgies, mentorship, debriefing retreats for the missionaries and their families, ongoing study of the Bible and Catholic Social Doctrine, and long-term commitment to the missions, can be efficacious tools in the promotion of the consolidation and deepening of conversion and the prevention of backsliding.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Claremont School of Theology, 2007. / (UMI)AAI3268420. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-05, Section: A, page: 2004. Adviser: Elizabeth Conde-Frazier.

Thesis--Johns Hopkins University. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 84-86.