The objective of this thesis is to contribute toward an understanding of missionaries and missions of the west and the rising of the Chinese indigenous churches. There is a necessity to trace the historical protestant mission work since Robert Morrison in 1807. Through the inequality of treaties such as the Nanking Treaty of 1842, the door to missions was opened in China. Missions came in along with western colonialism and military force. The Chinese people and government built up their hatred and resentment of the west during this period. The Boxer Uprising was the beginning of an era of umest and instability, which brought about greater government interventions that impacted the Chinese people. Missionaries and Chinese Christians were murdered and martyred. However, these tragedies did not stop missions from sending more missionaries. Chinese Christians and leaders opened their eyes. The new awakening started Chinese indigenous churches through a revivalist and spiritual emphasis. Speakers such as Ding Li-Mei, Wang Ming-Dao, David Yang, John Sung, Watchman Nee, and Calvin Chao were active during the period between 1925 and 1949. Indigenous churches like the True Jesus Church, Jesus family Church, Zei Li Hwey and Ling En Hwey came into being. This was a most challenging era in modem Chinese Church history. The results were great. Since 1949 and the "Liberation" the Chinese church has marched on without western missionaries. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. Missiology)

The New Testament writings provide abundant information about the mutual care ministries of church members toward one another. These ministries cover the New Testament landscape, with various examples and commands in both the narratives in Acts and the prescriptive one-another passages in the epistles. Sadly, standard systematic theology manuals give little treatment to this major New Testament theme. Many say little about any form of church ministry, fewer address ministries to members, and fewer still address member-to-member ministries, mentioning only the work of elders and deacons. Chapter one overviews the New Testament evidence and summarizes the deficiencies among systematic theologians. It provides justification for my thesis, namely, that the New Testament presents the church as God’s designed agent and setting for the ministry of mutual Christian care Chapter two explores four ways the New Testament uses the term church: household church, citywide church, regional church, and universal church. We focus on the first two, with the stress on local churches meeting in homes as the normal setting for shared life and mutual ministry. Moreover, the pictures of the church as Christ’s body, God’s family, and God’s new priesthood encouraged members to serve their Christian brothers and sisters. Chapter three demonstrates that the ultimate foundation of all New Testament one-another ministry is found in the salvation work of the triune God. God, Christ, and his Spirit provide models and motives for church members, as recipients of his redemptive grace, to minister to each other. God’s love in Christ, Christ’s self-sacrificial death on the cross, and the Spirit’s relational graces (e.g., the “fruit” of the Spirit) and ministry gifts guide and empower church members to care for each other. Chapter four examines seventeen varied ways that the New Testament describes and prescribes these practical ministries of mutual care, organizing them under three headings—attitudes, actions, and words. These seventeen ministry categories show the wide range of ways in which the New Testament called church members to care for the physical and spiritual needs of fellow members. Chapter five provides a brief conclusion with five summary lessons and some suggestions for further study. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th. (Systematic Theology)

This research is an ethnography which investigates the effects of Hurricane Katrina upon the capacity of African American Protestant churches in New Orleans to provide spiritual and social ministry to the city's underprivileged. More than three years after Hurricane Katrina unleashed its fury upon the city, fifty per cent of the churches remain as the hurricane left them. Pre-Katrina, fifty per cent of the population lived at or below the poverty line and depended upon faith-based programs as part of their support network and ladder toward selfsufficiency. Because of the disaster, there was substantive loss of parishioners, financial resources, and program operational infrastructure that severely limited or destroyed faith-based capacity to serve. The purpose of the study is to examine what social vulnerabilities and barriers hinder churches' capacity to serve community needs in four particular areas, including providing and advocating for affordable housing, quality health care, strategies for eliminating poverty, and disaster evacuation education, preparedness and response. The researcher hypothesizes that structural and institutional racism were already undermining that capacity pre-Katrina and continues to hinder it more than three years since. The study investigates the veracity of this hypothesis. It attempts to offer strategies to help mitigate the social vulnerabilities and increase the community's resiliency and sustainability against future disasters. This research is important because it provides increased awareness and understanding of how pre-existing social vulnerabilities in combination with Hurricane Katrina contributed to the lingering diminished capacity of the church and community. It also provides insight into how the faith community's attitude and action toward handling its vulnerabilities lead to increased resiliency and sustainability, and suggest a course of action toward the alleviation of marginalization of both the faith institutions and the people they serve.

This study investigated the impact that a number of variables within the short-term mission experience had on the beliefs, attitudes and behaviours of Anabaptist young adult mission participants in 24 concepts related to their relationship with God, the Church and world around them. Study participants were drawn from five different Anabaptist denominationally connected short-term mission programs ranging in length from one month to one year. This study used a quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test, follow-up design with non-equivalent groups as well as a non-randomized control group. The 116 study participants filled out a quantitative questionnaire prior to their short-term mission experience, after they returned from their mission experience and again one year after they returned. This longitudinal aspect of the research design measured the relative impact of variables within the short-term mission experience on participants over time. Methodological triangulation was employed that allowed for a variety of quantitative and qualitative tools to be used in better understanding the comparative impact of the short-term mission experience. The questionnaire, short essay response and interviews all incorporated concepts related to the international and cross-cultural impact of the short-term mission experience that have not been systematically analysed in this kind of study before. Response rates remained very high throughout the three stages of data collection and produced a number of significant findings. These findings included the positive impact during the mission experience of: an extensive pre-trip training experience, longer assignments, cross-cultural assignment location, relationally focused assignments, supportive families and churches, and correlation between repeat assignments and strong interest in future full-time mission work. While the positive impact of the short-term mission experience was significant, the post-trip regression in participants' beliefs, attitudes and behaviours one year after returning from the mission experience was also significant. This regression indicates that inadequate attention is being paid to participant re-entry, debrief and follow-up. Short-term mission agencies, participants and local churches need to view the discipleship impact of the short-term mission experience as ongoing. It is counter-intuitive to invest discipleship resources on returning short-term mission participants; however, the data indicates that is where the most significant discipleship challenges are found. / Theology / D.Th.

The objective of this thesis is to contribute toward an understanding of missionaries and missions of the west and the rising of the Chinese indigenous churches. There is a necessity to trace the historical protestant mission work since Robert Morrison in 1807. Through the inequality of treaties such as the Nanking Treaty of 1842, the door to missions was opened in China. Missions came in along with western colonialism and military force. The Chinese people and government built up their hatred and resentment of the west during this period. The Boxer Uprising was the beginning of an era of unrest and instability, which brought about greater government interventions that impacted the Chinese people. Missionaries and Chinese Christians were murdered and martyred. However, these tragedies did not stop missions from sending more missionaries. Chinese Christians and leaders opened their eyes. The new awakening started Chinese indigenous churches through a revivalist and spiritual emphasis. Speakers such as Ding Li-Mei, Wang Ming-Dao, David Yang, John Sung, Watchman Nee, and Calvin Chao were active during the period between 1925 and 1949. Indigenous churches like the True Jesus Church, Jesus family Church, Zei Li Hwey and Ling En Hwey came into being. This was a most challenging era in modem Chinese Church history. The results were great. Since 1949 and the "Liberation" the Chinese church has marched on without western missionaries. / Christian Spirituality, Church History, and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

Text in English / This thesis is an attempt to investigate how local churches (re)define their international orientation in response to the shockwaves of globalisation and their interpretation of the signs of the times. The analysis is guided by the key dimensions of interdependence, responsibility, and partnership. The local church is expected to have reached an increasing awareness of interdependence in her international relationships by the emergence of the postmodern systemic paradigm as never before in the history of the ecumenical movement. Consequently, this results in a sense of responsibility developing directly from a prophetic reading and an interpretation of the signs of the times as well as in a receptivity to be fertilised by international impulses. The local church is perceived by both individual Christians and pastors as direct platform for international responsibility. The wounds of the world, the needy and the suffering are suggested as inviting primary responses of local churches in the North. International church partnerships are investigated as practical attempts to live out interdependent relationships, to translate the sense of responsibility into action, and to receive fertilisation from the partner churches. Qualitative case studies from Reformed, United (Lutheran/Reformed) and Free churches present a status analysis of churches regarding the points under discussion. The tendency is observed that pastors inc~easingly look for ways alternative to the old ecumenical structures, which are characterised by rich/poor and donor/recipient relationships, thus operating their churches with free initiative and association. Studies regularly narrow down topics to interdependence, postmodernism, development, development politics, church development services, international partnerships, ecumenical learning, etc. Often recommendations for action are made based on the one single area of research presented. In this study, however, it is argued that pastors and churches do not derive their decisions and programmes from considerations of one single area, but they consider all these areas together. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

The objective of this thesis is to contribute toward an understanding of missionaries and missions of the west and the rising of the Chinese indigenous churches. There is a necessity to trace the historical protestant mission work since Robert Morrison in 1807. Through the inequality of treaties such as the Nanking Treaty of 1842, the door to missions was opened in China. Missions came in along with western colonialism and military force. The Chinese people and government built up their hatred and resentment of the west during this period. The Boxer Uprising was the beginning of an era of umest and instability, which brought about greater government interventions that impacted the Chinese people. Missionaries and Chinese Christians were murdered and martyred. However, these tragedies did not stop missions from sending more missionaries. Chinese Christians and leaders opened their eyes. The new awakening started Chinese indigenous churches through a revivalist and spiritual emphasis. Speakers such as Ding Li-Mei, Wang Ming-Dao, David Yang, John Sung, Watchman Nee, and Calvin Chao were active during the period between 1925 and 1949. Indigenous churches like the True Jesus Church, Jesus family Church, Zei Li Hwey and Ling En Hwey came into being. This was a most challenging era in modem Chinese Church history. The results were great. Since 1949 and the "Liberation" the Chinese church has marched on without western missionaries. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. Missiology)

The New Testament writings provide abundant information about the mutual care ministries of church members toward one another. These ministries cover the New Testament landscape, with various examples and commands in both the narratives in Acts and the prescriptive one-another passages in the epistles. Sadly, standard systematic theology manuals give little treatment to this major New Testament theme. Many say little about any form of church ministry, fewer address ministries to members, and fewer still address member-to-member ministries, mentioning only the work of elders and deacons. Chapter one overviews the New Testament evidence and summarizes the deficiencies among systematic theologians. It provides justification for my thesis, namely, that the New Testament presents the church as God’s designed agent and setting for the ministry of mutual Christian care Chapter two explores four ways the New Testament uses the term church: household church, citywide church, regional church, and universal church. We focus on the first two, with the stress on local churches meeting in homes as the normal setting for shared life and mutual ministry. Moreover, the pictures of the church as Christ’s body, God’s family, and God’s new priesthood encouraged members to serve their Christian brothers and sisters. Chapter three demonstrates that the ultimate foundation of all New Testament one-another ministry is found in the salvation work of the triune God. God, Christ, and his Spirit provide models and motives for church members, as recipients of his redemptive grace, to minister to each other. God’s love in Christ, Christ’s self-sacrificial death on the cross, and the Spirit’s relational graces (e.g., the “fruit” of the Spirit) and ministry gifts guide and empower church members to care for each other. Chapter four examines seventeen varied ways that the New Testament describes and prescribes these practical ministries of mutual care, organizing them under three headings—attitudes, actions, and words. These seventeen ministry categories show the wide range of ways in which the New Testament called church members to care for the physical and spiritual needs of fellow members. Chapter five provides a brief conclusion with five summary lessons and some suggestions for further study. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th. (Systematic Theology)

This thesis explores the relationship between a pastor’s personal ministry identity and the church role expectations that he encounters in the local church within which he ministers and takes place in the context of the discipline of “Building up the local church”. It is the hypothesis of this thesis that many Baptist pastors within the Baptist Union of Southern Africa are compromising the integrity of their own personal ministry identities in an attempt to meet the church role expectations of their local churches. The study considers firstly the nature development of personal identity in general as a precursor to understanding the nature of development of a personal ministry identity. At least six key elements are identified as being important in the development of an authentic personal ministry identity namely, spiritual gifting, personality, natural talentsabilities, divine call, congregational influence and finally passion. Pastoral ministry can be understood as an interface of expectations between the church role expectations of the church and the pastor’s expectations derived from his personal ministry identity. The consequences of this interface of expectations may be both positive and negative and may include role confusion, conflict, collusion or congruence. Role negotiation and renegotiation may be used to address some of the negative consequences of this interface. Empirical research results obtained as part of the study that explored the relationship between a pastor’s personal ministry identity, church role expectations and the current approach to ministry, clearly indicate that church role expectations are far more influential on current pastoral practice than are the personal ministry identities, indicating that the identities of these pastors have been undermined by church role expectations. A correct understanding of the Biblical view of self-denial and self-esteem would result in a greater freedom on the part of pastors to resist the undermining of their personal ministry identities. Copyright 2005, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Baston, GA 2005, Rediscovering pastoral identity : the influence of church role expectations in undermining a pastor’s personal ministry identity, MA(Theol) dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06172005-101131 / > / Dissertation (MA (Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

This dissertation explores congregational participation in worship services in the discipline of “Building up the local Church”. The research indicates the levels of participation within worship services of 98 respondents. I have felt that the low levels of participation (43 % of the respondents reported no active congregational participation and in 93% of the indicated the congregation were involved in two or less areas of the worship service) contribute to the practice of nominal Christianity. The congregation view themselves as the ‘Audience’(passive participants) at worship rather that the ‘Actors’ (active participants). The hypothesis is that ministers have centralized themselves specifically in worship and this has and is contributing towards the ‘nominal Christian’ problem experienced by the Church presently. Secondly, that a strategically planned and instituted process with the aim of involving all attendee’s at worship will facilitate active participation (the congregation become the ‘actors’ in and during the intercessory prayer time) and in so doing build up the local church. The Thesis sadly also points out that, ministers fundamental beliefs seem to have little or no influence on there practices. Of the ministers interviewed some indicated there primary task as that of ‘equipping the body of Christ’ yet those who held to that tenet had no significant levels of congregational involvement during worship. The research also shows that regardless of fundamental belief where ministers serve more than one congregation there is a 300% more congregational involvement during worship. The thesis then focuses on the roles of intercessory prayer in worship as a vehicle for getting ministry into the hands of the congregation. Interviews have been conducted and stories recorded as to the effectiveness of this process. I was particularly encouraged that the ‘sticky prayer’ as it became know took the ministry in some cases into the work place and created opportunities for ministry with in the worlds of the respondent. Beyond this it also sends a message to the world at large of the church as being faithful to God (expressed in prayer) and serving the world (those for whom we pray). / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Practical Theology / unrestricted