This thesis is a missiological study of the francophone churches in the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Francophone churches may be classified as African Initiated Churches (AIC) that have been planted by migrants from the French speaking countries of central Africa. They are characterised by the use of French and English as languages of worship and communication. The planting and the presence of these churches have become a more visible and remarkable mission phenomenon drawing scientific attention and is worthy of studying. The main issue of this study is the missionality of the Francophone churches. The investigation concerns the ways in which Francophone churches understand the mission of God, known as missio Dei, and the ways in which they express it in the community. In practice the exploration of the missionality of the Francophone churches discloses their nature, raison d’être, and their purpose, as well as their ministries, and allows us to determine the relevancy of these churches in the community. For this reason, in the study I explore and describe also the concept of the missional church in order to apply it to the Francophone churches. To that end, “Patterns of missional church” are used to measure the extent to which Francophone churches are missional. The study suggests the parameters of the development of a missional culture in a Francophone congregation and highlights the importance of the missional leadership in this respect. Finally the study proposes some missional ministries or contextual ministries that may express practically the missionality and consequently the relevancy of Francophone churches in their context. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

In this thesis, the researcher engages in emerging work in music in worship to deepen contemporary conversations about musical styles in worship. This thesis critically examines the missional character of music in worship in seven selected evangelical churches in the metropolitan city of Abeokuta, Nigeria in order to propose a sustainable model for promoting God’s missions. . The selected churches are The Assemblies of God Church, Four Square Church, The Baptist Church, The Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, The Redeemed Christian Church of God, The Apostolic Faith, and The Gospel Faith Mission International. The thesis has investigated how missional and to what extent these churches have effectively sought to implement the missionary mandate in the area of music in worship. The following specific objectives underpin the study: to establish the Biblical perspective of the missional character of music in worship in the life of the church, to study and outline the Theological perspective of the missional character of music in worship in the life of the church, to study the origin/history of music in the missional context, and outline the nature and emerging trends with regard to missional character of music in worship in the selected churches in Abeokuta, Nigeria, and to propose a sustainable model that can be adopted by churches to promote the missional character of music in worship effectively in Abeokuta, Nigeria. The following methods were used to achieve the objectives of the study: an exegetical study of relevant passages in the Scripture were engaged, relevant literature review on the Theological perspective of the missional character of music in worship in the life of the church were outlined, one-on-one interviews were carried out and self-administered interview questionnaires were served on the major leaders, worship leaders/choir members and key lay members of those selected churches in order to explore the origin/history of music in the missional context, its impact for good on the believers and non- believers, as well as the role, qualities and influence of the missional character of Music in Worship in seven different denominations and all the information gathered from questionnaires served was evaluated and logical conclusions drawn as appropriate to formulate a sustainable model that can be adopted by churches to promote the missional character of music in worship effectively in the city of Abeokuta, Nigeria, in the final instance. In closing, recommendations and conclusions are made to reassess and reconsider their missionary approaches, with a view to enhancing their ways of engaging music in their worship as the thesis goal explores the implications this work might have for Church leaders, pastors, worship leaders, musicians, liturgists and missionaries in their work of preparing music for worship across Christian denominations. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

Text in German, summaries and German and English / Das Ziel dieser Forschungsarbeit besteht darin, die Kontextanalyse als Methode für den missionalen Gemeindebau zu evaluieren. Im Fokus steht dabei die Fra-gestellung, wie die Kontextanalyse von Mitarbeitergruppen der Kirche für Bonn wahrgenommen und bewertet wird. Als theologische Herleitung dient die Aus-einandersetzung mit der kontextuellen Theologie. Anschließend wird der Zyklus Gesellschaftsrelevanter Gemeindearbeit erläutert, der für die Gemeindepraxis der Kirche für Bonn sowohl eine theoretische Grundlage als auch praktischer Leitfaden ist. Anhand des Empirisch-Theologischen Praxiszyklus wird anschlie-ßend eine qualitative Studie mit Gruppendiskussionen durchgeführt, welche an-hand der dokumentarischen Methode analysiert werden. Die Ergebnisse führen zu Thesen und Richtlinien für den Gebrauch der Kontextanalyse. Darüber hin-aus will die Studie einen missiologischen Beitrag leisten, indem die Ergebnisse in einen Dialog mit der kontextuellen Theologie gebracht werden und die Kontextanalyse als eine geeignete Methode für die missionale Praxis der Kirche vor-geschlagen wird. / The purpose of this research paper is to analyze the context analysis as a method for missional church ministry. The focus is on the question how groups of vol-unteers from the Kirche für Bonn perceive and evaluate the context analysis. The discussion of contextual theology serves as a theological derivation. The cycle of society-relevant church ministry is then explained, which is a theoretical foundation as well as a practical guide for the ministry of the Kirche für Bonn. On the basis of an empirical-theological cycle of practice a qualitative study of a group discussion is conducted and analyzed by the documentary method. The results lead to theses and guidelines for the use of context analysis. In addition, the study aims to provide a missiological contribution by bringing the results into a dialog with contextual theology and proposing context analysis as an ad-equate method for the missional practice of the church. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

Text in German, German and English summaries / Die vorliegende Arbeit ist eine Forschungsstudie über die Auswirkung einer schriftlich for-mulierten und in die Praxis implementierten Gemeindevision auf das Wachstum ungarischer Baptistengemeinden. Nach einer Einleitung über die Geschichte und Kirchengeschichte Un-garns zum Verständnis der ungarischen Kultur und Gesellschaft, wird der Begriff Vision aus psychologischer, religionswissenschaftlicher und –geschichtlicher Perspektive analysiert. Eine theologische und praktisch-theologische Betrachtung der Vision unter Einbeziehung des evangelikalen Visionsverständnisses und seiner Entwicklung gefolgt von einem Kapitel über Gemeindeaufbau und -wachstum leiten zu der empirisch-qualitativen Teil der For-schungsarbeit über. Der Zusammenhang zwischen einer formulierten, dokumentierten und in die Praxis umgesetzten Vision und dem Gemeindewachstum von Baptistengemeinden wird mit strukturierten Leitfadeninterviews ermittelt, der mittels computerunterstützter Qua-litativer Inhaltsanalyse ausgewertet wird. Zentrale Elemente wie das innere, äußere, gesell-schaftliche und zahlenmäßige Wachstum werden systematisch analysiert und Antworten auf die Forschungsthese gesucht. Den Abschluss bildet ein Ausblick auf eine mögliche thema-tische und methodologische Erweiterung dieser Arbeit. / The following work is a research study about the impact of the vision given in written form, implemented into the practical realisation on the growth of Hungarian Baptist Churches. Following an introduction about Hungarian history and church history and an understanding of the Hungarian culture and society, the term “vision” will be analyzed from a psychological, theological and historical perspective. A theological and practical examination of vision, through the comprehension of an evangelical understanding and development of vision, furthermore a theological study about church development and growth will lead to an empirical qualitative part of the research. The relationship between the formulated/documented and the practice of vision and church growth from the Baptist churches will be determined with methods structured from guided interviews and predefined questions and with the methodology of the computer aided qualitative content analysis. Central elements of the internal, external, social and numerical growth will be sought after from systematic analysis and answers into a constructed research thesis. The conclusion of this work will constitute an over-view of the possible topical and methodical extension of the work. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

This thesis is a missiological study of the francophone churches in the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Francophone churches may be classified as African Initiated Churches (AIC) that have been planted by migrants from the French speaking countries of central Africa. They are characterised by the use of French and English as languages of worship and communication. The planting and the presence of these churches have become a more visible and remarkable mission phenomenon drawing scientific attention and is worthy of studying. The main issue of this study is the missionality of the Francophone churches. The investigation concerns the ways in which Francophone churches understand the mission of God, known as missio Dei, and the ways in which they express it in the community. In practice the exploration of the missionality of the Francophone churches discloses their nature, raison d’être, and their purpose, as well as their ministries, and allows us to determine the relevancy of these churches in the community. For this reason, in the study I explore and describe also the concept of the missional church in order to apply it to the Francophone churches. To that end, “Patterns of missional church” are used to measure the extent to which Francophone churches are missional. The study suggests the parameters of the development of a missional culture in a Francophone congregation and highlights the importance of the missional leadership in this respect. Finally the study proposes some missional ministries or contextual ministries that may express practically the missionality and consequently the relevancy of Francophone churches in their context. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

Text in German with summaries in German and English / In der Auseinandersetzung um Mission in einer zunehmend nach-christlichen Zeit und die Rolle der Kirche darin findet das Konzept der Jüngerschaft vermehrt Beachtung. Dieses wachsende Interesse an Jüngerschaft entspringt der Überzeugung, dass Mission die Angelegenheit aller Gläubigen ist und diese deshalb dazu befähigt werden sollen. In der näheren Betrachtung dieser Diskussion fällt gleichzeitig auf, dass die Konturen dieses Konzeptes oftmals unscharf sind und es in seiner Verwendung unterschiedliche Akzentsetzungen erfährt. Diese Studie will einen Beitrag zur Klärung und Konkretisierung des Jüngerschaftsbegriffs leisten und damit Jüngerschaft als eine Befähigung zur Mission weiter fruchtbar machen. Dazu wurde sowohl missionstheologische als auch biblisch theologische Literatur untersucht, um den Zusammenhang von Jüngerschaft und Mission zu begründen und zu einer inhaltlichen Konkretion von Jüngerschaft zu gelangen. Mit den Ergebnissen wurden dann Konsequenzen für das Missionsverständnis und die missionale Befähigung formuliert, und 3DM wurde als Beispiel eines praktischen Ansatzes einer solchen Befähigung ins Gespräch gebracht. / In the discussion about mission in an increasingly post-Christendom era and the role of the church in it, the concept of discipleship is receiving increased attention. This growing interest stems from the belief that mission is the concern of all believers and that they must therefore be empowered for it. A closer look at this discussion shows that the contours of this concept are often fuzzy and used in different emphasis. This study wants to make a contribution to the clarification and concretization of the concept of discipleship and to make it further fruitful as an empowerment for mission. For this purpose, both missiological and biblical-theological literature was examined in order to establish the connection between discipleship and mission and to arrive at a clarification and concretization of the concept of discipleship. The results were then used to formulate consequences for the understanding of mission and missional empowerment and were discussed with 3DM as an example of a practical approach to such an empowerment. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)