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)

Zusammenfassung Die vorliegende Forschungsarbeit unternimmt den Versuch, einen konzeptionellen Entwurf einer empirischen Missionswissenschaft als Grundlagenforschung zu entwickeln, der im Praxisfeld durchgeführt wird. Dabei soll die intradisziplinäre Vorgehensweise einen methodologischen Zugang sozialwissenschaftlicher Methoden zur Missionswissenschaft möglich machen. Als Grundlage wird ein Einblick in die sozialwissenschaftliche und missionswissenschaftliche Forschung gegeben und daraus ein eigener, empirisch-theologischer Praxiszyklus entwickelt, der die Methodologie der Untersuchung darstellt. Die inhaltliche Forschungsarbeit fragt nach Gottesvorstellungen von Jugendlichen aus missionswissenschaftlicher Sicht. Dabei wird die Möglichkeit missionarischer Begegnung und Ansprechbarkeit von Jugendlichen im Kontext der kulturellen Veränderungen des postmodernen Paradigmemwechsels beleuchtet. Die Frage, wie Gottesvorstellungen von Jugendlichen gesellschaftlich geprägt und wie sich dies auf ihre Religiosität in ihrem Alltag auswirkt, spielt in diesem Zusammenhang eine wichtige Rolle. Deshalb wird nicht nur der aktuelle Forschungsstand zur Thematik untersucht, sondern 18 Jugendliche werden in Form von halbstandardisierten Interviews qualitativ befragt und ihre Aussagen empirisch-missiologisch ausgewertet. Die Thesis hat somit zweierlei Zielsetzungen: Zum einen geht es um eine empirisch-theologische Studie zur Erforschung von Gottesvorstellung bei Jugendlichen im Hinblick auf ihre missionarische Ansprechbarkeit. Zum anderen zielt sie darauf ab, durch Umsetzung des empirisch-theologischen Praxiszyklus einen Typus zu entwickeln, der auch künftig in der Missionswissenschaft für empirisch-theologische Erhebungen eingesetzt werden kann. Summary The intention of this research project is to evolve a concept for empirical missiology as a method of fundamental research and to apply it in practice. Through the usage of an intradisciplinary approach, access to missiology via the methodology of the social sciences is rendered possible. To establish a basis, an insight into social as well as missiological research will be given, and an inherent, empirical-theological praxis cycle will be developed. This praxis cycle is the methodology of this research paper. Concerning content, this research paper scrutinises the image of God held by juveniles from a missiological point of view. It considers the missionary receptiveness of juveniles in the context of cultural change in the postmodernist shift of paradigm. In how far are juvenile concepts of God marked by the correspondent social environment and does that have an impact on their everyday religious behaviour? Consequently not only the current state of research will be evaluated but, furthermore, the half-standardised qualitative interviews of 18 juveniles will be enclosed and their answers analysed on an empirical- missiological basis. Hence, this thesis has a twofold aim; one considers empirical-theological research as a way of evaluating concepts of God among juveniles with regard to their missionary receptiveness. The other implements the empirical-theological praxis cycle aiming to develop a type which enables further empirical-theological investigation in missilogy. / Missiology / D.Th.

This thesis analyses the conversion processes of 17 urban Muslims in Kenya who decided to follow Jesus Christ. It first describes conversion from a multidisciplinary perspective by introducing sociological, psychological, anthropological, theological and missiological understandings of such a change in religious affiliation. Next in-depth interviews are analysed using principles of grounded theory, where new theory is developed by interaction between data from reality, the analysis and existing theories (abductive reasoning). The main findings are that the conversion of Muslims who accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord is a process that develops over a period of time through phases with a cognitive and an affective dimension. Changes with regard to convictions and attitudes take place simultaneously on several properties or ‘layers’ of both dimensions. The process is influenced by significant factors in the form of causal and intervening conditions, resulting in consequences for the convert in the form of a transformation as well as in changed relationships with the community. Gender, socio-economic level, education as well as the community from which the converts come influence the process. In order to describe the complex dynamics that are at work in such conversion processes of Muslims, a Matrix of Conversion Processes is developed in which the multiple movements of a convert on the two dimensions are put in relation to six chronological phases. A matrix of different types of conversion processes and the description of four typical processes emerge from the analysis. In order to facilitate conversion processes, cognitive and affective elements need to be addressed together. The interaction between different factors, the will-power of the person and the influence of God determine the development, an understanding that is relevant for conversion studies, as well as for missiology and the missionary task of the church in Kenya and beyond. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

This study is an endeavour to construct a theological (Missiological) reflection on what Christian witnessing could look like in Kano among non-Christians (predominantly Hausa/Fulani Muslims), if interpreted and expressed from the viewpoint of the hope Christians have in Christ. This heads towards a proposal for new Christian praxis, developed in dialogue with and as a response to the role of the life-transforming message of justification in Christ, as it relates to Christian living. This is based on historical fact that attracts non-Christians to the hope in God’s future activity through His saving grace in the unique Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1: 22), that is, seeking to be like Christ (1Jn 3: 2-3). This leads to the guiding issue on how Christians should explore hope as a fundamental key to become living witnesses to non-Christians, Muslim in particular, in Kano city, Northern Nigeria and elsewhere in the world based on the biblical interpretation of 1 Peter 3: 15-17. It equally means in a hostile environment walking by faith rather than by sight, through suffering rather than by triumph, to bringing about the future Kingdom of God, characterized by peace, justice and love into the community now, and ultimately in the one to come. This in turn makes this study relevant both internally – for the renewal of the church to discover and live out its Christian identity – and externally, in the church’s witness to its Muslim neighbours in the midst of religious intolerance that leads to bloodshed and the destruction of property. Therefore, the two dimensions, the internal and external, of the church’s life, since a congregation’s sense of identity is at the same time its sense of mission in society. A renewal in the church’s sense of identity brings about a renewal in its sense of mission, and vice versa. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

This thesis is a critical missiological analysis of Pentecostal mission, specifically of the Congo Evangelistic Mission (CEM) in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It investigates how CEM members have been interpreting and expressing the Christian message in and for the context of Katanga Province through their communal life, worship and mission since its inception in 1914. It also asks the methodological question of how such a Pentecostal mission could best be studied and evaluated missiologically. To carry out this investigation the researcher developed a “Pentecostal Praxis Missiological Approach” which he used extensively throughout his study. Chapter two demonstrates that, while British missionaries brought the CEM to Katanga province, it was the early Congolese pioneers who actually spread the movement to different parts of Katanga and beyond its borders. Chapter three shows how CEM members have analysed the Congolese context, identifying it as a lost, unholy and socially broken society with high levels of poverty, unemployment and poor access to basic needs; it is also beset with problems of war and conflict, corruption and injustices as well as abuse of women. Chapter four focuses on the spirituality of power that inspires and motivates the CEM in the various dimensions of its mission. Chapter five uses mainly liturgical sources like prayers, songs and sermons to construct the Pentecostal theology of mission that guides and directs the CEM in its mission. Chapter six explores the agents and strategies of mission that the CEM uses to address the missional challenges they identify in their context. The final chapter raises six key missiological issues that emerged from the study and that require the attention of missiological scholars in order to foster the future of Pentecostal mission in Congo and the Southern African region as a whole. These issues are: preventing ongoing schisms, evangelising members of other religious traditions, the scope of healing, the impact of rapture theology, the place of women in ordained Pentecostal ministry, and the extent of contextualisation in the CEM. Keys terms Katanga Province, / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

Zusammenfassung Die vorliegende Forschungsarbeit unternimmt den Versuch, einen konzeptionellen Entwurf einer empirischen Missionswissenschaft als Grundlagenforschung zu entwickeln, der im Praxisfeld durchgeführt wird. Dabei soll die intradisziplinäre Vorgehensweise einen methodologischen Zugang sozialwissenschaftlicher Methoden zur Missionswissenschaft möglich machen. Als Grundlage wird ein Einblick in die sozialwissenschaftliche und missionswissenschaftliche Forschung gegeben und daraus ein eigener, empirisch-theologischer Praxiszyklus entwickelt, der die Methodologie der Untersuchung darstellt. Die inhaltliche Forschungsarbeit fragt nach Gottesvorstellungen von Jugendlichen aus missionswissenschaftlicher Sicht. Dabei wird die Möglichkeit missionarischer Begegnung und Ansprechbarkeit von Jugendlichen im Kontext der kulturellen Veränderungen des postmodernen Paradigmemwechsels beleuchtet. Die Frage, wie Gottesvorstellungen von Jugendlichen gesellschaftlich geprägt und wie sich dies auf ihre Religiosität in ihrem Alltag auswirkt, spielt in diesem Zusammenhang eine wichtige Rolle. Deshalb wird nicht nur der aktuelle Forschungsstand zur Thematik untersucht, sondern 18 Jugendliche werden in Form von halbstandardisierten Interviews qualitativ befragt und ihre Aussagen empirisch-missiologisch ausgewertet. Die Thesis hat somit zweierlei Zielsetzungen: Zum einen geht es um eine empirisch-theologische Studie zur Erforschung von Gottesvorstellung bei Jugendlichen im Hinblick auf ihre missionarische Ansprechbarkeit. Zum anderen zielt sie darauf ab, durch Umsetzung des empirisch-theologischen Praxiszyklus einen Typus zu entwickeln, der auch künftig in der Missionswissenschaft für empirisch-theologische Erhebungen eingesetzt werden kann. Summary The intention of this research project is to evolve a concept for empirical missiology as a method of fundamental research and to apply it in practice. Through the usage of an intradisciplinary approach, access to missiology via the methodology of the social sciences is rendered possible. To establish a basis, an insight into social as well as missiological research will be given, and an inherent, empirical-theological praxis cycle will be developed. This praxis cycle is the methodology of this research paper. Concerning content, this research paper scrutinises the image of God held by juveniles from a missiological point of view. It considers the missionary receptiveness of juveniles in the context of cultural change in the postmodernist shift of paradigm. In how far are juvenile concepts of God marked by the correspondent social environment and does that have an impact on their everyday religious behaviour? Consequently not only the current state of research will be evaluated but, furthermore, the half-standardised qualitative interviews of 18 juveniles will be enclosed and their answers analysed on an empirical- missiological basis. Hence, this thesis has a twofold aim; one considers empirical-theological research as a way of evaluating concepts of God among juveniles with regard to their missionary receptiveness. The other implements the empirical-theological praxis cycle aiming to develop a type which enables further empirical-theological investigation in missilogy. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th.

This thesis analyses the conversion processes of 17 urban Muslims in Kenya who decided to follow Jesus Christ. It first describes conversion from a multidisciplinary perspective by introducing sociological, psychological, anthropological, theological and missiological understandings of such a change in religious affiliation. Next in-depth interviews are analysed using principles of grounded theory, where new theory is developed by interaction between data from reality, the analysis and existing theories (abductive reasoning). The main findings are that the conversion of Muslims who accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord is a process that develops over a period of time through phases with a cognitive and an affective dimension. Changes with regard to convictions and attitudes take place simultaneously on several properties or ‘layers’ of both dimensions. The process is influenced by significant factors in the form of causal and intervening conditions, resulting in consequences for the convert in the form of a transformation as well as in changed relationships with the community. Gender, socio-economic level, education as well as the community from which the converts come influence the process. In order to describe the complex dynamics that are at work in such conversion processes of Muslims, a Matrix of Conversion Processes is developed in which the multiple movements of a convert on the two dimensions are put in relation to six chronological phases. A matrix of different types of conversion processes and the description of four typical processes emerge from the analysis. In order to facilitate conversion processes, cognitive and affective elements need to be addressed together. The interaction between different factors, the will-power of the person and the influence of God determine the development, an understanding that is relevant for conversion studies, as well as for missiology and the missionary task of the church in Kenya and beyond. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

This study is an endeavour to construct a theological (Missiological) reflection on what Christian witnessing could look like in Kano among non-Christians (predominantly Hausa/Fulani Muslims), if interpreted and expressed from the viewpoint of the hope Christians have in Christ. This heads towards a proposal for new Christian praxis, developed in dialogue with and as a response to the role of the life-transforming message of justification in Christ, as it relates to Christian living. This is based on historical fact that attracts non-Christians to the hope in God’s future activity through His saving grace in the unique Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1: 22), that is, seeking to be like Christ (1Jn 3: 2-3). This leads to the guiding issue on how Christians should explore hope as a fundamental key to become living witnesses to non-Christians, Muslim in particular, in Kano city, Northern Nigeria and elsewhere in the world based on the biblical interpretation of 1 Peter 3: 15-17. It equally means in a hostile environment walking by faith rather than by sight, through suffering rather than by triumph, to bringing about the future Kingdom of God, characterized by peace, justice and love into the community now, and ultimately in the one to come. This in turn makes this study relevant both internally – for the renewal of the church to discover and live out its Christian identity – and externally, in the church’s witness to its Muslim neighbours in the midst of religious intolerance that leads to bloodshed and the destruction of property. Therefore, the two dimensions, the internal and external, of the church’s life, since a congregation’s sense of identity is at the same time its sense of mission in society. A renewal in the church’s sense of identity brings about a renewal in its sense of mission, and vice versa. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

This thesis is a critical missiological analysis of Pentecostal mission, specifically of the Congo Evangelistic Mission (CEM) in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It investigates how CEM members have been interpreting and expressing the Christian message in and for the context of Katanga Province through their communal life, worship and mission since its inception in 1914. It also asks the methodological question of how such a Pentecostal mission could best be studied and evaluated missiologically. To carry out this investigation the researcher developed a “Pentecostal Praxis Missiological Approach” which he used extensively throughout his study. Chapter two demonstrates that, while British missionaries brought the CEM to Katanga province, it was the early Congolese pioneers who actually spread the movement to different parts of Katanga and beyond its borders. Chapter three shows how CEM members have analysed the Congolese context, identifying it as a lost, unholy and socially broken society with high levels of poverty, unemployment and poor access to basic needs; it is also beset with problems of war and conflict, corruption and injustices as well as abuse of women. Chapter four focuses on the spirituality of power that inspires and motivates the CEM in the various dimensions of its mission. Chapter five uses mainly liturgical sources like prayers, songs and sermons to construct the Pentecostal theology of mission that guides and directs the CEM in its mission. Chapter six explores the agents and strategies of mission that the CEM uses to address the missional challenges they identify in their context. The final chapter raises six key missiological issues that emerged from the study and that require the attention of missiological scholars in order to foster the future of Pentecostal mission in Congo and the Southern African region as a whole. These issues are: preventing ongoing schisms, evangelising members of other religious traditions, the scope of healing, the impact of rapture theology, the place of women in ordained Pentecostal ministry, and the extent of contextualisation in the CEM. Keys terms Katanga Province, / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

Abstracts in German and English / In dieser empirisch-theologischen Untersuchung werden ExpertInnen missionaler Jugendarbeiten in ostdeutschen Städten befragt. Es soll herausgefunden werden, welche Vorgehensweisen im Blick auf die missionarische Erreichbarkeit Jugendlicher wirksam sind. Der Aufbau der Masterthesis orientiert sich am Forschungsprozess des empirisch- theologischen Praxiszyklus. (Faix 2007:64ff) Im ersten Teil befindet sich die Einleitung, welche Forschungsmotivation und -Ziel erläutert und einen Überblick über die Methodologie und Vorgehensweise gibt. Dem folgt eine Einführung anhand der Schlüsselbegriffe, welche die soziologischen und theologischen Bedingungen des Praxisfeldes darlegt. Im dritten Teil befindet sich die missiologische Problem- und Zielentwicklung. Die methodologische Grundlegung schließt sich an: Der empirisch-theologische Praxiszyklus, die Vorgehensweise bei den ExpertInneninterviews und die Auswertung anhand der Grounded Theory. Dieser folgt die qualitative Erhebung. Die ExpertInnen werden nach ihren Sichtweisen befragt und diese werden nach der Grounded Theory ausgewertet. Die Ergebnisse werden im fünften Teil zusammengefasst und anhand der Frage nach wirksamen Vorgehensweisen für missionale Jugendarbeiten reflektiert. / This empirical theological study surveys experts in missional youth work in east German towns. The aim is to discover which approaches constitute effective means for missionaries to reach out to young people. The work is structured in line with the research process found in the praxis cycle of empirical theology. (Faix 2007: 64ff) The Master’s thesis thus starts with a preamble explaining the motivation and goal of research, and an overview of the methodology and approach used in the work. This is followed by an introduction, setting out the sociological and theological conditions of this field of practice based on the key terms. The third section contains the missiological problem statement and formulates objectives. After this, the methodological basis of the Master’s thesis is formed, with a description of the praxis cycle based on empirical theology, the procedure used in interviews and the analysis following grounded theory. The qualitative survey follows in the fourth section. Experts in missional youth work in east German towns are asked about their subjective views on how missionaries can reach out to young people in their projects, and their answers are analysed using grounded theory. The fifth part summarises the findings of this analysis, and reflects on means of effective practice for missional youth work, based on the research question. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology) / M. Th. (Missiology)