Thesis (Th. M.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-139).

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Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Central African country of Malawi has a population of over 15 million people and more than 500 Protestant missionaries. In spite of an overall sense of partnership and community among missionaries in Malawi, a significant tension exists between the approaches that various Protestant missionaries have taken in their attempt fulfil The Great Commission of Matthew 28. This tension is not limited to Malawi. Missiologists worldwide have identified several different models of mission work. Some of these models emphasize the verbal proclamation of the gospel message while other models emphasize social action and acts of mercy as an equal or primary focus. The purpose of this dissertation is to determine what the dominant models of mission work in Malawi are in practice. Is the emphasis more on gospel proclamation or social action and how does that relate to the commission in Matthew 28? In order to determine this, the researcher 1) investigates the growing tension between various models of missionary work, 2) analyzes various Protestant missionary models as they relate to key passages of Scripture, 3) examines qualitative theological perspectives surrounding the issue of evangelism, social action, Matthew 25, and Matthew 28, 4) conducts empirical quantitative research among missionaries currently serving in Malawi, 5) conducts empirical qualitative research among Christians in the West that have an interest in Malawi’s missionary work, 6) explores normative perceptions of the traditional prioritism model of missionary work, 7) develops a revised praxis for churches in the West that send missionaries to help them become more effective in developing their models of mission. Traditionally, missionaries have focused on gospel proclamation and social action has been a secondary, but important, emphasis. Today, some missionaries elevate social action as a co-priority with proclamation while others practice social action almost exclusively. Many missionaries in Malawi are so focused on social action activities like medicine, general education, and orphan care that they have little time to devote to Bible teaching, baptism, and church strengthening. Christians in the West who have an interest in missionary work in Malawi are naturally concerned about both gospel proclamation and social action. They desire that the physical needs of Malawians would not be neglected, but they also desire that the gospel message would be proclaimed in Malawi and that missionaries would make disciples by teaching all that Christ has commanded. This is why a research project that involves a theological study in relation to an analysis of the praxis of religious workers in Malawi will be useful. It should help both Christians in the West and missionaries in Malawi to maintain priorities that will sustain both gospel proclamation as well as social action in a needy country like Malawi. One of the desired outcomes of this study is to determine the factors that contribute to missionary activity which neglects neither gospel proclamation, nor the physical needs of others. In order to determine these factors, it will be beneficial to ascertain a more thorough understanding of different missionary models and evaluate their potential deficiencies and strengths. The main research question this study addresses is: What are the current models of missionary practice among missionaries in Malawi today and how do those models relate to key passages for missionaries, such as Matthew 28:18-20 and Matthew 25:31-46? / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Malawi, 'n land in sentraal Afrika, het 'n bevolking van meer as 15 miljoen mense en meer as 500 Protestantse sendelinge. Alhoewel daar goeie samewerking tussen Sending-organisasies is, ervaar hulle wel spanning rakende hulle onderskeie benaderings tot die Evangelisasie opdrag van Mattheus 28. Hierdie spanning is nie beperk tot Malawi nie. Wereldwyd het Sendingkundiges verskillende modelle vir sendingwerk geïdentifiseer. Van hierdie modelle beklemtoon die verkondiging van die Evangelie, terwyl ander die sosiale uitleef van die Evangelie verkondig deur middel van barmhartigheid. Die doel van hierdie proefskrif is om te bepaal wat die dominante modelle van sendingwerk in Malawi in die praktyk is. Is die klem meer op Evangelie verkondiging of op sosiale aksie, en hoe hou hierdie verband met die opdrag in Mattheus 28? Om hierdie vas te stel, gaan die navorser, 1) die toenemende spanning tussen verskillende modelle van sendingwerk ondersoek, 2) die verskillende Protestantse sending-modelle ontleed volgens hulle verwantskap aan kern gedeeltes van die Skrif, 3) empiriese kwantitatiewe navorsing doen onder huidige sendelinge in Malawi, 4) empiriese kwalitatiewe navorsing doen onder Christene in die Westerse wereld wat belangstel in sendingswerk in Malawi, 5) normatiewe begrip van die tradisionele voorkeur model van sendingwerk verken, 6) verbeterde praktyke ontwikkel wat kerke in die Weste, wat sendelinge wil uitstuur, kan navolg om hulle te help met die ontwikkeling van hulle sending-modelle. Tradisioneel het sendelinge op Evangelie-verkondiging gefokus en enige sosiale aksies was wel belangrik, maar van sekondêre belang. Vandag het sommige sendelinge sosiale aksies verhef tot 'n mede prioriteit gelyk aan Evangelieverkondiging, terwyl ander amper eksklusief sosiale aksies bedryf. Vele sendelinge in Malawi is so gefokus op sosiale aksie soos mediese hulp, algemene onderwys, en die versorging vir weeskinders, dat hulle min tyd het om hulself toe te wy aan Bybelse onderrig, doop en die versterking van kerke. Christene in die Weste, wat belangstel in sendingwerk in Malawi, is van nature besorg oor beide Evangelie verkondiging sowel as sosiale aksies. Hulle wil graag hê dat die fisiese behoeftes van Malawiers nie verwaarloos word nie, maar hulle begeer ook dat die Evangelie boodskap in Malawi verkondig word en dat sendelinge dissipels sal maak deur hulle alles wat Christus beveel het, te leer. Dit is die rede waarom dit nuttig sal wees om 'n navorsingsprojek te hê wat 'n teologiese studie insluit rakende 'n ontleding van die gebruike van godsdienstige werkers in Malawi. Dit behoort Christene in die Weste sowel as sendelinge in Malawi te help om prioriteite te handhaaf wat beide Evangelie verkondiging sowel as sosiale aksies ondersteun in 'n behoeftige land soos Malawi. Een van die verlangde resultate van hierdie studie is om die faktore te bepaal wat bydra tot sendingwerk wat nie Evangelie verkondiging verwaarloos nie en ook nie die fisiese behoeftes van ander verontagsaam nie. Om hierdie faktore te bepaal sal dit waardevol wees om 'n deegliker begrip van verskillende sending-modelle vas te stel en hulle potensiele tekortkominge en sterkpunte te evalueer. Die hoof navorsings-vra wat hierdie studie aanspreek is: Wat is die huidige modelle van sendingpraktyk onder sendelinge in Malawi en hoe hou dit verband met kern Skrifgedeeltes vir sendelinge soos Mattheus 28:18-20 en Mattheus 25:31-46?

This study presents the religious dynamics of the Wolaitta Kale Heywet Church through the work of her evangelists in southern Ethiopia from 1937-1975 and seeks to determine why there has been such phenomenal growth within the Wolaitta church and, through the agency of her evangelists, church development in southern Ethiopia. Other writers associated with the Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) have attempted to explain this rapid growth during the Italian occupation (1936-1941) and subsequent years. Through a varied investigation of the historical, political, religious and socioeconomic situation of Wolaitta, this study attempts to bring further understanding and insight to the work of mission. Chapter One provides historical background on southern Ethiopia. The advance of Christianity into the South was through the instrumentality of the so-called Solomonic Northern kings together with the Orthodox Church evangelists in the 15th and 16th centuries. Historical documents produced by Ethiopians as well as Europeans who were in contact with the South are used. Several maps, portraying southern Ethiopia by European travelers, geographers and missionaries, prove helpful in attempting to understand the location and dislocation of the former Kingdom of Damot. Wolaitta oral history furthermore incorporates Damot far into the South. A brief linguistic survey of the languages of southern Ethiopia reveals the stability of the ethnic groups in the South for over one hundred and fifty years. A discussion of the numerous Wolaitta clans assists the reader in understanding the diversity contained within Wolaitta. It was from within this homogeneous grouping of clans that the Wolaitta Kingdom evolved in the middle of the 17th century.

The church finds itself in an evangelical-sacral cocoon. However, this alienation is nothing new, but through the centuries shows the church’s inability to adapt and stay relevant during changing cultural situations (Regele 1995:48). It is however not strange that time and again when there was a big cultural shift, new denominations came into being. In the history, during every cultural revival the Christian theological discourse was reflected on. Postmodernism is the new intellectual climate which is descriptive of a new upcoming culture (Erickson 1998:13). This new intellectual climate caused the church and culture to become more and more estranged. Postmodernism set a “new” sacral-profane dichotomy within the church, which clashes with the modernistic imperialism of the church. Any effort to renewal would be futile if the new upcoming culture is not taken into account. The seeker-sensitive movement originated in the late sixties when an increase in post modernistic thinking in the culture came to life. The methodology was taken over by the Evangelical Reformers who were saturated with modern thinking. The seeker-sensitive model showed strong post-modernistic characteristics, but in its development became more and more closed towards the new upcoming post modernistic culture. I am of the opinion that in its core the seeker-sensitive model is modernistic and that it will not be able to communicate the gospel effectively to a post-modernistic generation. There are clear signs within the kerugma, diakonia, leitourgia and koinonia where the modernistic agenda is revealed. The accentuation of biased aesthetical preferences in any form of culture will lead to exclusivistic churchism which ignores the riches of the postmodern culture. We should rather talk of postmodern cultures and the multiple expressions of diakonia, koinonia and leitourgia which contextualise the gospel. If the seeker-sensitive model within a postmodern society does not move towards a post-dualistic, post-rationalistic, post-individualistic and post-noeticentric methodology, the model will become irrelevant within a postmodern society. The gospel cannot be packaged within a rational persuasive and marketing methodology, but the congregation must live the Missio Dei culture in a relevant way within cognitive, affective, visual, creative and interactive real relations. If the congregation cannot enter into discussion with the postmodern culture, the congregation stays a missiological centre where a person must be culturally circumcised to be able to hear the gospel. Not only the congregation, but the world as well, should become the missiological centre of the church. Most of the concepts were developed in the congregations of Randburg and Stellenbosch where I have ministered during the last 13 years. There we strove to practise praxis-theology where the normal church member could also do theological reflection. I have done a literature study about the subject and Stellenbosch Congregation is used as example to illustrate some of the transitions to the postmodern dispensation. The purpose is not to establish a new model, but to show principles for the development of a missionary relevant approach. There will be an endeavour to practise theology within the praxis of the congregation where members of the congregation can listen to the Word and the world believingly, to be a church that is not only in the world, but also with the world. The purpose of this study was to find parameters with the seeker-sensitive church model in a critical dialogue for the practical-theological ecclesiology which is free or less contaminated, with the ideological bases of modernism. / Dr. G.J. Bosman

The biblical purpose of the church is the Great Commission as stated in Matthew 28:19-20. The mission of the church, or the way the purpose is carried out, is identified in Acts 2:42-47 as evangelism, discipleship, worship, ministry, prayer, and fellowship. Since the 1920s, southern Baptists have primarily utilized a program-driven model to accomplish the purpose and mission of the church. In recent years, however, the purpose-driven model, popularized by Rick Warren, has also become widely accepted. The purpose of this study was to categorize the church by program-driven or purpose-driven model and to analyze the self-reported mission effectiveness of each model in selected Southern Baptist churches. Data for this study, which assessed and compared mission effectiveness in relation to the program-driven and purpose-driven organizational structures. The study found that the purpose-driven churches were more effective in each of the six functions than were the program-driven churches. KEYWORDS: purpose-driven, program-driven, church health, ministry effectiveness, purposes of the church, church structure, church strategy, ecclesiology / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

Project (D. Min.)--Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, 1982. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 217-225).

Project (D. Min.)--Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, 1984. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 297-304).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-220).