When Colin Morris stepped off the train in Chingola, Northern Rhodesia in 1956, he fully expected his stay at the Chingola Free Church to be little more than a routine tour of service. Fifteen years later he was not so sure! The period 1956-69 had seen many changes transpire within Morris and in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). There had been a series of struggles to instigate black majority rule, some of which Morris faced alongside his friend, Kenneth Kaunda, who later became the first President of the Republic of Zambia. / At the beginning of his ministry in Africa, Morris confined himself to the appropriate sermon topics expected of him. He did not anticipate any sudden change in attitude concerning the black/white controversy which had become entrenched into the social and political life of Central and South Africa. But something happened to Morris! The more he avoided preaching about race relations, the more he became convinced that the apartheid system was an untenable Christian position. He was unable to rationalize for himself, or his parishioners, the inconsistency which existed between it and the Gospel of the New Testament. / As he sought to point out this discrepancy, more than half of his church members deserted him, and he was fought at every turn in his struggle to accept black Christians into his church. The struggle led to violence, in which much of his church was destroyed. / By 1960, Morris allied himself with Kenneth Kaunda, who formed and headed the Zambia African National Congress, and the struggle for Rhodesian independence began in earnest. / Morris played a unique role in the black struggle for independence and the creation of the Zambian nation by fighting openly against discriminatory policies. He set in motion a shock-wave which rippled through Northern and Southern Rhodesia, not only from his pulpit, but in his television broadcasts and public addresses. His writings, speeches and actions acted as a catalyst, which helped lay the groundwork for present-day compromises in Southern Rhodesia towards black majority rule. / The special friendship which exists between Morris and Kaunda is one of the most unusual and important relationships between a black leader and a white parson in the last two decades. The books on which they collaborated point the way for the manner and technique by which black men and white men, through compromise and understanding, are able to work out their differences in an atmosphere of mutual respect. / The role of the missionary in contemporary Africa is explored to establish Morris as a new breed of missionary, and to examine critically the role and future of missionaries in the modern world. / In 1969, Morris chose to return to England where he accepted the Superintendency of Wesley's Chapel, the mother church of Methodism. He now directs the Methodist Missionary Society in London. / Colin Morris spent fifteen turbulent years involved with the people and leaders of Zambia, and this dissertation discovers and reveals the nature of his uniqueness as a white man peculiarly involved in the birth of a black nation. / Chapter I relates general background information concerning Zambia and its history. Chapter II focuses on the personal experiences of Morris in Zambia, while Chapter III recounts and reviews his relationship with Kenneth Kaunda. Chapter IV analyses and evaluates Morris' books. The Conclusion substantiates the assertion that Morris is a modern missionary. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-07, Section: A, page: 3147. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 39-11, Section: A, page: 6822. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1978.

When the British declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914, the Dominion of Canada, as part of the British Empire, was also at war. As an overwhelmingly Christian nation, Canada's mobilization included not only its manpower, industrial capacity, and agricultural wealth, but also its spiritual resources. This thesis focuses on views of the Great War offered by Canada's Anglican clerics from 1914 to 1918 through an analysis of sermons and other documents. Situated at a crucial junction between the religious and political life, clerical rhetoric about the war provides an invaluable tool for understanding how a people's religious and national identities shaped one another during this critical period. Rather than painting the conflict in stark terms of 'good and evil,' Canada's Anglican clerics appealed to theological ideas of repentance and righteousness. The clerics denounced national sins and called on Canadians to shoulder their responsibilities both as citizens of the Empire and as Christians. Identifying and negotiating the responsibilities of citizenship in the crucible of war were key elements in the clerical rhetoric, as they sought to construct and connect their overlapping identities as Anglicans, citizens of the Empire, and as Canadians. / Quand l'Angleterre a déclaré la guerre à l'Allemange le 4 août 1914, le Dominion du Canada a été impliqué parce qu'il faisait partie de l'Empire britannique. La mobilisation du Canada a principalement inclus des gens et des capacité industrielles et agricol. Toutefois, comme le pays était majoritairement de religion chrétienne, la mobilisation du Canada a aussi collaboré à l'élaboration de nombreuses ressources spirituelles. Cette thèse se concentre donc sur les opinions à propos de la Première Guerre mondiale présentées par les prêtes anglicans du Canada entre 1914 et 1918. Ell fait une analyse des sermons et autre documents écrits par les prêtes anglicans nous permettant d'examiner la 'rhétorique des ecclésiastiques'. La rhétorique des ecclésiastiques de la guerre fournis un outil inestimable pour la connaissance de comment l'identité religieuse et nationale des gens rejoignent, parce que la rhétorique des ecclésiastiques est au même temp religieuse et politique. Au lieu d'aborder directement l'idée «du bien» et «du mal», les prêtes anglicans ont utilisés les idées théologiques comme «le repentir» et «la vertu» pour justifier la guerre. Les prêtes anglicans ont aussi dénonçé les péchés nationaux et ont demandé aux Canadiens de répondre à leur responsabilités en tant que citoyens de l'Empire britannique et chrétiens. Les gens ont donc dû identifier et négocier pendant cette épreuve la notion de citoyenneté, afin d'identifier leurs responsabilités. Cette question est donc particulièrement importante dans la rhétorique des ecclésiastiques alors que les prêtes anglicans ont essayé construire et associer des identités chevauchant la religion anglicane, la citoyenneté de l'Empire britannique, et la citoyenneté du Canada.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-02, Section: A, page: 0606. Adviser: Clifford G. Christians. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 212-222) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

<p> There is a significant leadership leap that must take place when one enters ministry after graduating from college with a ministry degree. Many do not navigate this leap well. In the hope of helping graduates make this leap and in order to develop strong young leaders, the Wesleyan Church has promoted the development of two year residency programs. The main promotion came at the General Conference of the Wesleyan Church when Kevin Myers from 12Stone Church gave a keynote address advocating for this kind of ministerial development. </p><p> While the residency program was promoted and set in motion, no one has monitored its development or efficacy. This dissertation set out to find where the program exists in the Wesleyan Church. It then looks at two questions: Are people graduating from the residency program better prepared for ministry that those who have recently graduated from college? Are people going through the residency program being prepared for ordination? </p><p> This study was able to identify 22 Wesleyan Churches that operate or are about to run a residency program. Fifteen of these churches are networked with 12Stone and use their curriculum. From these 22 churches I was able to interview 13 Program Supervisors. As of September 2017 these programs have 57 residents. Surveys were returned from 30 of these residents. The information obtained through these interviews and surveys led to six conclusions and five recommendations. Amongst the conclusions are that graduates of the residency program are better prepared for ministry than those coming out of college. The study also concluded that residency programs give their residents the possibility of developing and demonstrating the competencies need for ordination in the Wesleyan Church. This study recommends that the Wesleyan Church continues to promote the residency program.</p><p>

The subject of this study is canon 285, par. 3 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law which forbids clerics from assuming any public office (officia publica) which entails a participation in civil power (civilis potestas). This canon represents a notable shift of perspective away from the requirement in the 1917 Code of obtaining permission to assume a public office involving the exercise of civil power. The emphasis is now on a straightforward prohibition with no direct reference to exceptions in the law. It is the hypothesis of this study that while canon 285, par. 3 is verbally stronger, more emphatic, and less specific with regard to exceptions than the prior legislation, when interpreted and applied in the context of the church as communio, it reflects an extremely nuanced approach to this issue on the part of the law which does not favour the hard and fast rule that public offices are open to the laity and closed to the clergy. The methodology of the dissertation is structured on the recognition that canon 285, par. 3, like all human laws, came into existence because someone, the legislator, perceived a value which could benefit the community, formulated a norm to achieve that value, and finally asked the community to act on the norm and appropriate the value. Thus, the study lists those values which, in different periods, the legislator has sought to uphold by legislation concerning clerical and religious participation in civil power. It finds that the value underlying the contemporary law is the ministerial health of the communio. A textual and contextual analysis of canon 285, par. 3 concludes that the legislator signifies his intention of focussing on the juridical status of sacred ministers which, of its nature, is changeable and not on the unchangeable elements of ordination. In this light, there appears to be no direct link between the prohibition from public office and the nature and effects of ordination. Furthermore, since permanent deacons are exempted from the prohibition in virtue of canon 288, it seems reasonable to infer that the prohibition from public office is not based on the incompatibility of such offices with the clerical state and encourages a pastoral flexibility and sensitivity. In a concluding section, the study treats of the power of diocesan bishops to dispense from canon 285, par. 3 which, when considered in the context of communio, highlights the necessity of employing such structures as the presbyteral council, the conference of bishops, and the pastoral council, in the evaluation and application of the canon.

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All of the United Church's studies on ministry acknowledge the role of the laity in the church's ministry. The Ministry in the Twentieth Century (1968), however, is the first document to question the necessity for an ordained ministry in the church or to suggest that this ministry may be detrimental to the church's welfare if, because of its focal position, it impedes the ministry of the laity. The Ministry in the Twentieth Century recommends that the church continue to "ordain" those who play an enabling function in the church but the understanding of ordination it presents is far removed from ordination's traditional meaning in the United Church or in the Reformed tradition generally. While On a Functional Ministry (1954) recommended that the church consider changes in the way it exercised its ministry so that the church could be more responsive to the heavily industrialized and technological context of the 1950's, the kind of changes which the Commission on The Ministry in the Twentieth Century advocate are more basic. The Commission on Ordination (1962) admits that the abolition of that ministry was one of the changes it had considered. The 1977 Task Force Report expresses many of the same sentiments found in The Ministry in the Twentieth Century. It presents a mainly functional understanding of this ministry, and creates opposition between clergy and laity via the suggestion that the laity have been prevented from realizing their ministry because of the status accorded the ordained ministry and the focal role this ministry plays in the church. Project: Ministry, in contrast, affirms the distinctiveness of the ordained ministry and its essential role in the church while at the same time emphasizing that there is only one ministry in the church "the ministry of Jesus Christ" in which both lay and ordained participate. What is noticeable in an examination of the United Church's two most controversial reports, The Ministry in the 20th Century and the 1977 Task Force on Ministry is that, other than a belief in the "servanthood" model of the ordained ministry and in the fact that this ministry must be carried out in mutuality with the ministry of the laity, nothing, including the existence of the ordained ministry itself, is considered normative. These two reports, in particular, indicate that there is a group of significant size in the United Church which distrusts the ordained ministry, and a smaller but equally vocal group which would like to do away with it altogether. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

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