The contention of this study is that missiological cell group praxis is an appropriate vehicle to mobilize the local church for world evangelization - centrifugally reaching from "Jerusalem" and "Judea and Samaria" to the "ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Methodologically it follows the pastoral circle of Holland & Henriot and investigates the missiological praxis of various small faith communities. The principles of the cosmological framework of Calvisnism (Kuyper, Dooyeweerd) are brought to bear on the missionary endeavours of the local church, with reference to the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. It argues for a missiologically integrated Cell Church, based on a definition of mission and evangelism, which is aimed at overcoming the fragmented missiological situation in mainline churches. This study argues that these small groups function as the basic cells of the local and universal Church, and shows how these communities come into existence and function as missiological outreach groups. / Christian Spirituality Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

The topic of diocesan Church management structures which I present in this research emerges from concerns concerning the comprehensive implementation of the Second Vatican Council in this regard. It is an attempt to examine, comprehend and present the responses and opinions of members of a diocesan Church in a systematic, clear and simple manner to concerns such as: should diocesan Church management structures change? If so, how should diocesan Church management structures change? What should be the main focus and priority of diocesan Church management structures? Do the current management structures of the diocesan Church respond adequately to the needs of the People of God? Since the Catholic Church has a complex management structure, the entire examination thereof is beyond the scope of this research. However, the aim of this investigation is to critically examine the diocesan management structures of a contemporary local Church. The challenge of this research is to ascertain how ecclesial management, as a vital aspect in the Church, is responding to the challenges of the Second Vatican Council to make the Church not only relevant, but allowing full participation and representation of her members in the management of the diocesan Church. / Department of Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / D.Th (Practical Theology)

La synodalité paraît être aujourd’hui un thème très actuel, tant pour le dialogue théologique bilatéral entre les Églises catholique et orthodoxe, qu’à l’intérieur de chaque Église. Le pontificat du pape François a mis l’accent sur la synodalité et l’Église orthodoxe vient de réaliser son Grand et Saint Concile (Crète, juin 2016). Le Concile Vatican II en 1964 a promulgué la doctrine de la collégialité épiscopale (les évêques constituent un collège qui succède au collège des Douze Apôtres), doctrine qui devait rapprocher les ecclésiologies catholique et orthodoxe. Cependant, les théologiens orthodoxes ne se sont pas retrouvés dans cette doctrine. Cinquante ans après sa promulgation, on remarque par ailleurs que la mise en œuvre de la collégialité épiscopale dans l’Église catholique est plutôt limitée. Cette étude a tenté de confronter les notions de collégialité épiscopale et de synodalité épiscopale, en vue d’une compréhension commune, entre catholiques et orthodoxes, de la place des évêques au sein de l’Église entière. Partant du constat que la synodalité épiscopale, comme l’entendent les orthodoxes, ne coïncide pas avec la doctrine de la collégialité épiscopale comme elle a été formulée au concile Vatican II, le présent travail s’est penché sur les fondements de cette dernière, afin de rechercher comment la tradition commune originelle des deux Églises conçoit la synodalité épiscopale. Le retour aux sources communes, à savoir bibliques, patristiques et dogmatiques, est proposé comme la base d’une entente sur les questions du ministère épiscopal et de la synodalité des évêques. Une telle entente s’avère indispensable afin d’aborder d’autres questions controversées, notamment celle de la primauté romaine. / Synodality seems to be a very current topic, both for the bilateral theological dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, and for each individual Church. The pontificate of Pope Francis has emphasized synodality and the Orthodox Church has just convened its Great and Holy Council (Crete, June 2016). The Second Vatican Council in 1964 promulgated the doctrine of episcopal collegiality (the bishops are organized in a college which succeeds the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), a doctrine which was to bring closer Catholic and Orthodox ecclesiologies. However, the Orthodox theologians did not appreciate the value of this doctrine. Fifty years after its promulgation, it is also noted that the implementation of episcopal collegiality in the Catholic Church is rather restricted. This research attempts to compare the notions of episcopal collegiality and episcopal synodality, exploring a common understanding between Catholics and Orthodox of the place of the bishops within the whole Church. For Orthodox theologians, episcopal synodality does not coincide with the doctrine of episcopal collegiality, as it was formulated during the Second Vatican Council. This research focused on the common tradition of the two Churches regarding episcopal synodality. The study of common sources, namely biblical, patristic and dogmatic, is proposed as the basis for an agreement on the issue of episcopal ministry and the synodality of bishops. Such an agreement is essential to address other issues, especially that of the Roman primacy.

地方召會(在中國和臺灣地區的名稱沿革：小群→基督徒聚會處→聚會所→地方召會，本文簡稱「地方召會」)，其創始人—倪柝聲、李常受等，今有無數基督徒受其思想的影響；根據《聖經》所建立的地方召會已散佈在全球六大洲，涵蓋著不同的國家、種族、語言和文化。 地方召會在中國初創時期，已建立移民擴展的規模，即往在地化和國際化的政策發展；後因政局改變，地方召會發展至香港、臺灣和東南亞地區，在臺灣發展的初期階段，帶進百倍的人數增長，迄今成為臺灣第二大基督徒團體，而臺灣的地方召會，接續先前在大陸區域開展的模型，作為全球發展的基地之一，擴展到全球各大洲，目前全球信眾約廿餘萬人，在全世界積極擴展信仰的版圖。 本文從核心信仰出發，以宗教非營利組織的觀點，逐一探討地方召會的信仰和宗教實踐，首先說明地方召會的信仰與在中國大陸時期的擴展；其次介紹宗教非營利組織和地方召會在臺灣時期的擴展；第三為論述地方召會的國際化拓展模式，並以東南亞各國為深度探討，在李氏離世後，地方召會在無指定的接班人狀況下，其擴展方針絲毫不受影響且發展更鉅，被公認為對基督教界具有影響力的團體。 / The local church (the revolution of this name in China and Taiwan: a small group→the assembly of Christian→the meeting hall→the local church, this paper refers to "the local church"), its founders—Watchman Nee and Witness Lee(this paper refers to "Nee" and “Lee”), there are countless Christians are affected by their thought; The local church established according to the Bible has spread across the six continents, covering the different nations, races, languages and cultures. The local church during the starting period in China, has established the scope of immigrant expansion, that was policy development of localization and globalization; due to the political changes, the local church developed to Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South East Asia. In the early stages of development in Taiwan, brought into a hundredfold increase in numbers so far has become the second largest Christian community in Taiwan. And the local church in Taiwan following the development model carried out in mainland China area previously, being one base of global development and expands to all continents. For the time being, there are about two hundred thousand believers on the earth and expands the territory of faith in the world actively. This paper begins from the core of faith, studying the faith and the practices of religion in the local church from the view of religious non-profitable organization. The first, describing the faith of the local church and the expansion during the age in t mainland China; Secondly introducing the religious non-profit organization and the expansion of the local church during the age in Taiwan; the third, discussing the international expansion mode of local church and taking the countries in Southeast of Asia to have deep discussion. Especially from 1997 so far, the local church in the absence of the designated successor after Lee's passing away, the expanding strategy develops more largely without compromising and being recognized as an influential community to the Christianity.

As youngsters become adults, the development of their personality becomes the focus of their attention. However, neither Christian youthwork nor adult education within the Protestant Church in Germany is geared towards accompanying and advising them in the midst of their religious questions and changes. There is virtually no scholarly or church literature that would focus on the age group of 18 to 30 year olds. Thus far, the Protestant Church has not yet published non-commercial programs for personality development. This dissertation focuses on evaluating a personality training program that was specially developed for young adults. The structures and the content are analyzed in order to gain insights into how such a training can be implemented in the local church. The empirical results will be complemented by insights from different studies on youth, theological and anthropological perspectives on personality and personhood, and two popular models of courses on the Christian faith. / An der Schwelle zum Erwachsenwerden steht die Entwicklung der eigenen Persönlichkeit im Mittelpunkt des Denkens von jungen Menschen. Aber weder die Jugendarbeit noch die Erwachsenenbildung sieht eine Aufgabe darin, junge Erwachsene in ihren religiösen Fragen und Veränderungen zu begleiten und zu beraten. Wissenschaftliche und gemeindepädagogische Literatur, speziell für die Altersgruppe der 18- bis 30-Jährigen, liegt kaum vor und innerhalb der evangelischen Kirche gibt es bislang keine nichtkommerziellen Persönlichkeitsprogramme für diese Personengruppe. Der Fokus dieser Arbeit ist auf die Dokumentation und die qualitative Evaluation eines Persönlichkeitstrainings gerichtet, das speziell für junge Erwachsene entwickelt wurde. Untersucht werden die Strukturen und die Inhalte des Programms, um konkrete Gestaltungshinweise für die Durchführung in einer örtlichen Kirchengemeinde zu gewinnen. Die empirischen Ergebnisse werden durch Exzerpte aus verschiedenen Jugendstudien, aus theologisch-anthropologischen Erörterungen zu Persönlichkeit und Person sein und die Bewertung von zwei christlich populären Glaubenskursen ergänzt. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology)

The contention of this study is that missiological cell group praxis is an appropriate vehicle to mobilize the local church for world evangelization - centrifugally reaching from "Jerusalem" and "Judea and Samaria" to the "ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Methodologically it follows the pastoral circle of Holland & Henriot and investigates the missiological praxis of various small faith communities. The principles of the cosmological framework of Calvisnism (Kuyper, Dooyeweerd) are brought to bear on the missionary endeavours of the local church, with reference to the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. It argues for a missiologically integrated Cell Church, based on a definition of mission and evangelism, which is aimed at overcoming the fragmented missiological situation in mainline churches. This study argues that these small groups function as the basic cells of the local and universal Church, and shows how these communities come into existence and function as missiological outreach groups. / Christian Spirituality Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

The topic of diocesan Church management structures which I present in this research emerges from concerns concerning the comprehensive implementation of the Second Vatican Council in this regard. It is an attempt to examine, comprehend and present the responses and opinions of members of a diocesan Church in a systematic, clear and simple manner to concerns such as: should diocesan Church management structures change? If so, how should diocesan Church management structures change? What should be the main focus and priority of diocesan Church management structures? Do the current management structures of the diocesan Church respond adequately to the needs of the People of God? Since the Catholic Church has a complex management structure, the entire examination thereof is beyond the scope of this research. However, the aim of this investigation is to critically examine the diocesan management structures of a contemporary local Church. The challenge of this research is to ascertain how ecclesial management, as a vital aspect in the Church, is responding to the challenges of the Second Vatican Council to make the Church not only relevant, but allowing full participation and representation of her members in the management of the diocesan Church. / Department of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th (Practical Theology)

This study flows from an awareness of the crisis in the church, and specifically in the Dutch Reformed Church The Reeds, concerning the lack of faith identity as well as the lack of assimilation with the faith community after confirmation. The hypothesis chosen for this study, which also determined the opening argument, was that parental mentorship and involvement of parents in faith development assist in the development, understanding and living of children’s faith identity as well as their assimilation with the faith community after confirmation. The opposite of this is also made clear – a lack of parental mentorship and involvement of parents in faith development is the cause of the absence of faith identity and assimilation with the faith community after confirmation. From a perspective of building up the local church this hypothesis is examined theologically, psychologically and empirically. The study concludes that this hypothesis definitely holds ground. The role of the involvement or absence of parents in children’s faith identity and faith development is examined. The role of the faith community in supporting parents with their mentoring role is also probed and the results clearly indicate the need for an adjustment in the approach of the church’s youth ministry. Another meaningful finding is that there has been a shift in the past few decades (regarding where the responsibility for the development of children’s faith lie) from parents to the faith community. Parents were gradually shifted out of youth ministry, which caused the drop-off culture that currently exists. To ensure a generation that understands and live their faith identity and who are still actively involved in their faith community after confirmation, begs for definite action. To address this crisis, different strategies and action plans are proposed in order to move away from church-centred, home-supporting youth ministry to home-centred, church-supporting youth ministry. This implies long-term implementation and will result in parents once again taking primary responsibility for the faith development of their children. This further infers that faith communities must include parents in the ministry to children before and during their Sunday-school and catechism years. Copyright / Dissertation (MA(Theol))--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

This study examines the impact of rapid and multi-faceted change (both domestically and inter-nationally over the past four decades) on the Dutch Reformed Church. 2 February 1990 is taken as a water shed date in the history of South-Africa: a speech in parliament of former president FW de Klerk put South-Africa on a course of fundamental change in all spheres of society. The research problem deals with loss the Afrikaans community experiences as a result of societal change. The result of change and loss is long-lasting, collective grief. Grief is defined as the nor-mal, spontaneous reaction to change and loss. Unresolved grief and nostalgia saps a lot of energy and tends to turn a congregation’s attention to itself, thereby contradicting the sound reformed ecclesiology. There is no appropriate practical theological theory to help congregations address unresolved grief. Change, loss and grief are made focus points for theological reflection and empirical study. The guiding hypothesis states that efforts to build up the local church are more likely to succeed, once the “black holes” of unaddressed grief have been dealt with by a collective and on-going process of mourning. Mourning is defined as an intentional and courageous process of letting go of different losses. It is hard work, but the result of deliberate mourning is growth – and eventually a more appropriate, new identity. Unresolved grief causes congregations to get stuck in survival mode, in stead of reaching out to the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Mourning is an antidote (Hamman 2005:35). The research model of G Heitink (1993) is employed to generate fresh practical theological thinking on the research problem: that congregations fail to live according to their missional identity. The hermeneutical cycle explores the “new” practical theology in the framework of a post-Einstein epistemology, as well as the theory of building up the local church in the framework of an ecosystemic meta-theory. The hermeneutical cycle is concluded with the study of contemporary theories of loss, grief and mourning. The empirical cycle reports the results of a qualitative empirical study in three local congregations of the Northern Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church. A rich description is given of 31 respondents’ experience of loss and grief in the new South-Africa. It is established that unresolved grief indeed impacts negatively on efforts to build up the local church. The strategic cycle searches for practical theological wisdom and for a theory that can guide congregations to more productive responses to change and loss. The research boils down to twelve strategic suggestions for local congregations on how to make collective mourning a normal and on-going part of their ministry. The study concludes with the hypothesis that practical theology can serve the church by developing a theory that integrates intentional mourning and grief work as a necessary and normal aspect of ministry. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

This study deals with the process of building up the local congregation and the manner in which missional objectives are achieved. The study is undertaken against the background of the disturbing decline in membership numbers particularly in the two traditional Reformational churches in South Africa, namely the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) and the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa. This decline is in line with similar tendencies in mainstream churches the world over. Collins’s (2006) three questions to the local congregation constitute the point of departure. Firstly: To what degree does the congregation function effectively in line with her mission in the world? Secondly: To what extent does the congregation make a distinct impact on the community? If the congregation were to disappear all of a sudden – will it leave a serious void in the community? The third question deals with sustainability: Is the congregation’s long term impact of such nature that its success is not just attributable to a single leader. The three questions have been adapted according to Collins’s process model (2001) and the key aspects of the theory of building up the local church are discussed in Chapters 2 and 3. The bulk of Chapter 2 deals with the very important matter of the missio Dei and discusses how the congregation should discover and enact her missional calling in the local community. The study furthermore deals with mission in the current South African context, particularly in view of the fact that an entirely new mission field has opened itself up with the influx into the country of so many people from neighboring countries who have come to live in our midst. Chapter 4 deals with the empirical testing associated with the study to establish if the study’s hypothesis, namely whether local churches that have undergone a structured process of building up the local church are missionally more successful than those that have not undergone a structured process, can be verified. The findings in this regard are dealt with in Chapter 5, while certain aspects that characterize the missional congregation in current times are also discussed. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Practical Theology / unrestricted