Chapter 1: Culture is a set of shared meanings, values and principles. The church finds itself in a culture that seems to have shifting values, however the church is not without hope. We must ask ourselves important questions about our principles and our competences. What does it look like for a church to be competent? What are the principles demanded by the gospel for a church to be competent? Chapter 2: The culture is changing, but is the church? We need to transition the cultures of our congregations to be more welcoming to the current culture. But how do we shift shared values in a congregation? I think it begins with the pastor defining and developing mutual understanding and responsibility among the congregation. It requires the congregants …show more content…
It also means dying to our idea of survival if it conflicts with faithfully living out the mission of God. Consistency among leadership is key in reducing anxiety and building trust. When the church is unwilling to adapt or follow through it undermines its integrity with the world. Again, here transparency is a key part of building trust through honesty. However, where is the room for grace? Grace being before violation through our love. Chapter 4: Veracity, or truth in action, should be the heart of the people of God. However, we too often fail to be truthful with one another. So, how do we tell the truth as pastor to our congregations and as congregations to one another? If St. Basil defines sin as the misuse of powers given us by God for doing good than we sin much more often than we think. How often do churches fail to report the spiritual cost for quick numerical gains? We must live truth in all areas of our church, beginning with ourselves. Chapter 5: Fairness begins with consistency and holding fast to principles. What are the constants of the church that help us ensure fairness? It is too easy to cross over standards of personal integrity for short term gains. How do we submit ourselves to accountability so that we don’t find ourselves violating our personal
DS9010 Research Methods and Design Aung, James Hatun Summary (Yaghjian, Chapter 1) January 24, 2013 Lucretia B. Yaghjian’s book, “Writing Theology Well: A Rhetoric for Theological and Biblical Writers” consists of three parts. The first part contains four chapters, the second part has two chapters and the third part has four chapters.
Philosophy of Ministry: God's desires come first, I must always live my ministry God's way. I must live as a Christian (1 Corinthians 9:27) I must have a proper relationship of surrender to the Leader. In my personal life or in the Church I must understand that Christ is Head and Chief Shepherd (Ephesians 1:22, Hebrews 13:20). The “management” of Church is about relationships with God and Man, not just maintaining a social organization.
We recently had a church meeting to articulate changes that will affect the church’s future. This chapter came in handy because I was able to engage the congregation by asking the necessary questions to get their buy-in before actually setting the change in stone. Although I ready to implement the change, it was not executed until the congregation saw it the benefits and rewards. This practice is not always the best way, because time may or may not allow it.
This is not an easy question, and yet the Church cannot avoid responding to it. Over the centuries, various Christian communities have developed alternative perspectives on this very influential Christ-culture connection. In the extreme, some believers have advocated a complete rejection of culture (Anabaptists, fundamentalists), while others at the opposite end of the ecclesiastical spectrum ...
In an age when culture continues to lower standards of intellect, Marva Dawn makes compelling observations and suggestions for the Church to rethink its strategy on impacting society. How do we evangelize without weakening the message of what we are communicating? The majority of her text focuses on the worship environment generally, but later she focuses on music, preaching, and liturgy specifically. According to Dawn, a gathering of believers should emphasize God as the subject and object of worship, challenge each individual to grow in godly character, and accentuate the community of believers (not only in the room, but throughout history as well). Through this grid, she encourages leaders and participants to evaluate each worship element.
After reading Chapter 8 “Religion and Morality” I was quickly reminded of my grandma who always would try and teach us right from wrong. She is the type of person to always want to do the right thing and believes she will be punished if doesn’t follow orders. The line “we consider what is involved in questions about the relationship of religion and morality” stood out to me (The Sacred Quest 118). This line stands out to me because it reminded me of my grandmother and how she would say God knows if we are misbehaving or doing wrong. She would act in a way as if it was her religious duty to always do the right thing or there would be consequences. Another line that caught my attention was “prayer is said to be a duty, even when one does not
Life is an interesting journey that every living creature is a part of. Human beings are born into a family they do not pick and society that they do not choose. Within this unit they are taught values and morals, which are ingrained into their daily lives. Ever since I was a child I have been exposed to many different influences, religion being one of them. To this day I can still remember my grandmother saying “God has a purpose for your life, follow Him.” In Introducing Philosophy of Religion, Chad Meister asserts “there are several components (that) seem to be central to the world religion: a system of beliefs, the breaking in of a transcendent reality, and human attitudes of ultimate concern, meaning and purpose” (Meister 6). Throughout my life I feel that religion is one of the core social belief systems that people use to maintain what they feel is a good way to live. Giving them a sense of purpose or fulfillment during their earthly life, most hoping whatever beliefs that have will help them after death. Even though there are many different religions or religious value systems every one has most likely been exposed to one or more. There is only 15% of the world’s population that do not believe in one type of religion or another (Meister, 7). So I assume that humans desire to understand and most of the time follow a religion either because of the culture they grew up in or by searching for somewhere to belong. Do the people who decide to follow a religious belief system need scientific evidence to really belief? I believe that some people need to relate science to religion and some people do not. Three ways Meister argues methods to evaluate the two are: understand the conflict between each one, look at them independently...
On Education Part II by Brighouse – Should Governments Support Religious School? Brighouse main idea of the book is to educate children in order to help them lead a life that will flourish. In Part II chapter five, the issue of the government supporting religious schools is evaluated. He discusses the importance of adapting some ways that resemble the system of the UK, where religious schools are funded through the government.
Nations crumble, churches and business fail, families become dysfunctional, children lose their way, and men stray from God for one disturbing reason; lack of leadership. These failures are often because of the lack of instruction, proper leadership, and confusion over what Christian leadership is and how that leadership is applicable to every facet of business and personal life.
Christology: A Global Introduction Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen is associate professor of systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary and holds a teaching post at the University of Helsinki and Iso Kirja College in Finland. He is the author of Christology: A Global introduction, Pneumatology: The Holy Spirit in Ecumenical, International, and Introduction to Ecclesiology: Ecumenical, Historical, and Global Perspectives (Back Cover). Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen presents the latest, comprehensive introduction to the various opinions about Christology from around the world.
Scholars have been trying to come up with a well-founded, acceptable and universal definition of religion for years; however, none of these definitions so far are a perfect fit for all religions of the world. There are many things in our life that are well defined and well understood but, unfortunately, religion is not one of them. There is no common ground and understanding of what religion really means. Religion is what we make of it, so no one can truly define religion in a way that is meaningful across all borders as it is outside of the realm of reason and rationale and the definitions we give could be either too exclusive or inclusive.
Bolger, Ryan & Gibbs, Eddie. Emerging Churches: Creating Christian community in postmodern cultures (Grand Rapids, MI) Baker Academic, 2005
Islam is often viewed as a religious tradition which originates from the seventh century. An important part of Islam is based on the prophet Muhammad, and the great revelations in which he received from God, according to the Quran. However, it is most important to realize that Muslims do not view Islam as a new religion. Muslims believe that Allah is the same God who revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Therefore, Jews, Christians, and Muslims are all followers of the same living God. Muslims believe that the Quran is the final and complete revelation of God to all people. It is not easy for some people to accept the fact that God exists when there have been so many throughout history. You cannot also say if someone’s religion is right or wrong or the God they believe in is a “Supreme” god. Why Islam and not Christianity? Why Hinduism and not Judaism? Every one of them different and they vary from one another; they have different rules and are all passionate about their belief. But the fact still remains that there is one who is above all and he is God. God is Omnipresent, omnipotent, and Benevolent.
The following pages are my best attempt at writing my very first major project. I pray that it will contain the truth of what God had me learn at the Churches of God retreat center in January of this year.
World Religions 110 has been such an amazing class to me. It will be hard to put into words how much I loved taking this class and learning about the different religions. Not only did we learn about religions, but also I feel we also learned about character, compassion, and actualization. Out of all the different topics to discuss, I feel the most important to me are: Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity.