The Temple of Freedom Under God, Church of God, is one of the oldest religious organizations located in the District of Colombia, whose congregation is currently being led under the supervision of Elder Walter D. Roman, Sr. Like many of the Pentecostal churches in this day and age, the Temple of Freedom Under God’s practices and beliefs coincide with the traditional practices of the earlier Pentecostal African American churches, holding tightly onto the doctrines that were instilled in The Gospel Spreading Church during the 1900s. The Gospel Spreading Church was founded by a man by the name of Elder Solomon “Lightfoot” Michaux, who was born, raised, and educated in Virginia. In 1906, Lightfoot came to Mary Eliza Pauline, a woman one year his junior, was born and raised in the church. With hard work and dedication, by the age of 34, Lightfoot, had become “a prosperous business man, securing large government contracts to furnish food to defense establishments.” Mrs. Michaux prayed for the salvation of her husband daily, and one day, “God saved him and from that time forward, they worked as a team in gospel ministry.” One year after finding salvation, Elder Michaux was ordained and licensed. He then began preaching at a small church called “Everybody’s Mission” which he had built up from scratch. Moving from Everybody’s Mission, Michaux began once again to build a church, this time starting from a tent. It was here, in this tent, that one hundred and fifty people would come to accept the Lord as their Savior, and would join the Michaux family in becoming the foundation of the Gospel Spreading Church (GSC). After years of expanding the GSC, Elder Lightfoot, later established ten more churches in various locations, each of ... ... middle of paper ... ...lude the belief in the doctrine of the church, the doctrine of the family, the doctrine of the spirit world, and the doctrine of the future. Works Cited Church of God (Temple of Freedom Under God) African American Heritage Trail. (1999). Retrieved March 28, 2011, from Cultural Tourism DC: http://www.culturaltourismdc.org/node/1287 Fitzpatrick, S. (1999). The Guide to Black Washington. New York: Hippocrene Books. May, Cedrick. Evangelism and Resistance in the Black Atlantic, 1760-1835. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2008. Pinn, A. H., & Pinn, A. B. (2002). Fortress: Intorduction to Black Church History. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress. Webb, L. A. (1981). About My Father's Business. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Welcome to Gospel Spreading Church. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2011, from Gospel Spreading Church: www.http://gospelspreadingchurch.com/
N.T. Wright: During my first semester at Northwestern College, I was assigned the book, “The Challenge of Jesus” by N.T. Wright for one of my Biblical Studies courses. This book and every other book Tom Wright has written has dramatically impacted my Christian faith. Dr. Wright has not only defended the basic tenants of the Christian faith, but also has shown how an academically-minded pastor ought to love and care for his or her congregants. N.T. Wright was previously the Bishop of Durham and pastored some of the poorest in the United Kingdom. His pastoral ministry has helped shape his understanding of God’s kingdom-vision which he is diagramming within his magnum opus “Christian Origins and the Question of God”. This series has instructed myself and countless other pastors to be for God’s kingdom as we eagerly await Christ’s return. Additionally, I have had the privilege of meeting with N.T. Wright one-on-one on numerous occasions to discuss faith, the Church, and his research. I firmly believe Tom Wright is the greatest New Testament scholar of our generation and he is the primary reason why I feel called into ministry.
...al Church in Philadelphia, were a way founded by former slaves to locate their family members. It was a big step forward and meant freedom for many backs.
McMickle, M. A. (2002). An encyclopedia of African American Christian heritage. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press.
This mass enterprise is reviewed through five traditions in the early nineteenth century: the Christian movement, the Methodists, the Baptists, the black churches, and the Mormons. Hatch explains that these major American movements were led by young men who shared “an ethic of unrelenting toil, a passion for expansion, a hostility to orthodox belief and style, a zeal for religious reconstruction, and a systematic plan to realize their ideals” (4). These leaders changed the scope of American Christianity by orientating toward democratic or populist ideals. Their movements offered both individual potential and collective aspiration, which were ideas ready to be grasped by the young and booming population. These early leaders had a vision of a faith that disregarded social standing, and taught all to think, interpret, and organize their faith for themselves. It was a faith of “religious populism, reflecting the passions of ordinary people and the charisma of democratic movement-builders” (5).
Bartolomé de Las Casas presents, for its time, an astounding claim human equality before God. Defending the native people of the New World from the violence executed by Spain and the claims to authority given voice by Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, Las Casas provides a precocious assertion of human rights and the limits on civil and church authority. In this paper I will argue that Las Casas makes a nuanced assessment of civil government, to which he gives a vital but limited authority. I further propose that Las Casas, even while holding to the traditional and scriptural authority of the church, ascribes a similarly circumscribed earthly authority. The effect of these positions is to afford to non-Christians rationality and the freedom of self-government. My assessment of Las Casas’ thought will begin with Las Casas’ view of civil authority and then move to his description of the church’s role in the world. I shall then turn to his defense of the rationality and freedom of the indigenous Americans.
Mead, Frank S., and Samuel S. Hill. Handbook of Denominations in the United States. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1995. Print.
BWH Bulletin. (2012, June 15). Past, Present and Future of BWH Discussed at Town Meeting. Retrieved from http://www.brighamandwomens.org/about_bwh/publicaffairs/news/publications/DisplayBulletin.aspx?articleid=5614
In the King James’ Version’s Gospel of Mark, chapter 16, verse 18, it is stated that, “They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” This reading has been looked at under many different shades of light. This speculation has led to many different ideas about the seriousness of the translation of the word of the Lord. For over a century, people of Appalachia have taken this line of the bible and turned it into the focus of the Christian worship services. How strictly should these Pentecostals take the word the bible? What makes these snake-handlers so different from other Christians? What can the serpent-handlers do to make their worship practices not get such a bad rep from the outside? I believe that if the serpent handing Holiness Pentecostals can create a centralized authority for their worshiping ways that displays their behavior as welcoming and friendly, they will be able to better educate the public about what their mission is all about, and become a stronger and more respected group.
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.
Jim Jones could finally start his own church with all of the followers he had gained in 2 years. The first church was opened in Indianapolis in 1956 which he called the “peoples temple”. Jim thought that there was a bad balance in the world that the rich were way to rich and the poor were working way too hard for the little that they got. So the people’s temple helped get homes for the mentally ill and the elderly and also helped people find jobs. The temple grew larger and larger as the days went by, in 1966 Jim Jones decided ...
Walls, Andrew F. 1996. The Missionary Movement In Christian History. 1st ed. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books.
Mead, Loren B. The Once and Future Church Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier . The Alban Institute, Inc., 1991. Kindle eBook file.
The history of Pentecostalism is widely disputed amongst historians; some believe that Pentecostalism began with Jesus’ disciple’s baptism in the Holy Spirit at the first Pentecost, while other historians argue that the religion itself dates as recent as the early ninety’s. In the historiographical essay, “Assessing the Roots of Pentecostalism,” Randall J. Stephens claims that the Pentecostal movement started in 1901 and the famous 1906 Los Angeles revival on Azusa Street helped the religion grow to currently contain approximately 420 million followers. The followers, being mostly lower and middle-class groups who were “multi-ethnic and often challenged racial norms” (Wilma Wells Davies 2), of the revival were unhappy...
As a Black male born in the early 80s, raised in the church, and being now an adult in the twenty-first century, I have had firsthand experiences of many of the plights worthy of exploration for this project. Having been introduced to God in the Black Baptist tradition,
His church is a “good sized” suburban church that has been around for 295 years. He describes the parishioners as having a “broad tent” of theological views. This congregation is open to new ideas and re-visiting the old. They appear to be carrying out intentional missional work in their community