I understand diakonia to be the service of the Church, informed by how Jesus lived in service with the sick, the poor, the outcast, and to his own disciples and followers. It means putting the needs, well-being, and growth of others before one’s own personal desires. This resembles the grace and compassion that Jesus taught throughout his life, and is a call for the work of the Church today. As a result of Christ’s grace, we are called to live out Christ-like lives by making use of the grace and gifts we have received from God to serve others. We must see servant ministry as an act inseparable from ministry within the United Methodist Church. The history of the United Methodist tradition is founded on assisting the poor and visiting the sick
While the major thrust of this manual is to help Christians in a nursing home ministry, this final part enlarges the scope a bit to help churches organize to meet the needs of elderly people both inside and outside of nursing homes.
The United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline states, “Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illuminated by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason”. This statement outlines the concept of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. Interestingly, John Wesley never actually used the term “quadrilateral” and the American Methodist scholar, Albert C. Outler, who later stated that he regretted doing so as it has been misconstrued, named it.
A Model of Christian Charity points us in the direction of enlightenment through the love of God based on mutual respect and adoration, never lustful or sinful, and following in the spirit of connected separate bodies. John Winthrop ask his people to love one another as neighbors, as brotherly bonds whom strengthen pure love and separate this love from carnal love on a model of affection. Winthro...
The African Methodist Episcopal Church also known as the AME Church, represents a long history of people going from struggles to success, from embarrassment to pride, from slaves to free. It is my intention to prove that the name African Methodist Episcopal represents equality and freedom to worship God, no matter what color skin a person was blessed to be born with. The thesis is this: While both Whites and Africans believed in the worship of God, whites believed in the oppression of the Africans’ freedom to serve God in their own way, blacks defended their own right to worship by the development of their own church. According to Andrew White, a well- known author for the AME denomination, “The word African means that our church was organized by people of African descent Heritage, The word “Methodist” means that our church is a member of the family of Methodist Churches, The word “Episcopal refers to the form of government under which our church operates.”
In the essay, “The Second Great Awakening” by Sean Wilentz explains the simultaneous events at the Cane Ridge and Yale which their inequality was one-sided origins, worship, and social surroundings exceeded more through their connections that was called The Second Great Awakening also these revivals were omen that lasted in the 1840s a movement that influences the impulsive and doctrines to hold any management. Wilentz wraps up of the politics and the evangelizing that come from proceeding from the start, but had astounding momentum during 1825.The advantage of the Americans was churched as the evangelizing Methodists or Baptists from the South called the New School revivalist and the Presbyterians or Congregationalists from the North that had a nation of theoretical Christians in a mutual culture created more of the Enlightenment rationalism than the Protestant nation on the world. The northerners focused more on the Second Great Awakening than the South on the main plan of the organization.
In a survey conducted in 2012, LifeWay.com inquired about the importance of evangelism among members of the Christian faith. The results of the survey showed that 80 percent of people who claimed to follow Jesus Christ and had openly devoted themselves to the teaching of Christianity, felt that they had a “personal responsibility to share their religious views and beliefs about Jesus Christ with non-christians” (Wilke, LifeWay.com). Surveys such as this reflect the Christian doctrine of evangelism and the weight it holds within the Christian faith. As can be seen back in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ commanded His followers “to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).” However, Jesus never told His followers how doing this.
... We accept the challenge to work at restoring God’s overall design. Moved by faith in God, we commit ourselves to promote the healing that rises at one as well as the other private and environmental levels from integrated lives dedicated to serve God and humanity.
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.
The desire to be accepted is prevalent among youth today. In a world that is currently suffering from a famine of love that is intended to be given to today’s youth, more and more we see students that desire to be accepted, yet feel accepted by no one. Because of this we see them decide to reach out, and as they do they become accepted into a group that is not a good influence on them, or simply is wasting their time. Here we will look at what exactly the bible tells us in the issue of acceptance, and how it would look in the average youth ministry today. We will then look into how we will follow up with students past their fist visit and finally what utilizing the idea of acceptance to its full potential will do for a ministry.
Many people want to attain and hold influential positions in society whether it would be in the field of science, politics, education, or in public service. However, many people tend to forget how servitude is one of the main life highways to travel in order to arrive at that successful destination called “Leadership.” Nevertheless, there was one man who knew how powerful the concept of servitude was in order to grasp the reigns of successful leadership. Socrates was a phenomenal philosopher, scholar, teacher, and servant. Socrates leadership style was unique in regards to letting students communicate among one another in an articulate theological reasoning process by questioning and probing at one’s belief system in order to seek self-purification.
into a richer experience of worship and a more effect life of service" (Crabb, 1977, p.31). The method to establishing an
Young, D. S. (1999). Servant Leadership for Church Renewal: Sheperds By the Living Springs. Scottdale: Herald Press.
From the time it was introduced to America in 1766, by Phillip Embury in New York and Robert Strawbridge in Maryland (Methodism 2) until the middle of the 19th century, Methodism enjoyed a meteoric rise. At the time of the American Revolution Methodists comprised a very small percentage of the American religious population, and yet by the mid 1800s Methodism was a dominant religious movement. In fact, historian William Warren Sweet claims that while “of all the religious bodies in America at the close of the American Revolution, the Methodists were the most insignificant,” it can now safely be said that “Methodism was to the West what Puritanism was to New England,” (3) that is, the dominant cultural and religious force. In fact, he claims, “no single force had more to do with bringing order out of frontier chaos than the Methodist circuit-rider,” (3). So, how was it that Methodism, so insignificant at the founding of our country, became, within a generation, a dominant cultural and religious force? Before we can answer this question; before we can speak to this meteoric rise of Methodism in America, we first have to understand the origins of Methodism in England.
In ministry it is important to note that the different people involved in your ministry will be at different stages of their spiritual growth. Having an awareness of your own personal theology will be important for how you go about teaching the students who are involved in your youth ministry. One part of personal theology is spiritual formation. Duffy Robbins states that spiritual formation is, “the growing into the likeness of Jesus” (448). Another main part of personal theology is community. Understanding and having an idea of both spiritual formation and community helps with the formation of personal theology of ministry. This paper will share five areas of theology and how they relate to practical theology in youth ministry. The five areas of theology include view of God, view of people, view of sin, view of redemption, and view of scripture.
The shepherd and sheep relationship is the best illustration for the relationship between pastor and parishioners. When Jesus asked Simon Peter does he love him three times and said to him “Feed my sheep”, the shepherd and flock relationship has been set. Since Jesus is our good shepherd (Jn. 10:11a), he laid out a good example for us to follow - to lay down his life for the sheep. (Jn. 10:11b) Thus, the wellness of both in and out of the parishioners should always be the concern in the pastors’ hearts. Soul care for the people is essential. Christian friendship is the foundation of Christian soul care. Pastoral ministry including preaching, teaching, and worship forms the broad context of pastoral counseling. Pastoral care is within pastoral ministry but broader than pastoral counseling. God’s love is the source and motivation. Within the pastoral care, there are spiritual direction and pastoral