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Problem. Protestant churches in North America face serious declines in church membership and support. Some Christians have become disillusioned with the status quo of present structures. Method. With firsthand convictions coming from involvement in the church in Brazil, I have turned to the Bible to substantiate a theological understanding of the church. Historical, archaeological, and contemporary models are reviewed to question the validity and effectiveness of house churches. Results. The NT period was apparently primarily a house-church society due to political and economical restraints. Many of the contemporary house-church models were mainly support, koinonia, and fellowship groups that did not have much longevity. The Adventist experiments cited did not accomplish their original objectives. Conclusions. House churches divide themselves into three kinds. (1) There are basic independent groups which are fully organized as a church; church membership resides there and all the celebrations of the church are conducted there; they attempt to follow the NT model. These can be found in areas where there are high government restrictions, and the house church becomes the only means of survival. (2) There are groups which call themselves house churches, but they really are not, for they exist primarily for fellowship and continue to maintain a direct relationship to a larger church. (3) Finally, the last group are those which are satellites to a mother church. In this case the house church is used for nurture, fellowship, and outreach, but celebration usually occurs in the context of the larger body. These also do not qualify according to the Biblical model. There are inherent dangers and a certain vulnerability in house-church activities. House churches seem to attract the "off-shoot" mentality. However, they do have certain strengths, i.e., simplicity, openness, and relatively inexpensive operation costs. House churches can in some instances be used to reach certain socio-economic and cross-cultural groups and are a means to reintegrate people who have become dissatisfied with their own spirituality. They also are excellent places to involve the laity. House churches seem to work best for short periods as interim or transitional organizations.
Problem. Protestant churches in North America face serious declines in church membership and support. Some Christians have become disillusioned with the status quo of present structures. Method. With firsthand convictions coming from involvement in the church in Brazil, I have turned to the Bible to substantiate a theological understanding of the church. Historical, archaeological, and contemporary models are reviewed to question the validity and effectiveness of house churches. Results. The NT period was apparently primarily a house-church society due to political and economical restraints. Many of the contemporary house-church models were mainly support, koinonia, and fellowship groups that did not have much longevity. The Adventist experiments cited did not accomplish their original objectives. Conclusions. House churches divide themselves into three kinds. (1) There are basic independent groups which are fully organized as a church; church membership resides there and all the celebrations of the church are conducted there; they attempt to follow the NT model. These can be found in areas where there are high government restrictions, and the house church becomes the only means of survival. (2) There are groups which call themselves house churches, but they really are not, for they exist primarily for fellowship and continue to maintain a direct relationship to a larger church. (3) Finally, the last group are those which are satellites to a mother church. In this case the house church is used for nurture, fellowship, and outreach, but celebration usually occurs in the context of the larger body. These also do not qualify according to the Biblical model. There are inherent dangers and a certain vulnerability in house-church activities. House churches seem to attract the "off-shoot" mentality. However, they do have certain strengths, i.e., simplicity, openness, and relatively inexpensive operation costs. House churches can in some instances be used to reach certain socio-economic and cross-cultural groups and are a means to reintegrate people who have become dissatisfied with their own spirituality. They also are excellent places to involve the laity. House churches seem to work best for short periods as interim or transitional organizations.
This project seeks to set out a rationale for culturally contextualized preaching in East Africa, with a specific focus on Kenya, and on this basis develops a syllabus for a college course in Biblical preaching.A survey of contemporary East African culture shows it to be still largely based on traditional African patterns but modified by many outside influences. When compared with the cultural context of the Bible or with Western society, East African culture shows significant differences. An understanding of this is necessary in order to preach effectively in Kenya.Many preachers, both missionaries and East Africans 2 3 educated in a Western tradition, have in the past failed adequately to contextualize thedr preaching. Today there is' consensus that contextualization is needed but disagreement as to how it is to be carried out. This study supports the approach which grants Scripture authority over culture. Legitimate contextualization, therefore, is a process of taking the authoritative Biblical message and communi cating it in terms relevant to people's cultural context.Preaching is the medium of choice for communicating the Gospel and is particularly well suited to adapt the communication to different situations as the Gospel enters a given culture.The Bible provides the justification for contextualization and the basic guidelines for its accomplishment. Jesus set the basic pattern in the incarnation. His preaching reveals how sensitive he was to his hearers' world and how he adapted his approach to meet them within their frame of reference. However, he was not bound by culture and often pronounced judgment on traditional ways and values. The apostle Paul followed a similar pattern.Preachers today should follow the Biblical model. This involves personally becoming a part of the context of the respondents and preaching a message that is relevant to people's felt and real needs. The methods of communication must be those that are effective in East Africa. These include expressing the message with reference to the hearers' world view, using proverbs, aphorisms, folk tales, local history and literature, concrete forms of expression, dynamic equivalents, rhythm, ritual, and song, dialogue, and group-oriented appeals for decision. Andrews UniversitySeventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary
"Baptism inaugurates a life that daily moves forward to a battle, confident that in each sorrow, there is a more vigorous expression of the presence of the risen Christ. Baptism warns the Christian that if he shares the same life, he must face the same struggle of life unto death so that life is eternally victorious. Recent events in the Romanian Orthodox Church regarding the baptism of infants by immersion have ignited a civil debate and much criticism. The issue of baptism and for that matter, the baptism itself is very important. For the believers especially this is important. However, no matter how important this is, one has to agree that it should never ever lead to division and hate. Unfortunately, it looks like nothing among believers can lead to disagreement more than such discussions about the role of baptism, the meaning of it, and of course, the methods used to perform the baptism. On the other hand, there should be an agreement that ignoring the problems raised by this issue will not solve it at all, but instead creating even more problems and further the gap among many Christians, ultimately. The fact that there is a possibility to discuss this important doctrine as part of a dialog among many denominations, among many religions it will prove the level of one’s maturity to “agree to disagree” with the main goal of learning always and know what to stand for and what is worth fighting for. When it comes to major doctrines special attention should be given to the text, making sure that there is a proper, correct, throughout exegesis as well as a very good lexical and syntactical study. The purpose of this research is to dig deep into the Bible and more specifically exegete the text found in The Gospel of Matthew chapter 3, from verses 13 to 17, then view its theological lessons followed by practical applications."
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