Helping the Homeless in Dallas: Lessons and Challenges from a Faith-Based Nonprofit

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-16
Author(s):  
Julie Adkins
Keyword(s):  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
Church Staff ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
First Presbyterian Church ◽  
The Church

The Stewpot is an agency in downtown Dallas that has been serving the hungry and homeless for more than 30 years. Its founding story has become the stuff of legend: In the mid-1970s, First Presbyterian Church staff was approached more and more often by people living on the streets who needed something to eat. In response, the church started to keep on hand a supply of canned goods that could be handed out. At the time, the practice was that each person who asked would be given two cans of food, with the labels removed so that they could not be resold. But there came a day in 1975 when one of the associate pastors handed the last two cans to a man who needed them … and then helplessly watched him try to open one of the cans with the only tool available in his possession: a key. Before the end of the year First Presbyterian had given up on the notion of handing out cans of food, and had created the Stewpot, preparing and serving a noontime meal in the church's kitchen and fellowship hall. Within two weeks, there were more than 100 people coming for lunch every weekday (Adams 2006).

The Presbyterian Church in Canada and the Pope: One denomination's struggle with its confessional history

2004 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-115
Author(s):  
Peter G. Bush
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
Presbyterian Church In Canada ◽  
The Church ◽  
New Time

The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), a subordinate standard of The Presbyterian Church in Canada, makes harsh, even offensive, statements about the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. This paper explores how The Presbyterian Church in Canada has sought to balance the confessional nature of the church with its changing views of the Roman Catholic Church. Choosing not to amend the Westminster Confession of Faith, the church has adopted explanatory notes and declaratory acts to help Presbyterians understand the Confession in a new time.

Enchanted Calvinism

2021 ◽  
pp. 589-607
Author(s):  
Adam Mohr
Keyword(s):  
Bible Study ◽  
Primary Site ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Initial Transformation ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Church

The goal of this chapter is to explain how healing and deliverance practices were instituted in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG). The first half of this chapter examines the PCG’s initial transformation, which was driven by three factors: the decision by the leadership to introduce healing practices into the church, the creation of the Bible Study and Prayer Group to manage the afflicted within congregations, and the influence of two parachurch organizations. The second half of this chapter focuses on Catechist Ebenezer Abboah-Offei, who since 1996 has been leading Grace Presbyterian Church in Akropong, the primary site of healing and deliverance practices within the PCG. With regards to Abboah-Offei, this chapter describes how he came to teach and practise deliverance and the process by which Grace Presbyterian was established. Finally, this chapter describes the various healing and deliverance activities that occur at Grace Presbyterian Church.

scholarly journals The Politics of Credentials: A Commentary and Critique of the Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-327
Author(s):  
Graham A Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Church Tradition

The use of credentials in an ecclesiastical context is a means of assuring that a minister is who he or she claims to be and is therefore trained and qualified to exercise ministry within a particular church tradition as determined by individual denominations. The concept and use of credentials has developed over time. Using primary sources in the main, this article examines the use of credentials as a tool for ‘inclusion’ or a means of ‘exclusion’, or both, in the history of the largest Presbyterian church in Southern Africa and its predecessors. The research question under study is to what degree, if any, were credentials used to control ministers and to cleanse and purify the church of radical – such as anti-apartheid – elements?

scholarly journals Med troen som fællesnævner – fællesskab blandt unge i Indre Mission

Kulturstudier ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Tina Wilchen Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Central Position ◽  
Lutheran Church ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Collective Interaction ◽  
Evangelical Lutheran Church ◽  
Evangelical Lutheran ◽  
The Church ◽  
Present Life

<div>Artiklen vil belyse de mekanismer, der ligger til grund for et velfungerende f&aelig;llesskab&nbsp;i en af Indre Missions ungdomsforeninger i &Aring;rhus. Troen har p&aring; forskellige&nbsp;m&aring;der en central position i f&aelig;llesskabet, og denne artikel vil argumentere for de&nbsp;unges tro som en social identitet, idet deres habitus synes at have en afg&oslash;rende&nbsp;betydning for den og deres oplevelse af det religi&oslash;st funderede f&aelig;llesskab. Artiklenvil ogs&aring; belyse, hvordan Biblen og dens fort&aelig;llinger udg&oslash;r den fortolkningsramme,&nbsp;som de unge er opvokset med og forst&aring;r livet igennem. Artiklen viser&nbsp;desuden den rolle, det kollektive samv&aelig;r spiller i de unges konstruktion af Gud&nbsp;og egen identitet som kristen.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Faith as common ground- community feeling among young evangelicals in Denmark</div><div><br /></div><div>The aim of this article is to demonstrate the mechanisms that underlie a youth association in the so-called Home Mission, a branch of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark. It is the result of anthropological research focusing on the sense of community among members aged between 15 and 27. In a number of ways faith plays a central role in the community, and the main argument of the article is that the young people's faith constitutes a social identity, since their habitus seems to have a decisive impact on their experience of the faith-based community. The article further demonstrates how the Bible and its narratives form the framework of interpretation with which the young people have grown up, and which, in their present life as adults, continues to mould their understanding and view of life, as well as the role that collective interaction plays in the young people's construction of God and their own identity as Christians. A core argument in the article is that faith is a socialization into a structure which results in all participants having the same frame of reference and therefore experiencing a strong feeling of community with one another within this particular wing of the Church of Denmark.&nbsp;<br /> <br /></div>

A Dream Begins

2020 ◽  
pp. 5-24
Author(s):  
Jill D. Snider
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
African American ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Economic Strategy ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
Building Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Church

This chapter examines the Carthage, NC, childhood of African American inventor and entrepreneur Lucean Arthur Headen, with special attention paid to the social networks Headen’s family forged and to the mentors who inspired him to become an inventor. It describes the influence of former slave artisans, among them his grandfather, a wheelwright for the Tyson & Jones Buggy Company, and his great-uncle, a nationally known toolmaker, who schooled him in mechanics; his father, a sawmill owner, who sparked his entrepreneurial ambitions; and aunts and uncles active in the Presbyterian Church and Republican Party, who offered important social connections. Finally, it describes the economic strategy demonstrated for Headen by Rev. Henry D. Wood, who built a diverse coalition of supporters to finance the construction of John Hall Presbyterian Church and Dayton Academy (the church and school Headen attended). Headen later adapted this coalition-building model to finance his first inventions and business efforts.

Liberal and Secular or Protestant and Orange?

2019 ◽  
pp. 168-193
Author(s):  
Thomas Hennessey ◽  
Máire Braniff ◽  
James W. McAuley ◽  
Jonathan Tonge ◽  
Sophie A. Whiting
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
Church Of Ireland ◽  
Orange Order ◽  
The Church

This chapter examines the importance of the Protestant Faith and Church and of the Orange Order to UUP members. Whilst overwhelmingly Protestant, the UUP has always rejected the overtly fundamentalist, Free Presbyterian brand with which the DUP was associated for many years. The chapter analyses whether the Church of Ireland or Presbyterian Church provide most UUP members. The chapter then discusses the religiously conservative attitudes of members, assessing the extent of support for, or opposition to, the legalization of same-sex marriage and abortion, currently still prohibited (other than in exceptional cases for abortion) in Northern Ireland. The extent to which members offer support for ‘mixed’ (Protestant–Catholic) marriages and for unfettered marching rights for the Orange Order, will also be examined. Are older members, politically socialized in an era of fraternal Orange–UUP relations, still more sympathetic to the Orange Order? The survey data allow direct comparisons with the DUP.

scholarly journals Hervormde voetspore op die Tukkie-kampus: ’n Kroniek van die eerste 50 jaar

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
André G. Ungerer
Keyword(s):  
Theological Education ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Church Membership ◽  
Theological Seminary ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
Steady Growth ◽  
University Of Pretoria ◽  
Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk ◽  
The University ◽  
The Church

In 2017 the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (NHKA) celebrates its centenary of theological education at the University of Pretoria (UP). In this article the focus is on the build-up to setting up the first 50 years 1917– 1967 at UP. From as early as 1909 there was a yearning for our own theological seminary; however, some of the church leaders expressed their desire for theological education at a university. At the dawn of 1916 everything was in place for the NHKA and the Presbyterian Church of South Africa, as the first two partners, to start a faculty of theology at the Transvaal University College (TUC). On 01 April 1917 the Faculty of Theology commenced its work with prof. J.H.J.A. Greyvenstein of the NHKA and prof. E. MacMillan from the Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian link with the faculty was broken in 1933. From 1938 the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK) joined the NHKA and two independent sections were established: Section A for the NHKA and Section B for the NGK. There was a steady growth in the number of students and professors and on 13 June 1967 the NHKA filled its sixth professorship in the person of prof. I.J. de Wet. This era was also characterised by a lot of political tension in the heyday of the policy of apartheid. The NHKA was known for Article III in its constitution that propagates that church membership was for whites only. The NHKA support of the policy of apartheid was the cause of a dispute between the Church and prof. A.S. Geyser. In the end the matter was settled in favour of Geyser. There was also a dispute between professors A.G. Geyser and A.D. Pont that ended up in court in 1967. Pont was accused of defamation against Geyser. The court ruled against Pont and Geyser was granted the largest amount of compensation up till then.

Seeker-friendly: The Hillsong megachurch as an enchanting total institution

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 661-676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Wade
Keyword(s):  
Economic Order ◽  
Total Institution ◽  
Religious Expression ◽  
Late Capitalism ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
The Church ◽  
Global Reach

The increasingly voluntary quality of religious expression has prompted many faith-based entities to embrace ‘secular’ means of evangelism. This is evident within the Sydney-based Hillsong Church, which has grown rapidly in attendees, capital resources and global reach. This ‘seeker-friendly’ strategy, however, raises questions around whether the ‘megachurch’ can sustain itself in offering respite from wearying Weberian processes of rationalisation and disenchantment. Hillsong’s resolution of this dilemma has been to create an encompassing arena of enchantment for constituents, a contemporary Goffmanian ‘total institution’ by reproducing the unalterable mechanisms of the economic order in a way that imbues them with greater meaning. Loyalties are sought by aligning desires for both personal reinvention and collective subsumption with the overarching evangelical aims of the Church. Thus for the committed devotee the transcendent and pragmatic may become synonymous and imbued with wonder, so that any gnawing dissonance felt as characteristic of late capitalism may be reconciled.

scholarly journals Objective Church Environment Audits and Attendee Perceptions of Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Supports within the Church Setting

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
pp. 3598
Author(s):  
Marilyn E. Wende ◽  
Andrew T. Kaczynski ◽  
John A. Bernhart ◽  
Caroline G. Dunn ◽  
Sara Wilcox
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
South Carolina ◽  
Healthy Eating ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
The Church

Interventions in faith-based settings are increasingly popular, due to their effectiveness for improving attendee health outcomes and behaviors. Little past research has examined the important role of the church environment in individual-level outcomes using objective environmental audits. This study examined associations between the objectively measured physical church environment and attendees’ perceptions of physical activity (PA) and healthy eating (HE) supports within the church environment, self-efficacy for PA and HE, and self-reported PA and HE behaviors. Data were collected via church audits and church attendee surveys in 54 churches in a rural, medically underserved county in South Carolina. Multi-level regression was used to analyze associations between the church environment and outcomes. Physical elements of churches were positively related to attendees’ perceptions of church environment supports for PA (B = 0.03, 95% CI = 0.01, 0.05) and HE (B = 0.05, 95% CI = 0.01, 0.09) and there was a significant interaction between perceptions of HE supports and HE church environment. Self-efficacy and behaviors for PA and HE did not show an association with the church environment. Future research should establish a temporal relationship between the church environment and these important constructs for improving health. Future faith-based interventions should apply infrastructure changes to the church environment to influence important mediating constructs to health behavior.

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