scholarly journals Maori, Biculturalism and the Assemblies of God  in New Zealand, 1970 - 2008

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Philip D Carew

<p>This thesis examines the extent to which the New Zealand Assemblies of God, one of the largest and oldest Pentecostal denominations in the country, has fostered participation by Maori, and its success in doing so between 1970 and 2008. From the advent of the Mana Maori renaissance in the 1970s the idea of biculturalism became an important vehicle for Maori aspirations. As part of its broader agenda, the thesis also considers the church's response to this bicultural emphasis. The Assemblies' particular response is analysed in the light of experiences in the mainline denominations and the Apostolic and Destiny churches which either experienced considerable success in attracting Maori participation, or explicitly accommodated the call for a bicultural response using recognised bicultural models. The research is based on the published literature of the Assemblies of God and an extensive range of interviews. These provided detail on the motivations and underlying beliefs that have generated particular responses. The published literature of the other denominations has also been addressed for comparative purposes, along with a range of relevant secondary literature. The Assemblies of God's flexible structure, clarity of teaching, fostering of indigenous leadership and emphasis on local church autonomy, has enabled it to grow rapidly throughout the world. Despite this, and despite the church's emphasis on crosscultural mission, this thesis demonstrates that Maori have not joined the Assemblies of God to the same extent that they have other Pentecostal denominations in New Zealand. It argues that the church has done little to foster Maori participation in the movement, and identifies eight key historical, ideological, and organisational factors that have hindered its ability to do so. In particular, it highlights the significance of the denomination's emphasis on local church autonomy, the absence of any deliberate "mission" to Maori, and the church's multicultural emphasis and historical suspicion of "social justice".</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Philip D Carew

<p>This thesis examines the extent to which the New Zealand Assemblies of God, one of the largest and oldest Pentecostal denominations in the country, has fostered participation by Maori, and its success in doing so between 1970 and 2008. From the advent of the Mana Maori renaissance in the 1970s the idea of biculturalism became an important vehicle for Maori aspirations. As part of its broader agenda, the thesis also considers the church's response to this bicultural emphasis. The Assemblies' particular response is analysed in the light of experiences in the mainline denominations and the Apostolic and Destiny churches which either experienced considerable success in attracting Maori participation, or explicitly accommodated the call for a bicultural response using recognised bicultural models. The research is based on the published literature of the Assemblies of God and an extensive range of interviews. These provided detail on the motivations and underlying beliefs that have generated particular responses. The published literature of the other denominations has also been addressed for comparative purposes, along with a range of relevant secondary literature. The Assemblies of God's flexible structure, clarity of teaching, fostering of indigenous leadership and emphasis on local church autonomy, has enabled it to grow rapidly throughout the world. Despite this, and despite the church's emphasis on crosscultural mission, this thesis demonstrates that Maori have not joined the Assemblies of God to the same extent that they have other Pentecostal denominations in New Zealand. It argues that the church has done little to foster Maori participation in the movement, and identifies eight key historical, ideological, and organisational factors that have hindered its ability to do so. In particular, it highlights the significance of the denomination's emphasis on local church autonomy, the absence of any deliberate "mission" to Maori, and the church's multicultural emphasis and historical suspicion of "social justice".</p>


Author(s):  
Lars Råmunddal

The question I attempt to answer in this article is how church traditions can play a positive or constructive role in local church development – and when and why they cannot do so, but on the contrary, become an obstacle to developing churches in an ecclesiological holistic way. One of the main reasons why church traditions become a problem for church development today is to emphasize either the historical or the contemporary context of the church. Based on a holistic ecclesiological model, the article argues that a local church always stands in the tension between, on the one hand, the long history and tradition of the Christian Church – where “my” church tradition also is located –, and on the other hand, the Church’s presence in a given time and culture. In order to assess the constructive value of church traditions and their significance for church development, I recommend inspiration and guidance gained from thinking developed, in general, according to the concepts of detraditionalization and retraditionalization – and according to what is related to the question of a tradition’s “intention”, in particular. Here the article argues that the using and re-using potential of church traditions does not have to be not only linked to the historical dimension of the Church, but also to the socio-cultural one. Looking at the church landscape in Scandinavia today, one will find that there are representatives of local churches that relatively and unilaterally emphasize the practice of sacrament and liturgy. This is accentuated partly by those who wish to modernize meetings, music and forms of communication with the intention to adapt the church to the contemporary culture, and partly by those who try to find a balance between traditional values and contemporary ones. The United Malmö church is appointed out as an example of the latter way of thinking church development.


2019 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 235-246
Author(s):  
Alexey L. Beglov

The article examines the contribution of the representatives of the Samarin family to the development of the Parish issue in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The issue of expanding the rights of the laity in the sphere of parish self-government was one of the most debated problems of Church life in that period. The public discussion was initiated by D.F. Samarin (1827-1901). He formulated the “social concept” of the parish and parish reform, based on Slavophile views on society and the Church. In the beginning of the twentieth century his eldest son F.D. Samarin who was a member of the Special Council on the development the Orthodox parish project in 1907, and as such developed the Slavophile concept of the parish. In 1915, A.D. Samarin, who took up the position of the Chief Procurator of the Most Holy Synod, tried to make his contribution to the cause of the parish reforms, but he failed to do so due to his resignation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 542-557
Author(s):  
Kenneth L. Waters
Keyword(s):  
The Face ◽  

In what ways are the Johannine Epistles a response to empire ideology and propaganda? These Epistles proclaim a more complete and correct cosmology, a greater Savior and soteriology, a better pedagogy, a truer doctrine, a sounder koinōnia, and a more nurturing paterfamilias; moreover, they do so while indicting schismatics, who, in the view of the elder, represent the face of the empire. Although the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ drive the elder’s witness and ministry, he must still shape his message to counter the encroachment of empire in the church and on the mission field.


2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-463
Author(s):  
David W. Priddy

In this essay, I pose the question, “How might local congregations participate in food reform and agricultural renewal?” Given the problems of industrial agriculture and the wider ecological concern, this question is pressing. Instead of advocating a specific program, I focus on how the Church might address this question while keeping its commitment to being a repentant Church. First, I discuss the significance of attention and particularly the habit of attending to the Word and Sacrament. This posture, I argue, maintains the Church’s integrity, preventing it from merely branding itself or relying on its own resources. Second, I briefly explore the association of eating with the mission of the Church in the New Testament, highlighting the repeated theme of judgment and call to humility in the context of eating. Third, I draw out the importance of continual remorse over sin. This attitude is essential to the Church’s vocation and rightly appears in many historic liturgies. I argue that this posture should extend to the question of eating responsibly. Penitence demonstrates the Church’s relationship to the wider world and testifies to the source of the Church’s own life, the Holy Spirit, who does the work of renewal.


1973 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Davies

The appearance of the contemporary archbishop of Canterbury in the crises and conflicts of later medieval England has never surprised historians. For not only by tradition but in terms of real political weight the archbishop, unlike his brother of York, had a part to play in the affairs of the realm which he could scarcely hope to avoid, no matter how invidious. Appointed almost invariably with the close and usually decisive interest of the Crown in mind, the archbishop could anticipate repeated calls from the Crown for his support, counsel and service. However, thoughtful contemporaries and broadminded historians alike have for the most part been at pains to put this particular aspect into the wider context of the archiepiscopal function as a whole; the approaching cloud of the Reformation has not deceived historians into underestimating the considerable stature and merits of the metropolitans of this period. Whatever unsatisfactory reasons of state, ambition or faction lay behind their promotion, almost to a man they performed their arduous duties, with their diverse and often contradictory obligations, with good intent, frequent self-sacrifice and more often than not considerable success, at least in the eyes of the orthodox churchmen of their own time. If their political appearances alone have entered the textbooks, closer observers have been aware that the care of the Church was their first concern, and political involvement a distraction and a burden. At times the service of two masters posed its dilemmas, but usually the Crown preserved the archiepiscopal position by a fundamental respect for its other loyalties to God, the pope and the Church, and did not call for an irrevocable commitment fracturing these obligations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 103-115
Author(s):  
Robert McBain

This article explores the silent nature of depression in the local church and suggests that developing Jesus-style friendships can break the silence. It adapts the author’s Doctor of Ministry (DMin) research project, which explored the silent nature of depression in the local church and Christianity’s interpretive healing qualities. This article argues that the church has a rich history of helping sufferers interpret their experiences of depression, but changing worldviews, the growth of the modern medical model, and the effectiveness of pharmaceuticals monopolized health and shoved the church to the periphery of the conversation. Silence became the church’s typical response, which promoted an attitude of stigma and avoidance. The article suggests that developing Jesus-style friendships can help break the silence because social or religious barriers do not restrict such friendships. This model of friendship is crucial for giving depression sufferers a sense of identity, meaning, and purpose within the church community.


Development ◽  
1958 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 569-574
Author(s):  
M. S. Deol

A Pilot experiment by Weber (1950) established the fact that the minor skeletal variations universally present in strains of tame mice are also encountered in wild populations; and that the incidence of individual variants may differ widely from population to population. In the decade since Weber's work many new variants have come to light, and it seemed desirable to repeat his observations on the more extensive range of variants now available. An opportunity to do so presented itself in 1956 when wild mice from various localities in the eastern U.S.A. became available for study. These animals had been collected for a totally different purpose. As is well known through the work of Dunn and his collaborators, there exists in the mouse a semi-dominant gene (T) for Brachyury or short-tail which in T/+ heterozygotes shortens the tail to a varying extent.


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