scholarly journals And Then There Was Zoom: A Catholic Theological Examination on the Development of Digital Youth Ministry

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 565
Author(s):  
Jodi Hunt

Although some youth programs have found significant success in expanding their ministerial outreach through the use of digital technology, a significant question remains: can spiritual communion among youth remain flourishing in isolation or outside the ‘brick and mortar’ walls of the church? The following paper is a practical theological analysis focused upon defining digital youth ministry and the theological underpinnings that provide a framework for its development. Sketched out through the lens of American Catholicism, this paper will especially make use of the sacramental and Trinitarian language of ‘communion’ and accompaniment in framing its exploration digital youth ministry and how it can keep young people engaged through periods of isolation caused by crises like that of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Kevin Muriithi Ndereba

Abstract The contemporary context creates complexities for the young person. These include the political and socio-economic realities of African states, the cultural renaissance of Africanism and the reality of postmodernity. From both a practical theological perspective as well as experience in higher education, the author claims that ministers in the Presbyterian Church lack a missional perspective to the contemporary African (Kenyan) youth. The author proposes that theological education in Kenya must seriously consider youth ministry education. Second, Presbyterian ecclesiology must be missional minded by moving from an inward posture to a missional posture that considers the African (Kenyan) youth. This reflection will engage practical ministry and higher education experience, as well as an inter-disciplinary literature survey, to offer a missional perspective for the church and theological education.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-72
Author(s):  
Heryanto Heryanto

Today's youth ministry is a ministry that has very different challenges and struggles than the youth ministry in the previous decade. The need for leaders in the service of young people today is needed so that youth services can be strong. Through a qualitative review of the literature using a practical theological research method that will discuss the role of church leaders in the leadership of youth ministry today. The purpose of this research is expected to open new understanding for church leaders to build and guide young people to become leaders for youth ministry. The benefit of this research is that the presence of young people in the church is well served to grow prospective young leaders who bring glory to the name of the Lord Jesus. Found several things that must be done by church leaders in building and guiding young people to be leaders in youth ministry are: First, as a spiritual guide. Second, as a pilot model followed. Third, the personal example of having the love of Jesus Christ and loving others. Fourth, inspire young people to give dedication to Jesus Christ and Fifth, to encourage spiritual growth and character. Pelayanan kaum muda pada masa kini merupakan pelayanan yang memiliki tantangan dan pergumulan yang amat berbeda dibandingkan pelayanan kaum muda dalam dekade sebelumnya. Kebutuhan terhadap para pemimpin dalam pelayanan kaum muda masa kini sangat dibutuhkan agar pelayanan anak muda dapat menjadi kuat. Melalui kajian kualitatif literatur menggunakan metode penelitian teologi praktika yang akan membahas peran pemimpin gereja dalam kepemimpinan pelayanan kaum muda masa kini. Tujuan penelitian ini diharapkan membuka pengertian baru bagi para pemimpin gereja untuk membangun dan membimbing kaum muda untuk menjadi para pemimpin bagi pelayanan kaum muda. Manfaat penelitian ini adalah agar keberadaan kaum muda di gereja terlayani dengan baik sehingga menumbuhkan calon pemimpin kaum muda yang membawa kemuliaan bagi nama Tuhan Yesus. Didapati beberapa hal yang harus dilakukan para pemimpin gereja dalam membangun dan membimbing para kaum muda menjadi pemimpin dalam pelayanan kaum muda adalah : Pertama, sebagai pembimbing rohani. Kedua, sebagai model percontohan yang diiikuti. Ketiga, contoh pribadi yang memiliki kasih Yesus Kristus dan mengasihi sesama. Keempat, menginspirasi kaum muda dalam memberi dedikasi kepada Yesus Kristus dan kelima, pendorong pertumbuhan rohani dan karakter.


2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-19
Author(s):  
Kenda Creasy Dean

Surprisingly, despite the litany of crises that ushered in the twenty-first century, the rhetoric of despair that once typified the conversation about mainline Protestant youth ministry shows signs of softening. This article traces three developments that have gathered momentum in the last thirty years to set the stage for a rhetorical change of heart surrounding youth ministry. Today's conversation about ministry with young people aligns itself with practical theology as well as Christian education, claims as its context global postmodernity as well as youth culture, and interprets its curriculum as the spiritual practices of the Christian community, and not simply as youth programs. Armed with a broader purpose, a broader context, and a broader curriculum, the present discourse surrounding youth ministry suggests an emerging "rhetoric of hope" as it sets out to redefine the church as well as youth ministry itself.


Author(s):  
Michele Dillon

This chapter explains the book’s objective in probing how contemporary Catholicism grapples with the challenge of maintaining relevance amid increased secularization. It discusses the theoretical and empirical context for the book’s inquiry and its anchoring in American Catholicism and society. The chapter explains why Jurgen Habermas’s construct of contrite modernity opens up new lines of dialogue and action for the Church in light of contemporary societal problems of economic inequality and related ills, and it outlines what is entailed in postsecular expectations of reflexive dialogue between moderate religious and secular actors. It also discusses the book’s working assumption that the postsecular expectations Habermas outlines for religious–secular engagement, including issues of language and authority, are the same expectations required of Catholicism as it negotiates both its public societal role and the array of doctrinal issues of particular relevance to Catholics. The chapter also briefly introduces the data and subsequent chapters.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146954052110220
Author(s):  
Alexandra Kviat

Although prosumption and the sharing economy are currently at the cutting edge of consumer culture research, little attempt has been made to explore the theoretical relationship between these concepts and approach them with a pluralistic, dynamic, nuanced and ethnographically informed lens moving beyond the dichotomies of capitalism versus anti-capitalism, rhetoric versus reality, exploitation versus empowerment and traditional versus digital consumer culture. This article addresses these gaps by focusing on the phenomenon of pay-per-minute cafes – physical spaces inspired by digital culture and meant to apply its principles in the brick-and-mortar servicescape. Drawing on a multi-site, multi-method case study of the world’s first pay-per-minute cafe franchise, the article shows a multitude of ways in which prosumption and the sharing economy, both shaped by different configurations of organisational culture, physical design, food offer and pricing policy, are conceived, interpreted and experienced by the firms and customers across the franchise and argues that conflicts and contradictions arising from this diversity cannot be reduced to the narrative of consumer exploitation. Finally, while both prosumption and the sharing economy are typically defined by the use of digital platforms, this article makes a case for a post-digital approach to consumer culture research, looking into the cultural impact of digital technology on traditional servicescapes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-359
Author(s):  
Stephanie Townes

Rising generations (Millennials and Gen Z) already have a solid understanding of gratitude from gratitude’s pervasiveness in popular culture, and because of this, gratitude is an opportunity for the Church to reach rising generations where they already are. To do this, the Church should underscore a theological why of gratitude and a practical theological how of gratitude. The theological why of gratitude is based on Kathryn Tanner’s gift-giving nature of God, from her book Jesus, Humanity, and the Trinity. The practical theological how of gratitude will rise up from our holy habits of gratitude, both personal and collective, reinforced by the Eucharist, and taught through discipleship and practices of stewardship.


2005 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Bothma

A practical-theological investigation into the role of the church year in the liturgy and preaching of the Dutch Reformed ChurchThe aim of this article is to discuss the valuable role the church year can play in liturgy and preaching and the service and activities of the church. The article demonstrates that the rediscovery of the church year is one of the most remarkable aspects of the twentiethcentury reform and renewal of Christian worship. Within a context of poverty and continuing change, the church year – if valued positively and if accentuated in the preaching – could lead to the celebration of God.


2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lodewyk Sutton

Situated in the larger collection of Psalms 51–72, also known as the second Davidic Psalter, the smaller group of Psalms 65–68 is found. This smaller collection of psalms can be classified mostly as psalms of praise and thanksgiving. The relation and compositional work in this cluster of psalms become apparent on many points in the pious expressions between groups and persons at prayer, especially in the universal praise of God, and in the imagery referring to the exodus, the Jerusalem cult and blessing. Such piety becomes most discernible in the imagery and expressions in Psalm 66. The psalm’s two main sections may be described as praise, with verses 1–12 being praise by the group or the ‘we’, and verses 13–20 being praise by the individual or the ‘I’. Personal or individual piety and private piety are expressed by the desire of the ‘we’ and the ‘I’, and the experienced immediacy to God by transposing the past into the present through the memory of the exodus narrative, the Jerusalem cultic imagery and the use of body imagery. In this research article, an understanding of piety in Psalm 66 in terms of the memory of past events and body imagery is discussed from a perspective of space and appropriated for a time of (post-) pandemic where normal or traditional ecclesiological formal practices cannot take place.Contribution: This article makes an interdisciplinary contribution based on knowledge from the Psalms in the Old Testament, social anthropology, literary spatial theories and practical theological perspectives on the church in order to contribute to the relevance and practice of theology today, during a time of turmoil and a global pandemic.


2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (128) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Allan Figueroa Deck

Este ensaio estuda a relação entre a migração latino-americana em direção ao Norte e as mudanças que estão tendo lugar no catolicismo estadunidense. A parte principal do artigo concentra-se na profunda e histórica experiência religiosa que os latinos trazem à Igreja nos Estados Unidos, herança marcadamente diferente da anglo-americana. Ao pano de fundo colonial, entretanto, devem ser acrescentadas as profundas mudanças que aconteceram no catolicismo latino-americano no período posterior ao Concilio Vaticano II. Os latinos têm sido um canal para comunicar a visão dinâmica de Medellín e Aparecida à Igreja católica estadunidense mais focada na conservação que na missão. A seção final trata das contribuições específicas do catolicismo latino à vida da Igreja estadunidense contemporânea através dos métodos pastorais renovados, da opção pelos pobres e da teologia da libertação, assim como no âmbito da oração, do culto e da espiritualidade, a preocupação pela justiça social, a religiosidade popular e a pastoral juvenil – para mencionar apenas algumas poucas. A eleição do Papa Francisco, o primeiro papa latino-americano, destaca a influência emergente do catolicismo latino-americano na cena mundial e não apenas nos Estados Unidos.ABSTRACT: This essay explores the link between Latin American migration northward and changes taking place in U.S. Catholicism. A major part of the article focuses on the deep and historic religious background that Latinos bring to the Church in the United States, a heritage markedly different from that of Anglo America. To the colonial background, however, must be added the profound changes that have taken place in Latin American Catholicism in the period after the Second Vatican Council. Latinos have been a conduit for communicating the dynamic vision of Medellín and Aparecida to a U.S. Catholic Church focused more on maintenance than mission. A final section looks at specific contributions of Latino Catholicism to the U.S. Church’s contemporary life through renewed pastoral methods, the option for the poor, and Liberation Theology as well as in the area of prayer, worship and spirituality, concern for social justice, popular piety, and youth ministry—to name just a few. The election of Pope Francis, the first Latin American pope, highlights the emerging influence of Latin American Catholicism on the world stage and not only in the United States.


1981 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-129
Author(s):  
Patrick W. Carey

The American republican form of government and the effects of the Enlightenment upon the European Catholic church provided fertile ground for theological reflection and ecclesiastical adaptation in early nineteenth-century American Catholicism. A number of immigrant Catholic laymen were influenced by their previous European Catholic experiences and by the American enthusiasm for republicanism to reform their understanding of the laity's role in the American Catholic church and to adapt ecclesiastical structures to American political institutions. In light of these experiences, some of these laymen began to reflect upon the Christian Scriptures and tradition, and to formulate a democratic conception of the layman's role within the church.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document