scholarly journals Renewal and Revivalism in Ghanaian Methodism: The Catalytic Role of Prayer Fellowships

2020 ◽  
pp. 374-385
Author(s):  
Samuel B. Adubofour ◽  
Hosei Osei
Keyword(s):  
Church Renewal ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Charismatic Movement ◽  
Critical Function ◽  
Methodist Church ◽  
African Worldview ◽  
Catalytic Role ◽  
Renewal Movement ◽  
The Church

Branded prayer programmes have taken centre stage in contemporary Ghanaian Christianity, and Methodism in Ghana has its fair share. The origins of these spiritual activities are nebulous. This study investigates the historical roots of the contemporary revival and renewal programmes in Methodist Church Ghana. Through historical and phenomenological research approach, the study highlights the catalytic role played by the twentieth-century prayer fellowships, which functioned as fringe groups in the Church. A re-visioning of John Wesley as a Pentecostal fore-bearer of the Christian faith constitutes an innovative attempt at situating the charismatic renewal movement in Ghana within historic Methodism. The study evinces the critical function of the laity as agents of revival and renewal of spirituality in the Church. Essentially, through the prayer fellowships, the ministry of the Methodist Church is democratised, and clericalism neutralised. The transformation of the prayer fellowship movement into the Methodist Prayer and Renewal Programme (M.P.R.P.) facilitated the formalisation, institutionalisation and regulation of the emergent charismatic movement into a "Connexional" (i.e. nationwide) Methodist activity. What makes the M.P.R.P. relevant is its dynamic response to the African worldview and existential realities of the participants. Keywords: Prayer Fellowships, Methodist Church, Renewal, Programmes, Pentecostal

scholarly journals The Role of the Church in Curbing Drug Addiction Problems: A Case Study of Nairobi Chapel

2021 ◽  
pp. 33-47
Author(s):  
Joseph K. Kosgei ◽  
Henry Mutua ◽  
Gyang David Pam
Keyword(s):  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Drug Addiction ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Drug Addicts ◽  
Descriptive Case Study ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Financial Allocation ◽  
The Church

Drug and substance abuse is considered a worldwide menace. Kenya being part of the globe experiences its effects. The Church, being a tool that helps society live godly lives, should take part in the fight against drug and substance abuse. This study sought to identify the role of the Church in curbing drug addiction problems. A descriptive case study and qualitative research approach were employed. 50 churches under the Nairobi Chapel umbrella of Churches were targeted. Questionnaires were employed to collect data from lead pastors in charge of drug addicts’ recovery programs within Nairobi Chapel. Data was analyzed and presented using tables and charts. From the study majority of the churches that took part in the research, only 40% had ministries to help in combating drug abuse, none of the churches had financial allocation for the same, on the human resource set aside; lead pastors comprised 85%, staff members 9%, while drug and substance rehabilitation pastors were 6%, on involvement in advocacy only 20% of the churches were participating, on the other hand, 61% of the churches took part in partnerships with drug addiction and rehabilitation and prevention programs.

scholarly journals Syncritism in Pentecost-Charismatic Movement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fredy Simanjuntak ◽  
Alexander Djuang Papay
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Charismatic Movement ◽  
The Public ◽  
Protestant Church ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

The history of the church notes that to this day the Protestant Church is a family whose history is most often divided. Nevertheless the development is quite significant in the present. The process of developing the church resulted in various streams in the church such as Lutheran, Calvinist, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Evangelical, Adventist, until Jehovah's Witnesses, in the course of the Pentecostal & Charismatic flow so fertile in today's growth. The flow of Pentecostalism and Charismaticism, in its origin and method, has a unique and phenomenal history in Indonesia. The uniqueness of Indonesia's spiritual context is illustrated by rapid growth. The Pentecostal and Charismatic movements felt their influence in various churches around us. Phenomena such as the ability to speak in tongues, healing, and prophecy and aspects of emotional experience that are so prominent in this movement make the public wonder, is it true that all of this is the work of the Holy Spirit? The purpose of this paper is to provide an observation of facts, spiritual life background, the meaning of faith, and understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit adopted by followers of the Pentecost-Charismatic Movement in the context of the challenges of contextualization and syncretism in the relationship between Pentecostal-Charismatic and Christian spirituality in Indonesia. In light of the significant regional diversity in Indonesian religious thought and experience, the scope of this research is limited to the idea of contextualization also limited to its use in the missiological context.

scholarly journals Exploring the role of the church as a ‘reformation agency’ in enhancing a socially transformative agenda in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Micheal M. Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Servant Leadership ◽  
South African ◽  
Local Church ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
The Church

International political, social, economic and religious developments influence how local communities operate. The South African church society is influenced by such developments taking place globally and which clearly influence how local churches function. This article explores the role of the contemporary church as a ‘reformation agency’ in enhancing a socially transformative agenda in South Africa. A qualitative research approach – an interpretative phenomenology design – was employed to negotiate a shared understanding through conversation and intersubjective meaning-making with church ministers, with the primary focus being their subjective experience of the changing role of the church in enhancing a transformative agenda in a South African context. A purposive sampling (n = 6) consisted of local church leaders who participated in the face-to-face and telephonic semi-structured interviews to achieve the purpose of the study. The findings clearly show that deliberate and intentional actions by churches allow them to become a voice for the marginalised, to create spaces for searching for excellence and to increase the quality of servant leadership, all as vehicles for transforming church society. Furthermore, servant leadership is a social phenomenon, a philosophy-in-practice aimed at leading by example to achieve a common goal. To accomplish this, church ministers are required to spearhead the challenge as a prerequisite to creating ‘lived experienced’ opportunities for members as an inward-outward spiritual journey. Finally, church leaders believed that transformation is a secular dimension, but that it can also be aligned towards God’s redemption plan and enhancing a socially just transformation agenda. Ultimately, this study proposed several recommendations to allow the local church to be relevant in practicing and promoting stronger unity and reconciliation amongst all churches nationally and globally.

Methodists, Politics, and the Coming of the American Civil War

2000 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 578-609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Carwardine
Keyword(s):  
Active Role ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Movement ◽  
Methodist Episcopal ◽  
Andrew Jackson ◽  
Episcopal Church ◽  
Methodist Church ◽  
Methodist Episcopal Church ◽  
The Church

In 1868 Ulysses S. Grant remarked that there were three great parties in the United States: the Republican, the Democratic, and the Methodist Church. This was an understandable tribute, given the active role of leading Methodists in his presidential campaign, but it was also a realistic judgment, when set in the context of the denomination's growing political authority over the previous half century. As early as 1819, when, with a quarter of a million members, “the Methodists were becoming quite numerous in the country,” the young exhorter Alfred Branson noted that “politicians… from policy favoured us, though they might be skeptical as to religion,” and gathered at county seats to listen to the preachers of a denomination whose “votes counted as fast at an election as any others.” Ten years later, the newly elected Andrew Jackson stopped at Washington, Pennsylvania, en route from Tennessee to his presidential inauguration. When both Presbyterians and Methodists invited him to attend their services, Old Hickory sought to avoid the political embarrassment of seeming to favor his own church over the fastest-growing religious movement in the country by attending both—the Presbyterians in the morning and the Methodists at night. In Indiana in the early 1840s the church's growing power led the Democrats to nominate for governor a known Methodist, while tarring their Whig opponents with the brush of sectarian bigotry. Nationally, as the combined membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church [MEC] and Methodist Episcopal Church, South [MECS] grew to over one and a half million by the mid-1850s, denominational leaders could be found complaining that the church was so strong that each political party was “eager to make her its tool.” Thus Elijah H. Pilcher, the influential Michigan preacher, found himself in 1856 nominated simultaneously by state Democratic, Republican, and Abolition conventions.

scholarly journals Syncritism in Pentecost-Charismatic Movement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fredy Simanjuntak
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Charismatic Movement ◽  
The Public ◽  
Protestant Church ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

The history of the church notes that to this day the Protestant Church is a family whose history is most often divided. Nevertheless the development is quite significant in the present. The process of developing the church resulted in various streams in the church such as Lutheran, Calvinist, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Evangelical, Adventist, until Jehovah's Witnesses, in the course of the Pentecostal & Charismatic flow so fertile in today's growth. The flow of Pentecostalism and Charismaticism, in its origin and method, has a unique and phenomenal history in Indonesia. The uniqueness of Indonesia's spiritual context is illustrated by rapid growth. The Pentecostal and Charismatic movements felt their influence in various churches around us. Phenomena such as the ability to speak in tongues, healing, and prophecy and aspects of emotional experience that are so prominent in this movement make the public wonder, is it true that all of this is the work of the Holy Spirit? The purpose of this paper is to provide an observation of facts, spiritual life background, the meaning of faith, and understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit adopted by followers of the Pentecost-Charismatic Movement in the context of the challenges of contextualization and syncretism in the relationship between Pentecostal-Charismatic and Christian spirituality in Indonesia. In light of the significant regional diversity in Indonesian religious thought and experience, the scope of this research is limited to the idea of contextualization also limited to its use in the missiological context.

Religion, Spirituality, Well-Being, and Ill-Being in a Church-Renewal Movement: The Case of Finland

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Pietari Hannikainen
Keyword(s):  
Church Renewal ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Dimensional Approach ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Spiritual Well Being ◽  
Renewal Movement ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract An expanding body of research connects religiosity/spirituality (later R/S) with human well-being and health. While psychological and medical research lacks a common theoretical or theological framework, these dimensions are measured by instruments with a wide variation in quality. As the religious landscapes in Western societies are becoming increasingly plural and complex, the need for developing our understanding and assessment of the role of R/S in human health and well-being is as important as ever. This study, based on quantitative data (N = 529) from members of a church renewal oriented network in the Lutheran majority Church in Finland, measures the role of R/S in the subjective well-being of the participants through a multi-dimensional framework. While exploring Ellison’s Spiritual Well-being Scale (1983), the study expands its scope to a more multi-dimensional approach to religion, spirituality and well-being. The results reveal that religious beliefs and practices do not contribute to the level of subjective well-being in the lives of the participants as much as the way in which these beliefs and practices are lived out and actualized in social contexts. The study identified several sources of both well-being and ill-being in the participants’ lives. The article contributes to the terms of measuring the various ways in which R/S are connected to human well-being.

The Role of the Charismatic Renewal Movement in Reigniting the Flame of Spirituality in Contemporary Christians

Pneuma ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 77-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reginald Alva
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Meaning In Life ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Western World ◽  
Charismatic Renewal ◽  
Developed Nations ◽  
Renewal Movement ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Life in the modern world is hectic. Development in technology has diminished the importance of religion in society. Nonetheless, humans are not satisfied with their ultramodern gadgets and are in a continuous pursuit after something more. The advancements in science in the developed nations have not stopped people from the West from being fascinated by eastern spiritualities. Has Christianity, which has traditionally been the religion of the western world, lost its relevance? How can the Catholic Church offer a “lively” spirituality to people who seek meaning in life? The Charismatic Renewal Movement, which began in 1967 in the Catholic Church, has helped millions to rediscover the beauty of Christian faith and has the potential of making Christianity relevant in the modern world. In this article I will examine the role of the Charismatic Renewal Movement in reigniting the flame of spirituality in contemporary Christians. I will base my study on the documents of the Church and the documents of the Charismatic Renewal Movement.

scholarly journals ‘Ecclesia reformata semper reformanda’ Church renewal from a Reformed perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo J. Koffeman
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Church Renewal ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Reformed Tradition ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
Important Field ◽  
The Church

With a view to the theme of church renewal, this article explores the role of a well-known and popular phrase in the Reformed tradition within Protestantism, that is, ecclesia reformata semper reformanda [‘the reformed church should always be reformed’]. Is this a helpful slogan when considering the possibilities and the limitations of church renewal? Firstly, the historical background of this phrase is described: it is rooted in the Dutch Reformed tradition, and only in the 20th century it was widely recognised in Reformed circles. Against this background the hermeneutical problem, linked with the principle of sola Scriptura, is presented, and put into an ecumenical ecclesiological perspective: the church is grounded in the gospel. Finally, the article focuses on church polity as an important field of renewal, taking into account Karl Barth’s interpretation of this phrase. From this perspective, a balanced and ecumenical approach of church renewal is possible.

scholarly journals ‘Ecclesia Reformata Semper Reformanda’ Church Renewal from a Reformed Perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-19
Author(s):  
Leo J. Koffeman
Keyword(s):  
Church Renewal ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Reformed Tradition ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
Important Field ◽  
The Church

Abstract With a view to the theme of Church renewal, this article explores the role of a wellknown and popular phrase in the Reformed tradition within Protestantism, i.e. ecclesia reformata semper reformanda (‘the reformed Church should always be reformed’). Is this a helpful slogan when considering the pros and cons, the possibilities and the limitations of Church renewal? First, the historical background of this phrase is described: it is rooted in the Dutch Reformed tradition, and only in the twentieth century was it widely recognized in Reformed circles. Against this background the hermeneutical problem, linked with the principle of sola Scriptura, is presented, and put into an ecumenical perspective: the Church as grounded in the gospel. Finally, the article focuses on Church polity as an important field of renewal, taking into account Karl Barth’s interpretation of this phrase. From this perspective, a balanced and ecumenical approach of Church renewal is possible.

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