scholarly journals Pentecostalism and schisms in the Reformed Church in Zambia (1996–2001): Listening to the people

2011 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Soko ◽  
H. Jurgens Hendriks
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Christian Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The People ◽  
Christian Reformed Church ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
The Church

This article is descriptive in nature and a practical theological assessment of the schisms that took place in the Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ) between 1996 and 2001. It analyses empirical evidence to find an answer to the question why it happened. Pentecostal or charismatic tendencies have challenged the long inherited tradition of mainline churches. Subsequently, Pentecostal or charismatic movements have caused intense conflict in the church between the pro-conservatives and pro-Pentecostals. In the RCZ this led to the formation of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) in 1999 and the Bible Gospel Church in Africa (BIGOCA) in 2001.

Always Reforming?

2015 ◽  
Vol 95 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Van Dyken
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equity ◽  
Christian Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Social ◽  
Second Wave Feminism ◽  
Christian Reformed Church ◽  
Normative Expectations ◽  
Social Markers ◽  
Second Wave ◽  
The Church

This article reconfigures the conventional understanding of second wave feminism and feminists through an analysis of the Committee for Women in the Christian Reformed Church (CW-CRC). Rather than challenging societal and denominational norms, the CW-CRC used the normative expectations and structures of the Christian Reformed Church in order to bring about a fundamental change in practice and a reformation in scriptural understanding. Tying gender equality to the theology of the denomination, the women of the Committee defined acceptance of women’s equal authority in the church as a theological necessity—something that was not just morally or ethically right, but biblically right. Regardless of their association with the term feminist or their alignment with conventional methods and arguments of second wave feminism, the members of the CW-CRC—and the women they sponsored—were working toward gender equity. Recognizing their unique means of enacting reform suggests fluidity in the social markers of feminism.

scholarly journals Glas in beeld – beeld in glas. Verkondiging in fragment en fragmente van verkondiging ...

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsabé Kloppers ◽  
Wian Kloppers
Keyword(s):  
Religious Education ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Stained Glass ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Liturgical Year ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The People ◽  
The Church

Glass in the image – image in glass. Preaching in fragments and fragments of preaching . . . The view that the sermon is an ‘open work of art’, promoted the awareness that the ‘meaning’ of a sermon is not fixed, but that possibilities are presented for the listeners to ‘assign meaning’. ‘Assigning meaning’ does not mean something fully ad libitum: ‘meaning’ is formed within the guidelines of the text from which a sermon stems. Visual works of art could also be based on Biblical texts or stories, analysed and interpreted by the artist. The artist could mould the encounter with the Biblical text into various forms of art, proclaiming the gospel in ways similar to that of a spoken sermon: a work of art could present possibilities for assigning meaning related to faith. In this article the new stained glass windows, symbolically depicting the Liturgical Year, in a Dutch Reformed church in Pretoria, are discussed with a view to the possibilities they present to form part of experience-based religious education in ‘bringing home’ stories from the Bible and aspects of the Liturgical Year. Also asked is how they could function as visual ‘sermons’, speaking and communicating the ‘Word of God’ to the people inside the church, as well as to people on the outside.

scholarly journals Tugwaardige sondes in drie gereformeerde kerkordes

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet J. Strauss
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Church Discipline ◽  
Christian Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Spiritual Nature ◽  
Christian Reformed Church ◽  
Reformed Churches ◽  
The Church

Sin which should be disciplined according to three church orders. The orders of three reformed churches, namely those of the Dutch Reformed Church, the Christian Reformed Church in North America and the Reformed Churches in South Africa have consensus about the need for an officially punishable sin to be of a public and offensive nature. The reason is that a sin must be openly against the Word of God and the confessions of the church. The approach of the church as an institution of faith carrying the love and righteousness of God, should be to maintain the spiritual nature of church discipline and to aim for the spiritual purpose of its discipline. Church discipline should be aimed at convincing the sinner and assuring church members of its desire to keep the demands of the Word and justice in tact.

scholarly journals The The Church as diaconia. One view of the Reformed understanding of diaconia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariano Avila ◽  
Esko Ryökäs
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
John Calvin ◽  
General Description ◽  
Christian Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
Christian Reformed Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
Church Tradition ◽  
The Way

The Church of John Calvin in Geneva is nowadays known as the beginning of the Reformed Church tradition. When we strive a general description of the central elements of the reformed view of deacons and their tasks of today (diaconia), which is the goal of this article, we have it difficult to define an adequate source for this information. In this article, we analyze the way of diaconal thinking, presented in the modern documents of one very mainstream Church in USA and Canada: The Christian Reformed Church in North America. As a result, we see how the Calvinistic way of understanding the Gospel lead to an understanding of the Church as Diaconia. However, there is some dogmatical tension, too.

scholarly journals Die liminale ruimte vir inkongruensie tussen predikant en lidmaat: ’n Narratief gebaseerde prakties-teologiese ondersoek in gemeentes van die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika

2010 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hein Delport ◽  
Julian C. Müller
Keyword(s):  
Practical Theology ◽  
Suspension Bridge ◽  
Church Member ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Liminal Space ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Social ◽  
Unresolved Conflict ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
The Church

Disagreements between pastors and church members in the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (NRCH) require a unique space in the church in terms of a postmodern society. Different perspectives can easily lead to conflict in the Church. Unresolved conflict may jeopardise the work of the clergy in a congregation. In this research, I follow a contextual approach to the pursuit of practical theology. A postfundamental practical theological framework is followed in the research. The social construction discourse and narrative epistemology offer new perspectives for developing a liminal space where more than one perspective can exist. Within a society characterised by secularism and privatisation, I examine the possibility of a space of unity amid diversity in the Church. I involved six fellow researchers who have experienced conflict in a specific context within the Church. We also examined the possibility of an alternative space where moments of communitas can once again occur in these stories. The research found space for this in the description of two metaphors, namely the liminal suspension bridge of grace and the dance of peace. The stories of the fellow researchers are retold within these two metaphors. My research highlights the important contribution of an interdisciplinary conversation in research. In the study, the journey theme plays an important role, and the reader is invited along with the fellow researchers into a (liminal) space to explore the conflict between the church minister and the church member.

The Role of Women

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Bramadat
Keyword(s):  
Senior Pastors ◽  
Christian Reformed ◽  
Level Of Involvement ◽  
Evangelical Churches ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Evangelical Women ◽  
Role Of Women ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Church

Whenever I describe the IVCF to non-Christian academic peers, they almost invariably express their astonishment at the fact that at virtually every IVCF event I attend, approximately 70% of the participants are women. Perhaps this level of involvement is not unusual in the world of contemporary Protestantism; after all, in many of the churches IVCF members attend every Sunday, women outnumber men. However, the proportion of women to men is not as high in evangelical churches as it is in the IVCF (Bibby 1987:102; Rawlyk 1996:143). As well, women’s roles are usually much more tightly controlled in many if not most evangelical churches than they are in the IVCF. In fact, IVCF participants who attend churches in the Fellowship Baptist, Christian Reformed, and Brethren traditions may never see a woman in the pulpit, or, if women are allowed to speak at the front of the church, they are not usually permitted to become senior pastors or interpret the Bible. At the IVCF functions I have attended, however, women are in no way restricted in their abilities to lead worship, deliver sermons, organize events, or perform any of the myriad tasks involved in maintaining the group. In fact, the chapter’s paid staff worker is a woman, and she tries to ensure that the position of president alternates between a male and a female student every other year. I began to wonder how to make sense of the high level of female participation at every McMaster IVCF event I attended, especially in light of the fact that the scholarly literature on evangelicalism in North America often depicts the tradition as inimical or opposed to the egalitarian or feminist values that are so prevalent at universities. During my research, I found that many, but not all, of the evangelical women I interviewed maintain nonegalitarian views on the role of women. In other words, the common academic depiction of the place of women in evangelicalism seems to be confirmed by my experience, even though I hope to nuance this portrayal somewhat.

scholarly journals Towards a New Homiletic

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-60
Author(s):  
Liz Shercliff
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Text ◽  
Feminist Methodology ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Women's Voices ◽  
New Homiletic ◽  
Women Preachers ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The People ◽  
The Church ◽  
Shared Narrative

Feminism’s contribution to homiletics so far has arguably been restricted to exploring gender difference in preaching. In 2014, however, Jennifer Copeland identified a need not merely to ‘include women “in the company of preachers” but to craft a new register for the preaching event’. This article considers what that new register might be and how it might be taught in the academy. It defines preaching as ‘the art of engaging the people of God in their shared narrative by creatively and hospitably inviting them into an exploration of biblical text, by means of which, corporately and individually, they might encounter the divine’ and proposes that in both the Church and the Academy, women’s voices are suppressed by a rationalist hegemony. For the stories of women to be heard, a new homiletic is needed, in which would-be preachers first encounter themselves, then the Bible as themselves and finally their congregation in communality. Findings of researchers in practical preaching discover that women preachers are being influenced by feminist methodology, while the teaching of preaching is not. In order to achieve a hospitable preaching space, it is proposed that the Church and the Academy work together towards a new homiletic.

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