scholarly journals Building the local church in South Korea through a needs-oriented diaconal ministry

Author(s):  
Janghun Yun

According to Acts 20:28, God acquired the Church for himself with the blood of his own Son, whilst Ephesians 4:13, 15 proposes that the Church, the body of Christ, has to grow towards the measure of the fullness of Christ and into Christ. For this to succeed, there must be a comprehensive approach to building the local church, even though it may not have a single element that could account for congregational development. Building the local church (BLC) through a needs-oriented diaconal ministry (NDM) that meets effectively the needs of the community and its people by providing the essential functions of the church, such as koinonia, diakonia, kerygma and leitourgia in synergy, will be helpful to congregational development, functioning as a living organism that leads church members to vitality and equips them to fulfil the variety of works available in the body of Christ. This article focused on two key factors that can be used to develop a sound and effective BLC through NDM, namely, (1) BLC through NDM supports a sound theory of congregational development and (2) BLC through NDM makes for an effective strategy to promote congregational studies. To this end, this article presented and interpreted data from a case study of the baby schools of Choongshin Church and Daegwang Church and the pregnant women’s group of Daegwang Church in South Korea, in order to prove the soundness and effectiveness of BLC through NDM and suggest a diagram of BLC through NDM. When BLC through NDM is utilised fully and applied to the missionary strategy in urban areas, more people will become meaningfully involved in Christian life and membership of the churches.

1993 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. Van der Walt ◽  
M. J. Du P Beukes

Heading toward new ministerial structures: A situationanalysis of the local congregation According to 2 Corinthians 3:18 the church has the instruction to be transformed so to become part of the body of Christ more and more. But it does happen that the church stagnate in its ministry. The purpose of the subject Church Growth is to adress this problem. One phase of this subject is the analysis of the situation in the local church. The purpose of the analysis is to systematically look at the situation in a congregation of the church and then to identify problems that stand in the way of fulfilling of the Biblical command. The situation- analysis can not be done at random, but must be planned carefully. This study gives attention to a planned situation-analysis of the local church.


Author(s):  
Joanna Leidenhag

Charismatic gifts are an understudied and divisive aspect of Christian worship. Yet, in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and Ephesians 4, Paul links these phenomena with his famous metaphor for the unity of the church as the Body of Christ. This paper argues that one can better understand how the Holy Spirit unifies both the universal and local church by viewing charismatic gifts as liturgical group actions. After briefly introducing the category of charismatic gifts, I argue that charismatic gifts are a semi–scripted improvisational activity which immerse participants into the core Christian narrative of the universal and invisible church. I then argue that charismatic gifts are given to and enacted by communities, rather than individuals, and so are an example of group action actualising the corporate agency of the local church. When charismatic gifts are seen as liturgical group actions it becomes clear how the Spirit uses charismatic gifts to transform the gathered people of God into the unified Body of Christ.


Augustinus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-225
Author(s):  
Paola Marone ◽  

The modern scholars have studied the maternity of the Church independently from the anti-Donatist literature. But a careful study of the anti-Donatist documents reveals many interesting elements. According to Optatus and Augustine the notion of mother was abscribed to all believers, because the body of Christ was formed of all those the Church bore as children through the baptism. According to both African bishops also the donatists gave a valid baptism, but only Augustine demonstrated how the salvation could be found outside of the viscera Ecclesiae. Then this article deals with the image of the Ecclesia mater as illustrated in the Adversus Donatistas of Optatus published in answer to the donatist bishop Parmenianus and in all that Augustine penned against the schismatics (Tractatus, Sermones, Epistulae). By doing so, it presents a picture of the African theology of the fourth century.


Ecclesiology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-74
Author(s):  
Kenneth Wilson

Does Methodism want a distinctive ecclesiology? British Methodism assumes its ecclesiology from the Church of England which explains its lack of ecclesiological thinking, its genuine desire for reunification, and indeed its focus on ecclesia in actu. But there can be no ecclesia in actu apart from ecclesia per se. Being and doing are one in God. The Church, grounded in the dynamic being of God in Trinity, celebrates in the action of the Eucharist the wholeness of God’s presence with his world. Proleptically the Church includes the whole of creation and all people. Hence, when as the Body of Christ we pray the Our Father with our Lord, we pray on behalf of all, not just for ourselves. But what then do we mean by apostolicity? Perhaps in Methodism we would be well occupied exploring more keenly with the Roman Catholic Church what we each mean by being a society within the church. Outler may have been right when he opined that Methodism needed a Catholic Church within which to be church.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-21
Author(s):  
Sarwono Sarwono

The gift of speaking in tongues is a message to the body of Christ which is given in tongues and is not understood by the user. Therefore, it must be followed by an interpretation by the language understood by the congregation. The gift of tongues is usually news of a prophecy for the Lord's church and must be followed by an interpretation. If the gift of tongues is not followed by an interpretation, it cannot build up the church. Therefore, the author will discuss the apostle Paul's perspective on tongues based on 1 Corinthians 14.


Augustinus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-369
Author(s):  
Enrique A. Eguiarte ◽  

The first part of this article, presents a bibliographic review of the works that in the last hundred years have addressed in a direct and central way Augustine’s Contra Faustum, making a more extensive description of the most important of them. Later the ecclesiological ideas of Book XII of Augustine’s Contra Faustum are approached, to discuss, Saint Augustine’s exegetical justification to make an spiritual interpretation of the Old Testament. Subsequently, the central ecclesiological figure of Book XII of Augustine’s Contra Faustum is addressed, namely, Noah’s ark, highlighting the symbolic meaning of the pure and impure animals, of the square and imperishable timbers with which the ark was built, of the ark’s side door and its relationship with the side of Christ, of the three levels of Noah’s ark and its ecclesial interpretation, of the greasy glue that joined the timbers as a symbol of unity and peace within the Church. The importance of the expression familia Christi as a name for the Church is highlighted, making an exposition of other augustinan works in which this expression is used. The theme of the Church as the body of Christ and the prosopological exegesis in Augustine’s Book XII of Contra Faustum is also addressed, as well as Saint Augustine’s interpretation of some characters of the Old Testament as figures of the Chruch in book XII of Contra Faustum. The article addresses indirectly to other contemporary Works of Contra Faustum, such as De Baptismo, Ad catholicos fratres and some sermons and enarrationes in Psalmos.


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