Theological Empowerment of Lay Leaders: A Citizen Science Project in Switzerland and Austria

The present research project addresses the question of how the theological literacy and agency of volunteer church leaders can be fostered so that cooperative church leadership can be achieved. The Protestant Churches of the Canton of St. Gallen (Switzerland) and Austria, together with the Centre for Church Development of the University of Zurich, designed a participatory research process. The aim was to increase the communicative and participative competence of volunteers. Together, through a creative and discursive process, the foundations, educational processes and tools necessary for theological empowerment were developed with the volunteer church leaders. The cooperative project combines research and practice in the sense that practitioners were actively involved in generating, evaluating and discussing the data. In addition, in this project we found ways to continue participatory research – for example through online discourse formats – and thus not lose the essence of such research in times of covid-19.

Transformational Leadership Practice in the Context of the Church in Nigeria: Literature Review

Over the last twenty years, researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in the transactionaltransformational leadership paradigm. However, only a few studies tested the validity of this approach to leadership concerning church growth. Thus, Momoh (2015) researched on transformational leadership as a tool for church development. The Results revealed that there is a significant positive correlation between transformational leadership style and church growth. They were found to be influential to the growth of the church and the gospel. Momoh also observed that the foundation of any leadership determines the height such leadership can attain. He further elaborates that many problems that are confronting leadership especially the church leaders today is on wrong foundation. To him, leadership position can be attainable through craftiness, professionalism and administration capacity but once a leader lacks spiritual charisma, character and vision, he will only end up messing things up. Implications of these results for theory and practice are discussed.

Analisis Eksistensi 100 Tahun Gereja Pantekosta Di Indonesia (GPdI)

Currently, a church that wants to develop effectively needs to have an organizational structure that can accommodate the church’s missions and dynamically able to keep up with changing situations. The problem is, the Bible does not clearly record the organization of the church, so the church is often seen as an organism and tends to ignore organizational aspects. On the other hand, placing church as an organization alone will cause a declinein its divine nature as the body of Christ. This article aims to analyze the Pentecostal Church in Indonesia (GPdI), which in 2021 commemorate 100 years in Indonesia since their early start. The research was conducted qualitatively by anayzing content literatureof the GPdI's Memorandum of Association/Articles of Association (AD/ART), finding the biblical basis as well as theconceptual review of Organizational Development Theory. This article tries to present the relevance of church development and the concept of Organizational Development theory. The results of this study can be used as a parameter to map the condition of the church organization and an evaluation indicator to anticipate sustainable development efforts. Abstrak Indonesia Saat ini gereja yang ingin berkembang secara efektif perlu memiliki tatanan organisasi yang dapat mengakomodasi misi gereja dan secara dinamis mampu mengikuti perubahan situasi. Masalahnya, Alkitab tidak mencatat secara jelas hal pengorganisasian gereja, sehingga gereja sering dipandang sebagai organisme dan cenderung mengabaikan aspek organisasi. Di sisi lain, menempatkan gereja sebagai organisasi saja dapat menyebabkan kemerosotan kodrat ilahinya sebagai tubuh Kristus. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis Gereja Pantekosta di Indonesia (GPdI) yang pada tahun 2021 memperingati 100 tahun di Indonesia sejak awal dirintis. Penelitian dilakukan secara kualitatif dengan analisis konten literatur yang mengkaji isi Anggaran Dasar dan Anggaran Rumah Tangga GPdI, menemukan landasan biblikalnya serta tinjauan konseptual Teori Pengembangan Organisasi. Artikel ini mencoba menyajikan relevansi perkembangan gereja dan konsep teori Pengembangan Organisasi.Hasil penelitian ini dapat dijadikan parameter untuk memetakan kondisi organisasi gereja dan menjadi indikator evaluasi mengantisipasi upaya pengembangan yang berkelanjutan.

Mewariskan Memori Kolektif Sebagai Pendekatan Pendampingan Dan Konseling Untuk Meningkatkan Pembangunan Jemaat Adang

Each region certainly has its own past stories in the early church. In this case, the individual or group begins to remember something that happened in themselves and he can do memory activities while talking, listening and many other ways of remembering. Congregations in the current era, in understanding the meaning of togetherness in allied life, have begun to erode and fade. The purpose of this study is to describe the collective memory heritage of the congregation and to develop a counselling approach to promote congregational development. This study uses a qualitative approach with a descriptive-analytical pattern. From the results of the research, the authors see that the church today is in dire need of counselling assistance in church development. The integrity of a congregation is highly expected for every individual and group through fellowship that is carried out within the scope of the church and society in increasing harmonious and peaceful life. AbstrakSetiap daerah tentu memiliki cerita-cerita masa lalu tersendiri pada jemaat mula-mula. Dalam hal ini, individu atau kelompok mulai mengingat-ingat sesuatu yang terjadi dalam diri pribadinya dan ia dapat melakukan aktivitas mengingat-ingat ketika sedang berbicara, mendengarkan dan masih banyak lagi cara mengingat-ingat lainnya. Jemaat di era saat ini, dalam memahami arti kebersamaan dalam hidup bersekutu sudah mulai terkikis dan memudar. Tujuan penelitian ini untuk mendeskripsikan warisan memori kolektif jemaat Adang dan mengembangkan pendekatan konseling untuk meningkatkan pembangunan jemaat Adang. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode pendekatan kualitatif dengan pola deskriptif-analitis. Dari hasil penelitian penulis melihat bahwa jemaat Adang saat ini sangat membutuhkan pendampingan konseling dalam pembangunan jemaat. Keutuhan suatu jemaat sangat di harapkan bagi setiap individu maupun kelompok melalui persekutuan yang dilakukan dalam lingkup gereja maupun masyarakat dalam meningkatkan hidup rukun dan damai.

Inspirational Sources for Church Development

The purpose of this article is to identify and discuss key issues in church growth movement and the litera- ture following in its wake, which represents vital sources for the emerging discipline in practical theology of church development. The church growth movement has had a strong impact on churches around the globe. Factors such as scriptural authority, evangelism, cultural openness and relevance, pastoral leader- ship, organization, planning, vision and goals are among issues and factors discussed in the literature. Among the shortcomings of church growth thinking is an all-too-simple theoretical reasoning, a lack of causal modeling and theological issues only superficially discussed. Oftentimes, the growth is assumed to come simply by addressing a few factors. Nevertheless, several of the issues and factors that are identified and discussed have influenced subsequent work on church development.

Kulturrelevans og menighetsutvikling

The article analyses the term cultural relevance and its importance for Church development. The questions are: What is the understanding of the term cultural relevance and what is the significance of the cultural factor for the understanding of the Church’s nature and task and consequently what are the consequences for the Church’s working methods and strategy? The principle issues are discussed through an analysis of the typology and five relational types of H. Richard Niebuhr’s book Christ & Culture, an evaluation of Jimmy Long’s five corresponding church types and Miroslav Volf’s ecclesiastical identity, including a theological discussion related to the paradigm change from modernism to postmodernism. The author defends Volf’s understanding of the church’s identity and nature and defines cultural relevance foremost as a new eschatological fellowship, expressing its own identity in the common culture. The task and goal of the church is to become an influencing church, i.e. by avoiding ideological pitfalls and enhancing all possibilities in the prevailing culture. In the practical part of the article, Jackson W. Carroll’s combined strategy of resistance and adjustment are defended after a presentation and evaluation of several church movements’ relation to culture. The concluding part of the article defends the use of the combined strategy as the best way to become an influencing church, and is closed by four practical-theological implications for church development.

Teologisk normativitet og menighetsutvikling

This article attempts to answer the following question: how significant is theological normativity for church development practice. At a time when many leaders are busy developing local churches ac cording to secular organizational models and experiences, this question always arises: to what extent does the normative character of the Bible impact Christian faith, church life and ministry and how might normative theology affect development projects that are going on in the church. The overriding issue that both current practice and the article focuses on is how theological normativity and empirical data can be integrated in church development. After explaining the concepts of theological normativity and empirical data and the relationship between them, the article discusses how different national (Norwegian) and international researchers within practical theology attempt to resolve the issues relat ing to integration. The article’s authors believe that these attempts end up in either assimilation or integration that is not fruitful for church development practice. The authors therefore propose an alter native integration model that distinguishes between three levels / degrees of theological normativity corresponding to three different fields / areas for church development. From this perspective, one can see how the integration of empirical data in these three levels of normativity brings both challenges and opportunities. The authors’ conclusion and recommendation concerning the function and signifi cance of theological normativity in church development, is that theological normativity bestows iden tity as well as having a guiding and corrective function.

Editorial

This second issue of Scandinavian Journal of Leadership and Theology (SJLT) contains a total of seven peer-reviewed articles. Two of the articles focus on non-conformist ecclesiolo- gy; two papers discuss issues connected to how church development can be thought of and practiced today; and finally, the last three articles have leadership as their main theme.