A Practical-Prophetic-Pastoral Exemplar: An Extended Homily on the Ministry and Writings of Percy Dearmer

An extended homily or meditation that focuses on some aspects of the life and work of Percy Dearmer. Dearmer, in his pastoral attentiveness, irenic prophetic action, and practical Christianity, sought to continue a distinctive English Anglican tradition of faithfully fulfilling his vocation through a richly incarnational ministry.

Contextualisation: A case study of a team within an international missional order

Contextualisation is a process of seeking meaning and relevancy in a constantly changing world. It is a theological imperative if biblical values were to be relevant to everyone in the world. This research is a case study of InnerCHANGE South Africa (ICSA) efforts to be contextual. InnerCHANGE South Africa is part of an international missional order called InnerCHANGE, which was started in 1984 in the United States of America. International organisations face the danger of coming up with uniform principles and practices. Such uniformity is never innocent of cultural bias. It rendered their principles and practices relevant in some contexts and irrelevant in others. InnerCHANGE is an incarnational ministry that focuses on identification in communities of poverty. It described incarnational ministry as a model of Christ, a method, a message and a spiritual discipline. This study investigated how ICSA has been able to contextualise these four elements of incarnational ministry. It concluded that these contextualisation efforts are still work in progress. It pointed out the encouraging signs of seeing many local community members aligning themselves behind ICSA vision of seeing the gospel as the good news made visible. It finally pointed out the challenges of contextualisation it is still facing.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article is based on the field of missiology. It engaged development studies, specifically grassroots community development, to point out one of the roles of the church in society, which is to participate in improving the quality of life of the vulnerable.

The Mandate Of Making Disciples: Teaching As Incarnational Ministry

This paper discusses how the Church can achieve the goal of discipleship through an “incarnational” model of teaching. It argues that teaching in the Church should be incarnational so as to realize transformation in the lives of people. Incarnation is used in the sense of the word of God which the Christian leader has been commanded to teach, becomes flesh and makes a dwelling among the people so that the learner can behold the glory of the word being lived out in human life. The Pastoral ministry must engage in teaching so that learners can become new creations who demonstrate the nature of Christ. In discipleship, the pastor acts as the teacher of teachers, equipping the laity so that they can teach others. Teaching, a key aspect in Christian education, is at the heart of discipleship. As such, for the teaching ministry to be incarnate, it must identify with Jesus Christ. What is preached and taught must become flesh in the teacher’s own life and help the learner to behold the glory of Jesus the Christ. Keywords: Discipleship, Pastoral ministry, Incarnational ministry, Christian education, teaching

Relationality as the Objective of Incarnational Ministry: A Reexamination of the Theological Foundations of Adolescent Ministry

This article reexamines the theological foundation for relational/incarnational ministries to adole cents. It proposes that the methodologies of American organizations like Young Life have not recognized the depth and theological importance of relationality and sociality. The article examines the concepts of relationality and sociality and points youth ministry and the whole church to their theological poignancy. The article ultimately proposes that relationships between adolescents and adult advocates should not serve as a means to a greater end, but in and of themselve are theologically the greater goal.