Sacramental Ecclesiology: Adopting Augustine’s Totus Christus for Evangelical Ecclesiology

After the 16th-century reformation, the church was faced with the situation of ecclesiological plurality, both differences in traditions and church divisions into many denominations, in­cluding evangelical churches. Despite the fact that the evangelical movement was founded with the primary objective of spreading the gospel, it is devoid of coherence in ecclesiology. Based on Augustine’s idea of totus Christus, this research presents a con­structive ecclesiology proposal for evangelical churches. Drawing primarily on Augustine’s notion of totus Christus, and by showing that this idea is central to his theological construction, the author proposes the importance of revisiting the doctrine of totus Christus to create an ecclesiology that links to sacramentology and soteriology. The contribution of this research is to show that the doctrine of totus Christus is more organic and sacramental so that it can become the foundation and aspiration for evangelical churches united as the body of Christ to participate in His redemptive works for the salvation of the world.

“My Worship Has Been Hijacked”

Chapter 1 combines historical research with autoethnographic narrative to contextualize the dramatic musical shifts that have taken place in evangelicalism over the last four decades. In the 1980s and 1990s, “praise and worship” music—a genre with roots in the Pentecostal and charismatic movement—began to enter the evangelical mainstream. Evangelical churches struggled with how to negotiate the ethos and aesthetics of these new songs into their services, leading to a period that many commentators dubbed the “worship wars.” Subsequent developments, including the formation of Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI), a concerted push by secular distributors to sell worship music to churches, and the rise of new kind of performer (the “celebrity worship leader”), exacerbated internal congregational tensions and debates.

Digital Discipleship: A Study of How Churches in New York Used Technology for Adult Discipleship During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 Pandemic brought unexpected and unparalleled challenges to bear on the adult discipleship ministries of local churches. These challenges were felt sharply early on in New York, the location of the most severe outbreak in the East Coast during the first half of 2020. This paper explores how Evangelical churches in the New York regions of Metro NYC and Eastern New York adapted to these challenges and turned to technology to continue serving their churches. Through the use of qualitative surveys, 21 churches in New York shared how they shifted to continue to minister to their congregation. The research demonstrated that over 95% of churches surveyed engaged in digital discipleship, with half finding it to be effective for their congregation.

Perceived discrimination among Spanish Roma: The role of religion

This article aims to show that Roma people in Spain are targeted for discrimination because of perceptions about their religious beliefs, as well as for reasons linked to their socio-economic status. Data on the Spanish Roma population have been, used and analysis reveals that Evangelical Roma people have a higher probability of perceiving discrimination than those Roma who profess the majority religion in Spain, that is, Catholicism, once other socio-economic and demographic factors are controlled for. We recommend that this manifested higher degree of discrimination towards Evangelical Roma should be addressed by Spanish institutions and organizations promoting the rights of ethnic minorities by considering intersectional discrimination which allows for a more respectful and egalitarian approach to the diversity of Roma people. Additionally, Evangelical churches should be considered as active actors in an inter-culture dialogue.

Conflits liés aux pratiques religieuses et conséquences chez les populations Ebrié d’Anono M’Badon et Blockhaus (Côte d’Ivoire)

Les Ebriés1 ont adopté les églises Harriste, Méthodiste et Catholique, devenues des patrimoines culturels religieux. En dépit du contrôle social mis en œuvre pour y maintenir les fidèles, nombreux sont les Ebrié, qui ont opté pour les églises Évangéliques, ce qui a occasionné des conflits à Anono, M’Badon et Blockhaus. Cette étude analyse les conflits liés aux pratiques religieuses et leurs conséquences dans lesdits villages. La méthodologie de recherche, essentiellement qualitative, s’appuie sur 30 personnes interrogées au moyen d’un guide d’entretien semi-directif et d’une grille d’observation. L’étude présente les résultats de terrain. Elle indique d’abord que les pratiques religieuses à Anono, M’Badon et Blockhaus sont le sceau d’une affiliation à des religions révélées et une fidélité à une tradition locale. L’article montre ensuite les conflits de leadership pour l’appropriation et la structuration sociale des espaces villageois, les conflits de perception des pratiques culturelles et christianisées. Enfin, l’étude explique les conséquences, dont la reconstruction identitaire (recomposition de la gouvernance politique, sociale et culturelle, rupture de la sociabilité familiale et communautaire) liées aux conflits dans ces espaces sociaux. The Ebriés adopted the Harrist, Methodist and Catholic churches, which became religious cultural heritages. Despite the social control implemented to keep the faithful there, many are the Ebrié, who opted for the Evangelical churches, which caused conflicts in Anono, M’badon and Blockhaus. This study analyzes the conflicts linked to religious practices and their consequences in the said villages. The research methodology, which is essentially qualitative, is based on 30 people interviewed using a semistructured interview guide and an observation grid. The study presents the results from the field. First, it indicates that the religious practices at Anono, M’badon and Blockhaus are the seal of an affiliation with revealed religions and a fidelity to a local tradition. The article then shows the leadership conflicts for the appropriation and social structuring of village spaces, the conflicts of perception of cultural and Christianized practices. Finally, the study explains the consequences, including identity reconstruction (recomposition of political, social and cultural governance, breakdown of family and community sociability) linked to conflicts in these social spaces.

“We Believe the Bible”

Christianity is a small but growing minority in Cambodia, accounting for only about 3% of the population yet growing there at a rate faster than in any other country in Southeast Asia. In Cambodian Christian communities, it is not uncommon to find more women than men in the churches. Cambodian boys often spend a brief period of their youth as novice monks at Theravada Buddhist monasteries, during which time they have the opportunity to become familiar with the Pali language and holy texts. Girls are not afforded this same opportunity, as there are no nuns (bhikkhuni) in contemporary Theravada. Within the Christian community in Cambodia, women carry out much of the service work in the churches, but only rarely are they invited to preach, let alone to become pastors—as is the case in much of the world. This article, based on interviews and participant observation with evangelical churches in Cambodia in 2019, demonstrates the ways in which ministry carried out by women has been characterized by courageous creativity, empowered through physical distance, and undergirded by a resoluteness of vocation.

The New Calvinism

This chapter looks at the origins and distinguishing features of the stream of American evangelicalism that has come to be known as New Calvinism. New Calvinism emerged at the end of the twentieth century among evangelical Christians frustrated by the perceived pragmatism and doctrinal shallowness of many evangelical churches. It is classically evangelical in its theology and preaching, eager to build coalitions across denominational lines (in particular, among Baptists and Presbyterians), founded on a selective appropriation of Reformed doctrine (especially the Reformed doctrines of God and soteriology) and committed to a complementarian view of gender roles. However, the New Calvinism’s most distinctive features are its energetic expansion into new geographical and denominational spaces and its cultivation of a unique form of revivalism and affective spirituality drawn from the writings of Puritans like John Owen and Jonathan Edwards.

Evangelicals in the Latin American political arena: the cases of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay

The advance of evangelical congregations in the Latin American religious scene is one of the most significant cultural transformations of the last decades. It is so because of the speed with which it has occurred, because of the important number of people involved and because of the depth with which it challenges the Catholic Church, one of the most emblematic institutions of the continent since the conquest. In this paper, we analyze one of the areas in which this religious revolution is manifesting itself in three different countries. We address the changing relationships between evangelicals and politics in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay and prove that, despite the enormous differences among these three countries, there are clear similarities in the political agendas that evangelicals support. Nevertheless, we also show the different articulations that Evangelicals have carried out in the political arena in each case. The Evangelical churches in Brazil have advanced much more in this sense than in Argentina, with Uruguay being the intermediate situation. For this, we will base ourselves on a bibliographic review of research, in statistical data from the Latinobarometer, together with specific in-depth interviews.

Main Vectors of International Activity of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

During the 1950s and 1980s, the Eastern Catholic Church (sharing the Byzantine tradition) was maintained in countries with a Ukrainian migrant diaspora. In the 1960s, this branched and organized church was formed in the Ukrainian diaspora. It was named the Ukrainian Catholic Church (UCC). The Galician Metropolitan Department was headed by Andriy Sheptytskyi until 1944, and after that Sheptytskyi was preceded by Yosyp Slipiy, who headed it until 1984. In addition to the Major Archbishop and Metropolitan Yosyp, this church included two dioceses (in the United States and Canada), a total of 18 bishops. It had about 1 million believers and 900 priests. The largest groups of followers of the union lived in France, Yugoslavia, Great Britain, Brazil, Argentina, and Australia. Today, the number of Greek Catholics in the world is more than 7 million. The international cooperation of denominations in the field of resolving historical traumas of the past seems to be quite productive. An illustrative example was shared on June 28, 2013. Preliminary commemorations of the victims of the 70th anniversary of the Volyn massacres, representatives of the UGCC and the Roman Catholic Church of Poland signed a joint declaration. The documents condemned the violence and called on Poles and Ukrainians to apologize and spread information about the violence. This is certainly a significant step towards reconciliation between the nations. The most obvious fact is that the churches of the Kyiv tradition—ОCU and UGCC, as well as Protestant churches (All-Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Churches—Pentecostals, Ukrainian Lutheran Church, German People’s Church)—are in favor of deepening the relations between Ukraine and the European Union. A transformation of Ukrainian community to a united Europe, namely in the European Union, which, in their view, is a guarantee of strengthening state sovereignty and ensuring the democratic development of countries and Ukrainian society.

Sponsoring Castro’s Refugees

This chapter covers evangelical churches’ responses to Cuban refugees between 1959 and 1965, which constituted the first large-scale refugee resettlement initiative by a large evangelical denomination, as well as a well-established public-private partnership between the US government and evangelical churches. Evangelicals, particularly Southern Baptists, provided relief for and sponsored Cuban refugees as an outgrowth of their anticommunism as much as out of their religiously motivated missionary zeal. The Southern Baptist Convention—the nation’s largest Protestant denomination—resettled more than a thousand Cuban refugees. Southern Baptist refugee sponsors provided a roof to sleep under, furnished refugees’ new homes with blankets and kitchen appliances, secured employment for the families’ breadwinners, and enrolled Cuban children in school and the adults in English language classes. While not involved in resettlement, the Pentecostal Assemblies of God shared the Southern Baptists’ missionary zeal and catered to Cuban refugees’ material and spiritual needs.