Visions and Realities in Hong Kong Anglican Mission Schools, 1849–1941

This article explores the tension between missionary hopes for mass conversion through Christian education and the reality of operating mission schools in one colonial context: Hong Kong. Riding on the wave of British imperial expansion, George Smith, the first bishop of the diocese of Victoria, had a vision for mission schooling in colonial Hong Kong. In 1851, Smith established St Paul's College as an Anglo-Chinese missionary institution to educate, equip and send out Chinese young people who would subsequently participate in mission work before evangelizing the whole of China. However, Smith's vision failed to take institutional form as the college encountered operational difficulties and graduates opted for more lucrative employment instead of church work. Moreover, the colonial government moved from a laissez-faire to a more hands-on approach in supervising schools. The bishops of Victoria were compelled to reshape their schools towards more sustainable institutional forms while making compromises regarding their vision for Christian education.

Makna Kisah Panggilan Para Murid Yesus Bagi Metode Pendidikan Agama Kristen

Jesus is a teacher who sets an example of His teaching to the disciples. The story of the early disciples' vocation provides evidence that Jesus is expertise in personal development. This fact is a moral criticism issue that is not in line with religious values and a challenge to Christian religious education which means the Church work in the educational issue. Through a library research approach, this study aims to explore the pedagogical meaning and methods of Christian religious education in vocational stories (Matthew 4: 18-22, Markus. 1: 16-20, Luke 5: 1-14). The focus is on the pedagogical meaning, methodology and implementation of the teachings of Jesus in the vocational story. The result is an imaginative analogy, a term that affirms the educational meaning of Christian religious and educational methodology where the experience (in the light of) faith is accompanied by acts that are much more effective in Christian religious education. Keywords: Pedagogy; Educational Methods; Christian Religious Education; Disciples of Jesus.

Essential Workers, Essential Services? Leitourgia in Light of Lockdown

Within days of the outbreak of COVID-19, the language of “essential work” and “essential workers” became commonplace in public discourse. “Church workers” and their in-person liturgical services were largely deemed “non-essential”, and most assemblies shifted worship to online platforms. While some reflection on this virtual “church work” has appeared in the intervening months, there has been less evaluation of the gathered assembly’s absence from the public square, along with the contribution its liturgical work might offer in interpreting the pandemic and its effects. This essay imagines a post-COVID-19 agenda for liturgical studies that focuses on a recovery of Christian liturgy as public, in-person, and “essential” service done for the sake of the polis—a public example of “church doing world”—that proposes a countersign to the inequalities of contemporary consumer culture laid bare in these last months. It begins by engaging in dialogue with the leitourgia of groups who insisted on the essential nature of their public service, in particular the public protests against police violence that marked the summer of 2020. In doing so, it seeks ways liturgical assemblies might better propose a “public theology” of God’s work in the world understood as the concursus Dei, the divine accompanying of creation and humanity within it.

„Das tut mir gut!“

Young people are interested in exploring their religiousness. However, conventional church formats offer them little incentive to do so. Youth churches start at this point. They aim to present attending church to adolescents in an age-appropriate way. By means of qualitative social research, this study investigates the religious needs of adolescents in the context of youth church work. What forms of religious communication and social practice do adolescents need in order to develop their own religiosity? What places do they need to develop their faith and what demands do they place on religious institutions such as churches? The author discusses the results of the study using sociological and philosophical theories of care and thus develops the thesis of religious self-care among young people.

Back to Church

It is not possible directly to connect Mead’s return to Manus in 1953 with her return to church in 1955. She was, however, exposed to a particularly vibrant form of Christianity there, one that propelled rather than impeded social change. During the past decade, she had grown frustrated with American churches that she saw as divisive, harboring racism, anti-Semitism, and anti-scientific attitudes, but in Manus she saw the power of institutional religion in a new way. Maybe American Christianity could be a vehicle for her moral vision. Her perspective on Christian missions also shifted considerably. Not long after her trip, she renewed her church membership, and soon after that she got deeply involved in church work. She would not say that she recovered her faith, because she insisted that she never lost it. Still, something came into focus for her in the mid-1950s that had been blurry for many years, and her still-boundless energies found new, and more explicitly churchly, directions.

Vai liekam punktu?

The article “Do We Put a Full Stop?” describes the development of digitalization within the Christian church, which was significantly accelerated by the impact of the crisis caused by Covid-19, based on several surveys conducted in Europe, including Latvia. The Covid-19 crisis has necessitated the rapid development of various digital formats of proclaiming the Gospel. They attracted more people than the previous analogue worship services. However, a distinction should be made between streaming analogue formats and creating a specific digital offer characterized by digital belonging, participation, and interactive relationships. It is not clear at this moment whether these formats have a sustainable character or whether they are a transitory phenomenon. The digitalization of church work has also raised issues such as digital Holy Communion, the advantages of a network of small, horizontally structured communities versus large, hierarchically formed congregations and churches with a large analogue infrastructure. The development of the digital church alongside the proclamation in analogue formats is inevitable. The future of the church is hybrid – analogue and digital. Digital formats will develop alongside analogue without replacing them, while the analogue church will be enriched by the influence of public digital church platforms. The digital church is not an adjunct, but an important and essential part of the work of the congregation and the church.

The Clergy Work Orientation in Transition: An Analysis of the Structure and Change in Work Orientation Among the Finnish Lutheran Clergy

The article focuses on the work orientation and changes therein among the clergy in Finland, and on its implications for practical church work. The article is based on a survey conducted among the clergy in Finland (N=878). The research shows that clergy make distinctions between various work tasks that are in line with the traditional distinction between “function” and “performance”. The results show that liberal theological orientation, which is linked to performance-orientation, is increasing. The aspects of work which seem to be most threatened are evangelization, missionary work, and reading and teaching the Bible. There are also many areas of work that are likely to remain stable and unite the clergy regardless of their gender, age or theological orientation.

MANAS BUTHELEZI: THE CHURCHLEADER, LIBERATION ACTIVIST AND SCHOLAR IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT

This article celebrates and honours Manas Buthelezi’s life by examining his active contribution in the spiritual, political, social and socio-economic spheres. An analysis of his contribution is offered by firstly examining his academic career, church work and his contribution to the recent history of Christianity. Secondly, I provide an overview of his involvement in political affairs and with the Lutheran community.Finally, I focus on Buthelezi’s service in the South African Council of Churches (SACC).