Enhancing the Safety of All Persons within the Anglican Communion: Initiatives of the Instruments of Communion

This article tells the story of initiatives of the Instruments of Communion to enhance the safety of all persons within the Anglican Communion over the past three decades. These Initiatives have taken place against the backdrop of the significant evidence that has come to light in recent years of abuse being perpetrated by clergy and lay leaders against children, young people and vulnerable adults in the provinces. It describes the actions of the Lambeth Conference, the Primates’ Meeting, the Anglican Consultative Council, and the work of the Anglican Communion Safe Church Commission.

An Interventionist and Psychometrician Considers Assessing Changes in Spiritual Formation

There are two parts to this present article. First, I consider the applied problem of assessing changes in a congregation—how often to assess, why assess, what changes are looked for, what interventions are assessed, why look to the components of interventions, and how to avoid problems interpreting your data. Brief assessments are mandatory. Pastors and lay leaders can make simple but sound assessments of their spiritual formation programs using item response theory, goal attainment scales, single items, parceling single items, or narrative responses as five alternatives. I describe dangers in interpreting the findings such as not knowing the base rate of change and mistaking the assessment for the mission. In the second part of the article, I briefly describe a program labeled a deep dive into humility. I summarize the assessments that were done, which gives a practical example of the technical recommendations I made earlier in the article.

EXECUTION OF SENSITIZATION PROGRAMMES OF ADVENTIST RELIEF AGENCY ON FEMALE CIRCUMCISION IN NYAMIRA CONFERENCE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS IN NYAMIRA COUNTY, KENYA

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which sensitization programmes of Adventist Relief Agency on female circumcision have been executed in Nyamira Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists in Nyamira County, Kenya. This study adopted a theoretical framework based on social change, social control theories. This study adopted mixed methods approach which includes both quantitative and qualitative methods which encompassed concurrent triangulation. Concurrent triangulation enabled the researcher to adopt descriptive survey research design. The target population in this study was 7 Conference management staff, 3 ADRA programme implementation officers, 60 church pastors and 700 church lay leaders. The sample size consisted of 18 church pastors and 210 lay leaders which was 30% of the target population whereas all the 7 Nyamira Conference management staff members and the 3 ADRA programme implementation officials were purposively included in the study. The study used questionnaires and oral interviews to collect data from the respondents. A pilot study was conducted for reliability and validity of the research instruments. The instruments were piloted in the churches within Nyamira Conference whose pastors and lay leaders did not participate in the study utilizing simple random sampling to select respondents. To ensure reliability of the findings, the data was subjected to cronbanch alpha index. The Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.7878 was obtained and this implied that the research instruments were reliable and therefore the researcher adopted the research instruments. It was established that there were sensitization programmes on female circumcision in Nyamira County. Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that there is need to support the sensitization programmes of Adventist Relief Agency on female circumcision in Nyamira Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists in Nyamira County. Based on the findings of this study it was recommended that the Nyamira Conference management of the Seventh Day Adventist church should strive to encourage and support the sensitization programmes by the Adventist Relief Agency on female circumcision in the area of jurisdiction. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0778/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Rodfei Shalom, Metavkhei Shalom, Pashranim, and Nikhbadim

This chapter examines historical accounts and stories of non-rabbinic Jewish lay leaders who served as third-party peacemakers within their communities as found in medieval and early modern rabbinic literature. As opposed to the rabbis of whom the identities of almost all were known, lay leaders who served as third-party peacemakers are almost entirely anonymous. They were, however, often referred to with quasi-titles to signify their role as third-party peacemakers. The chapter is therefore divided into four primary sections based on these various titles used to refer to lay peacemakers. The chapter also includes a discussion on the imperative in Jewish law and tradition of lay people to serve as third-party peacemakers or mediators.

Religious Renewal in the Context of Secularism

When public identity focuses on the convergence between Catholicism and the American way of life, markers of Catholic identity migrate to unique religious practices: popular devotions, sacramental attendance, obedience to disciplinary laws. Episcopal statements and the reflections of clerical and lay leaders note the growing split between religion and daily life. “Secularism” within the Church is identified in the analysis of John Courtney Murray, the Grail Movement, and in the pages of Catholic Action. In response to this “schizoid culture,” significant leaders network with affinity movements throughout the world. International congresses of the laity set the stage for the Council. Movements of Specialized Catholic Action join with the mainstreaming of scripture reading, catechetical reform, participative political processes, and the liturgical movement to foster a reconfiguration of clergy-lay relations. The bishops themselves begin to sponsor both liturgical change and Specialized Catholic Action even before the Council begins.

REGARDING AMORIS LAETITIA: ITS LANGUAGE, ITS RECEPTION, SOME CHALLENGES, AND AGNOSTICISM OF SOME OF THE HIERARCHY

Five years after its promulgation, the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia is continuing to shape the church by reforming its pastoral ministry in particular, its work in marriage and family life. This essay looks at the key contents of the lengthy document by considering the rich language it uses as well as the varied imaginative modes of reception by bishops, theologians, and lay leaders. It investigates a sustained criticism that argues for further reform, though in line with the basic arguments of Amoris Laetitia. It notes, nonetheless, that in the United States some of the episcopacy display an indifference to the magisterial teaching and concludes suggesting that that indifference needs to be investigated.

Introduction

During the Reformation, religious leaders took a more decisive stance on the way that churches should deal with poverty. This study examines the role of church leaders in the development of poor relief reforms to provides a greater understanding of how religious ideals and rationales fueled the changes in church and society.While Catholics generally emphasized interpersonal charity, early Protestant reformers sought to eliminate begging by setting up or supporting poor relief institutions. Pastors and lay leaders helped to create and establish various approaches to alleviating poverty. While some church leaders sought to drive their local magistrates to deal with poverty within their communities, others initiated change mainly within their own churches. However, poor relief faced many practical challenges like raising money, new outbreaks of the plague, and the mass influx of religious refugees. Hence for minority Reformed and Anabaptist communities, church leaders had to find new ways to build and support their fledgling religious communities.

Personality, Prosperity, Priority, Productivity, and Piety: Selecting Congregational Valued Lay Leaders

Religious congregations are community hubs of welfare and health services. They are known mostly for their spiritual and faith-based activities while being the largest providers of social care with the exception of social welfare services. Their leaders, the clergy, do not work alone. Members that work alongside clergy are essential for the congregation’s functioning but are under-researched, which limits our understanding of the inner workings of local religious congregations. In this exploratory study, we surveyed clergy to assess the characteristics possessed by their most trusted congregants—the valued members. This study helps to better understand the organizational behavior and an overall understanding of congregational members, who work most closely with clergy. We used an online survey of clergy across religious traditions within the United States (N=202), who provided personal data and described their valued members’ collective characteristics. Alongside our conceptual literature review, the findings identified five key groups: Personality, Prosperity, Priority, Productivity, and Piety. Overall, the valued members ranked highest were high on productivity and lowest on prosperity. We also found differences between clergy ranking based on their age, gender, and religion.

Measuring Clergy Effectiveness

A review of the current literature showed that clergy effectiveness (CE) instruments were inadequate due to age, insufficient content validity, and/or based on secondary criteria. The premise of this study was that an instrument built upon qualitative data reflective of 21st-century ministry paradigms is needed. Such data did not exist until DeShon identified 64 personal and behavioral characteristics of clergy deemed to enhance effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to operationalize the characteristics identified by DeShon. Staff and lay leaders in churches of various sizes from five different denominations were selected using a snowball technique (N = 397). Scale optimization resulted in a final three-factor instrument consisting of 14 items: professional competence (five items), socially adept (five items), and inclination to lead (four items). Scale reliability was substantiated by Cronbach's alpha scores of .89 (professional competence), .94 (socially adept), and .73 (inclination to lead).