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As rural America continues to undergo massive economic and demographic shifts, rural churches are uniquely positioned to provide community leadership. Leading a rural congregation requires a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing these communities, as well as a strong theological and community-focused identity. Allen T. Stanton describes how in establishing this identity, rural leaders build a meaningful and vital ministry. Reclaiming Rural explores the myths and realities of rural places, and how those common narratives impact the leadership of rural churches. Ultimately, rural congregations must practice a contextual understanding of vitality, which understands both the strengths and challenges of leading in a rural setting. Arguing for a practice of evangelism imbued with this mission of vitality, Reclaiming Rural promotes the church as a leader in economic and community development, modeled upon a Wesleyan theology of grace. Acknowledging the many challenges facing rural churches, this book is an energetic and encouraging guide to overcoming social and economic obstacles to build a thriving congregation.
Nearly all pastors sent to rural congregations were nurtured in larger urban congregations, and nearly always educated in urbanized seminaries. A wide culture gap between leaders and members often emerges among the church leaders in rural congregations. This book is designed to address and study the issues that arise when ordained and lay pastors are called or appointed to rural congregations. This handbook will orient seminary students and pastors who are doing ministry in rural congregations. It focuses on the nature of congregational life in such a setting, showing ways to deal with the issues and challenges specific to rural culture. The authors tell how to best engage in evangelism and mission in the particular locations in which these congregations find themselves. Rural Congregational Studies: A Guide for Good Shepherds outlines features of different rural settings that affect life and church life. Each chapter contains a section of "resources" (sidebars, ideas, programs, and so forth) that tie it to the chapter theme.
Explores the practice of eating together as Christian worship The gospel story is filled with meals. It opens in a garden and ends in a feast. Records of the early church suggest that believers met for worship primarily through eating meals. Over time, though, churches have lost focus on the centrality of food— and with it a powerful tool for unifying Christ’s diverse body. But today a new movement is under way, bringing Christians of every denomination, age, race, and sexual orientation together around dinner tables. Men and women nervous about stepping through church doors are finding God in new ways as they eat together. Kendall Vanderslice shares stories of churches worshiping around the table, introducing readers to the rising contem­porary dinner-church movement. We Will Feast provides vision and inspiration to readers longing to experience community in a real, physical way.
A description of the course of the Protestant Reformation in the city of Geneva from the 16th to the 18th centuries.
During the past two decades, the Science of Congregation Studies has blossomed significantly in the UK, as well as within the USA and Australia. In this illuminating and thought-provoking volume, Leslie J. Francis’ research group draws on the Signs of Growth Survey conducted throughout the Anglican Diocese of Southwark to illustrate how the strength of combined qualitative and quantitative research methods can draw on the insights of psychological theory, sociological theory, and empirical theology to illuminate pressing questions of relevance to the sociology of religion, psychology of religion, practical theology and pastoral studies. Individual chapters discuss the missing generation of young people, the greying generation aged seventy and over, how occasional churchgoers express belonging and commitment, connections between psychological type and religious motivation, and the distinctive characteristics of growing congregations.
This book provides a significant new interpretation of China's rapid urbanization by analyzing its impact on the spread of Protestant Christianity in the People's Republic. Demonstrating how the transition from rural to urban churches has led to the creation of nationwide Christian networks, the author focuses on Linyi in Shandong Province. Using her unparalleled access as both an anthropologist and member of the congregation, she presents a much-needed insider's view of the development, organization, operation and transformation of the region's unregistered house churches. Whilst most studies are concerned with the opposition of church and state, this work, by contrast, shows that in Linyi there is no clear-cut distinction between the official TSPM church and house churches. Rather, it is the urbanization of religion that is worthy of note and detailed analysis, an approach which the author also employs in investigating the role played by Christianity in Beijing. What she uncovers is the impact of newly-acquired urban aspirations for material goods, success and status on the reshaping of local Christian beliefs, practices and rites of passage. In doing so, she creates a thought-provoking account of religious life in China that will appeal to social anthropologists, sociologists, theologians and scholars of China and its society.
How do space and architecture shape liturgical celebrations within a parish? In Theology and Form: Contemporary Orthodox Architecture in America, Nicholas Denysenko profiles seven contemporary Eastern Orthodox communities in the United States and analyzes how their ecclesiastical identities are affected by their physical space and architecture. He begins with an overview of the Orthodox architectural heritage and its relation to liturgy and ecclesiology, including topics such as stational liturgy, mobility of the assembly, the symbiosis between celebrants and assembly, placement of musicians, and festal processions representative of the Orthodox liturgy. Chapters 2–7 present comparative case studies of seven Orthodox parishes. Some of these have purchased their property and built new edifices; Denysenko analyzes how contemporary architecture makes use of sacred space and engages visitors. Others are mission parishes that purchased existing properties and buildings, posing challenges for and limitations of their liturgical practices. The book concludes with a reflection on how these parish examples might contribute to the future trajectory of Orthodox architecture in America and its dialogical relationship with liturgy and ecclesial identity.
In the Christian churches, and in Protestantism in particular, the local gatherings of the faithful –parish and non-territorial free congregations – are of crucial importance. Viewed from a global perspective, they offer an extremely popular format and are growing, as for example in China and Latin America. In central and northern Europe, on the other hand, the Protestant parish and its congregation tend rather to be in decline. What is the current situation of church parishes and congregations? This book presents research into this topic from all over the world. China is among the countries represented, as are the United States (as the "motherland" of the autonomous congregation), Switzerland, Germany and Scandinavia. The researchers have identified and defined a number of different lines of development. Ecclesiastical sociologists, sociologists of religion, and indeed everybody who is interested in the future of Protestantism will find some new insights into an old topic here. [Internationale Studien zur Kirchgemeinde. Die Zukunft der Pfarrbezirke und der Autonomen Kirchgemeinden] In den christlichen Kirchen, besonders in den protestantischen, kommt den lokalen Gemeinden (congregations, parishes) eine zentrale Bedeutung zu. In globaler Perspektive gesehen sind sie ausgesprochen populär und wachsen z. B. in China und Lateinamerika. In Mittel- und Nordeuropa hingegen nimmt protestantisch-gemeindliches Leben eher ab. Wie stellt sich die Situation der Kirchgemeinde heute dar? In diesem Buch werden diesbezügliche Forschungen aus aller Welt vorgestellt. China ist ebenso vertreten wie die USA – das "Mutterland" der autonomen Kirchgemeinde –, die Schweiz, Deutschland und Skandinavien. Unterschiedliche Entwicklungswege werden herausgearbeitet. Religions- und Kirchensoziologen – und alle die an der Zukunft des Protestantismus interessiert sind – finden hier neue Einsichten in ein altes Thema! Autoren sind u. a. Nancy Ammerman, Mark Chaves, Eberhard Hauschildt und Jörg Stolz.
Quietly Courageous offers practical guidance to leaders--both lay and ordained--on leading churches today. It encourages leaders to focus on their mission and purpose--what is ultimately motivating their work. It also urges a shift in perspectives on resources, discusses models of change, and offers suggestions for avoiding common pitfalls.
Questions of ecclesiology abound, and Karl Barth has been regarded as an unhelpful conversation partner and guide for those who care about ecclesiology and the place of the church in the academic pursuit of theology. The Only Sacrament Left to Us recovers Barth's doctrine of the threefold Word of God and shows that it is at the heart of his ecclesiological commitments, and that he offers a distinct and robust doctrine of the church worthy to be carried forward into the twenty-first-century debates about the church's place in God's economy. Thomas Christian Currie explores the central role of the threefold Word of God in Barth's theology of the church, explains its place in Barth's later doctrine of reconciliation, and seeks to engage the field of Barth studies with contemporary ecclesiological questions.