7262397890599 ISBN 978-90-5972-623-9 Churches in many Western countries are faced with an adaptive challenge. Adaptive challenges arise when deeply held beliefs are challenged, when the solutions that once worked well become less appropriate, and when legitimate, yet competing, perspectives emerge. Adaptive problems will not go away by ignoring them, or by making technical adjustments. Many churches in the West need to change their vision and practices thoroughly, in order not to become contextually obsolete and irrelevant. Since this has to do with innovation and change, it will require leadership.

/pdf/crossroads-an-exploration-of-the-emerging-missional-1g154zqjzh.pdf

Crossroads: An Exploration of the Emerging-Missional Conversation with a Special Focus on 'Missional Leadership' and Its Challenges for Theological Education

My thesis proposes a theological conceptualisation for understanding gospel and culture relationships in the field of Christian mission. I begin by investigating whether the missiological categories of contextualisation and inculturation are adequate for describing how the Christian gospel is offered from one culture to another. Can the categorical metaphor, ‘translation,’ construed conceptually rather than linguistically, add a more fruitful and comprehensive way of understanding how the Christian message is transmitted across cultures? I contend that ‘mission as translation’ incorporates numerous features of contextualisation and inculturation, yet avoids weaknesses of those two interpretations. The incipient theory of mission as translation has been articulated by mission historians, Andrew Walls and Lamin Sanneh, and theologian Kwame Bediako. I use reading of key texts of these scholars to build a conceptual approach to mission as translation. I contrast their translation principles with the work of two Roman Catholic missiologists, Stephen Bevans and Robert Schreiter, proponents of mission as contextualisation. In developing the argument for my thesis, I explore insights gleaned from studying linguistics, hermeneutics and translation studies. I go on to identify three ‘linguistic translation’ features: similarity and difference, transformation, and multiplicity, and then apply Eugene Nida’s communication theory to missional translation. Drawing on heuristic insights from Michael Polanyi, I take Nida’s translation theory further and suggest that relevance theory, interpreted by Ernst-August Gutt, provides a way forward in translation studies. I argue that Polanyi’s notions of discovery and indwelling offer methodological categories to describe how a mission translator pays attention to cultural particulars and integrates them into perceived meaningful patterns. I use Polanyi’s notion of the tacit dimension as the primary hermeneutical tool in understanding mission as translation. Finally, I test mission as translation by applying it to three case studies and conclude by discussing the three ‘linguistic translation’ features in light of Christian mission.

Mapping mission as translation with reference to Michael Polanyi’s heuristic philosophy

While Pentecostal churches derive their growing popularity in large part from their ability to combat witchcraft in society, I argue here that Pentecostalism is itself an alternative form of witchcraft discourse. As such, it falls prey to the same ambivalent relationship between power, success and social obligation that witchdoctors and politicians must face. I discuss Pentecostalism and witchcraft in terms of their relationship to neoliberal understandings of individual agency and economy in contrast to the moral economy of social obligations. At the same time I draw parallels between the ritual techniques of Pentecostalism and witchcraft cosmology, demonstrating that, despite Pentecostal churches' efforts to transcend the power of witchcraft, they in many cases become encompassed by witchcraft discourse, often taking on the appearance of witchcraft itself.

Pentecostal Witchcraft: Neoliberal Possession and Demonic Discourse in Ivoirian Pentecostal Churches

The title of the study is ‘Spiritual
Leadership Capital: A Theology of Poverty in
 Congregational
Development’. It is a study which tried to understand how Ghanaian
Pentecostal spirituality informs their leadership paradigms towards
addressing poverty in their
 contexts.
 The basic assumption of
this study is, Pentecostal congregations can be a force to help
Ghana
 address poverty if they are missionally built-up and have
cultivated spiritual leadership capital
 (SLC).
 The research
problem is, do leadership in Ghanaian Pentecostal congregations
have spiritual
 leadership capital (SLC)? (Chapter three outlines
SLC). What has been the Pentecostal
 understanding of poverty, have
they a sustainable missional (practical) theology of poverty?
(Chapter 4 outlined this). To what extent could their having or the
lack of SLC, help or prevent
 them from developing missional
congregations which are able to theologically address the
 problem
of poverty? (Chapter two addressed missional theology). In what
ways might the
 adoption of SLC in congregational development by
Pentecostals contribute to the addressing of
 poverty in Ghana?
The study is in the broad disciplinary area of practical theology,
and specifically under the subdiscipline
 of congregational
development (ecclesiology). The Researcher advances ‘spiritual
leadership capital’ (SLC) theory, which he argues provides inner
virtues which spirituality
 affords people, shaping them with
resilient leadership paradigms that contribute to the formation
 of
social capital for the sustainable addressing of social problems
such as poverty. It comes to
 enrich earlier theories on social
capital.
 With the main concern of this project being missional
theology as regards leadership in
 congregational development
within the context of Ghanaian Pentecostalism, researcher contests
that, SLC can be used to address questions posed to the church and
the world by the problem of
 poverty. The word ‘missional’ has been
understood within the missional conversation to have a
 bigger
scope than missionary activity. Leadership’s understanding of
mission must determine the
 structures and systems of a missional
congregation. Using Osmer’s (2008) four task practical theology
approach to research, SLC comes as a
 practical theology of poverty
in congregational development. Using SLC in view of the backdrop
of Nel’s (2015:273-278) congregational analysis, contextual
analysis and diagnosis; the
 empirically the study looked at the
Church of Pentecost, Assemblies of God Church, Ghana, and
 Global
Evangelical Church. Its aim was to understand their concept of
being missional and how
 they see poverty within the scope of their
ecclesiology and how SLC can improve their praxis in
 this
direction. The researcher draws on historical lessons from the
spiritualities of historic
 pneumatic Christian movements, such as
Quakers, Moravians, Huguenots, and Puritans in
 overcoming poverty.
And as part of SLC, argues transformational diaconia, as a
missional
 response to poverty beyond existing social…

Spiritual leadership capital : a theology of poverty in congregational development

THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL PASTOR: NAVIGATING THE CULTURE OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH BY IMPLEMENTING ANTHROPOLOGICAL TOOLS AND RESOURCES Christopher Eric Turpin, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2016 Chair: Dr. George H. Martin This dissertation explores anthropological tools and resources and their potential usefulness in navigating the culture of an established church. The application of the principles contained herein can be used for church revitalization, pastor transitions, and established church leadership. These principles can also be applied to business and organizational cultures. Chapter 1 presents the research question that serves as the investigative guide for the dissertation. This dissertation argues that the pastor(s)/elders, and/or potential pastor(s)/elders, of established local churches, should know and implement many of the tools and resources of cultural anthropology within their ministry context in order to enhance understanding and communication between the pastor and his congregation, resulting in healthier pastor-congregation relations, healthier churches, and greater Kingdom effectiveness. Further, this chapter proposes an amalgamation of the research from the fields of anthropology/missiology, relevant organizational culture literature, and church leadership materials. Chapter 2 serves as a survey of much of the relevant literature surrounding the study of anthropology/missiology, church leadership, and relevant organizational culture literature. This literature review traces an overview of the development of anthropological thought and the value of anthropological tools and resources. The review then demonstrates how anthropology is being discussed in church leadership materials, but without significant interaction with anthropological resources. Due to the scope of this research, the author narrows his interaction with church leadership material to materials that include sections that seem to recognize that each established churches exhibit culture. Chapter 3 presents the author’s findings from anthropological research most relevant to the work of a local church pastor. Paul Hiebert’s book Anthropological Insights for Missionaries serves as a blueprint for the outline of the chapter. The chapter continues to look at available anthropological tools and resources, the ways they are understood and implemented by others, and potential applications toward established churches. Chapter 4 examines church leadership literature resources that consider established churches to exhibit culture. Aubrey Malphurs’ book, Look before You Lead serves as a blueprint for the outline of the chapter. The primary objective of this chapter is to demonstrate the fact that church leadership authors interact very little with the writings, research, paradigms, and tools of anthropologists or missiologists. Chapter 5 presents the author’s findings and conclusions. The focus is on developing the field of congregational cultural anthropology for the purpose of equipping pastors to understand and work through established church cultures. The author introduces a rapid assessment process (RAP) for understanding and navigating congregational culture. He concludes with an adaptation of Paul Hiebert’s method for engaging in critical contextualization, but for the purpose of transforming congregational culture. He also proposes the development of a field handbook for rapid assessment processes among established churches and an expansion of the field of congregational cultural anthropology.

J. Nelson Jennings

Papers

African Charismatics: Current Developments within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana

Rethinking Christ and Culture: A Post-Christendom Perspective