Some thoughts around developing missional South African congregations based upon the church rediscovering its identity in the grace of God
Keywords:
Missional Grace Identity Perfections of God ParadigmAbstract
The UPCSA have established the development of missional congregations as the overarching goal of the denomination. The UPCSA is a reformed church and as such attaches great importance to theology, especially that which originates in the character and nature of God. It is therefore suggested that a contextual theology based upon the perfection of the grace of God may enable missional congregations to be developed, as they rediscover their identity in that grace. This then will be the basis for building congregations that are truly missional at heart and not just superficially so. The study will be contextualized to the South African scene and applied to local congregations in order to try to help them rediscover their true identify in Christ, and to provide a basis for understanding “missional” and thus what transformation may entail.
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Williams, D., 1992, Towards an African Christan Theology: African traditional beliefs and Christianity, Fort Hare Papers 11, 99-124.
Asamang, A., 2016, Moral Formation of Christian Leaders in Africa: Lessons from the Literature and the Pastoral Epistles, lecture notes, SATS Academic Retreat, 21/22 April 2016.
Barth, Karl, 1936, Church Dogmatics, I/1, The Doctrine of the Word of God, T & T Clark, Edinburgh.
Barth, Karl, 1956, Church Dogmatics, IV/1, The Doctrine of Reconciliation, T & T Clark, Edinburgh.
Barth, Karl; 1957, Church Dogmatics, II/2, The Doctrine of God, T & T Clark, Edinburgh.
Bosch, D., 1991, Transforming Mission, Orbis Books, New York.
Brueggemann, W., 1997, Theology of the Old Testament, Fortress Press, Minneapolis.
Calvin, J., 1970, Institutes, MacDonald Publishing Company, Florida.
Choy, L., 1983, Preface in State of the Church, Murray (author), Christian Literature Crusade, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, 7-10.
Clowney, E., 1987, The Biblical Theology of the Church, in D. Carson (ed.), The Church in the Bible and the World, The Paternoster Press, Exeter, 13-87.
Dames, G., 2010, ‘The dilemma of traditional and 21st Century pastoral ministry: Ministering to families and communities faced with socio-economic pathologies’, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 66(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts. v66i2.817
Doornenbal, R. (2012) Crossroads: An Exploration of the Emerging Missional Conversation with a Special Focus on ‘Missional Leadership and its Challenge for Theological Education’, Eburon Academic Publisher, Delft.
Duguid, I., 2008, Zechariah, in Lane D., Grudem W., Collins C., (eds.), ESV Study Bible, Kindle Version, loc 228917 – 229871, (Study notes loc 230693 - 231711), Crossway, Wheaton.
Dulles, Avery; 1987, Models of the Church, Doubleday, New York.
Dunn, J., 1993, The Theology of Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Grenz, S., 1994, Theology for the Community of God, William B. Eerdmans Publishing company, Grand Rapids, Cambridge, U.K.
Grudem, W., 1994, Systematic Theology, Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester.
Guder, D., 2000, The Continuing Conversion of the Church, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Heidegger, M., 1959, An Introduction to Metaphysics, Yale University Press Inc., New Haven.
Hendriks, J., 2004, Studying Congregations in Africa, Lux Verbi BM, Wellington, South
Africa.
Holmes, C., 2008, The theological function of the doctrine of the divine attributes and the divine glory, with special reference to Karl Barth and his reading of the Protestant Orthodox, Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd, 61(2): 206-223.
Hunsinger, G., 2000, Disruptive Grace, Studies in the Theology of Karl Barth, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Kearsley, R.,1988, Grace, in B. Ferguson (ed.), New Dictionary of Theology, Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester.
Kittel, G., & Gerhard F., 1985, kardía/καρδία [heart], Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume, theWord 2010 version, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Kuhn, T., 1970, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago, University of Chicago
Press.
Küng, H., 1988, Theology for the Third Millenium, (Trans Heinegg P.), Doubleday, New
York.
Küng, 1989. Paradigm change in theology: A proposal for discussion. In: D. Tracey & H.Küng (ed.), Paradigm change in Theology. (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark Ltd.), 3-33.
Lebaka, M.E.K., 2014, ‘Music, singing and dancing in relation to the use of the harp and the ram’s horn or shofar in the Bible: What do we know about this?’, HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies 70(3), Art. #2664, 7 pages. http:// dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts. v70i3.2664
Leupold, H., 1956, Exposition of Zechariah, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Leupp, R., 2008, The Renewal of Trinitarian Theology, IVP Academic, Downer’s Grove, Illinois.
Light, V., 2012, Transforming the Church in Africa, South African Theological Seminary Press, AuthorHouse, Bloomington, Indiana.
Louw, D., 2008, Ubuntu: an African Assessment of the Religious Other. PAIDEIA. http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/AfriLouw.htm. Viewd on 11 March 2014;
Manheim, R., Translators note, in Heidegger, M., 1959, An Introduction to Metaphysics, Yale University Press, New Haven, vii-x.
Marshall, G., 2013, A Missional Ecclesiology for the 21st Century, Journal of European
Baptist Studies, 13 (2), 5-21.
Mbiti, J., 1989, African Religions and Philosophy, 2nd Ed, Heinemann Publishers, Oxford.
McCain, D., 2000, The Church in Africa In the Twenty First Century: Characteristics, Challenges and Opportunities, Africa Journal of Evangelical Theology, 19 (2), 105- 130.
McGrath, A., 1994, Christian Theology An Introduction, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, UK.
Merrill, E., 2003, An Exegetical Commentary Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Biblical
Studies Press, L.L.C, www.bible.org, viewed 1 June 2011.
Moltmann, J., 1989, Theology in transition – to what?, in J. Moltmann & D.Tracey (eds.), Paradigm change in theology, (Edinburgh: T&T Clark Ltd), 220-225.
Moltmann, J., 2010, Sun of Righteousness, Arise! God’s future for Humanity and the Earth, Fortress Press, Minneapolis.
Nel, M., 2009, Congregational analysis revisited: Empirical approaches, HTS
Teologiese/Theological Studies 65(1), Art. #187, 13 pages. DOI: 10.4102/hts. v65i1.187
Nel, M., 2013, Identity-Driven Churches, Biblecor, Wellington, SA.
Nell, I., 2014, Transforming congregational culture Sub-urban leadership perspectives within a circuit of the DRC, paper delivered at the conference entitled, ‘Transforming religious identities and communities at the intersection of the rural, urban, and the virtual’, Vrie Universiteit in Amsterdam, Netherlands, July 2-4, 2014, 1-16.
Nürnberger, K., 2007, The living dead and the living God, Cluster Publications, Pietermaritzburg.
Osmer, R. (2012) Formation of the missional church: Building deep connections between ministries of upbuilding and sending, In D. Zscheile (ed.), Cultivating sent communities: Missional spiritual formation, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 29-55.
Pillay, J., 2014, Reflections on the biblical and theological background to the Vision and Mission Priorities of the UPCSA, On Behalf of the General Assembly Priorities and Resources Committee.
Schoeman, W. (2010) The Congregational Life Survey in the Dutch Reformed Church: Identifying strong and weak connections. Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif, 51 (3 & 4): 114 – 124.
Searle, J., 1992, The Rediscovery of the Mind, MIT Press, London, England.
Setiloane, G., 2000, Towards a biocentric theology and ethic-via Africa, 93rd ed., Faith, Science and African culture: African Cosmology and Africa’s contribution to Science, ed. C. du Toit, UNISA, Pretoria.
Smith, R., 1984, Micah to Malachi, in Hubbard D., Baker, G., (eds.), Word Biblical Commentary, Word Books, Waco, Texas, 165-293.
Sundkler, B., 1961, Bantu Prophets in South Africa, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press,
London.
Titus, E. J., 2010, The Perfections of God in the Theology of Karl Barth, KAIROS – Evangelical Journal of Theology, Vol. IV. No. 2 (2010), 203-222
Taylor, J., 2001, Christian presence amid African religion, Action Publishers, Nairobi.
Tracy, D., 1989, Paradigm change in theology. In H. Küng & D. Tracey (eds.), Hermeneutical Reflections in the new paradigm, T&T Clark Ltd, Edinburgh, 34-62.
Van Gelder C., 2000, The Essence of the Church, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Van Gelder, C. & Zscheile D., 2011, The Missional Church in Perspective, Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids. Michigan.
Virgo, J., 2014, Mission and Contextualization, from a talk given at the New Frontier’s “Larger Churches’ Day”, Bracknell, UK., 18 June 2014.
Welker, M., 1994, God the Spirit, Fortress Press, Minneapolis.
Williams, D., 1992, Towards an African Christan Theology: African traditional beliefs and Christianity, Fort Hare Papers 11, 99-124.
Published
2017-08-03
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Tucker, R. (2017). Some thoughts around developing missional South African congregations based upon the church rediscovering its identity in the grace of God. Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 2(2). Retrieved from https://ojs.reformedjournals.co.za/index.php/stj/article/view/1302
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