https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3168 2026-05-05T08:52:10Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3815 John Wesley's concept and practice of Christian ministry: A study of the dynamics of John Wesley's ministry Pascua, David P. This is a work in the area of Practical Theology, most specially, the subject of administering a local church. It is offered as a long-term response to an urgent need in our church which is going through a crisis right now. The context that it addresses is chronic. Therefore, the response offered is meant to be implemented on a long term basis. I am sure that if adopted and followed, the local church will be renewed and revitalized. Over years, the church has not given careful attention to its own distinctive teachings. Consequently, the discipline and practice of the church have been neglected. There is confusion about how the Christian ministry is to be done at a local church level, which is that level at which the church is in contact with the world. The confusion is marked by what this writer calls “split Methodism’s where it should be" conjunctivist". Because of some confusion in teachings, and the liberal attitude that developed over the years, any church in this kind of predicament will face the world from a position of weakness. What this study offers is food for anyone who is at a crossroad: a passionate urging to revisit our rich heritage of theology and ministry. More specifically, the writer studied John Wesley's concept and practice of Christian ministry because it offers a comprehensive system that touches the whole life and work of the church, including its doctrinal emphases, its discipline, and its practice. The study offers these as component parts of Wesley's concept of Christian ministry. In the writer's view, the doctrines provide the superstructure or the rationale for change, the discipline provides the structure for commitment and responsibility, and the practice translates the goal aspired for into a reality. To put it another way, doctrines define life's meaning, discipline appropriates meaning and demands that one commits one’s life to it, and practice must be present in congregational program at all times, if we want transformation to take place. Chapter 2 is the heart of the study. This chapter discusses John Wesley's concept and practice of Christian ministry and gives a thorough discussion of its three component parts. Chapter 3 compares Wesley's concept with the concepts of ministry of three theologians, two from Asia and one from the West. The study shows that Wesley’s major difference with them is his emphasis on sanctification as the primary task of ministry. Wesley was tireless in his evangelical preaching and his excellent organizing work for the purpose of sanctification as ministry. Chapter 4 explains Wesley's Ordo Salutis as the theological pathway to personal and social transformation. Chapter 5 explains in more detail the components of discipline and practice as equally important factors in the task of transformation. Chapter 6 reconstructs Wesley's concept by expansion involving mission and evangelism, ecological justice, and Interfaith Dialogue. I mentioned in the conclusion that Wesley's concept is a concentric of two circles: the inner circle is focused in transformative work within the life of the congregation, while the outer circle focuses in ministries where the congregation makes its influence and impact in the life of the society. Wesley conducted the mission and ministry of the Methodist movement in this balanced manner. The writer believes that the church must adopt this concept of ministry because the concept is a means to arrive at an end, which has always defined Methodist's life and work: sanctification. John Wesley used this term, in a way that has implications for both personal and social transformation. As Methodist theology is conjunctivist, its understanding of ministry is conjunctivist as well. As a concept of Christian ministry, I am convinced that it has relevance to all churches that carry the Wesleyan heritage of theology and ministry. Abstract only 2015-03-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3813 The unity of the church according to Calvin and its meaning to the churches in Indonesia Batlajery, Agustinus Marthinus L. This dissertation is trying to express the ecclesiological and theological thoughts of Calvin on the unity of the church and seeking its meaning to the church in Indonesia. What it means by the church in Indonesia here are particularly the churches united in the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (CGI) in which the calvinistic church are considered to be big churches. Therefore, two things have to be scrutinized, they are, on the one hand the depth of Calvin's thought on church unity, on the other hand how far church unity have been worked out and achieved by the churches in Indonesia. Also, in order to bring the unity into reality, can the Indonesia churches learn something from Calvin? The main question here is what Calvin's concept on the unity of the church is and whether his view is meaning full to the Indonesian churches in achieving their unity. What contribution the Indonesia churches with the Calvinistic background can make to the ecumenical life of the churches in Indonesia? Assumptions underlying this study are: 1. Surprisingly, primary accent of Calvin's ecclesiology falls on unity. Whenever he talked about the church he would at the same time talked about the unity of the church prominently. He even put over his concepts not only theoretically but also practically in the Reformed churches in his time. When the church was threatened to be falling apart because of the different views and church practices, he strove to overcome it. 2. The Indonesian churches, especially the churches united in CGI, are striving to achieve the goal of bringing the unity of Indonesian churches into reality. Two things, then, are prominent here, they are: a) The unity in a form of organization, which is called a structural unity, and b) The unity in a form of witnessing and doing ministries together. It can be said that the struggle between these two views has not finished yet. In this context, probably, the Indonesian churches, especially the calvinistic churches" might learn something from Calvin's ecumenical concept and practice, even though his context are different from the context of the churches today. To gain calvin's concept on the church unity clearly, a study has to be done by using his own writings. It is impossible to study, for example, the Institutes alone, because it will not be enough. Therefore, besides Institutes, studying his commentaries, letters, tracts and treatises, cathechism, and sermons has to be done. In order to prove that he put his ideas into practice we need to observe his ecumenical activities in several ecumenical meetings to overcome conflicts and different points of view at that. It is the core of this dissertation presented on chapter II and III. Base on this study, it is found out that the core of Calvins's concept on the unity of the church is the unity based on Christian faith and creed. In other words, it is the unity in the creed and faith. The basis of Christian faith and creed, according to Clavin, is that God is One, Christ is God and the Son of God, and that the salvation of man depends entirely on God's mercy - in other words, the unity in one faith in Christ. Since they are mentioned in the Word as truth, therefore for Calvin the Word or truth become the base of the church unity. Therefore, there are fundamental doctrines of Christian faith, which should allow no differences and there are unessential doctrines which allow differences. For him, unity does not mean over all similarity. Perhaps the phrase "Unity, does not mean union" is the precise words to illustrate it. Furthermore, because of "notae ecclesiae" which characterize the church, the church unity also lies on its mutual recognition and acceptance as church, which administers the preaching of the Word and the celebration of the sacraments. The unity of the church does not lie on organization unity. The basic idea was realized in the ecumenical activities of his time. If the Word of truth states that Christ is one and undivided, and therefore the Church is also one referred to by the catholic and universal concept, then brokenness of the Church should not be allow to happen. For him, "the biggest crime is the fact that the bride of Christ i.e. the Church, has been torn apart" and that "separatism is the work of Satan". As a result, Calvin was involved and gave his support in the meetings of Hagenau, Worms and Regensburg, the meeting plan in Lamberth Palace, the conflicts on the Holy Communion producing the Tigurinus consensus, and the conflicts in Neuchatel and Frankfurt. He was also tolerant to the difference in non-fundamental church in Poland to resemble that in Rome (see chapter III). Calvin's ecclesiological view as state above is influenced by the context at the time. The Roman Catholic Church and the Anabaptist Radicals were becoming two groups as targets of his criticism, even though he still accepted them in several issues. The development of Christian’s humanism and eagerness to study the classical writings of the Church Fathers is the fact that cannot be ignored by Calvin. Therefore, the influence of humanism and theology of the Church Fathers is very strong in formulating his doctrines about the Church and Unity of the Church (see Chapter I). This study is being implemented to the church in Indonesia who are striving for unity in which the Calvinistic churches are considered to be big churches. It cannot be avoided that Calvinistic traditional heritage, especially, Dutch Calvinism, is still kept within the churches in Indonesia, even though it is not in a genuine form any more, either in doctrines, theology or in church life practices. These calvinistic churches have initiated in Indonesia (DGI) in 1950 until it has been change into the Communion of Churches, from different denominational background, such as Methodist, Pentecostal, Mennonites and even Evangelicals united in the CCCI, they have been striving for creating the One Christian Churches in Indonesia (GKYE). The Result that has been achieved is Five Documents on Church Unity or LDKG which was adopted in 1984, and which was revised on the General Assembly XI in Surabaya in 1989 and on the General Assembly XII in Jayapura 1994. The LDKG was finally reformulated again as The Documents of Church Unity (DKG) on the General Assembly XIII in 2000 in Palangkaraya (see Chapter IV point 2). After observing all the long way to unity of the churches in Indonesia and studying Calvin's ecumenical views and practices, the writer draws some conclusion (see Chapter V): 1. Even though it has different context, Calvin's concept is still relevant to the churches in Indonesia, because he talks about the unity with the basic perspective of Christian faith in accordance with the biblical witness. The principles of ... are valid continuously for ages long. The tense between prioritizing to the spiritual unity and structural-organization unity, then, can be overcome. 2. The path to the unity of the churches in Indonesia is not to deviate from Calvin's concept, because in the LDKG it can be found two important documents, they are, The Common Understanding of the Christian Faith (or PBIK) and the Charter of Mutual Recognition and Acceptance (or PSMSM). In the DKG the order of its documents has been change that PBIK has been place on the first place. It is in accordance with Calvin's concept more fully. Its deviation is only that the goal of the unity is doing to be directed to the structural-organization unity. 3. Based on the historical experiences, the directed structural unity will not make any meaningful but possibly it might bring disadvantages. Therefore having an inspiration from Calvin, the churches in Indonesia ought to be wise to their own history. The kind of unity as expressed in the LDKG is enough, isn't it? 4. The churches rooted in Calvinism should play a "pro-active role" in every effort and struggle for maintaining the Unity of Christian Churches in Indonesia. They are the ones who should show their "obedience" in realizing the ecumenical agreements made in accordance with the LDKG, and in certain sense, DKG. They should take part actively in the program of socializing the document to the member churches as structure and congregation. In the history of the international ecumenical movements the contribution Calvinistic Churches has been admitted, hasn't it? Abstract only 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3784 Christology of struggle: Understanding the Christ in the context of struggle Dingayan, Luna L. This study is an attempt to respond to the question of Jesus to his disciples at the beginning of his ministry, "Who do you say I am?" (cf. Mk.8:29; Mt.l6:15; Lk. 9:20). Like Peter and the other disciples, the writer affirms the faith that Jesus, indeed, is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But who is Christ today? And where is the Christ be found? This study tries to show that the Christ is the Christ of struggle. And that Christ is found where people are struggling to be truly free and have fullness of life. God in Christ identifies with the struggles of people. With this as a perspective and guiding principle, the writer tries to re-read the Christologies of the Church Fathers, the Sixteenth Century Reformers, of Feminist Theology in contemporary times as well as the Asian and Philippine contribution to Christological thinking. By locating these Christologies in their own respective historical contexts, this study discovers that people's understanding of the Christ is shaped by their own life experiences as they struggle with the issues, problems and difficulties they encounter in life. Life is a struggle. And it gives a great amount of hope for people to realize that Christ is right there at the very center of struggle, at the very center of life itself. Abstract only 2001-05-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/3778 The experiences of the poor farmers in Bais and Guihulngan: An analysis utilizing the pastoral care perspective Mutia, Lucio B. This study investigates and analyzes the experiences of the poor farmers in Bais and Guihulngan, Negros Oriental, utilizing an analysis from the pastoral care perspective with emphasis on the following points: 1. The specific experiences of the poor farmers in church pastoral ministry and how these experiences impel them to initiate changes in their poverty stricken life. Specifically, the study focused on the precipitative factors and forces which were responsible for aggressively pushing farmers to opt for a better life. 2. The degree to which the experiences of helplessness and empowerment influence the poor farmers to adopt alternative solutions to their problems. 3. The concerns of the church ministry of the poor that best assists them to have a better life. The research utilized the descriptive/evaluative method using pastoral and structural analysis approach. The subjects were farmers coming both from Bais and Guihulngan, Negros Oriental. To facilitate the data for the study, personal interviews, questionnaires were administered. The analysis and evaluation of the data made use of the average mean and percentage distribution. The investigation revealed that the experiences of the poor farmers with regards to the church pastoral ministry fall within the activities of Basic Christian Communities which includes health missions, organizing, food production and distribution of medicines. The respondents are most familiar with the Community-Based Health Programs (CBHP) of the church followed by the Basic Christian Communities (BCC), of which the primary activities are sharing of faith, sharing of witness, and sharing of service. It is significant that 61 percent of the respondents registered all these experiences within the ambit of the Church activities. Yet, these experiences were not decisive factors towards pushing for an aggressive option for a better life. The significant factors that served as the precipitators of radical change for better life were the experiences of hardships, pain and suffering. The investigation revealed that the church is not one of the leading institutions that work for the welfare of the poor farmers. She did not have a forceful nor tenacious influence to journey with the anawim of the Lord. Instead, the clinical experiences of a crisis-laden daily life serve as the hard "living human documents” from which farmers learned. These experienced realities propelled farmers to resolutely validate their humanness. They exposed the basic causes of their suffering and proclaimed them to the world of the unpoor through marches and rallies. With regards to the second point, the sense of defenselessness and helplessness was virtually evident among the poor farmers. Even when the poor farmers were harassed by the military and suspected as subversives, even when their houses were burnt down, their villages hamletted, even when some of them were tortured, the farmers of Bais and Guihulngan still hoped for a brighter future. Their sense of helplessness motivated them to unite and form a farmers’ organization--the very instrument that could empower and give them hope as they walked “through the valley of the shadow of death." They are opting for a change from within the root of the system - a radical transfiguration through the peaceful means, in the parliament of the streets. With regards to the last point of the investigation, it was found out that the Church was not the primary initiator in pushing for a radical change in the farmers’ lives. Although through praxis, the farmers' movement for radical change was guided by the ethics of love and peace based on justice. This was seen in their militant yet peaceful campaigns. In oder to serve as a formidable force for change the Church should have an alternative model of pastoral care. Fundamentally, it must reckon with the historical and biblical model of pastoral care-giving which is both individual and structural; in other words, wholistic. A model which is concretely responsive to and can fulfill the humanization needs of the poor farmers from pain and suffering. It must be a liberating pastoral care that promotes consciousness of the human person as the image of God. It has to have a commitment of educating people to metamorphose, claim and affirm the poor farmers’ rightful place in this world created by a just and living God. The following basic criteria are important to have a progressive pastoral care in Church, as well in Church-related institutions: a) Development of the personal, pastoral and professional competence of ministers in order that they maybe more aware of exactly how social conditions and structures affect the lives of others and of oneself. b) Prepare Church people to participate in proclaiming the reality of divine liberation by understanding and “reading the Bible with Third World Eyes”. This requires a new understanding of Sunday school, auxiliaries, and all areas of the teaching ministry of the church. c) Christian education that focuses on understanding God through Jesus Christ who is the liberator, redeemer, or savior. This means that the theme of liberation/salvation must permeate the entire church curriculum. Apart from liberation, there is no gospel. d) Forcefully re-directing, claiming and affirming (keeping the poor farmers in mind) that the origin of pastoral care exists in theophany rather than in technology. Its conception exists in theology rather than in behavioral sciences. e) Emphasize the utmost respect for the "wholeness" and “holiness” of human persons, including the integrity of creation, that humankind was created “in wholeness with the creation of God." f) Underscore the individuals' eminence over all things, and not material things over the individual. A sense of importance is a powerful force that an individual may use to confront today’s realities as well as that of the future. g) Balance the concern for individuals and structures (spiritual, economic, and political). This can serve as a good check against going to the extremes. This means an education that can analyze the present struggle of living in the light of what people envision the future to be. Finally, the Church is challenged to be faithful to the living God who decisively sided with the deprived, the poor and the oppressed, the God who cared for individuals as well as societies. Abstract only 1999-01-01T00:00:00Z