Table of Contents
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Table of Contents About This Journal iii-v Editorial 1-4 Keynote Address Can Theology Be Practical? Part I: A Discussion of Theory, Practice, Wisdom, Spirituality and Context 5-19 Ps Mark J Cartledge Can Theology Be Practical? Part II: A Reflection on Renewal Methodology and the Practice of Research 20-36 Ps Mark J Cartledge Peer Reviewed Articles Theology and Social Sciences in Ministry Research 37-57 Rev Dr Philip Hughes Spiritual Knowing: A Case Study in Entitlement 58-66 Dr Bruce A Stevens Appreciative Inquiry – A Strategy for Being a Healthy Church 67-81 Dr Nigel Pegram Gender and Leadership Issues in the Australian Church: Leadership Effectiveness – men vs women 82-100 Dr Lewis McMaster and Assoc Prof Juhani Tuovinen Pastoral Reflection Reflecting on 40 years of Christian Ministry 101-105 Ps Richard Warner Student Article ‘Four Pentecostal Views on Healing 106-118 Christopher Cat ISSN 2205-0442 JCMin Number 3 (2017) i Theses/Dissertation Listing 2016 119-121 Book Reviews 122-141 Forthcoming Conferences 142 ISSN 2205-0442 JCMin Number 3 (2017) ii About This Journal Editorial Board The Editorial Board of the Journal of Contemporary Ministry is comprised of: Professor Emeritus, The Rev Gary Rev Dr Julie Ma - Associate Professor D. Bouma, AM - Monash University; of Missions and Intercultural Studies, Chair of Harvest Bible College Undergraduate College of Theology Academic Board; Sociologist; and Ministry, Oral Roberts University, Anglican Priest, prolific author. Tulsa, OK, USA. Rev Dr Peter Carblis – Senior Rev Dr Cheryl McCallum - Principal, Chaplain, Churches of Christ in NSW; Eastern College Australia, Australia. former principal Tabor NSW, Dr Soong-Chan Rah – Milton B. Australia. Engebretson Professor of Church Rev Prof Darren Cronshaw – Head Growth and Evangelism, North Park of Research and Professor of Theological Seminary, Chicago, USA. Missional Leadership, Australian Rev Dr Michelle Sanders - Head of College of Ministries (SCD); Pastor, Art and Community Development, Auburn Life Baptist Church; Eastern College Australia; Missional Honorary Research Fellow, church planter and Pastor, University of Divinity, Australia. Kaleidoscope Community, Melbourne, Rev Dr Kevin Giles - Published Australia; Founder and Director of author; Anglican minister; adjunct Art and Soul; Artist and Author. lecturer for many years for Harvest Assoc Prof Juhani Tuovinen - Bible College, Australia Australian Institute of Business, Rev Dr David Jakobsen - Assistant Adelaide, Australia; Senior Research Professor Aalborg University, Fellow, Global Centre for Work- Denmark Applied Learning, Adelaide, Australia. ISSN 2205-0442 JCMin Number 3 (2017) iii Editorial Team The Editorial Team of the Journal of Contemporary Ministry is comprised of: Dr Jon Newton - (Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Research, Harvest Bible College); Editor. Ms Kerrie Stevens - (College Librarian, Harvest Bible College); Journal Manager, Layout Editor. Dr Astrid Staley - (Adjunct faculty, Harvest Bible College); Section Editor for Pastoral Reflections and Student Articles, Layout Editor. Rev Dr Clayton Coombs - (Academic Dean, Planetshakers College); Book Review Editor. The Journal of Contemporary Ministry will act as a place for reporting research and discussing issues related to contemporary ministry, including related theological and biblical questions. Its goals are to: o Stimulate informed discussion regarding issues faced by contemporary Christian churches and ministries worldwide; o Encourage research, including empirical research, into diverse forms and contexts of contemporary ministry and the practical, theological and biblical issues that arise from ministry practice; o Enable students and graduates in postgraduate Ministry programs to speak to a wider audience; o Build the credibility of Ministry as a field of study and research. ISSN 2205-0442 JCMin Number 3 (2017) iv The Journal of Contemporary Ministry will provide a specific forum for Harvest Bible College research students and faculty, and other interested people, to publish the results of their research. It will also provide a potential publishing venue for paper presenters at Harvest’s annual research conference. The Journal of Contemporary Ministry will contain these kinds of material: o Peer-reviewed articles based on scholarly research (empirical or theological) into diverse forms and contexts of contemporary ministry, and the practical, theological and biblical issues that arise from ministry practice; o Pastoral reflections and articles that contribute viewpoints, based on personal experience or theological reflection, on contemporary ministry issues. These may be responses to articles from the Journal; o Book reviews and/or notes of new publications related to contemporary ministry; o Articles contributed by postgraduate students, which would also be refereed but may not come up to the level required in the first category; o A list of recent doctoral research theses completed on contemporary ministry relevant to this journal’s focus. The material we invite covers such topics as: o Results of empirical research into aspects of contemporary Christian ministry, e.g. youth ministry, children’s ministry, pastoral counselling, pastoral leadership, intercultural ministry; o Theological and biblical reflection on issues that have arisen from the practices of contemporary Christian churches and ministries, e.g. manifestations of the Spirit, worship styles, leadership culture, interfaith matters, political and social engagement, etc; o Underlying theological questions that lie behind Christian ministry issues, e.g. the role of women’s ministry in local churches, ethnic identity, ordination, apostleship; o Proposals for new expressions or forms of Christian ministry based on social analysis, e.g. how to reach specific sub-cultures. The Journal of Contemporary Ministry is indexed in Informit's Humanities & Social Sciences Collection database. For further information, please visit the journal website www.journalofcontemporaryministry.com ISSN 2205-0442 JCMin Number 3 (2017) v Editorial Focusing our Efforts A few weeks ago, I read an opinion piece about Contemporary Christian Music by Jonathan Aigner (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/ponderanew/2017/04/28/reasons- dont-listen-christian-music-entertainment). The author was highly dismissive of contemporary Christian music as not even really contemporary, let alone Christian or theologically valid. It is “mostly unremarkable garbage”, he wrote. I was interested in the reasons he advanced for giving up on listening to CCM for entertainment: it’s a poor derivative of mainstream pop music, Christians should engage positively with secular culture rather than withdrawing into a kind of Christian ghetto (my phrase, not his), buying CCM increases its unhealthy presence and influence in church worship and “it perpetuates lame, bogus, or just bad theology”. Instead, Aigner urges Christians to listen to classical music, other pop music or just no music at all (we don’t need to constantly fill our heads with music just because it’s there). He has some legitimate points, though I think he probably overstates the case. However, whatever you think of Aigner’s piece, or the so-called “worship warfare” debate that particular engages a lot of American Christians; it raises some broader issues related to contemporary Christian ministry, the focus of this journal. In particular, how much should contemporary ministry (which for this journal is not a “style” of ministry but just ministry of today) be influenced by trends in society at large? It’s not a new issue and ministers tend to oscillate between some form of “spiritual purity” and some kind of contextualisation as we try to engage people “outside” the church world with the gospel. One of the articles in Issue 1 of this journal was critical of the use of visual technology in contemporary church worship. However, if the church only sings eighteenth century hymns to a pipe organ accompaniment, reads from the King James Version and preaches pure biblical exposition to a congregation dressed in their “Sunday best” and sitting in pews, it is danger of dying from lack of engagement with a rapidly changing (western) world. On the other hand, if churches are fully “contemporary” in the sense of “smoke machines”, loud music, casual dress, smart professional presentation, catchy mini-sermons and the like, they may have nothing significant to say to a culture that’s becoming more and more distant from its Christian roots. ISSN 2205-0442 JCMin Number 3 (2017) 1 The question I want to raise is, how much actual empirical research has been done on such dilemmas? Do we actually know whether contemporary styles of church attract, keep or alienate young people, or indeed anyone? Both sides of such debates are in danger of parading their own preferences, anecdotes or experiences as evidence. And even the Bible doesn’t give us precise answers to these questions. The purpose of a journal like this is to provide a place for scholars and ministers to discuss contemporary ministry and all the issues and questions that impact on that (like the points above) in a way that draws on good research and scholarship. The problem is that there are so many issues that can be discussed and this is reflected in the range of topics that postgraduate students at Harvest Bible College choose to do research projects on as well as the topics of articles submitted to this journal and the papers presented at our annual research conference. When a potential Doctor of