Action Research on Meaning-Making at Residents' Meetings for Local Disability Policy1

This is the third in a series on residents' meetings (RMs) for municipal disability policymaking in Japan; members included people with disabilities (PWDs). I focused on members' meaning-making process for three community organizational goals: task, process, and relationship. Action research was employed in all three studies during my participation in RMs, which began in 2002. The present study is a follow-up on the meetings' development and covers 2013 to 2019. Meetings were divided into three phases: (a) use of the annual symposium to inform a broader audience about disability policies; (b) appreciation that PWDs can play active roles as supporters of others, especially other PWDs; and (c) recognition that contradiction and dilemma are present in attempts to provide “universal” social equipment for social minorities. The three goals were interrelated through uncertainty and vagueness of RMs; however, it enabled the members to interpret their multifaceted disability-related experiences. PWDs realized their power to help others and developed disability identities through intensive discussions, while they realized the difficulty of social acceptance of their power and the limited solidarity among PWDs.     

Pastoral counseling centers: Mid-century phenomenon

Summary The movement as a whole has been pictured as a diverse one embracing many administrative patterns with a common purpose of offering help to persons with problems through counseling. Centers in which clergymen do all the counseling, though with the benefit of psychiatric consultation, and having some kind of relationship to a church or church related institution represent the dominant pattern. Centers with interprofessional staffs including ministers, though few in number, have a significant impact on the movement as a whole through their training programs. Centers that are unrelated to any church comprise a significant minority of the centers, and church related centers staffed by professionals other than the clergy are the least prevalent. Though there appears to be some uniformity among the centers in regard to the kind of counseling done, they are sharply divided on the questions of fees, referral, and attitude toward church and community relations.     

Reformation Unfinished: Economy,Inclusivity, Authority

In 2017, churches around the world are organizing different activities to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's 95 Theses. The Reformation was a momentous event in the church and the history of Europe. This article examines three important legacies of the Reformation to look ahead to the future: the church and economic life; the priesthood of all believers; and the authority of the Bible. In many ways, the issues that Luther has raised – such as authority, church structure, priesthood and ministry, biblical interpretation, and the church's relation to economics and social issues – remain to this day and demand the church's critical attention.     

The Spirit‐led Church

We live in a world where technology is radically changing the way we live. The rapid development in the fields of science, especially artificial intelligence, cloning, and stem cell technology, is making our lives more convenient; however, it is also giving rise to a plethora of new ethical issues. Further, weakening of organized religions, moral depravity, and loss of societal values are making society more complex and vulnerable. In such a context, what would be the mission of the church in the contemporary world? How can the church help those who are seeking to know the meaning of their lives? Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is the protagonist in the life of the church. How can the church be truly Spirit led in fulfilling its mission in the world? This article focuses mainly on the mission of the Catholic Church in the contemporary world. The main sources of the study are the documents of the Second Vatican Council, church documents, especially on mission, and views of experts in missiology.     

Disability,Performance, and Discrimination in the Service to Humanity

In an age when the church is called upon to be an inclusive community, persons with disabilities in Nigeria are still grappling with exclusion. Disability is associated with multiple challenges. The challenges include degrading treatment, marginalization, and exclusion from recruitment opportunities, as well as discrimination in churches. Some people believe that disability has negative connotations and that persons with disabilities are hopeless, helpless burdens and passive “objects” meant to receive charity as well as physical and spiritual deliverance. Persons with disabilities are stereotypically seen as incapable of being productive. It is assumed that because people live with disabilities, they are not meant to occupy leadership positions or fully partake in church activities. The expectation that persons with disabilities be wholly embraced into the Christian fold is yet to be met. This article shares information on the context in which some of the challenges facing persons with disabilities are rooted. It examines the involvement and experiences of persons with disabilities in the activities of the church, church institutions, and church‐affiliated organizations in Nigeria while acknowledging the church’s mandate of inclusion. It finds that stereotyping and discrimination are challenges for persons with disabilities – individuals who are also made in the image of God. In the future, more research needs to be carried out on issues around the isolation of persons with disabilities in the body of Christ. The findings would help interested groups recognize the predicaments of persons with disabilities and find realistic strategies for a progressive inclusive church community – in this way assisting the efforts of the World Council of Churches’ programme on disability.     

The Body Politic of Christ: Theology, Social Analysis, and Bonhoeffer's Arcane Discipline

As the world moves further into a postmodern era, the church often seems at a loss to articulate its own raison d'etre . Dietrich Bonhoeffer's discussion of the early church's "arcane discipline" provides a suitable basis for an ecclesiology and modus vivendi that can help Christians respond critically and faithfully to a world come of age as it seeks to sequester the life of the church within its global dispensation. This response takes the concrete form of a distinctive body politic that resembles in many ways the way of life of cultivated by diasporic Judaism.     

Assessing peer and parental influence on the religious attitudes and attendance of young churchgoers: exploring the Australian National Church Life Survey

Drawing on data from the 2011 Australian National Church Life Survey (NCLS), this study was designed to assess peer and parental influence on frequency of church attendance, attitude toward church, and attitude toward Christianity among a sample of 6256 young churchgoers between the ages of eight and 14 years, attending a range of denominations, including Catholic, Anglican, Uniting, Pentecostal, and other Protestant Churches. The data indicated the power of parental example on frequency of church attendance. Frequent attendance among young churchgoers occurred when both parents attend as well. Parental influence worked differently on shaping attitude toward church. The most positive attitude was found among young churchgoers who had the opportunity to talk about God with their parents and who did not feel that their parents made them go to church. Young churchgoers responded to parental encouragement better than to parental pressure. Although peer influence within the church did not make much contribution to frequency of attendance, it made a contribution to shaping positive attitude toward church.     

Freedom of Religion and The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark

This article investigates how Africans in Zululand, South Africa, viewed Lutheran missionaries in the 1950's. The main source is a thorough report Zulu pastor S. A. Mbatha gave in answer to a survey initiated by the Swedish missionary Helge Fosseus in 1957. Fosseus wanted to find out more about the causes of increasing African resistance to mission, church and Christianity. Mbatha replied that missionaries were seen by Africans as enemies in that they shared white South African society's prevailing attitude toward blacks. Missionaries were characterized as exploiters and betrayers. This negative image contrasts strongly with the picture the missionaries painted of themselves as Africans' friends and allies in the struggle against increasing discrimination. The last part of the article discusses possible causes for the large difference between the missionaries' self-understanding and the Africans' image of the missionaries.     

Practicing the Story: Equiping Congregations for Evangelism

“Evangelism” carries a lot of baggage! And many in our 21st‐century church feel that the baggage was packed by someone else and contains clothes that no longer fit or equip them for sharing the gospel with people and life in the present world. If evangelism is to find its place high on the agenda of our church of today, we need to enable Christian people to freely and honestly explore first, what it means to be people of the gospel now, and then, the message they have to share and how they will share it with the world today. Radical questions about our understandings of the gospel and purpose and practice in sharing it need to be asked, discussed, and explored with faith and courage in the many different contexts that Christian people are called to live and serve in. If the Christian church is to be faithful to the gospel and recognizing and growing the kingdom of God, then we must be listening to the discomfort within ourselves and our neighbours and open to the possibility of transformation. Can our Christian story, always a renewal movement, inspire that new thinking, sharing, and action that will reach the people we meet today?     

Case Study on Together towards Life and Ministerial Formation

When asked over the years why I believe the World Council of Churches is so important to the life of the church, my response has been not so much because of what its programmes do but because of its work in building a common ecumenical vision and bringing the diversity of the world church around that vision. This has been so valuable in shaping the life and ministry of the church ecumenical at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries. Together towards Life gives us a fresh opportunity to do this again in the area of mission and evangelism.     

Military Service in the Church Orders

The debate concerning the approach of the early Christians to the military can be advanced by paying attention to a genre of literature that scholars have largely ignored: the church orders. These documents—the Apostolic Tradition, Canons of Hippolytus, Testament of Our Lord, and Apostolic Constitutions—are illuminating in that they deal with ethics within comprehensive treatments of worship, catechesis and pastoral life. They also are useful in that they, as variations upon a common original, are means of monitoring change across the third and fourth centuries. This article uses the church orders to assess four elements of a “new consensus” (David Hunter) on Christians in the military. By and large it confirms these, but at times it alters emphases and adds nuances. It argues that: (1) the church orders viewed killing as the big problem for Christians in the legions, not idolatry; (2) the church orders confirm that the pre‐Christendom church was divided on Christian participation in the legions; (3) the church orders provide evidence for both discontinuity and continuity on the issue across the centuries, although the deepest continuity, based on John the Baptist's “rule” of Luke 3.14, is between the pre‐Constantinian laity and later theologians; (4) the church orders confirm a regional variation in attitude and practice. The church orders' authority in practice is never clear.     

Socio-ecological influences of attitudes toward disability among Kenyan undergraduate students

This study examined personal and contextual variables as predictors of attitudes toward disability at a Kenyan higher education setting. Participants were a convenience sample of 309 undergraduate students at a Kenyan university enrolled in Sociology, Social Work, Psychology, Political Science, and Public Administration majors. Data on attitudes were collected using the Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons scale (ATDP: Antonac & Livneh, 1988). A cross-sectional survey design was employed for data collection, and a multiple regression analysis was used for data analysis. Results revealed that the model was significant: F (9, 250)?=?2.784, p?=?0.004. However, only age (β?=?0.173, p?=?0.044) significantly predicted attitudes towards disability, indicating older students held more positive attitudes than their younger counterparts. Older students had a more favourable attitude towards people with disabilities than younger students. Seniority, by age, is highly valued in Africa than perhaps anywhere in the world. Kenyan older adults may be key to enhancing favourable attitudes toward individuals with disabilities in Kenya as well as interventions aimed at changing negative attitudes towards people with disabilities.     

Ethnic Studies: An Urgent Need in Theological Education in Africa

By virtue of its subject matter, theological education ought to infuse life with morals and values, thus moulding a just, moral and peaceful society such as is envisaged in God's telos for His world. And in line with its aims, theological education provides knowledge and skills to people to enable them to serve the church, together with the wider society where the church lives. A theological curriculum appropriate to its context ensures success in both these aspects of theological education. To their credit Africa's theological institutions seem to have curricula which are relevant to Africa's context. Success in sustaining the relevance of these curricula lies in continually revising the curriculum so that it does not become dated. One such urgent revision is in the offering of ethnic studies which is necessitated by the ethnic crisis in Africa. For this reason, ethnic studies in the curriculum of theological education in Africa are imperative. In the essay four ways are proposed in which ethnic studies could be included in the curriculum of theological education in Africa.     

The Apostolic Faith Mission

The Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) is a classical Pentecostal church born in May 1908, influenced by the April 1906 Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles. It was also born two years before the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference. Between then and now, the AFM followed a lone mission and evangelism journey outside the World Missionary conferences and the conferences on World Mission and Evangelism. Although the AFM grew from South Africa to six continents, its growth was encumbered by racist and colonial perspectives of mission and evangelism. Its first wave of missions was led by Indigenous South Africans at the Revival in Doornfontein and those from the neighbouring countries who worked in mines in South Africa. The second wave included organized missions by white South Africans, who unfortunately had to pull back from Southern African countries because of intensified struggles for liberation. The third wave was by local congregations that formed hubs for missions to specific countries (India and Pakistan). The fourth wave was by Zimbabweans who left their country because of difficult economic conditions. The isolation of the black churches in South Africa based on the influence of apartheid policies allowed black members to develop their own local ecumenical perspectives, which enabled them to have a broader understanding of mission and evangelism. This helped the church to move into the ecumenical world following the unity of the church.     

Are Prayers a Panacea for Climate Uncertainties?: An African Traditional Perspective from Swaziland

Climate change is a major threat to sustainable development, not only in sub‐Saharan Africa countries, but throughout the world. Swaziland as a developing nation has been hit hard by the frequency and intensity of severe weather volatility. While this situation has received scientific and technological interpretations, Swazi indigenous thought rejects these since it ascribes natural catastrophes to cosmic forces. Thus, people observe formalized systems of interaction with the supernatural world to find practical solutions to any disaster or social ill. This contribution maintains that indigenous thought is still vibrant among many Swazis despite their encounter with a new religious orientation. Swazi Christian thought patterns still correlate with the traditional view of Swazi cosmology. Hence, Christians have held corporate prayers at local church, regional, and national levels to harness the impersonal forces of El Niño, La Niña, and the recent Cyclone Dineo. For many Swazis in this predominantly Christian population, God has the power to restore any disturbed equilibrium in the spiritual, social, or natural milieu of human life through prayer.     

Mission Theology of the Church

This article on the mission theology of the church, a personal perspective by the vice‐moderator of CWME, draws on documentation produced by the commission and also responds to the Faith and Order document, The Nature and Mission of the Church. It is based on the trinitarian paradigm of mission referred to as missio Dei, which emphasizes the priority of God's sending activity in the world, by the Son and the Spirit, and the contingency of the church and its mission activities upon that. Therefore, it is concerned with the participation of the church in God's mission to and in the world, and from this perspective, has a particular interest with the actual, empirical church rather than the ideal church, recognizing that the church exists in many different forms in particular social, cultural, economic and political contexts. The article argues that the church is “missionary by its very nature”. Both theologically and empirically, it is impossible to separate the church from mission. Indeed mission is the very life of the church and the church is missionary by its very nature the Spirit of Christ breathed into the disciples at the same time as he sent them into the world. The mission theology of the church as it has developed in ecumenical discussion over the 20th and early 21st centuries is discussed in terms of the relationship of the church to the three persons of the Trinity: as foretaste of the kingdom of God; as the body of Christ; and as a movement of the Spirit. The article shows that being in mission is to cross the usual boundaries and bring new perspectives from outside to bear, and this is a never‐ending, enriching process.     

Racial Diversity, Religion, and Morality: Examining the Moral Views of Multiracial Church Attendees

Previous research has identified an important link between participation in a racially diverse faith community and more progressive views on racial, political, and social issues, but researchers have yet to examine whether multiracial church attendees differ from racially-homogeneous church attendees in terms of their moral views. This research note utilizes national data (2005 Baylor Religion Survey) to examine the relationship between involvement in a multiracial congregation and views toward activities that are understood to be morally contentious. I estimate logistic regression models to isolate the relationship between multiracial church attendance and support for nine morally contentious activities related to sexuality, families, substance use, and suicide. Analyses reveal that, net of other factors, persons who attend multiracial congregations are more likely to express support for extramarital sex, premarital cohabitation, planned unwed pregnancy, marijuana use, and euthanasia, compared to persons who attend homogeneous congregations where they are the majority race. Multiracial church attendees thus appear to hold more permissive moral views on certain issues relative to attendees of racially homogeneous congregations. Significant interactions are also found between multiracial church attendance, race, and religious tradition. Alternative explanatory accounts (social contact vs. self-selection) are considered.     

Charles F. Mackenzie and Early Colonial Racism

Archdeacon Charles F. Mackenzie ministered in the diocese of Natal in South Africa from 1855 to 1859. The early days of the diocese and the colony of Natal were characterized by conflict both inside and outside the church. The church conflict of Bishop John Colenso is perhaps most infamous. Mackenzie attempted to navigate this space and minister to settlers, soldiers, and Africans alike. This article draws on primary sources to explore the life and times of Mackenzie and argues that despite Mackenzie's remarkable story, the inseparability of coloniality from the missionary endeavour, racism, and the civilizing narrative was inescapable. Racism has evolved and is still a challenge for many churches.     

Reformation,Africa, and Diakonia

What does the inheritance of Reformation mean for Africa in church and in society in the context of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace of the World Council of Churches? This article argues that the commemoration of the Reformation provides important markers for the global and ecumenical context drawing from the three dimensions of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace; namely, celebrating the gifts of the Reformation, visiting the wounds of injustices, and identifying areas that require transformation or have already showed signs of hope for transformation toward justice for all. Throughout the conversation, there is constant questioning of what the Reformation should look like in the context of Africa to reject distortion of truth and embrace the experience of justice for all. For the way forward, the proposal is made that focusing on action through diakonia will bring meaningful transformation in the church and society in a way that promotes ecumenism and life in fullness for all the children of God and God's creation.