Led by the Spirit? Discovering the ethos of congregations that reach out

dc.contributor.advisorNel, Malanen
dc.contributor.emaildeclaisse@bellsouth.neten
dc.contributor.postgraduateDeClaisse-Walford, Stephen Geralden
dc.date.accessioned2013-09-06T14:46:59Z
dc.date.available2006-05-25en
dc.date.available2013-09-06T14:46:59Z
dc.date.created2006-02-06en
dc.date.issued2005en
dc.date.submitted2006-03-16en
dc.descriptionThesis (PhD (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2005.en
dc.description.abstractThe problem this study addresses is that the Christian church in the postmodern west is in a condition of zero growth and even decline. Conventional strategies intended to reverse this condition have tended to focus on improved implementation of traditional methodologies of church growth. Despite the application of such strategies the church continues to decline, indicating the urgent need for additional approaches. Practical theology suggests such an additional approach: greater engagement with the local community. Certain churches have been identified whose congregations, acting, it is believed, under the leadership of the Spirit, are engaging their immediate communities in a wide variety of ways often with the result that people touched by the church respond with a new or renewed interest in the Christian faith and in some instances join or rejoin the Christian family. The implication, and the hypothesis of the study, is that widespread application of the practices of such community-engaging congregations, called “holistic” congregations, might have a positive impact in terms of growth in the wider church community. To determine the validity of this implication a small-scale inductive, empirical, effect-to-cause study was undertaken. Combining qualitative and quantitative research methods intended to identify the ethos of those churches that meet the developed criteria of “holistic” churches, as compared to a second group of “non-holistic” churches, the study addresses the question: Is it possible to discover the ethos of holistic churches with a view to reproducing that ethos in other churches? Analysis of the data gathered during the study identifies a number of specific characteristics shared by the holistic churches. In addition to suggesting strategies that may profitably be investigated and implemented by churches that wish to become, or become more, holistic in terms of their outreach ministry, the results also advocate the further study of holism as a possible key feature to the future of the Church.en
dc.description.availabilityunrestricteden
dc.description.departmentPractical Theologyen
dc.identifier.citationDeClaisse-Walford, S 2005, Led by the Spirit? Discovering the ethos of congregations that reach out, PhD thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/23215 >en
dc.identifier.upetdurlhttp://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03162006-231337/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/23215
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of Pretoriaen_ZA
dc.rights© 2006, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.en
dc.subjectCongregationen
dc.subjectCongregation as hermeneuticen
dc.subjectCongregational studiesen
dc.subjectOutreach ministryen
dc.subjectCommunityen
dc.subjectCongregational ethosen
dc.subjectPostmodernismen
dc.subjectEnlightenment projecten
dc.subjectAtlantaen
dc.subjectSpirit + spiritualityen
dc.subjectStatistical analysisen
dc.subjectMeaningful engagementen
dc.subjectChristendom + post-christendomen
dc.subjectHermeneuticen
dc.subjectHolism + holistic ministryen
dc.subjectUCTDen_US
dc.titleLed by the Spirit? Discovering the ethos of congregations that reach outen
dc.typeThesisen

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