fts-mc500 post for class 12/06/10

Greetings, this is the post for the final class of Church in Mission taught by Professor Bolger Fall 2010. I want to commend Professor Bolger for teaching such a wonderful class. He gave me a lot of insight on the history of the church, how the church split, why the church split and how we got so many denominations. He gave us opportunities to explore these different venues of the gospel and the visits, discussions, and readings truly opened my eyes to things I had many questions about. Thank you Professor Bolger, it was a wonderful class and I appreciate every bit of information you shared with us. You did an excellent job. God Bless you! The final class session met at the Reflectory at Fuller. We discussed different topics such as Fundamentalists, Evangelism, the new Emergence and the Facebook age. We discussed aspects of a dying church vs starting a new church. It was a wonderful session that was intimate with several students attending but not so many to make it too big a party. I enjoyed hearing the information that Professor Bolger had to share and would love to hear some more. God Bless you all and thank you for the experience. Amen.

fts-mc500 post for 12/01/10 class

Today in class we covered alot of information about the Pentecostal Church in Brazil. Pentecostal worship is mainly made up of liturgical dance, singing, praise, and preaching. God speaks through all these elements of worship. The Word has a lot of authority. Holy Spirit is welcome as speaking through everything. Alot of preaching is done through stories. There is an understanding of God speaking to us through the anointed against evil. The Pentecostal Christian Community is more for poor, majority of congregation is women, with preaching of stable family/home. Call men to live a particular way. There is the healing of addictions. Most often have strong leaders; Often men but sometimes women who have the power to speak authority into the lives of others. The Pentecostal Christian Mission is better jobs, bring faith, witness, victory over devil and tight communities.

fts-mc500 post for class 11/29/10

Today we discussed many aspects of the present day church including the largest Presbyterian church in the world. Located in Seoul, Korea, Myung Sung Presbyterian Church is lead by Pastor Kim Sam Whan. With its 30 church plants, 10 multi-site (or screen viewing churches), cell churches, etc. it has close to 1,000,000 members. We also learned about one of the larger Methodist churches in the world. Kum Nan Methodist Chuch also located in Seoul, Korea has close to 120,000 members since 1971. Lead by Hung-Do Kim they focus on small groups, cell groups, and church planting as their form spreading the Gospel worldwide. We also spoke about Post-Christendom in the UK and how the Gospel is spread through fresh expressions, alternative forms of worship, base communitites, cafe churches, cell churches, multiple mid-week congregations, network churches, and school based congregations; All new ways to spread the Word that are working presently in the UK.

fts-mc500 post for class 11/24/10

In todays class we discussed the Anglican, Lutheran and Presbyterian churches. We discovered that in most cases the representatives from each denomination that attended church were larger in countries, like Africa, and Asian than in the entire U.S. We discovered that the Presbyterian church which did have about 3 million members has recently dropped down to about 2 million losing about 1000 members/wk. We also learned that in most cases the churches are full of first generation members (70-80 y.o.). The children of the first generationers are often lost and do not return to the church. Thus many churches are attempting to regain their membership through new members from other races, cultures, and ethnicities.

fts-ms500 post for 11/23/10 class

Todays class was very interesting. We watched a class about John Calvin. We also discussed aspects about the protestant church. How the pulpit is above the altar because the spoken Word is considered superior to all else. We spoke about the Eucharist in the reformed church and how in the Presbyterian church Jesus Christ is the host of the ceremony. There is a spiritual presence of HIM but he is not in the actual elements. Also in ceremonies in different countries, the elements can range from tea and biscuits, to fruit juice and crackers. Also Jesus is there in the Word that is spoken; and usually in a private Eucharist session a review of the Sermon is made. 

fts-mc500 post for 11/17/10 class

In class today we discussed issues in regard to the Prostestant Formation. We discussed Martin Luther and his 95 theses, watched a movie that spoke of William Tyndale and his translation of the Bible. We also discussed John Calvin and his efforts to merge the efforts of Church and State. Then we learned about Zwingli and his AntiBaptist movement. We learned about the Puritans and their move to the Americas to have a pure nation where all who were in the nation believed the same.

Book Review: The Bridges of God

Book Report: The Bridges of God by Rameses Sorrell

It is all too well known that the primary goal of missions is evangelism: the proclamation of the Good News and assisting with the emergence of churches with leaders, schools and institutions that will bear witness to the Good News. (xiii) However, with news times and different societies encountered it is necessary to know what makes a good mission and what changes are necessary to implement in order ensure the success of future endeavors.

However, the most important question that the author is probably addressing is “How do people s become Christian?” It is always through a Christward movement. (1) However, some say it is through “People Movements,” where people become Christian as a wave of decision for Christ sweeps through the group mind of a caste, clan, or tribe like a chain reaction of individuals coming to Christ of their own accord but setting one another off to accept Christ like dominoes in a row. (12) Others say it is through the more costly “Mission Station approach,” where schools, hospitals, seminaries, and missionary’s residences are set up to become the institutionalized religious and cultural centers of a people. (75)

But to tell you the truth, though the gathered colony or Mission Station Approach is the universally accepted missionary method of today, it is a mixture of the resources and methods of both movements that enables people to become Christian. (100) For example because the gathered colonies are so well funded, if some of the money invested in these big ventures that hardly convert ten people from a caste were moved over to the less costly People movement type missions to a tribal location two hundred miles away, thousands would literally be converted to Christ and mass amounts of churches would be born because these people are ready and willing to accept Christ. (102)

Statistics state that church growth in the People Movements far exceeds that of the Mission Station Approach, “For example, we read that the Roman Catholic population of China doubled between 1914 and 1939. This means an increase of about 35 percent a decade. For hundreds of congregations to achieve an average growth of 35 percent over two and a half decades, there must have been some growing at much more than 35 percent. This probably occurred in People Movements…” (150)

“Suppose the entire Christian enterprise were to transfer men and money to People Movements as rapidly as was consistent with the welfare of both types of churches, a new era of rapid expansion would occur. It would add hundreds of thousands indeed millions, of new Christians, and thousands of new churches. A multitude of new territories where there is now no church at all would be sown with Christian churches rooted in sturdy peoples.” (145)

What needs to happen is the allotment of funds to the proper missionary ventures based on statistical findings that would allow for the greatest Christward venture per human capita. Via People Movements or Mission Stations, then only can the Great Commission be fulfilled with the greatest abundance and efficiency.