Differences Between Frank And Rev Selznick

Within Christian communities, enthusiasm to respond to injustice around the world with compassion continues to increase. Regrettably, well-meaning people who have good intentions but neglect to consider best practice principles are ultimately doing a disservice to the individuals and communities they intended to help. Moreover, a lack of understanding of holistic social action results in dependency and disregards the dignity of the poor. In From the Roots Up, Dr. JoAnn Butrin challenges Christians, both individually and as the larger body of Christ- the church, to respond to injustice thoughtfully and holistically. Butrin (2010) asserts:

The year is 1961 at St. Louis University and Sister Rose Thering is in the process of examining how Catholic lessons disrespect other religions, specifically Judaism. She strongly advocated a world without prejudice, challenging her own faith to consummate change. Sister Rose’s work sets a precedent for getting involved. Throughout life individuals are challenged and put into difficult situations, in which they are given a decision of reaming a bystander or becoming an upstander. However, the choice they make might not always be the preferred one because most individuals do not fully understand the reason or by what method they can get involved.

(189) If congregants give negative feedback about a preacher/speaker's teaching/preaching is because they did not understand the sermon or the sermon was long with no substance. Anderson proclaims that the pastor is a steward over the people salvation and do not stand between their relationship with them and God. However, he/she corrects and lead/prepare them for the coming Christ. (204) Preparing the congregants about the coming of Christ is not to teach/preach about self-righteous doctrines. The doctrine of self is not the way, the truth and the life. Anderson also states after a church has been spiritual abused, they can recover through reconciliation. (212) For this to happen, the pastor needs to come forth and admitt his selfishness, and arrogance and apologize to the church and to the ones that left so that healing can begin, and the people will not walk around harboring bitterness and regret.

As a church we have misappropriated the level of judgement dispensed. We understand that all have sinned and that true discipleship requires accountability and discipline, however, the indubitable level must be delivered in a humble and nonjudgemental manner. We must realize the greatest impact for change is empathy, compassion and action. The only way to ensure the action is effective, one must first hear what the people feel as though their issues are. Next we must remove ourselves from a hypocritical place of judgement so that we can full understand and

A church whose pastor and others in leadership have failed to put in place a proactive plan for discipleship for Believers is usually a “growing” church — growing stagnant, growing cold, growing spiritually immature Christians, and eventually, many growing closed. Patte said, “There is much at stake in accepting or rejecting the challenge of discipleship…” When a pastor or a church makes a conscious decision to make discipleship of Believers a primary focus in their

In his highly influential book, The Forgotten Ways1, Hirsch maintains that every Christian has within them Apostolic Genius that needs to be awakened – the ability to be a part of transforming society through an organic missional lifestyle. This awakening is deemed to be critical since

One of the most shocking statistics noted in Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good by Amy Sherman is that if one attends church on a weekly basis, they spend 5 percent at most of their waking hours at church. The other 95 percent are spent out in the world. This illustrates the importance of why this book matters. Sherman starts off by setting the tone for readers – she gives a background as to why she found it necessary that she write this book – and how she read a book by Michael Lindsey in which he discussed research of prominent evangelical business leaders and how their faith impacts their behaviors and decisions at work. A few stood out, while the rest stated they kept a Christian plaque in their office or wore a cross around their neck. They did not fulfill their religious identity in conjunction with their careers. There was a complete disconnect between the two sectors of their lives, and Sherman recognized that. Kingdom Calling is a guidebook for anyone who has ever been concerned about living a divided life – especially for pastors and religious leaders, but for lay people and congregation members as well. In Kingdom Calling, Sherman sets up a three-part framework on how to grow and empower a congregation, a specific group in the church, or a single member.

In this assignment, the writer will attempt to discuss scenario 1. Scenario 1 deals with examining the pastors in the managerial, messianic, and spiritual director roles. Explaining how pastors help people redirect their focus toward the new life God has for them through Jesus Christ and seeing the role of the Spirit through the eyes of Jesus.

May 1, 2016, the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, located in Greenwood (S.C.) County will celebrate its 142nd church anniversary. Many years Mt. Olive have been a church that loved people, gave without limits and took great care of its members. The last five of those one hundred and forty-two years, I have been honored to serve as pastor of this great church. Although this is a great church, Mt. Olive and many churches like it are plagued with a disease that has slowly, but surely, causing the church to drift further away from God and fall deeper into the ways of the world. This epidemic is known as “tradition”. Churches that are bound by tradition and not led by the Holy Spirit will find themselves missing the mark of what God has called us to do. The bible is filled with instructions for the church, but as Christians and Disciples of Christ, Matthew 28 is the foundation upon which we should be operating on in the church as well as in our lives. The Great Commission challenges us to “go, teach and preach to all nations.” Traditional churches will allow church tradition to dictate biblical doctrine. It will allow the church to argue about who’s right instead of what’s right. Sadly, church success has been based on structure and finances rather than saving lost souls.

Our mission to really unrecorded the opulent Christianity values of several and clustered excellence is still as unwaveringly intact today as it has been from our kickoff. In the feeling of this assignment, we wanted

It was the first time that I felt God’s presence at an annual conference. As odd as it may sound, it is true. Bishop Chow tipped off the conference with an open dialogue about the state of the church. Of course I debated with the young man next to me that it was our inability to attract and keep youth. I argued that our traditional structure has built a fence too high for millennials and screenagers (Generation Z) to climb; making them feel boxed in and unwelcomed. But Bishop Chow quickly proved us wrong. His diagnosis was that the Holy Spirit had left the church. Because we’ve become so entangled with who we are, the Holy Spirit cannot move within the church. He asserted that new programs and initiatives cannot fix a dead church; that we must loosen the chains that we’ve given ourselves so that we can fully praise God. Only then, will his people draw near. I could feel God move amidst the hearts of the conference.

Westerhoff’s fist point is that the church education model is shaking. He says that it is shaking because the foundations are changing and becoming something that is not beneficial. For Westerhoff this is, that the Sunday school is becoming a “schooling-instructional paradigm .” With this paradigm it changes the whole dynamic of Sunday school. It becomes more of a lecture based program than a form of ministry. One of the ways that Westerhoff says to change this is through adding more community to the program. One of the ways that Grace does this in the children’s Sunday school class. In this class the teachers have the students working on an activity together while they learn the lesson. For the teacher of this class it is more important that the children build relationships with one another than learn the lesson. An example of this would be, during the season of Passover the teacher taught them how to make unleavened bread just as Jesus ate during the Passover meal. By doing this she was able to help the children make connections to the story of

God is using the church to restore broken lives. We should greet each other warmly and compliment the good things in each other’s lives. The author makes a distinction between compliments an entertainer might receive as opposite a ministry-oriented church. An entertainer might hear things related to looks and performance whereas a church member would hear things related to how you were helped by the message and song. Churches that move ahead anticipate mistakes because they know that people are not perfect. They allow the members to grow and exercise their spiritual gifts and skills for the edification of the body. The church leadership is to encourage spiritual growth, but some in leadership may be uncomfortable letting people discover and use their gifts because it might not be in the style they are comfortable with. It might look like, “it is our way or the highway.” “And the church becomes paralyzed because it can’t tolerate the possibility of somebody messing things up.” (p. 109) David Mains sites two main church areas that are prone to perfectionism. They are the kitchens and sanctuaries. Heaven forbid, someone comes in and puts the spoons in a different drawer or the pots on a different shelf. The women in the church have strong feeling about how a kitchen should be organized. The church members can either work it out or eliminate the kitchen. The

Randy Maddox’s article in Transformation 18:1, “Visit the Poor”, explores social ministry in John Wesley’s Methodism. In this essay I will reflect on some key points, including holy tempers, the connection between social mission & spiritual formation, and the Biblical imperatives for Works of Mercy. Further to that, I will explain why I find issue with the contrasting doctrine of giving all the money one can, while undermining the value of only supporting from afar. Finally, I will relate these points to my own church and faith life and assess their significance. I find the key note of the article can be summed up as the relationship between works of mercy, tempers and spiritual formation.

Far too often, in this emerging new culture, we want to treat God as friend, and not as creator and sustainer. Humans are flawed fleshly beings, therefore whenever in the true presence of God a transformation from old to new should occur. We should feel so convicted about our transgressions until we have an earnest desire to change. The flesh dies and slowly loses control of our lives, leaving the Holy Spirit to freely dwell. Ironically enough the next topic he mentioned was praise. He talked about a song which was sung by the choir “Praise is what we do” and he couldn’t understand the relevance behind these words. Once again, I slowly raised my hand and injected that praise is what we do, worship transcends beyond these parameters as an act of honoring and revering God. Worship is the entire church experience. Before I could elaborate further, he quickly indicated it was time to close out and we didn’t have time for further discussion. This Sunday School experience demonstrated the necessity for us to educate those persons who uphold leadership positions in the Church. If the Sunday school teacher had simply taken the time to research the answers to his questions, he would have been properly equipped to lead the discussion. It saddened me to realize that in essence it was the blind leading the blind. In a situation such as this, it is imperative that