Breaking Depression’s Silence within the Church through Friendships

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 103-115
Author(s):  
Robert McBain

This article explores the silent nature of depression in the local church and suggests that developing Jesus-style friendships can break the silence. It adapts the author’s Doctor of Ministry (DMin) research project, which explored the silent nature of depression in the local church and Christianity’s interpretive healing qualities. This article argues that the church has a rich history of helping sufferers interpret their experiences of depression, but changing worldviews, the growth of the modern medical model, and the effectiveness of pharmaceuticals monopolized health and shoved the church to the periphery of the conversation. Silence became the church’s typical response, which promoted an attitude of stigma and avoidance. The article suggests that developing Jesus-style friendships can help break the silence because social or religious barriers do not restrict such friendships. This model of friendship is crucial for giving depression sufferers a sense of identity, meaning, and purpose within the church community.

1975 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 346-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. A. S. Butler ◽  
P. A. Rahtz ◽  
H. M. Taylor

An account is given of the first stages of the concerted application of archaeological, architectural, and historical methods to the investigation of the church and its surroundings in the village of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire. It is the intention of the investigators to record, and as far as possible to interpret, all stages of development of the building, from its earliest days down to the present, and to link those developments as closely as possible to the life and history of the surrounding district.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Muoki Joshua

This article reconstructs the history of a Pentecostal denomination in Kenya that was established by Scandinavian missionaries from two missionary agencies, namely the Norwegian Pentecostal Mission (NPM) and Swedish Free Mission (SFM), during the early 1950s. It relies on oral narratives by early African clerics, missionaries and church leaders as well as archival materials such as minutes, correspondence and reports to argue that the 60-year history of the Free Pentecostal Fellowship in Kenya (FPFK) may be periodised into three major epochs: the period of beginnings (1955–1984); the period of collaboration (1984–1996); and the period of nationalisation (1997–2018). It further contests that the present challenges for the church, such as the schism between Swedish and Norwegian sections, financial instability and the collapse of its national institutions, as well as an over emphasis on rural evangelism and a failure to penetrate the Kenyan urban life, are directly linked to its Scandinavian heritage.


1995 ◽  
Vol 3 (17) ◽  
pp. 379-392
Author(s):  
R. L. Ravenscroft

The office of archdeacon has its origins in the early history of the Church. The archdeacon is referred to by St. Jerome and other writers of the fourth century. He was the principal deacon of a local church. The eminent Victorian ecclesiastical lawyer, Sir Robert Phillimore wrote: ‘The primitive offices of the archdeacon may be enumerated under five heads. First, to attend the bishop to the altar and to order all things relating to the inferior clergy and ministrations in the church. Secondly, to assist the diocesan in the distribution and management of the ecclesiastical revenues.’


2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald M. Williams ◽  
Wessel Bentley

Being the church in Africa requires a continuous self-assessment by Christian denominations, asking whether it is sufficiently contextualised both in its doctrines and practices. This self-critique is essential so as to not perpetuate negative colonial influences in the way churches operate. The Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) has a rich history of challenging itself to become truly instrumental in working towards ‘A Christ-healed Africa for the healing of the nations’. This article explores the history of the MCSA’s engagement with its doctrine and practices of ordination, its journey of decolonisation and its presentation of an emerging Africanised theology of the presbytery.


2020 ◽  
pp. 35-56
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Adamiak

During his pilgrimages to his homeland, John Paul II was teaching his countrymen about the problems specifi c to the Church in Poland, but also to the whole Church. One of these themes was the missions ad gentes. The Pope noticed and pointed out on the example of the history of his nation that missions built Polish statehood and shaped Polish culture. He called for this process to be recognized in the history of Europe as a whole and to recognize in evangelization the factor that builds and defi nes its true identity. He showed that missions help imbue human culture with a supernatural element. He recalled the truth about the missionary nature of the Church and the missionary vocation of all its members. Responsibility and cooperation in the missionary work was for John Paul II one of the forms of the “imagination of mercy.”  Appealing to his countrymen for missionary generosity and commitment, he also pointed to the fi gures who were involved in the animation of the missionary work in the Polish and universal Church. In his teaching in Poland, he recalled the missionary task of the Church community and of each and every faithful.


Exchange ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 284-301
Author(s):  
Benebo Fubara Fubara-Manuel

This paper is a Reformed reflection on The Church: Towards a Common Vision (ctcv). It seeks to explore an aspect of the rich contribution of ctcv to the understanding of the depth of the unity that the church has received from the Trinitarian God as a gift, and to which it has been called to witness, namely, the communion that exists between God and creation. It shall argue that, whereas ctcv has worked upon several years of ecumenical labour, and whereas it is a most invaluable work in ecumenical understanding of church unity, it fails to develop a robust theology of creation and, as such, fails to do justice to the richness of communion that the church and creation has with the Trinitarian God. This reflection shall be informed by some of the historic Reformed confessions, some modern Reformed confessions and the rich history of Reformed participation in ecumenical conversations.1


Author(s):  
Lyubov N. Davydova

The purpose of this study is to show the conceptual foundations of the temple museum in the light of the reconstructing the Church of Christ Nativity on the Sands in St.­ Petersburg (St. Petersburg, 6-ya Sovetskaya str., 19, lit. A; architect P.E. Yegorov, 1781–1789) through the prism of the concept of a museum-cathedral developed by N.F. Fedorov (1829–1903). The objectives of this study are to reveal the system of N.F. Fedorov’s views on the institute of a museum, to consider the cosmism of N.F. Fedorov’s philosophical views in relation to the institute of a museum, to throw light on the history of the Church of Christ Nativity on the Sands in St. Petersburg. This paper reveals the system of views of a cosmist philosopher, a representative of the Russian religious and philosophical tradition N.F. Fedorov (1829–1903) on the institute of a museum, described in the article «The Museum, its meaning and purpose», in the notes and supplement to the article «The Museum», which we conventionally refer to as «Fedorov concept of a museum-cathedral». The cosmism of Fedorov’s philosophical views is considered in relation to the museum institute, and the term «museum cosmism» is introduced into scientific use. The article covers the history of constructing and reconstructing the Church of Christ Nativity on the Sands in St. Petersburg. The article shows the conceptual foundations of the temple museum in the light of reconstructing the Church of Christ Nativity on the Sands in St. Petersburg (the museum as a temple – the temple as a museum).


Vox Patrum ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 261-270
Author(s):  
Przemysław Szewczyk

The ecclesiastical hierarchy, being a reality founded by Christ, is also subjected to his­torical evolution. The article discusses the history of pastoral service in the Church by ana­lyzing the meaning of the word presbyteros in the writingsof the Apostolic Fathers. It is obvious that the term which is derived from the Greek language indicates a person who exercises a pastoral ministry in the church community emphasizing his seniority, but not necessarily old age. Only for Papias „presbuteros” is a real old man who, because of his age, is a living witness to the time of the Apostles. The authority of the witness made him a guard­ian of the faith, that is to say „episcopos”, the bishop. The writings of Ignatius of Antioch and Clement of Rome suggest that in their community „the elders” should not be really old, they form a group which has a different role from that of the bishop. It seems that with the end time of the bishops/old-men in the Church two realities were formed: the episcopacy and the colleges of the presbyter. The establishment of relations and the division of powers between the „presbuteroi” and the man appointed bishop of his church community was therefore one of the most important questions of Christianity in the time of the Apostolic Fathers.


2020 ◽  
pp. 144-159
Author(s):  
Алексей Дмитриевич Макаров

Статья посвящена проблеме рецепции Первого собрания сочинений известного аскетического писателя Церкви Востока Исаака, епископа Ниневийского, христианами других конфессий. Исследование разделено на три части, первая из которых представляет собой критический обзор этой проблемы в научной литературе. Автор исследования ставит целью подробно проанализировать проблему рецепции Первого собрания св. Исаака за пределами Церкви Востока и выявить малоизученные аспекты той трансформации, в результате которой подвижник Церкви Востока стал одним из наиболее авторитетных святых для Сиро-Халкидонской и Сиро-Яковитской Церквей. На основании проведённого исследования автор делает вывод о том, что в своем историческом развитии исследование вопроса о конфессиональной принадлежности св. Исаака прошло несколько этапов. Первый характеризуется безусловным доверием к интерполированному яковитскому житию. Переход ко второму этапу произошёл после нахождения и публикации в 1892 г. «Книги целомудрия» Ишоʿднаха, епископа Басрского, и безоговорочном принятии аутентичности сообщаемых им сведений о св. Исааке. После этого события в науке утвердился консенсус о принадлежности св. Исаака к Церкви Востока, который нашёл дополнительное подтверждение в текстологическом и богословском анализе Первого собрания. Вслед за этим встал вопрос о том, кто стоит за созданием альтернативной редакции, в которой большая часть элементов, указывающих на несторианское происхождение автора, была нивелирована. П. Беджан и большинство исследователей вслед за ним считали, что за искажением стояли сиро-яковиты. Позиция же И. Осэрра, утверждавшего, что это могли сделать только мелькиты, оставалась без внимания вплоть до 2016 г., когда Г. М. Кессель, независимо от Осэрра, убедительно доказал истинность данного утверждения. После этого дискуссия по вопросу адаптации аскетических сочинений св. Исаака перешла на этап прояснения различных деталей трансформации первого собрания св. Исаака при пересечении конфессиональных границ. Isaac, bishop of Nineveh, belongs to the Church of the East’s most famous ascetic authors. This three-part study explores the way how the First Part of his writings was adopted in other Syriac Christian communities. The first part offers a review of the scholarship of the issue. Makarov offers a detailed study of how Isaac’s First Part reached beyond his own church community. He identifies the issues that need exploration before one attempts to found out how the famous Nestorian ascetic became so greatly admired by both Byzantine and Syriac Jacobite Orthodox Churches, to which he had never belonged. Makarov concludes that historically there have been several positions regarding Isaac of Nineveh’s actual church adherence. The first one was based on a totally uncritical approach to the interpolated Jacobite Life of Isaac. The second position was inaugurated after Bishop Ishoʿdnah of Basrah’s Book of Chastity had been discovered. The new source, which was also treated rather uncritically, initiated the widespread consensus that Isaac of Nineveh belonged to the Church of the East. That view received additional support from more recent studies of the First Part. As a consequence, a question arose who created the alternative redaction, in which any evidence for Isaac’s Nestorian connections was either erased or altered. According to Paul Bejan and other scholars who shared that view, it was the Jacobites who had altered the text. Irénée Hausherr’s claim that the altering could have been done only by the Melkites received little notice until 2016 when Grigory Kessel, independently from Hausherr, proved it true. That however did not put the debate over the alterations in Isaac’s ascetic writings to an end. The scholars still disagree on how exactly the First Part was changed as the texts crossed borders of different Christian communities.


2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Kaye

ABSTRACTThe present situation of global Anglicanism sharply highlights issues of plurality which have been created in part by the nature of the tradition and also by the history of its expansion. Plurality and difference inevitably call for some account of this in relation to the tradition. Recent work has often focused on koinonia as a way of dealing with the relationships involved in the church community. But many of our problems arise from an absence of a capacity to require actions of others. A better way into this precisely institutional question is through Richard Hooker's discussion of power and order. Such a consideration leads to the need to develop more effective adjacent connections, and thus to a regionalizing of the communion.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document