Philosophy of Ministry:Building Effective Ministry at Koi International Worship Centre, Windhoek, Namibia
John, Samuel
Philosophy of Ministry:Building Effective Ministry at Koi International Worship Centre, Windhoek, Namibia - Johannesburg South Africa South African Theological Seminary 2019 - 107 pages PDF A4 Abstract, TOC
If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. Therefore, to be effective at anything requires careful planning and implementation. The desire to see churches operate effectively while pursuing God’s mandate on earth was the main motivation for this research. It has been observed that some church breakups are attributed to disagreements in the methodology of operation rather than about doctrinal issues. Whereas beliefs provide the convergence point of the members of churches, philosophy of ministry provides the meeting point of ministry in a ministry methodology. This work’s primary objective, therefore, was to formulate a theologically informed strategic plan to ensure that the theory and praxis of Koi International Worship Centre regarding its philosophy of ministry are faithful to God and optimally relevant to its ministry context. The primary objective was further broken into three secondary objectives:1) to interpret the philosophy of ministry of Koi International Worship Centre;2) to determine what a biblically faithful philosophy of ministry ought to look like for Koi International Worship Centre in its context;and3) to develop a strategic plan to strengthen the philosophy of ministry of Koi International Worship Centre(Koi).In fulfilling these objectives, I studied all relevant materials and narratives of Koi that relate to its philosophy of ministry. In addition, I interviewed the senior Pastor and conducted a small-scale empirical research with a sample of church members to gain their perspective on philosophy of ministry and to determine Koi’s philosophy of ministry praxis. Following this, a generic framework for the development of a philosophy of ministry that is faithful to God’s will and purpose for the Church was developed. This was the outcome of a critical study of relevant literature and application of biblical and systematic theology. The framework for the development of a philosophy of ministry was then contextualized for Koi and defended. The results indicated that Koi had several elements of a biblically faithful philosophy of ministry but lacks the 1Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)5coordinated interplay of the key elements that the proposed framework recommends. Further, though Koi did not have written doctrinal beliefs(one key block in the philosophy of ministry framework), it had a well written “culture statement that succinctly portrays the operative philosophy of ministry at Koi. In this light, 10 doctrinal statements were proposed that align with the Pentecostal alliances to which Koi subscribes. Other issues that were addressed were critiquing Koi’s mission, vision and culture statements (two other blocks) through the Christocentric and missional lenses and relevance to Koi’s context. Finally, a communicative and a strategic plan was developed to enable the proposed philosophy of ministry to gain acceptance and be implemented.
Philosophy of Ministry:Building Effective Ministry at Koi International Worship Centre, Windhoek, Namibia - Johannesburg South Africa South African Theological Seminary 2019 - 107 pages PDF A4 Abstract, TOC
If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. Therefore, to be effective at anything requires careful planning and implementation. The desire to see churches operate effectively while pursuing God’s mandate on earth was the main motivation for this research. It has been observed that some church breakups are attributed to disagreements in the methodology of operation rather than about doctrinal issues. Whereas beliefs provide the convergence point of the members of churches, philosophy of ministry provides the meeting point of ministry in a ministry methodology. This work’s primary objective, therefore, was to formulate a theologically informed strategic plan to ensure that the theory and praxis of Koi International Worship Centre regarding its philosophy of ministry are faithful to God and optimally relevant to its ministry context. The primary objective was further broken into three secondary objectives:1) to interpret the philosophy of ministry of Koi International Worship Centre;2) to determine what a biblically faithful philosophy of ministry ought to look like for Koi International Worship Centre in its context;and3) to develop a strategic plan to strengthen the philosophy of ministry of Koi International Worship Centre(Koi).In fulfilling these objectives, I studied all relevant materials and narratives of Koi that relate to its philosophy of ministry. In addition, I interviewed the senior Pastor and conducted a small-scale empirical research with a sample of church members to gain their perspective on philosophy of ministry and to determine Koi’s philosophy of ministry praxis. Following this, a generic framework for the development of a philosophy of ministry that is faithful to God’s will and purpose for the Church was developed. This was the outcome of a critical study of relevant literature and application of biblical and systematic theology. The framework for the development of a philosophy of ministry was then contextualized for Koi and defended. The results indicated that Koi had several elements of a biblically faithful philosophy of ministry but lacks the 1Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)5coordinated interplay of the key elements that the proposed framework recommends. Further, though Koi did not have written doctrinal beliefs(one key block in the philosophy of ministry framework), it had a well written “culture statement that succinctly portrays the operative philosophy of ministry at Koi. In this light, 10 doctrinal statements were proposed that align with the Pentecostal alliances to which Koi subscribes. Other issues that were addressed were critiquing Koi’s mission, vision and culture statements (two other blocks) through the Christocentric and missional lenses and relevance to Koi’s context. Finally, a communicative and a strategic plan was developed to enable the proposed philosophy of ministry to gain acceptance and be implemented.