God presented humankind with his revelation to be a torch in the darkness, a lighthouse at the shore of a stormy and gloomy sea; an orientation point in the fog of this messed up world. The help is welcomed, but sometimes the divine compass in our shaky hands is difficult to read. The original sin blurs our clear vision, and the human desires do not really help the orientation. In addition, we do not have yet mentioned the human will, which has its own course during a lifetime.
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This paper examines the theological challenges arising from the tension between the church’s proclaimed "immortality "(Matt 16:18) and the experience of declining congregations in Western European countries. As a case study, I will analyze the pastoral letters by Hans Gerny, bishop of the Swiss Old Catholic Church from 1986 to 2002. Gerny was faced with declining membership numbers, dwindling funds and an increasing exhaustion of volunteers and clergy. How do these challenges shape the way Gerny conceptualizes church?
In many ways, network thinking can help the church respond more effectively to the challenges of the world, just as it has helped in many other academic and practical areas. I will highlight three possible outcomes of network thinking in the church - the importance of modularisation, the potential for reducing redundancy, and the potential of diversity. I will argue that network thinking fosters a more open, flexible, fault-tolerant and inclusive church, while leaving the foundations of faith intact.
It is time to re-evaluate the stigma attached by missionaries to animistic forms of African rooted religion such as Winti in Suriname. For hundreds of years enslaved people, robbed of their identity, found strength to survive in their ancestral beliefs. Perhaps the revival of this religion has more in common with the Christian faith than often estimated. In any case the interpretation of Christ the colonial imperialism cherished should be unmasked. Is there a special value in Winti as far as the future of the former Dutch colony of Suriname is concerned?
Oldalak
