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Item Establishing a model of ecclesiastical discipline in the Church of Pentecost, Ghana(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, 2023) Kumi-Woode, Benjamin Godson 1964–; Mzondi, ModisaThe Church of Pentecost–Ghana (CoP–Ghana) is a Ghanaian classical Pentecostal Church with a transnational reach. In this study, ecclesiastical discipline as practiced in the CoP–Ghana was researched using Robert Osmer’s method with the view to develop a model of ecclesiastical discipline for the church. Robert Osmer’s method of research outlines a four-step process which involves the descriptive-empirical task, the interpretative task, the normative task and the pragmatic task (Osmer 2008, 31–218). Thirty respondents each from ministers, presbyters and members were interviewed using semi- structured questions. Views of ministers, presbyters, and members interviewed about ecclesiastical discipline in the CoP–Ghana were that ecclesiastical discipline was relevant to the CoP–Ghana due to the necessity to show the church, Christ's bride, as holy and that discipline is an expression of God's love. Additionally, the purpose of ecclesiastical discipline is to uphold the church's reputation and help it carry out the divine mission of preparing individuals for God's kingdom. The major concerns raised by the participants regarding the application of ecclesiastical discipline in the CoP–Ghana include the absence of clear guidelines for ecclesiastical discipline, lack of counselling resources for both pre- and post-discipline phases, aggressive approach of the process, lack of confidence in the reliability of the investigative process, and lethargy in carrying out discipline due to criticism of the practice in contemporary times. For this reason, membership should be classified into new members, members, presbyters, ministers, and higher calling for purposes of ecclesiastical discipline, and disciplinary measures rated from leniency to severe sanctions in that order. Education on ecclesiastical discipline should be integrated into the church’s discipleship program to include new converts classes, pulpit ministry, Bible studies, lay leaders’ school, ministerial formation course and a manual on ecclesiastical discipline, as one the church’s key discipleship documents. Further, an objective means which considers maturity, nature of the offense, status of the offender, attitude of the offender, mode of disclosure of offense and type of offense should be prayerfully adopted in determining sanctions to be meted out to offenders, in such a way that the nature of the offense and the dynamics of the offender are considered in sanctioning. Finally, the church must deliberately ensure that sanctioned members are assigned mature believers or counsellors to assist in their reconciliation and restoration to fellowship. Recommendations made were that a systematic means and pastoral care to ensure reconciliation and restoration of offenders should be developed and adopted which involve clemency, godly counselling and ministry of love, and further research to be done to ascertain the extent to which previous offenders have been properly healed, reconciled, and restored after undergoing ecclesiastical discipline.Item Polity of the New Apostolic Movement in light of Biblical and Historical Precedents in the Christian Church.(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, 2022) Adams, Mark Allen; Harold, GodfreyThe New Apostolic Movement (NAM), also and originally known as the New Apostolic Reformation, is marked by two tenets: the legitimacy of the ministry of modern-day apostles and ‘theocratic single-headship’ of churches by apostolic leaders. While much has been written debating the legitimacy of a modern charismatic apostolate, there is a lack of specialized research regarding the polity of NAM networks and NAM churches. What is the polity of the New Apostolic Movement and how can that polity be evaluated in the light of biblical and historical precedents? In the identification of biblical and historical polity precedents of the Christian church, the simpler, more encompassing and less partisan categories of autocratic plurocratic and democratic have been favoured over the traditional categories of episcopal, presbyterian and congregational. Identification of polity precedents, exegesis of key texts and an examination of the ‘question of normativeness’ mark the New Testament survey. A fresh and comprehensive review of the major churches, movements and denominations—and their founders—is presented in the chapter regarding polity precedents in the historical Christian church. New research concerning New Apostolic Movement churches found that local-church polity in NAM churches is consistently autocratic but with enough plurocratic function to provide a measure of accountability and that there is little to no democratic function in NAM churches. Study of the largest and most influential trans-local apostolic networks found an absence of autocratic governance, contradicting previous assumptions in the literature. Biblical exegesis concluded that the primacy of apostolic ministry is given for building the church not for governing it, and that the governing role of New Testament apostles was conducted collegially, not autocratically.Item Die Dringlichkeit der strategischen Konsolidierung junger Christen/Gemeinden bei Paulus exemplarisch im 1. Thessalonicherbrief (2,17-3,10), mit möglichen Implikationen für die Gemeindegründungs-, bzw. Gemeinderevitalisierungsbewegung: Eine exegetisch systematische Untersuchung.(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, 2022) Luz, Edgar 1972; Vogt, Titus; Vogt, TitusIn dieser Arbeit wird die Frage untersucht, welche Priorität der Apostel Paulus der Nacharbeit mit seinen jungen Konvertiten einräumt. Es wird erforscht, welche Dringlichkeit und Strategie hinter den uns offenbarten apostolischen Maßnahmen und Aktivitäten in seinen neuen Gemeinden stehen. Als Modell wählen wir die Gemeinde in Thessaloniki. Darin wird zuerst allgemein die Frage nach der Existenz einer Strategie bei Pls. aus verschiedenen Perspektiven erörtert. Anschließend werden die gängigen Ansätze in der aktuelleren biblisch-theologischen Fachliteratur auf die letztlichen Ambitionen des Apostels für die jungen Konvertiten in Thessaloniki analysiert und die Resultate in einer kurzen Synthese vergleichend aufgearbeitet. Hierbei sehen wir, dass die Ansätze weniger Alternativen als Komplementierung zueinander darstellen. Eine längere Einführung in den 1 Thess.-brief versucht, neben den allgemeinen Einleitungfragen, vor allem die Länge des Erstaufenthaltes und die genaue Abfolge der Nacharbeitsinitiativen festzulegen. Dieser folgt eine intensive Auseinandersetzung mit dem curricularen Inhalt der katechetischen Erstunterweisung, die Pls. der Gemeinde bei seinem ersten Aufenthalt in Thessaloniki gab. Dieser wird nachfolgend richtungsweisend in einen kurzen ersten Fazit zusammengefasst, wobei hier ein Schwerpunkt auf die „parakaleo“ Wortfamilie im 1 Thess.-brief gelegt und unter den drei Aspekten des integrierten Dienstes, inhaltlichen Dichte und intensivierten Dynamik kategorisiert wird. Hierauf folgt eine kurze textkritische Untersuchung unseres Modelltextes aus 1 Thess 2,17-3,10 mit dem Ziel, sich zu familiarisieren mit dem weiteren Kontext, inneren Aufbau, Sprache und Stil. Einer detaillierten dreiteiligen Einzelexegese folgt ein längeres Fazit mit der Analyse der in der Forschungsfrage wichtigen Aspekte auf dem Hintergrund der Details des Textes und seiner Auslegung. Diese wird tabellarisch aufgearbeitet und mit einem kurzen Schlussplädoyer abgerundet. Abschließend wird versucht, die erarbeiteten Prinzipien in einigen kurzen Thesen für die Missions- und Gemeindearbeit des 21. Jahrhunderts fruchtbar zu machen.