The Biblical Role Of The Grace Baptist Church, Pennsylvania, USA In Orphan Care In Terms Of The COMPASSION Model

Abstract

The main aim of the study is to determine the Biblical role of the Grace Baptist Church, Pennsylvania, USA in orphan care. The Osmer model is utilised in this research using his four tasks of theological interpretation. Firstly, Chapter 2 investigates the concerns and possible church roles of the Grace Baptist Church, Pennsylvania in orphan care by means of an empirical survey. This chapter focuses on the first task in the Osmer model, namely the descriptive-empirical task, which seeks to answer the question: What is going on? Secondly, Chapter 3 provides, through a historical survey of the orphan care and education that took place during the Pre-Reformation Period, the Reformation Period and the Age of Progress, with special reference to the work of John Calvin in Geneva and Charles Spurgeon in the UK. This chapter focuses on the second task in the Osmer model, namely, the Interpretative task, which seeks to answer the question: Why is this going on? Thirdly, Chapter 4 presents the Biblical foundations for orphan care by conducting an exegetical study of six selected Bible passages from the Old and New Testaments on orphan care. This chapter completes the third task in the Osmer model, namely the Normative task, which seeks to answer the question: What ought to be going on? Finally, as the culmination of the research, Chapter 5 proposes the COMPASSION model for assisting the Grace Baptist Church, Pennsylvania, USA to identify its Biblical role in orphan care. This chapter completes the fourth and final task of the Osmer model, namely the Pragmatic task, which seeks to answer the question: How might we respond? This task is pursued by interpreting the situational and normative data gained from the previous chapters.

The main aim of the study is to determine the Biblical role of the Grace Baptist Church, Pennsylvania, USA in orphan care. The Osmer model is utilised in this research using his four tasks of theological interpretation. Firstly, Chapter 2 investigates the concerns and possible church roles of the Grace Baptist Church, Pennsylvania in orphan care by means of an empirical survey. This chapter focuses on the first task in the Osmer model, namely the descriptive-empirical task, which seeks to answer the question: What is going on? Secondly, Chapter 3 provides, through a historical survey of the orphan care and education that took place during the Pre-Reformation Period, the Reformation Period and the Age of Progress, with special reference to the work of John Calvin in Geneva and Charles Spurgeon in the UK. This chapter focuses on the second task in the Osmer model, namely, the Interpretative task, which seeks to answer the question: Why is this going on? Thirdly, Chapter 4 presents the Biblical foundations for orphan care by conducting an exegetical study of six selected Bible passages from the Old and New Testaments on orphan care. This chapter completes the third task in the Osmer model, namely the Normative task, which seeks to answer the question: What ought to be going on? Finally, as the culmination of the research, Chapter 5 proposes the COMPASSION model for assisting the Grace Baptist Church, Pennsylvania, USA to identify its Biblical role in orphan care. This chapter completes the fourth and final task of the Osmer model, namely the Pragmatic task, which seeks to answer the question: How might we respond? This task is pursued by interpreting the situational and normative data gained from the previous chapters.