Evangelical movements

Sunday Times 13 July 2014

In Justine McCarthy's article about Joyce McSharry, who was separated from her mother in the Bethany Home in 1951, the solicitor David Phelan of Hayes & Sons disclaimed knowledge of an irregular 'Adoption Agreement' written by the firm (Quest for lost mother ends at graveside, News, last week).
    In the 'Agreement' Ralph Walker of Hayes & Sons, nephew of Bethany Home residential secretary Hettie Walker, was named as the 'attorney' of Joyce's mother, Emily Sheppey.
    This was so as to arrange a future legal adoption without consulting Emily.
    Derek Leinster and I wrote to Hayes & Sons between 2010-11.
    The firm also wrote the 'Adoption Agreement' which saw Derek handed to a dysfunctional family in 1945.
    In 2011 a representative volunteered without explanation that he approached a retired partner to see if he could shed light on the mystery. The person concerned is a son of the Bethany Matron. She witnessed the 1951 'Agreement' and remained as matron until the home closed in 1972.
    He too was “not aware of the existence of any records relating to Bethany Home”.
    I wrote again on July 3 with regard to the Emily Sheppey 'Agreement', indicating that this indicated ongoing engagement between the home and the firm.
    I am informed that such documentation should not be destroyed and also that, if destroyed, a record would normally be kept.
    Mr Phelan wrote to me at 8.39pm on Friday July 4th that unsuccessful "searches have been carried out", and that therefore "there is nothing more we can do".
    I suggested to Mr Phelan that "If the documents have been removed from your firm you are unlikely to find them in it".
    I also asked Mr Phelan to consider calling in the authorities if he concludes that important documentation was removed in a possibly unauthorized manner.
    Whatever he decides, Children separated from their parents in the Bethany Home would appreciate if Mr Phelan could provide them with more information.

Niall Meehan, Faculty Head, Journalism & Media, Griffith College Dublin.

A strong link between religion and national identity has been particularly
important in the study of Eastern and Southeastern Europe during the 20th century.
The study of religion and its changes came into the focus of anthropological
and sociological research especially after the communist period. One of the most
important aspects of change was “religious revival” which also included conversion
to new forms of religiosity such as the Evangelical communities, the
Nazarenes, Baptists, Jehovah Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, and
Pentecostals. The majority of Serbs living in Romania belong to the Serbian
Orthodox Church, but during the last decades a number of Evangelicals appeared
among the Serbian minority. This paper is based on the results of qualitative
ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2010 among the Serbian Evangelical communities
in Romania. The research focuses on the influence of conversion from
Christian Orthodoxy to Evangelicalism among Serbs, focusing on the Evangelical
response to religion and nationalism discourses, changes in collective and personal
identity of newly converted believers, and perception of converted co-ethnics
by the non-Evangelical community. In addressing these issues, this article explores
the role of religious traditions which do not overlap with any particular national/ethnic
group, the relationship between religion and nationalism, and the
presence of supra-national narrative emphasized in Evangelical communities

Blog post: With his brother, F.F. Bosworth, B.B. Bosworth played a significant role in divine healing revival meetings and Pentecostal church history. Unfortunately, there's little known about his contributions. When he and F.F. died in 1958, the Alliance Witness reported “there were many unusual instances of divine healing" in the meetings held by the Bosworth Brothers.

Η Ιηαλία ηον 16 ο αιώνα Η απώλεια ηηρ ιζοπποπίαρ και οι θπηζκεςηικοί κπαδαζμοί Σν ζύζηεκα ηζνξξνπίαο πνπ είρε επηηεπρζεί ζηελ ηηαιηθή ρεξζόλεζν κε ηελ Δηξήλε ηνπ Lodi ην 1454 θαη ηελ ακπληηθή ζπκκαρία αλάκεζα ζηε Βελεηία, ην Μηιάλν θαη ηε Φισξεληία, θαηέξξεπζε κε ηελ εηζβνιή ησλ γαιιηθώλ ζηξαηεπκάησλ 4 ην 1494 1 . Μηα λέα επνρή πξόβαιε ζηα ηηαιηθά πξάγκαηα κε ηελ εκπινθή εμσηεξηθώλ παξαγόλησλ. Ζ μέλε θπξηαξρία επέθεξε κηα λέα ηάμε πξαγκάησλ κέζα ζηελ νπνία νη πόιεκνη ησλ ηηαιηθώλ θξαηώλ κε ηε Γαιιία θαη ηνπο Αςβνύξγνπο νδήγεζαλ ζηελ αιιαγή όζνλ αθνξά ζηηο πνιηηηθέο, νηθνλνκηθέο, ζξεζθεπηηθέο, θηινζνθηθέο θαη θαιιηηερληθέο εμειίμεηο. Ζ ρανηηθή θαηάζηαζε πνπ επηθξαηνύζε ζηελ πνιηηηθή θαη δηπισκαηηθή ζθελή ηεο Ηηαιίαο, ηα αληηθξνπόκελα ζπκθέξνληα αλάκεζα ζηα θξαηίδηα, ε απιεζηία ησλ αξρόλησλ θαη νη θηινδνμίεο ησλ condottieri είραλ σο ζπλέπεηα ηε ζπγθξόηεζε ζπλερώο κεηαβαιιόκελσλ βξαρππξόζεζκσλ ζπκκαρηώλ θαη ηε κεηαηξνπή άιινηε αλζεξώλ ηηαιηθώλ θξαηώλ ζε πηόληα ζηνπο δπλαζηηθνύο αγώλεο αλάκεζα ζηνπο Βαινπά θαη ηνπο Αςβνύξγνπο 2 .

Este capítulo apresenta uma abordagem sobre a trajetória da relação entre protestantes/evangélicos e política no Brasil. Foca-se na dimensão político-institucional ou relativa ao estado desse itinerário e identifica a pulverização representativa das lideranças e políticos religiosos no Poder Legislativo Federal, além de assinalar como as iniciativas sociais da base social evangélica nem sempre coincidiram, ao longo do tempo,
com seus representantes e lideranças quanto a agendas, formas de atuação e objetivos últimos. Discute-se ainda, a formação e projeção da elite parlamentar e pastoral evangélica e a disputa por legitimidade enfrentada por ela, tanto da parte de atores seculares quanto dos religiosos.

Extending social anthropologist Mary Douglas’s theory of purity and danger, this article employs a form of textual and discourse analysis and draws on subcultural identity theory. The article argues that one central aspect of social formation occurs through definitional battles or arguments situating theological boundaries and setting the socio-religious parameters of an inchoate group. The Emerging Church Movement (ECM) offers a clear example of discursive scrimmaging. In the late 1990s and 2000s, insiders sought to legitimate the movement through a series of strategies. Published definitions and descriptions worked to establish the normative agenda of the movement and in applying methods of hyper-specification and internal categorical nuance vied with one another over criteria lists and theological validity. Critical outsiders attempted to discredit the nascent ECM through an inverse set of gatekeeping strategies. This essay underscores the centrality of language, print text, and media in the production of new subcultural identities and suggests that the ECM’s effective problematization by gatekeepers has marked the movement as dangerous to evangelicalism’s traditional boundaries, thus compelling the emergence, via textual discourse, of a quasi- or post-evangelical identity.

Oxford.  Cambridge.  Harvard.  Princeton.  Yale…  These schools are recognized as some of the most respected universities in the English-speaking world.  George Whitefield, John Wesley, Charles Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, D.L. Moody…  These men stand out as some of the most influential Christians in the last 300 years.  What do these two short lists have in common with each other?  These are places and people greatly used in extraordinary movements of the Holy Spirit in recent centuries, and specifically related to collegiate campuses.

_Singing the Congregation: How Contemporary Worship Music Forms Evangelical Community_ examines how the widespread adoption of a pop-rock-style congregational music shapes the way evangelical Christians understand worship. The book demonstrates that participatory worship music performances have brought into being new religious social constellations (“modes of congregating”). Through detailed ethnographic accounts of five of these modes—concert, conference, church, public, and networked congregations—this book seeks to reinvigorate the analytic categories of “congregation” and “congregational music.” Drawing from theoretical models in ethnomusicology, congregational studies, and contemporary ecclesiology, the congregation is re-conceived as a fluid, contingent social constellation that is actively performed into being through communal practice—in this case, the musically-structured participatory activity known as “worship.” By extension, “congregational music-making”  is recast as a participatory religious musical practice capable of weaving together a religious community inside and outside local institutional churches. Congregational music-making is not only a means of expressing local concerns and constituting the local religious community; it is also a potent way to identify with far-flung individuals, institutions, and networks that comprise this global religious community. The unique congregations explored in each chapter include but extend far beyond local churches, revealing widespread conflicts over religious authority and far-ranging implications for how evangelicals position themselves relative to other groups in North America and beyond.


The introduction sets out the book’s scope, argument, and goals, places the musical repertoire and religious community in historical and cultural context, and frames the study in relationship to recent scholarship in ethnomusicology, evangelical studies, and congregational music studies. It defines contemporary worship music in North American and global perspectives and discusses its relationship to closely related Christian popular music genres. The chapter then situates the rise of contemporary worship music in relationship to widespread conflicts over shifts in evangelical worship practices known as the “worship wars,” the development of the Christian music recording industry, the adoption of new technologies within congregational worship, and the influence of pentecostal-charismatic Christian practices. Finally, in describing the book’s research methods, I explore the challenges faced navigating distance and proximity in the field as a result of my own religious upbringing as an evangelical and my complex relationship to communities in my study.

Copyright © 2018 by Roscoe Barnes III

#FFBosworth

This is a snippet of research on Evangelist William Marrion Branham (1909-1965) and the famous “Pillar of Fire” photograph that was taken in Dallas, Texas. This short article presents new information on the photographer behind the photograph and the possible source of the light that appears on Branham’s shoulder.

#ChristtheHealer

Christians, more than ever, need a basic introduction to Bible doctrine that is systematic and true to Scripture. This book is a popular introduction to the study of Bible doctrine firmly in the evangelical tradition. Each chapter covers a biblical doctrine, stresses its doctrinal importance and inter-connectedness to formulating a Christian worldview. The study questions provided help reinforce the material and make it usable even for a formal study of Bible doctrine. It is ideal for personal study and in groups for the home, church, school or ministry environment.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1518707378

http://bastionbooks.com/shop/survey-of-bible-doctrine/

Why did John Wesley leave the halls of academia at Oxford to become a Church of England missionary in the newly established colony of Georgia? Was his ministry in America a success or failure? These questions—which have engaged numerous biographers of Wesley—have often been approached from the vantage point of later developments in Methodism. Geordan Hammond presents the first book-length study of Wesley’s experience in America, providing an innovative contribution to debates about the significance of a formative period of his life.

John Wesley in America addresses Wesley's Georgia mission in fresh perspective by interpreting it in its immediate context. In order to re-evaluate this period of Wesley’s life, Hammond carefully considers Wesley's writings and those of his contemporaries. The Georgia mission, for Wesley, was a laboratory for implementing his views of primitive Christianity. The ideal of restoring the doctrine, discipline, and practice of the early church in the pristine Georgia wilderness was the prime motivating factor in Wesley’s decision to embark for Georgia and in his clerical practice in the colony. Understanding the centrality of primitive Christianity to Wesley’s thinking and pastoral methods is essential to comprehending his experience in America. Wesley’s conception of primitive Christianity was rooted in his embrace of patristic scholarship at Oxford. The most direct influence, however, was the High Church ecclesiology of the Usager Nonjurors who inspired him with their commitment to the restoration of the primitive church.

The subject of this dissertation is the confessional revivalist organisation Evangeliska Fosterlands-Stiftels en (EFS-approximately the Swedish Evangelical Mission Society) between 1856 and 1910. EFS was founded in 1856 in a Pietistic tradition, and its aim was to revitalise from within what was seen as a too dormant State church, and also to counteract the influence of th e emerging free churches. The study has five main sections. The introductory part consists of the theoretical framework and the historical context. In the second chapter EFS' aims and expectations are studied on a national level. The third chapter examines the content of published and distributed tracts. The fourth chapter focuses on the activities of the itine rant colporteurs, and the fifth and final part studies the work of a local EFS-congregation. The aim of the dissertation is t wofold. The first objective is to describe the transformation EFS underwent during the period studied. This process is described in terms related to Jürgen Habermas' expression "public sphere". When EFS was foun ded, as a board, it can be seen as one of other middle-and upper-class associations, and as such a part of the Swedish public sphere. By 1910 EFS had begun to move away from the Swedish State church and had become more like con temporary popular movements and free churches-it had started to take the shape of an limited alternative sphere, a denomination. The second aim is to use EFS as an example to describe and analyse the changed perception of religion during the second half of the 19 th century. This change is described as a process of secularisation. Secularisation is s een here as the process that turned religion into an individual, voluntary and optional act of faith, among other religious and non-religious alternatives, for ordinary people. Of particular interest is th e paradoxical rela tion between revivalism and secularisation. Various revivalist movements emphasised the personal relation to God and the individual right to interpret the word of God. The individual choice for salvation was also stressed within revivalism. These move ments also created new alternatives to the all-embracing State church. Thus both the posi tion of the Church, and the universal claims of Christianity in general, were undermined. The transformation EFS underwent is seen as an adaptation to the rise of modern society, which became more pluralistic and hence competitive during the final decades of the 19 th century This development meant that new strategies were required for religious organisations overall, in order for them to be able to compete and flourish.

Many today are seeing the need and importance of teaching Christian apologetics in a variety of different settings. This is intended to help fulfill that need. Following Dr. Norman Geisler’s Twelve Points that Show Christianity is True, this Guide or curriculum is designed to help you prepare and teach Christian apologetics. This Guide contains what is required for instruction in a single resource to teach others successfully in apologetics. It is for the homeschool parent, Sunday school teacher, Christian school teacher, pastor, campus minister, leader in your church or anyone who wants to educate others in Christian apologetics. Dr. Norman Geisler developed the Twelve Points over many years of teaching and instruction at various levels and settings. They have proven to be an invaluable way to learn, communicate, teach and classify the steps of Christian apologetics in a systematic manner. The Twelve Points serve as domains of learning that are memorable, usable and practical. This Guide is intended to help any teacher educate students both young and old in Christian apologetics.

print edition
http://www.amazon.com/Teachers-Guide-Twelve-Points-Christianity/dp/1530369576
ebook
http://bastionbooks.com/shop/12-points-teachers-guide/

This ebook is also available on Amazon in Kindle format.
http://www.amazon.com/Teachers-Guide-Twelve-Points-Christianity-ebook/dp/B00X1ZFQT6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1430752456&sr=1-1

Біблійна герменевтика ґрунтується на богодухновенності та христоцентричності Св. Письма. Обидва ці положення виведені завдяки найголовнішому
способу тлумачення сакральних текстів – герменевтичному колу. В Євангеліях за
допомогою герменевтичного кола можна збагнути статус митарів, фарисеїв,
самарян, первосвящеників, блудниць та багатьох інших. Герменевтична операція реконструкції духовного обліку персонажа є логічним наслідком застосування
герменевтичного кола з метою інтерпретації біблійних творів. Реконструкція
стає можливою завдяки узагальненню типових ситуацій. З іншого боку, отримане на основі читацької уяви ціле дозволяє розвернути інтерпретаційний вектор
і уважніше проаналізувати його частини. Такі спостереження вдалося зробити
на основі кількох євангельських епізодів про митарів, а також Притчі про фарисея та митаря та Притчі про двох синів та батьківську волю.
Ключові слова: біблійні твори, Євангеліє, герменевтика, герменевтичне коло,
реконструкція духовного обліку, притча.

Unlike many traditional/historical denominations and church movements, the Vineyard (which is a relatively young movement) does not have a clearly defined or expressed theological basis, beyond a commitment to the Kingdom of God, and five core values. Much of the theological content of the movement is expressed in aphorisms, often coined by John Wimber, one of the movement’s founders, which shape the way that the ministry and mission of churches that identify as ‘Vineyard’ is carried out.

One of the best known of these aphorisms is ‘Everyone gets to play’, often interpreted and applied as relating to the ‘doing’ of ministry. In the UK, the Vineyard movement is a growing network of established churches and church plants, with a high number of ‘lay’ leaders, a considerable trend towards bivocational ministry, and an active orientation towards ministry and mission. This paper explores whether the Vineyard aphorism of ‘Everyone gets to play’ might offer inspiration and a model for other churches to release and empower a new generation of servant leaders.

Respect for persons has been widely acknowledged and discussed as a key moral dimension in education and teaching English to speakers of other languages. Christians believe in this value, particularly as it is articulated within scripture and tradition. Recent critics, however, seem to perceive a basic incompatibility between a Christian religious imperative to bear witness to one’s faith and a moral imperative to respect other persons. Beginning from an argument that all teaching is teaching for change, this essay makes a case that the two are not only not contradictory, but in fact should be consanguineous. Key issues explored include what it means to believe in absolute truths, why such belief paradoxically requires humility, and the moral/interpersonal conditions for witnessing and conversion.

""Reviews
"... Engagingly and accessibly written... deserves wide readership among everyone interested in US religion, ethnicity, organizations and urban culture." -- Choice

"...fascinating...offers valuable insights...This book will be of great interest to scholars of religion in America..." -- Sociology of Religion Fall 2006

"...highly readable... easily used in an undergraduate course...engaging...useful for a graduate course...I look forward to reading Marti's future work." -- Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

"...of methodological value to students of new religious movements...will help observers of other groups as well." -- Novo Religio, 10, 3 Feb. 2007

"Marti's argument seems to be that such a complex project can succeed..." -- Contemporary Sociology, 36, 1 Jan. 2007

"Anyone wishing to gain a deeper understanding of American evangelical diversity, of the emergent church movement, and of intriguing congregational efforts to bridge ethnic divides, will want to read this book." --Christian Scholar's Review

Mosaic in Southern California is one of the largest multiethnic congregations in America, and also one of the most innovative. This book takes us inside this unusual church. It shows how the church has achieved multiethnicity, not by targeting ethnic groups, but by providing multiple havens of inclusion and commonality that render ethnic differences moot. These havens are arenas for multiethnic companionship, cooperation, and camaraderie that arise out of a union of creative volunteer resources and the ambitious global mission of the church. A Mosaic of Believers examines the structure of the church and the innovative aspects of its mission. It reveals a congregation aiming to reconstruct evangelical theology, personal identity, member involvement, and church governance in an attempt to create an institution with greater relevance to the social reality of a new generation. Based on interviews and participation with the congregation and grounded in contemporary sociological theory, the book presents a rich portrait of an emerging religious community.""

O livro Cartas entre um Católico e um Evangélico se trata de uma conversa respeitosa entre dois cristãos que analisam e refletem sobre a fé, bem como sobre eventos que ocorreram em igrejas, além de traçarem interpretações a Bíblia, conforme estudiosos gabaritados. Mariano escreveu na fé Católica e Cléverson na evangélica.

Michel Foucault conceptualized an understanding of power as enmeshed and formulating a web-like structure within society. He moved from an understanding of power with top- down formalities, as is commonly represented by institutions, into power as polyvalent and written on bodies, a term he called “biopower.” Foucauldian power is understood as embodied in, by, and through individuals—not solely within the institutions of society as had been previously thought. This paper creates a link between Foucault’s concept of biopower and contemporary American evangelical discourse in the arenas of abstinence campaigns and the modesty movement, demonstrating how this sort of power has been written on the bodies of young women. In particular, I will reveal how this form of power has reduced the agency of young people, particularly that of women, leading to hegemonic outcomes. This thesis works toward imagining the possibilities of a new discourse and envisioning power that works toward the flourishing—not the constraint— of humanity.

This article analyzes the ways in which American evangelical Christians have responded to the presidential campaign and presidential administration of Donald Trump, with a particular focus on the faction of politically progressive evangelicals. While over 80% of white evangelicals voted for Trump and over 70% continue to support his presidency, progressive evangelicals have vociferously opposed him. This article summarizes the proposals, protests, and petitions of progressive evangelicals with respect to four broad issues: racial justice, immigration, healthcare, and economic policies. Though some conservative and moderate evangelicals have also criticized Trump’s personal behavior and politics, numerous factors hinder their potential partnerships with progressive evangelicals. The current political context has exacerbated a long-simmering identity crisis among progressive evangelicals. Even as many debate the costs of identifying with a religious tradition and label that has become popularly associated with white Christian supporters of Donald Trump, progressive evangelicals have sought to correct popular perceptions of American evangelicalism as inherently linked to political conservatism.

Pedagogical Idea:

Evangelist [is] used in a general sense of anyone who proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ… The evangelist… moved about in different localities, preaching the [gospel] to those who had not heard the message before.  Once such had put their trust in the Lord, then the work of the pastor-teacher begun.  He would remain with them, training them further in the things pertaining to Christ and building them up in the faith.  [Therefore, the artistes’ work of evangelism should be supervised by guardians or pastors].

Between
the
1950s
and
1970s
a
Swiss
theologian
and
educational
psychologist,
Hans
Ferdinand
Bürki
(1925-­‐
2002),
integrated
achievements
in
theology
and
psychology
in
a
remarkable
career
of
four
decades.
Bürki
published
widely
and
facilitated
hundreds
of
discipleship
courses
and
prayer
retreats
among
university
students
on
five
continents.
This
paper
introduces
Hans
Bürki
by
interpreting
limited
documentary
and
oral
evidence
about
him
from
the
1960s
and
70s,
which
describe
Bürki’s
way
of
teaching
theology.
It
will
be
shown
from
historical
evidence
in
archival
documentation
and
oral
historical
transcriptions
that
Bürki
was
unconditionally
accepted
in
both
black
and
white
South
African
communities,
despite
growing
racial
polarisation
between
the
white
Students’
Christian
Association
and
the
black
Students
Christian
Movement
during
his
first
South
African
visits.
Burki’s
unconditional
acceptance,
it
will
be
seen,
was
that
his
theology
and
spirituality
were
congruent
and
without
cultural
chauvinism
or
racial
prejudice,
because
he
was
personally
grounded
in
a
deep
counter-­‐cultural
freedom,
whose
roots
were
the
gospel
of
reconciliation
and
the
earliest
mystical
prayer
tradition.
It
will
be
concluded
that
Bürki’s
spirituality
uniquely
countered
South
Africa’s
racist
and
suspicious
milieu
of
the
1970s
and
anticipated
as
if
with
hindsight,
a
radically
free,
contextual,
integrating
and
mystical
way
of
following
Christ,
which
the
contemporary
Church
in
South
Africa’s
urgently
needs
to
rediscover.

Defining Moments Is a book of the record of encounters of great revivalists with the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. These moments of powerful encounters totally shifted the course of the life of the individuals selected. Johnson and Miskov have chosen experiences in the lives of a selection of revivalists which are considered catalytic and did not just have a powerful Impact on the Individuals but usually on the spiritual life of the global Church of Jesus Christ. Johnson and Miskov point Is to place before the present day saints the possibilities of having encounters with the Holy Spirit which can be catalytic In producing a coming revival which will eclipse all previous revivals. Johnson and Miskov desire to Inspire the present day saints with a faith In the Impossible made possible by specific encounters with the Holy Spirit which define our destinies, destinies without limitation and which will have an Immense Impact on the earth for the kingdom of God.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the many changes in the present socio-cultural context point to the importance of innovation in churches. A theoretical framework for understanding innovation in churches is presented, featuring 6 key elements. These elements include the cultural context of the church and the church's target audience, a culture of innovation within the church, innovations in church programs, processes, and personnel, social capital (social ties) which permits church members to navigate the changes associated with innovation, program loss (that which is lost when programs change), and progress toward the church's goals. The church's goals and the church's context determine which innovations would be most appropriate. A culture of innovation and strong social ties permit innovations to be implemented successfully. Program losses may reflect aspects of the church's goals that are neglected when innovations are implemented.

This collection of essays and notes attempts to tread the invisible borders between mythos, the neoliberal-Christian-nationalist 'world view' and socio-political trends in the rise of Trump, the Red Hats and the Evangelicals to political dominance in the United States.

"This is how they pray: a dozen clear-eyed, smooth-skinned “brothers” gathered together in a huddle, arms crossing arms over shoulders like the weave of a cable, leaning in on one another and swaying like the long grass up the hill from the house they share. The house is a handsome, gray, two-story colonial that smells of new carpet and Pine-Sol and aftershave; the men who live there call it Ivanwald. At the end of a tree-lined cul-de-sac, quiet but for the buzz of lawn mowers and kids playing foxes-and-hounds in the park across the road, Ivanwald sits as one house among many, clustered together like mushrooms, all devoted, like these men, to the service of Jesus Christ. The men tend every tulip in the cul-de-sac, trim every magnolia, seal every driveway smooth and black as boot leather. And they pray, assembled at the dining table or on their lawn or in the hallway or in the bunk room or on the basketball court, each man's head bowed in humility and swollen with pride (secretly, he thinks) at being counted among such a fine corps for Christ, among men to whom he will open his heart and whom he will remember when he returns to the world not born-again but remade, no longer an individual but part of the Lord's revolution, his will transformed into a weapon for what the young men call 'spiritual war.'"

While the dramatic growth of church-planting movements (CPMs) in non-Christian contexts around the world provides ample opportunity to explain their emergence and significance, a missiology of these movements is struggling to keep pace. This article argues that CPM is a unique feature in the field of mission studies that emerged in the later 20th century. Although it shares some of the same characteristics as the early Church Growth Movement discourse, CPMs today are a specific type of movement occurring mostly in least-reached Muslim and Hindu contexts. CPM missiology contains a number of features and unknowns which demonstrate that the discourse is both evolving and invaluable for how the global church understands mission. Keywords: church-planting movements, disciple-making movements, people movements, church growth movement, contemporary history of missions

General William and Catherine Booth accomplished in practical ways what many social reformers merely dreamed of.  They had 'buy-in' from the residents of East London who 'owned' their own spiritual and social revolution.  Societal changes occurred, involving combatting child sex-trafficking, and bringing match factories to stop using toxic yellow phosphorus.

A review of Dan Barker's tome, godless, how an evangelical pastor abandoned fundamentalist faith and embraced so-called New Atheism. Mr. Barker is now codirector of Freedom From Religion Foundation. Barker's justifiable excoriation of his evangelical easy believism seems trite on the surface, but for him it was critical, life changing. How religious experience is not reliable and there is even in the most sincere theist experience a vacuum for something bigger than a movement, a belief, a faith even in the resurrected Christ. I read and reviewed this during my own period of agnostic experience, weary from the divisions in Christianity. From whence I rose, returned, and re-embraced "the Church of the firstborn... the pillar and foundation of the truth." I found my doubts embraced by love. In my own experience, as many Evangelicals who have not experienced Christian orthodoxy in its historic expression, we have only our experience from which to judge something entirely mysterious as the Church revealed from God who gives the Bible its authority. Bible fundamentalism was not enough to keep Barker and it almost lost me to skeptical agnosticism. Individual liberty from religion may be the epitome of Barker's New Atheism, while for me Orthodox Christianity is the epitome of life in Christ.

Evan Roberts is a key historic figure, deeply involved with the remarkable Welsh revival of 1904.  This paper analyzes how 10% of the Welsh population became involved in the revival within two years.  It also looks at the social impact on Welsh culture, particularly in terms of crime, alcohol abuse, and the court system.