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Dissecting Familiarity I did not know about the clergy sexual abuse at Covenant Fellowship Church (CFC) until we, the contributors to this roundtable, started exploring this scandal in October 2022. [...]

They [Covenant Fellowship Church] recently installed a new member of the OB board by membership vote. You might think this was a step in the right direction, but this newest OB member has said, 'if Min Chung had an adulterous affair and fathered an illegitimate child, I would still follow him because he is anointed by God.' Great... 'elders' who are blindly loyal to the pastors. Sounds like the perfect person to help Min Chung squirrel his way back to the pulpit. (1) They [the Korean Central Presbytery] determined that Chung was guilty but has done enough for restoration to ministry. They also ruled that the period when Chung wasn't preaching at CFC was enough discipline for his sin. 'Regarding recovery, the pastor reconciled with his victim, and regarding his relationship with God, he recognized his sin before God and relies on the blood of Christ,' Rev. Sungwoo Nam, KCP clerk, said in a statement. 'We judge that his relationship with God is restored as we consider the grace of God. We remind him to abide by the BCO (Book of Church Order), and we believe that he should return to ministry.' (2), As the above illustrations show, Min Joshua Chung remains an ordained pastor today, keeping his clerical credentials within the Presbyterian Church in America. In what ways could someone who was [...]

The story of abuse in the church should never be forgotten. It should be retold until there is change. Until policies change. Until the leadership changes. Until the culture changes. [...]

Churches rely on religious and cultural knowledge as pedagogy and curriculum. Religion and culture through pedagogy and curriculum shape the ways people live and learn. Educational theorist Eliot Eisner categorizes [...]

Something unusual happened in the Global South in the late 1980s and 1990s. Anew expression of Pentecostalism arose that was distinguished by a combination of Pentecostal worship, aggressive evangelism, and [...]

Men's ministries are initiatives that respond to a perceived feminization of the church and which seek to encourage men back into the church by creating masculine spaces and forms of worship. This is largely achieved by appealing to what men's ministries perceive to be appropriate signifiers for masculinity, which include sporting, military and mythopoetic images, and a particular understanding of servant leadership within the home. This paper extends previous analyses by demonstrating how men's ministries also appeal to hunting and meat consumption as signifiers for masculinity, which results in a way of engaging the non-masculine world in a violent and sexualized manner. Keywords: men's ministries, masculinity, hunting, meat consumption, 'Why am I here? I heard that at my church there were going to be a bunch of men and a bunch of meat, and it was going to be [...]

This study examines the relationship between priestly and prophetic functions and social services sponsored by the Black Church. Faith Factor 2000 Project data for seven African American denominations are used to study the role of the contemporary Black Church in addressing economic and social problems that affect the African American community. Results from bivariate and negative binomial analyses show varied denominational support of social services. The majority of sponsored programs are economic in nature or youth-oriented, rather than political or civic. Furthermore, financially stable churches with better educated, paid clergy positively influence social service sponsorship. And while variables associated with a prophetic function have a greater influence on social services, variables that reflect a more priestly function, specifically whether churches sponsor religious programs, are also important in motivating churches to provide such services. These findings add to the literature on the nuanced nature of the dialectical model used to describe the Black Church.

Abstract Service-learning attempts to reconnect communities, schools, and students in the name of democracy and the benefit of the disenfranchised. Catholic schools have added another component, framing service as the [...]

Among the oft-noticed features of what scholarly observers sometimes tout as "American exceptionalism"--what distinguishes the U.S. from other advanced industrialized nations--two items perennially appear at the top of the list. [...]

This article examines spiritual womanhood during 19th century England. The author discusses the impact of the female civilizing mission, a philanthropic movement, on women's roles within the Church of England, maintaining the movement provided women with more autonomy and equality within the Church, yet still worked under the guidance of unquestioned male authority.

Abstract: The history of Afro-Jamaican women is a history of survival under the glaring gaze of repressive systems of slavery and later colonialism that doubly oppressed them as blacks and [...]

The Porvoo Common Statement has allowed its subscriber churches to share an understanding of episcopacy. The Anglican Communion can use the Statement as a tool for seeing its links with the international community of churches, especially the Nordic and Baltic churches that chose to leave the governance of Rome in the late Middle Ages. The Common Statement recognizes that churches share an apostolic fellowship of teaching and ministry.

The impression church ministers give to their congregation is vital in perpetuating the church and spreading God's ministry. The Afro-American ministers are especially vulnerable in this aspect since the public usually regard them negatively. Afro-American ministers must maintain four essential qualities. They must have faith, courage, dignity and righteousness. As ministers they must develop their skills as religious leaders, educators and modifier of society.

The profession of ministry is discussed, with a focus on the role of the minister as public interpreter of meaning. Topics include the place of ministry in the system of professions, the earlier jurisdiction of professional ministry, the current context of professional ministry, and the interpretive role of professional ministry.

THE ALEXIAN BROTHERS established Bonaventure House some years ago as a place of refuge, spiritual care and healing of many sorts for people afflicted with AIDS. Almost 40 people suffering [...]

The Second Consultation on the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees in Asia has identified several priority issues that call for action at this particular moment in the development of [...]