Atlantic Cape Community College: Church After Several Years

The book is divided into two sections. The first section of the book examines why people leave the nonessential church, as demonstrated in chapter one where the young adults lost their connection with church. They did not desert their faith; instead they dropout of church. Contrary to what many parents believe youth do not leave church because of a desire for personal freedom, neither because they have lost their religion. The truth is God has converted them, but we have failed to disciple them (30). This is one of the crucial issues confronting the church today. We are

The Four Theological Voices Model was developed by the Action Research: Church and Society team (ARCS), consisting of Helen Cameron, Deborah Bhatti, Catherine Duce, James Sweeney and Clare Watkins. In the book Talking about God in Practice, the ARCS team explains four theological voices which they discovered as they examined the practice of the Church. The four voices are: (i) normative theology, (ii) formal theology, (iii) espoused theology and (iv) operant theology.3 Cameron et al argue that these voices are intertwined, and that together they express the whole of Christian theology.4 The team 's main thesis is that practice is essentially theology, and that theology subsequently is embodied throughout the life of the Church and expressed in the lived practice of the Church through these four theological voices.5 Cameron et al is clear that this model should not be seen a complete description, but rather serve as a interpretative working tool for theological reflection upon how practice and theology are connected.6

In Christ and Culture, Niebuhr (1956) defines “culture” as the “artificial, secondary environment which man superimposes on the natural”.

A sacrament is an outward efficacious sign instituted by Christ to give grace. Jesus Christ himself is the sacrament, as he gave his life to save mankind. His humanity is the outward sign or the instrument of his Divinity. It is through his humanity that the life of the Trinity comes to us as grace through the sacraments. It is Jesus Christ alone who mediates the sacraments to allow grace to flow to mankind. The sacraments were instituted by Christ and were part of the Liturgical Tradition of the early Christian Church. The Church celebrates in her liturgy the Paschal mystery of Christ, his Sacrifice on the Cross, Death and Resurrection.

The early church theologian Iranaeus of Lyons states the definition of church as those people that live on the earth. According to his argument though they speak different languages, they profess one faith. The theme of being one is similar to John Wesley’s theme of oneness. Wesley argues that no matter who the person is, he or she who is a believer , will be free from every kind of sin or breaking of moral laws. To explicate on this, it can be stated that just like languages are different in the world, so are the cultures and since cultures vary throughout the world, the norms and standards of crime, evil, and sin are different. At the same time, the understanding of faith in God is same and does not change from one country to another, rather

Because a person cannot be controlled by outside sources, a person cannot be forced to go to church. By definition, the church is a voluntary place to come to publicly worship God to free one 's soul,

The church must seek to bear fruit of love and compassion in the lives of those losing faith in God. Faith is important and powerful in every unexpected situation in anyone’s life here on earth. If the church present itself unrelated to losing faith, how might a person be reach that has lost faith? Obviously, the church cannot give up on reaching the hurting. Time, effort, and presence saves a person in emotional turmoil. The act of providing the necessity of caring in someone’s life opens the blinded mind and eyes closed to God in darkest. The church purpose is to make a difference to believers as well as unbelievers. Tradition has held

They like we forgot that faithfulness is a constant daily choice we have to make and also a consistent conviction we have to hold.

Same sex marriage is a disputable topic that has raised controversy in the United States political system. The issue has been a constant recurring discussion between liberals and conservatives. Those in favor of same sex marriage argue on the basis that love conquers all, so everyone should be able to marry the person they love. Many decisions made by politicians on the issue are based off of their religious beliefs. The United States constitution vows to separate church and state, leaving religious opinions out of equation, but because the board legislation is predominantly white, Christians, males, the ideals behind separating church and state are disregarded.

Over coffee in a Barcelona neighbourhood, an acquaintance expressed the remark, “I can’t invite my friends to church, they will never return, and that might end our conversations about God.” What an astounding observation. Many believe the church is where talk of God occurs. Yet, people are taking part in these God discussions both in and outside a church environment. However, there seems some disconnect between the exchange taking place about God in the church, and the exchange occurring outside the church. What is occurring are distinct approaches of engagement.

The Catholic Church is the first group of Christians and is considered as the original group from where all the other Christian groups have splintered over the centuries (Ortiz, n.d.). It is primarily a worldwide group of Christians and at the same time, an institution. There is a leadership structure within the Catholic Church. The leaders of this institution are not like those of the kings and queens; rather, they consider themselves as servant-leaders following the footsteps of Jesus. Servant-leaders are those who put themselves at the service of those whom they lead compared to a king who lords himself over the people.

As a kid that grew up in a church I have always loved singing "Amazing Grace". There is a line that is my favorite and it goes "I once was lost but now i 'm found". This lyric is my favorite from this song because it explains what the church can do for someone and what effect The Lord and The Bible can do. Someone who does an endless amount of dreadful doings like drugs or have felonies that put them into crummy places like rehab or jail. These places have a church like setting in them where one can go and ask forgiveness and pray and worship God and welcome him into their heart. Someone could be so lost in the world and be found by the church and God. A friend of mine, sadly did heroin and got apprehended with it and ended up in jail. Well, he convinced the judge he needed help so they sent him to rehab. Now he is out and thanks God everybody that he saved him from going down a rough road. He goes to church everyday and worships and prays everyday. Rehab changed his habit, but God

Ecumenicalism at Emmaus College shows initiative to unite all Christian denominations of the churches. This creates a welcoming community, and a unity of spirit. Even though beliefs, sacraments, liturgy/worship and the social teachings/ social justice of each denomination are fundamentally different, the underlying Christian values and beliefs are still similar at the core. The Catholic and Anglican churches contribute to the spiritual life of Emmaus College in various ways to ensure we are truly an ecumenical school.

Around the world, there are thousands of different cultures. Our cultures are made up of the way people think, act, and the material items that combined together create the way of life for people (Macionis, 2017). I am a Central Illinois girl that is fortunate to live in a very positive culture with many opportunities.

Christian culture is placed within public culture. Issues of the public sphere affect and shape congregational life (Chung; vii; 2012). The church is witness for the plans that God has for us as a universe. We as the church culture should talk about public issues and not just about what the universal culture wants to hear. This viewpoint then marks the church as the community for communion, fellowship and missions. Now a days the public is so multi-cultural and multi-religious (Chung; vii; 2012) that there is so many different thoughts and different views of what the wrong and right answer should be. Christians face that challenge every day. Where are we, what are we and what do we need to do as Christians, as followers of God?