Church, Sacraments & Ministry

TH404/TH604

If you believe in the Gospel, you believe in the church, because the Gospel creates the church. This course is not primarily about the differences between Anglicans, Presbyterians and Baptists. It is about deepening our understanding of the Gospel through study of the ways in which God uses this creation to change this creation. What does it mean to plant a church? Is the Christian Union a church? Is my home group a church? What if we discovered another way of promoting God's mission - would we still need the church then? Can only one kind of church organisation preserve the Gospel? Calvin said that we can't have God as Father unless we have the church as our mother. For anyone aspiring to leadership in a church, this unit is essential preparation.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Assist candidates in gaining an integrated Christian theological perspective and methodology in areas of church life and ministry;
  2. Help students to reflect on their own place in God’s work and purposes.

On completion of this unit, a student will be able to:

  1. Describe the options for connecting and differentiating Church and Kingdom;
  2. Describe the major characteristics and ways of describing the nature of the church, its ministry and mission ;
  3. Identify the place of sacraments and prayer in the life of the Christian people; and
  4. Reflect on how this knowledge and experience shapes their own Christian life and the life of their community.

Content

Section A: The People of God

  1. Kingdom and church Degree Unit Outlines 215
  2. The church: its nature, authority and mission
  3. Marks: notes, visibility and invisibility
  4. The nature and forms of ministry
  5. Denominations

Section B: Prayer, Worship and Sacraments

  1. Word and Sacrament: efficacy and validity, the number of sacraments
  2. Christian initiation
  3. The Lord’s Supper
  4. Christian Worship
  5. Prayer

Workload: one semester, 4 credit points, 36 contact hours
Status: elective
Pre-requisites: 16 credit points of core foundation units
Who: Rhys Bezzant
When: Semester 2, 2012

Recommended Texts for this Theology Unit:

Badcock, Gary D. The House where God Lives: Renewing the Doctrine of the Church for Today. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.

 Jenson, Matt and David E. Wilhite. Church: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: T&T Clark, 2010.

Bloesch, Donald G. The Church: Sacraments, Worship, Ministry, Mission. Christian Foundations. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2002.

 

Reccommended Texts for All Theology Units

Allison, Gregg R. Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.

Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Library of Christian Classics 20 and 21. Translated by Ford Lewis Battles. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960.

Horton, Michael. The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.

McGrath, Alister E. Christian Theology: An Introduction. 3rd ed. ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001.