reflecting on your life as a disciple of Christ in light of Luke 14:25-35 and “The Vulnerability of Mission.”
Note: Turabian style, double space, Times New Roman, 12-point font
DUE: 03/20/20 11pm
Assignment 1-1: Journal
3-page Journal a minimum three (3) pages, reflecting on your life as a disciple of Christ in light of Luke 14:25-35 and “The Vulnerability of Mission.” You will journal each week and then use that journal as the data for your reflection paper.
Assignment 1-2
1-page Write a brief example of experience-distant theologizing and then experience-near theologizing in your context.
DUE: 03/26/20 11pm
Assignment 2-1: Journal
2-pages Journal about your experience as a Christian in light of the content of this week, including “The Vulnerability of Missions.”
Assignment 2-2: Thick Description paper
2-pages Choose a topic and write up a one-page description that includes: 1) the people, purpose, and situation or practice; 2) the importance of the topic; 3) your access and methodology. Incorporate feedback from other students into your paper and submit it.
Assignment 2-3
1-page Following the example of “Cry Jesus”, what is an example of “grassroots Christology in your community and what are strengths and weaknesses as related to contextualization and syncretism?[unique_solution]
DUE: 04/02/20 11pm
Assignment 3-1: Case Study Response
3-pages. You are leading the youth ministry for the small Evangelical church in Mountain Village, Alaska—a remote Yupik Eskimo community of about 800 people. One of the youth suggests the incorporation of the yuraq, or traditional “Eskimo dance” into the church’s worship as a way of reconnecting with their cultural identity and heritage. Some respected elders in the church resist the idea, since the missionaries that founded the church 100 years ago taught that such dancing was demonic and should not be practiced. Write a 2-3 paper describing how you respond.
To familiarize yourself with the culture and the practice of dancing, watch the following videos before formulating your response:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8vKU78-nwYA brief video produced by the residents of Mountain Village discussing the changing culture and the importance of valuing elders.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beU485BxqxsA brief introduction to the yuraq as it is practiced today, produced by Anchorage Daily News. You may wish to look up additional examples by searching YouTube for “yuraq” or “Yupik dancing.”
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CaB9To-sc0A 1985 documentary discussing the historic role of dancing and masks in Yupik religion from an insider perspective. (You are only required to watch the first three minutes of this video, although the entire film is relevant and helpful.)
Assignment 3-2
1-page Do a word study of the English word “WORSHIP” and observe the results. Write a response about your observations considering the following the questions: Does how you typically think of worship match how the Bible describes it throughout both testaments? What did you notice about worship in the Bible that was new to you? What are some consistencies of how worship is described throughout all of scripture? What are some differences in how worship is described throughout different parts of scripture?
DUE: 04/09/20 11pm
Assignment 4-1: Towards an Indigenous Theology of Worship in Alaska
3-page Read “Towards an Indigenous Theology of Worship in Alaska” (16 pp.) and consider your response to last week’s case study (Assignment 3-1). Based on this further research, how might you change or refine your response? Why can the cultural experience of two different communities mean that the question is answered differently in each context, and what are the implications of this for your ministry?
Assignment 4-2: Journal
2-page Journal about your experience as a Christian in light of the content of this week.
DUE: 04/16/20 11pm
Assignment 5-1: Contextualization and Syncretism
4-page Write a paper that traces how the Gospel or some teaching of Scripture has been contextualized for you. To do this consider language, cognitive categories, metaphors, and rituals that are culturally constructed and a step away from the original language, cognitive categories, metaphors, and rituals of the Bible and the local cultures into which it was revealed. Then describe an example of potential syncretism in what has been taught to you. Include a paragraph on the potential effects of this.
Assignment 5-2: Journal
1-page Journal about your experience as a Christian in light of the content of this week.
DUE: 04/23/20 11pm
Assignment 6-1: Designing a contextualized response
1-page in light of what you have read about contextualization, grassroots theologizing, and syncretism, what is one example of possible syncretism within your church context that deserves careful attention? Explain why it is, what might indicate syncretism, and what method you would apply to explore this.
Assignment 6-2: Journal
2-page. Journal about your experience as a Christian in light of the content of this week.
DUE: 04/30/20 11pm
Assignment 7-1: Effective Communication
1-page. Describe how you will communicate what you have learned to others in culturally effective ways, keeping in mind Hiebert’s model of “mission mediation” (The Gospel in Human Contexts chapters 8-9).
Assignment 7-2: Journal
2-page. Journal about your experience as a Christian in light of the content of this week.
DUE: 05/07/20 11pm
Assignment 8-1: Missional Theology
8-page. Use Hiebert’s missional theology methodology and follow Ferch’s example in “Towards a Theology of Worship” as you write your missional theology paper.
Assignment 8-2: Reflection paper
3-page Draw on your journal and reflect on your experience of being a disciple of Christ through this semester and what influence your living example has on the situation you are studying.