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Christian Church Sunday Sunday Sermon

Posted on:2004-03-30Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:L ZhuFull Text:PDF
GTID:2205360092985709Subject:Religious Studies
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Over the last 20 years, Christianity in Beijing has been developing rapidly, the follower number has increased 6 to 7 times. This phenomenon deserves academic concern and research. Haidian Church is one of the five biggest Christian churches in the city of Beijing, and its development represents the growing tendency and characteristics of modern urban Christianity in China.The author chose Haidian Church as her investigating site for case study, and conducted field work for ten month, aimed at exploring that how the church adopts itself to the urban society in the rapid changing era and manages to meet the followers' needs. The thesis outlines the brief history of Haidian Church and represents its current organizing form and activities. Then it focuses on the service of Lord's day, especially the core part of the service: preaching, describing the ritual process, analyzing the function of preaching and the qualifications of preacher, exploring the aspects of preaching's concern, classifying the preaching texts from the content and themes.It concludes that: the preaching of Haidian Church has developed out its own fixed formula; it enhances the faith of its followers; it cultivate the church members' sentiment towards their God as well as church; it improves the communications among its members and between the individuals and the organization; it strengthens the followers' identity as a Christian. In the preaching, the preachers pay their attention not only to the religious aspects but also the social aspects of the followers' needs; the Church tries to reveal its characteristics as a worship community and avoid to falling into the trap as a social club. Meanwhile, the church cares very much about its reputation in the society and makes contributions to the public welfare. From the case analysis of Haidian church, we can predict, the Christianity in Chinese urban city will keep on developing and long-term coexisting with socialism society.
Keywords/Search Tags:Urban Church, Service of Lord's day, Preaching, Preacher, Followers, Development
PDF Full Text Request
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