When Moses first encountered the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the desert God revealed his name to Moses. The account is recorded in Exodus 3. Moses had fled Egypt because he had killed an Egyptian while defending a Hebrew slave. He was now living with his father-in-law, a priest of Midian called Jethro, […]
Jesus
Drawing from Jesus’ ministry as portrayed in the Gospels and contemporary practices, what is the place of healing and deliverance in advancing the Kingdom of God through missions?
At the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus went to the synagogue in Nazareth and read from the prophet Isaiah: 4 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering […]
Describe the notion of a missional community as a site for engaging in outreach, ministry of presence and liberation today. Draw from Paul’s Epistles, the Pastoral Epistles and contemporary literature to describe Biblical and current strategic approaches to ministry.
The incarnation and ministry of Jesus is perhaps the ultimate example of missional community.
In the synoptic gospels Jesus speaks repeatedly of the ‘Kingdom of God’. What does he mean by this expression?
The writer of the Gospel of Mark introduces the ministry of Jesus by describing how “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”[1] The phrase the ‘kingdom of God’ (which in Greek is hē […]
In what ways do Jesus and his followers affirm and/or redefine the symbols or cardinal tenets of Jewish faith during his ministry?
Jewish faith in the first-century was defined by belief in one god (monotheism), Yahweh, whose presence was in the Temple, which was surrounded by the Land that had been promised to Israel. The five symbols: monotheism, election, Land, Torah and Temple, were “a common and a unifying core for second Temple Judaism.”
What sort of saviour or messiah was Israel expecting according to diverse Old Testament traditions?
Every king of Israel and Judah was known as “anointed one”, which in Hebrew is “messiah”, because the prophet or high priest anointed him, usually with olive oil, at the time of his enthronement. However, the Old Testament writers had different ideas as to what sort of saviour this messiah would be.