Gospel of hope for the world of hopeless: the success of early Christianity and hope for the Tangan church

Sione T Tu'ipulotu

Etd

Gospel of hope for the world of hopeless: the success of early Christianity and hope for the Tangan church

Public Deposited

MLA citation style (9th ed.)

Sione T Tu'ipulotu. Gospel of Hope for the World of Hopeless: the Success of Early Christianity and Hope for the Tangan Church. Claremont School of Theology. rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/18afb113-284f-4a97-8c63-f2eb744d4eda.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

S. T. Tu'ipulotu. Gospel of hope for the world of hopeless: the success of early Christianity and hope for the Tangan church. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/18afb113-284f-4a97-8c63-f2eb744d4eda

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

Sione T Tu'ipulotu. Gospel of Hope for the World of Hopeless: the Success of Early Christianity and Hope for the Tangan Church. Claremont School of Theology. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/18afb113-284f-4a97-8c63-f2eb744d4eda.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

Creator

Sione T Tu'ipulotu

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Abstract

This project presents a ministry of hope and renewal for Christianity in Tonga and the Tongan churches in diaspora. Tongan traditional religion which formed Tongan culture and society still impacts Tongan Christianity. Traditional religious culture has a hierarchical structure which has influenced all segments of society and even Christian beliefs and practices. Immigrant churches have adopted the same hierarchical structure and added other social status, such as wealth and achievement, which create more physical and psychological barriers in the church community. The social issues add up to an unhealthy church, ministry, and Tongan community at large that causes divisions among families. This project relies heavily on historical research to identify the ways in which Christianity as a fledgling religion was able to succeed against the great religions of the Greco-Roman world. Finally, the project concludes that Christianity brought a gospel of hope to the world full of haplessness, especially to the masses in the Greco-Roman world. Christianity created a new community that served the needs of the destitute, generated a sense of belonging, welfare/health agency, and treated everyone inclusively with equality. These findings can provide guidance for a ministry that addresses the cultural hierarchy and traditional theological issues for a revitalized Christianity in both the Tongan and immigrant church.

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