Congregational Diversity As A Spiritual Strength: Recognizing Our Common Identity In Christ In The Biblical Metanarrative

David Kosobucki

Etd

Congregational Diversity As A Spiritual Strength: Recognizing Our Common Identity In Christ In The Biblical Metanarrative

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MLA citation style (9th ed.)

David Kosobucki. Congregational Diversity As A Spiritual Strength: Recognizing Our Common Identity In Christ In The Biblical Metanarrative. rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/3a17579c-a598-4509-b000-8146f2c09fe8.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

D. Kosobucki. Congregational Diversity As A Spiritual Strength: Recognizing Our Common Identity In Christ In The Biblical Metanarrative. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/3a17579c-a598-4509-b000-8146f2c09fe8

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

David Kosobucki. Congregational Diversity As A Spiritual Strength: Recognizing Our Common Identity In Christ In The Biblical Metanarrative. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/3a17579c-a598-4509-b000-8146f2c09fe8.

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

Creator

David Kosobucki

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In Copyright

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to gauge the appreciation for diversity in the congregation of Horizon Christian Fellowship Central as a spiritual strength, based upon a common identity in Christ as expressed through the biblical metanarrative. The church in question is based near downtown Indianapolis. It is diverse from the standpoint of ethnicity or race as well as socioeconomically, meaning a full spectrum of class, income and educational levels are represented. It is also multigenerational, displaying an age range from high school students that come from the neighborhood without their parents to the elderly. Nonetheless, there are under 100 adults that attend on a typical Sunday, meaning this variety of people interacts on a constant basis.The author delivered a fourteen-part series of teachings that went through the Bible from beginning to end. Seven messages came from the Old Testament and seven more from the New. These messages explored the themes of unity, diversity and our identity in Christ. The author concurrently led three rounds of focus groups consisting of three groups each, which met in homes to discuss the above themes as they appear throughout the Bible. Groups met before, during and after the teaching series.In the focus groups, the church displayed an appreciation for the theme of diversity as it appears in the Bible. They seemed reluctant to speak in terms of the biblical metanarrative, though they saw the metanarrative as the foundation for their identity in Christ. They accepted this as their primary personal identity and something they shared with one another. Further, this congregation valued its own diversity, believing that it equipped them to relate and reach out to a greater variety of people. These views were reinforced rather than initiated by the teaching series, meaning people already held the views.

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