The Nepali Church, with a rich history spanning 70 years, is the fruit of the tireless work of the Nepali Christians who joined the Western Christian missions (WCMs) when they came to Nepal in the 1950s. These partnerships emerged to ‘preach the gospel and build the global church’. However, the WCMs found that they were unable to implement their mission of evangelism and church planting, and instead, became involved in social development. While the WCMs focussed on social works, the Nepali Christians embraced the spiritual aspect of the mission and built the Nepali Church. The divergence in mission objectives between the WCMs and the local Nepali Church led to separate implementation of the integral gospel. This research investigates how this separate mode and objectives of the WCMs and the local Nepali Church influenced the public Christian witness in society. This article highlights the need for a meaningful partnership between the WCMs and the local church. It is an inter- and intra-disciplinary study, attending to the fields of history, development, mission studies, and ecumenical relations.

The prosperity gospel movement has achieved considerable prominence in modern Christianity, especially in developing areas, offering material wealth and physical well-being to churchgoers who exhibit adequate faith. This theological perspective opposes the Reformation idea of justification by faith alone, highlighting salvation as a divine gift attained by faith rather than human endeavour or monetary transaction. This study investigates the theological conflicts between prosperity gospel teachings and the notion of justification by faith alone, evaluating their differing interpretations of blessing, salvation, and the Christian existence. The study is positioned within the worldwide framework of contemporary Christianity, focussing specifically on areas where prosperity theology has thrived in conjunction with conventional evangelical doctrines. A thorough literary analysis methodology is utilised, scrutinising core theological texts, biblical exegesis, historical church records, and modern scholarly critiques to assess both theological perspectives. The results indicate major theological discrepancies between prosperity gospel doctrines and the principle of justification by faith alone. The prosperity gospel advocates for worldly affluence as a sign of divine favour, whereas justification by faith underscores spiritual development irrespective of monetary conditions. The research indicates that prosperity teachings frequently result in spiritual disillusionment when anticipated advantages do not manifest, whereas justification by faith offers a more robust foundation for faith in the face of suffering. Justification by faith alone provides a theologically sound alternative to prosperity gospel doctrines, anchoring Christian identity in divine grace rather than material success. This conventional theory offers pastoral alternatives for confronting sorrow and disappointment that prosperity theology fails to address enough. This research enhances modern theological dialogue by demonstrating that justification by faith alone counters the excesses of the prosperity gospel, while providing constructive approaches for pastoral care, biblical interpretation, and spiritual formation across many Christian contexts.

The notion of sustainable development has garnered considerable prominence in recent years as global civilizations combat the problems presented by climate change and environmental deterioration. This article aims to investigate the Pentecostal theology of sustainable development, analysing its impact on societal change and the role of social entrepreneurship in sustainable Pentecostal theology within the mission framework. Pentecostalism is an energetic and active denomination of Christianity that highlights the influence of the Holy Spirit in bringing about profound changes in individuals and communities upon accepting Jesus as their saviour. This concept is based on the continuous existence and influence of the Holy Spirit, which enables believers to actively demonstrate their faith through practical actions. This religious framework offers a distinct viewpoint on sustainable development. The article will utilize a qualitative methodology, combining desktop data collection methods with document analysis of scholarly literature that explores the influence of social entrepreneurship on sustainable Pentecostal theology from a missional standpoint. Social entrepreneurship is regarded by the Pentecostals as a crucial instrument for achieving sustainable development. Social entrepreneurship integrates business principles with a dedication to achieving social impact. It aims to provide creative solutions to urgent social issues while also assuring economic sustainability. From a Pentecostal standpoint, social entrepreneurship can be viewed as a manifestation of divine ingenuity in society, where individuals receive aid and are introduced to Jesus Christ. Pentecostals have a distinctive advantage in making valuable contributions to sustainable development initiatives because of their focus on spiritual abilities like healing, prophecy, and discernment, which individuals actively pursue inside the church. These gifts can be utilized to tackle the fundamental reasons behind environmental degradation and social inequality. Pentecostals exhibit a robust sense of community and frequently participate in grassroots endeavours that advocate for ecological practices.

Intersectional relationships mark global responses to sustainable development issues. Thus, an intersectionality of religion, race, gender, sexuality class, and colonialism often marks Christian mission activities for sustainable development issues in Africa. Although the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations (UN) Member States in 2015 aimed at addressing sustainable development issues for the rest of society, this intersectionality has a greater influence on the understanding of the Christian mission as liberation in this continent. This study used the intersectionality-decolonial theory as a lens to explore the African Pentecostal mission as a liberation considering the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 of the 2030 Agenda. The secondary research approach was used to investigate this phenomenon to contribute to the body of knowledge that addresses African Pentecostal mission praxis in the light of liberation, decoloniality, and SDGs within African Pentecostal praxis and experience. The study found, amongst other things, that gender inequalities and discrimination continue to be barriers to the African Pentecostal mission of liberation that responds to sustainable development issues. It further argued that the narrative is entrenched in the missionary-colonial project that serves as a barrier to achieving the 2030 Agenda within these spaces. Therefore, a call was made for the narrative's problematisation by applying decoloniality and transforming the status quo within African Pentecostal mission activities.

The church's mission (Missio Ecclesia) is to positively impact lives by bringing transformation to man and their environment. The Missio Ecclesia seeks to bring man back to God, acknowledging that, irrespective of man’s situation, every human has a part of God (Imago Dei). The early European Missionary enterprise in Africa, therefore, in an attempt to attain the church's mission, built social amenities like schools and hospitals as an evangelistic strategy. In modern times, the Church of Pentecost (CoP) has adopted prison reforms as one of its evangelistic strategies. Ministry to the marginalised, like prisoners, has a long Christian history as a targeted ministry of restoring the image of God in man. Adopting a historical lens, the paper traces the roots of prison ministry from early Christianity through the African missionary endeavours of the 15th century. Through a mixed method approach, this paper constructs the motivation of the CoP’s initiative to establish camp prisons as Inmate Skill Acquisition and Reformation Centres (ISARC) in Ghana. The paper identifies through interviews decongestion, biblical mandate, and reformation as the main push factors for the CoP in this initiative. The findings illuminate the positive impact of the CoP’s prison reform initiative while highlighting the need for sustained efforts, intentional support, and comprehensive reintegration programmes to ensure long-term success and societal benefits.

The search for a new social contract in South Africa is explored in this paper by examining the terms ikhaya and oikos , and the notion of covenanting together to build a home across the fault lines that divide society. It uses a seven-point praxis matrix to reflect on the way in which a group of theologians could covenant together to overcome the fault line of racism to build a ‘deracial’ home. The paper explores the role that each of the seven dimensions of praxis (agency, spirituality, interpreting the tradition, discernment for action, contextual understanding, and ecclesial scrutiny) should play in such a journey.

The vision of the “good city” is worth striving for. Enacting the pastoral circle can be theologically generative towards cultivating the “good city”. The urban transition of 1993 in Pretoria/Tshwane, South Africa held unknowns and possibilities. During this time a small community with lived faith committed to journeying with the urban poor using the pastoral circle. Such contextual theological engagement birthed the Institute for Urban Ministry (IUM), and the pastoral circle remained at the heart of IUM. This article explores the possibilities of animating the “good city” in Tshwane and the Gauteng City-Region as IUM applies the pastoral circle within the Tshwane Ecumenical Leaders Forum.

Increasing migration has created many unfavourable conditions in the city of Accra, posing big challenges to both the local and national development agenda. Religious institutions, including the Church, occupy an important place in daily life in Accra and have roles to play to redeem the city. This study proposes that one of the effective approaches to dealing with the current situation is for theological institutions to overhaul their educational strategies and goals. This is possible through a properly designed and regulated training scheme that gives adequate orientation and guidance to both faculty and students of theological institutions in Accra.

In re-visiting issues of empire and African Christianity, this article sought to provide a missiological deconstruction of empire and Christianity in Africa, and to draw some missiological lessons that can help shape the agenda of Christianity in Africa moving to the future. Using a liberating praxis of engagement with available literature, this article concluded that the relationship between empire and Christianity is not only historical, but a present reality – it can be traced back from early Christianity, Roman Empire, colonial and imperial era, to post-colonial and independent/democratic Africa. The article discovered that while the empire dominates and enslaves, Christianity in Africa could be liberated to liberate the rest of the world from the stronghold of the empire. Optics – in the form of various hermeneutic lenses – should be used to unmask the empire for what/who it is. The theology of ubuntu and other life-affirming African theologies should be used as liberating tools, not only from the empire but also from the myth that Christianity is a Western religion.

What are the authentic features of a diaconal ecclesia in contexts of crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic? In the south African context, the response of the church has been both positive and negative. During this period of the outbreak of the coronavirus the church has been very visible and pastoral in Holy Week, and especially during Easter. After Holy Easter the visibility of the church gave way to non-governmental organisations, social responsibility organisations, government social development agencies, and other government departments. These institutions and organizations emerged as active, practical, and concrete sources of hope because they provided the immediate and tangible needs of the people, including food, shelter, medical care, and psychological support. This research investigates the gap in the church as liturgical movement and service oriented. This elicits the question, what is the church in times of crisis? On the assumption that the church is diaconal, what kind of diaconal ecclesia is suited for times of crisis, like the coronavirus pandemic in South Africa? To understand the main arguments and perspectives of the two modes of church, service and liturgy, I will do a literature review with special attention given to the ecumenical church. I will also do a conceptual analysis of the main terminologies and its effects on the development of notions of church. The modes of church will be interpreted through the lens of catholicity in order to formulate a diaconal ecclesia with distinctive features for times of crisis such as the current pandemic.