Restoring hope in the present for congregations in the context of prolonged numerical decline
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
This project is a practical theological investigation into a congregation which has experienced remarkable and prolonged numeric decline. The author observes that while ultimate hope in God’s future remains, practical hope in the present has diminished. The project brings previously underutilized resources on the psychology of hope into conversation with a Christian theology of hope, including what forces work against hope and what conditions allow it to grow. It then offers practical strategies to restore a wholistic operative theology of hope in the congregation or others like it, thus allowing them to more fully live out Christian life and ministry.