youssra
Get Complete Project Material File(s) Now! »
CHAPTER TWO THE MAKING OF THE MAN.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
As all of us do, Michael Cassidy must have reflected on his name. In biblical and traditional cultures names have great significance. Names can be signposts in a family or group’s history but they also have an extraordinary power to project a characteristic or a destiny. After all, Abram was called Abraham, Sarai called Sarah, Jacob called Israel, Simon called Peter and Saul called Paul if not because of a predestination or foreshadowed destiny hinted at in the name. Names have prospective hope or direction and even prophetic significance. In one of the quadrangles in Michaelhouse school there is a statue of the angel Michael. It is not a very robust or pugilistic representation of this militant spiritual being. But perhaps the young Cassidy, who attended school there, would have considered the courage and aggressive intent of his namesake whose ministry was and is to be a warrior for God, to seek to defend the faithful and to challenge and restrain spiritual wickedness (Rev 12:7). Cassidy was to support these ideas and impulses in contending for the faith and standing for justice. But Cassidy has always loved another name that he has borne. It is the Sesotho name ‘Mojalefa’ that was given to him as a boy. This name seemed to bind him to Africa and express his rooting in its soil. It made him one with all others in life’s journey on the continent. At the Durban Congress on Mission and Evangelism in 1973, Cassidy made mention of this name in his closing address. He gave a sevenfold vision in this address of what he could see in hope for the church in a new day. In the seventh and final vision he saysthis:Finally I see a vision of a church with its hands outstretched. One day in our ‘Mission 70’ in Johannesburg, in the middle of the rush hour, right there in all the traffic, I suddenly heard a voice ringing out above the traffic. ‘Mojalefa!’ That is my Sesotho name. It is the name by which I like to be called. It means ‘the heir’, the first-born son, and heir to the father’s fortunes, which never ceased to amuse my father! I was quite overcome as I looked around, for there on a big coal truck I saw the beaming and glorious face of an African brother. I had never seen him before. Perhaps he had been at our meetings in Soweto. Anyway I leaped through the traffic and raced up to the truck and gripped his hand. He called out: ‘Praise Jeessas!’ And I did a very unAnglican thing. I shouted: ‘Hallelujah!’ Oh it was good, as our hands stretched out to each other. And so in these days I see afresh a church with outstretched hands – of Black to Black, and Black to White, and Englishman to Afrikaner, and African to Afrikaner and denomination to denomination, and South Africa to Independent Africa….(Cassidy: 1974.355).Although this name amused his father, as there was no fortune to inherit, the name Mojalefa did have spiritual significance. There was a Father’s fortune to spend and distribute. The message of the Bible is ordered around the idea of testaments and about sons receiving an inheritance or posterity. In the story of the prodigal a son wastes his inheritance. In the First Letter of Peter the apostle talks about the Father who has given us a new birth and a salvation as an inheritance which may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus is revealed (1Peter 1:3-9). The treasures of grace were an inheritance that Michael was to receive and he was to declare that, in this, we are all heirs and joint heirs with Christ (Titus 3:4-7). We all have a posterity through the resurrection. An alternative name for this thesis could well have been: ‘Treasures in an earthen Vessel’. Cassidy was to share the treasures of a Heavenly Father.
PREFACE
Chapter 1. THE RELEVAMCE OF MICHAEL CASSIDY’S MINISTRY
1.1. The Relevance of Michael Cassidy’s Ministry
1.1.1. Evangelism in Crisis
1.1.2. Following Jesus
1.1.3. The power of Movement and the dangers of Institution
1.1.4. An evolution of the understanding of mission and contextualisation
1.1.5. A struggle for independent theological reflection and church unity
1.1.6. The fellowship principle
1.1.7. A Witness against Apartheid and its elaboration
1.1.8. The Challenges of the New South Africa
1.1.9. A Search for morality and truth
1.2. Hypothesis and aim of the thesis
1.2.1. A renewal of Lay Witness
1.3. Methodology
1.3.1. Quantitative study
1.3.2. Qualitative Study
1.3.3. Participant Observer
1.3.4. Former research
1.3.5. Leitmotiv: The ‘Jesus’ prayer in John 17
1.3.6. The tone and tenor of the research
1.4. Propositions and axioms
1.4.1. A creeping reversal
1.4.2. A structural imbalance
1.4.3. A Philosophical switch
1.5. Themes
1.6. Key Words
1.7. Overview of the Thesis
Chapter 2.THE MAKING OF THE MAN
2.1. What’s in a name?
2.2. Powerful and enduring childhood influences
2.3. The Christian Persuasion
2.4. The Reasoned Thinking of Anglican Theologians in England
2.5. The example of Independent Missionary Response
2.6. The Billy Graham Connection
2.7. Fuller Theological Seminary
2.8. Packer and Schaeffer
2.9. Abraham Vereide
2.10 Influences out of Africa
2.11.Coherence and congruence
Chapter 3. THE MARK OF MISSION. ( The universal mandate)
3.1. Defining mission
3.1.1. Evangelism and Mission
3.1.2. The relevance of the Gospel
3.1.3. Evangelism Imperilled by its spiritualised focus
3.1.4. Light on the definition of Mission and Evangelism
3.1.5. Evangelism and Social Concern
3.1.6. Incorporating this into African Enterprise
3.1.7. The Lausanne A Structural theology of evangelism
3.1.8. Modalities and Sodalities
3.1.9. The Mustard Seed Foundation congregational project model of mission
3.2. Evangelism to cities
3.2.1. The calling to a City
3.2.2. Perspectives on Urbanisation
3.2.3. The Growth toward an understanding of mission in the city
3.3. The Cosmic Christological Determinant
Chapter 4. THE MARK OF GLORY. ( The Gospel and Proclamation.)
4.1. The glory as repetitious conformity
4.2. Evangelism
4.2.1. But what is Evangelism
4.2.2. Evangelism Communicates a Truth
4.2.3. What is the Gospel?
4.2.4. Christ is the Message
4.2.5. Evangelism, Church and Kingdom
4.2.6. Response and persuasion in Evangelism
4.3. Conversion
4.3.1. Clarity on Conversion
4.3.2. Conversion is not baptismal regeneration
4.4. Discipleship.
4.4.1. Sanctification
4.4.2. Suffering Servanthood and Costly Grace
4.4.3. Mentorship
4.5. Hope
Chapter 5. THE MARK OF UNITY. (Gathering the saints.)
5.1. Unity in Evangelism
5.2. Gathering then Church
5.2.1. Cottesloe.
5.2.2. The Durban Congress on Mission and Evangelism
5.2.3. The Pan-African Christian Leadership Assembly
5.2.4. The South African Christian Leadership Assembly
5.2.5. The Rustenburg Consultation
5.3. Church/Parachurch Unity
5.4. Conclusion and reappraisal
Chapter 6. THE MARK OF LOVE. ( The social Witness of the Gospel.)
6.1. Love in personal perspective
6.2. Love as justice
6.3. Love as Reconciliation
6.4. Love as Peace.
6.5. Love and Social reformation.
6.6. Love and Marriage
6.7. The Recovery of the Judeo-Christian Moral.
Chapter 7. THE MARK OF TRUTH. ( In defence of the Faith)
7.1. Sacramentalism and Evangelical belief
7.2. Faith precedents and continuities and theological liberalism
7.3. Contemporary philosophical challenges
7.4. Religious pluralism
7.5. A view on Liberation Theology
7.6. The Bible as the Source for Truth
Chapter 8. THE MARK OF HOLINESS. ( Witness in but not of the world)
8.1. Culture
8.2. Worldview
8.3. Ideologies
8.4. The Ethical Reflections
8.5. Conclusion
Chapter 9. SPIRITUALITY FOR MISSION. (Prayer Godliness and faith)
9.1. A spirituality that frees for mission
9.2. The sources for Spirituality
9.3. The Cassidy Journals
9.4. Prayer at the Core of the Ministry
9.5. Spirituality by comparison
9.6. A Paradigmatic Complexity
9.7. Shades of Abraham
9.8. Conclusion
Chapter 10. THE MARK OF JOY. (The Outcome of Mission and its human effect)
10.1. Introduction.
10.2. The experience of and perceived effect of Cassidy’s ministry
10.3. The administration of the questionnaire
10.4. Experience and perception from the Survey response.
10.5. An Analysis of the response
10.6. Continuities.
10.7. Conclusion
Chapter 11. THE MARK OF SUCCESSION.
(Witness, a continuing journey for all)
11.1. Introduction
11.2. Voluntarism
11.3 Cassidy’s calling a fruit of this movement.
11.4. The Church Institution and independent initiative.
11.5. The Laity Issue and the Priesthood of all Believers
11.6. The Matter of Lay Apostolicity the Catholic Precedent
11.7. Biblical insight and Precedent
11.8. Apostolic Laity a perplexity in Denominational Institution
11.9. Lay Apostolicity expanded in other contemporary models
11.10. Lausanne in Manila
11.11. Fostering the call to self-offering
11.12. Conclusion
Chapter 11. TREASURE IN AN EARTHEN VESSEL.
An Assessment of a Missionary journey
12.1. Introduction
12.2. An Historical Perspective
12.3. Early Dynamics and developments in Leadership
12.4. Management and Mission and Vision
12.5. Other Leadership Dynamics
12.6. Assessments by his peers
12.8. A critical assessment by writer in Conclusion
Chapter 13. CONCLUSION
13.1. Introduction: The knowledge and the presence of God
13.2. The Hypothesis Revisited
13.3. Summary
13.4. Mojalefa, The heir
MICHAEL CASSIDY’S CREED AND PHILOSOPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
