The Christian Entrepreneur: A Phenomenological Study on the Impact of Christian Entrepreneurs as Disciple-Makers

While Christian entrepreneurs have a diverse range of life experiences and perspectives, there is often an unawareness of the vital role they play in supporting the church, workplace, and community in discipleship. This phenomenological qualitative study was conducted to explore the formative life experiences (positive and negative) that shape Christian entrepreneurs’ ability to promote discipleship in the church, workplace, and community. The grounding theory underlying this study was servant leadership, which was used to understand if the church’s growth, necessary to fulfill God’s Great Commission, can be aided by Christian entrepreneurs willing to serve. Through in-depth interviews with Christian entrepreneurs across various fields, this study was conducted to inform Christian entrepreneurs and church leaders about whether their formative experiences can help bridge the discipleship gap between churches, communities, and workplaces to fulfill the Great Commission. Eight Christian entrepreneurs participated in screening questionnaires and interviews to explore whether they believe their formative life experiences have equipped them to aid and support the local church, community, and workplace in disciple-making strategies. Based on their formative experiences, Christian entrepreneurs have an innate desire to serve their churches, workplaces, and communities. However, few tools exist to teach them how to collaborate with churches to advance the gospel and educate their communities. Participants’’ in-depth responses to the research questions illuminated their perspectives and allowed further investigation into how to support Christian entrepreneurs in discipleship more effectively

Equity by Design and Delivery Model in Online Learning: Educator and Student Perceptions and Behaviors as Leading Indicators of Systemic Change

The purpose of this study is to explore educator and student perceptions of and behaviors in the Equity by Design and Delivery (EDD) model and its online courses as leading indicators of systemic change. The EDD model is a pilot intervention to eliminate opportunity to learn gaps at the program level in a mid-sized northwestern college in the United States. It shifts instructional behavior from individual efforts to collective approaches to limit quality variances in online courses, theorized to be a major contributor of missed opportunities to learn at high levels, by developing and delivering reliable quality courses based on collective agreements to apply evidence-based practices. It improves course and credentialing outcomes (e.g., course grades, course and degree completion rates) as it eliminates significant outcome disparities between student groups in programs with a strong online learning presence. It uses systems theory, improvement and implementation sciences, as well as principles of adaptive leadership as an operational framework to increase the likely efficacy of the EDD model. A convergent mixed methods of a single-site case study research design is used. It collects primary and secondary quantitative and qualitative data to conduct a comprehensive analysis of and findings from the pilot. It ends with recommendations for implementation at scale and scholar-practitioner reflections of practice

Epistemological Insecurity in the Anthropocene

This dissertation analyzes how increased mainstream awareness of climate change and other complex environmental phenomena transforms some of the basic tools we use to understand the world, including notions of agency, evidence, and causality. More specifically, this project highlights numerous contemporary literary and cultural narratives that formally and thematically depict impromptu systems of action and comprehension developed by humans confronting the unique forms of information overload that result from damaged and rapidly changing environments. Following critics like Ulrich Beck, Rob Nixon, and Stacy Alaimo, I suggest our current era of ecological instability and destructive environmental practices dictate what I refer to as epistemological insecurity—a condition in which a subject’s growing awareness of systems degradation coincides with an onslaught of incomprehensibly vast, ever-expanding information about the system itself, rendering the individual subject incapable of making the kinds of risk assessments necessary to effectively navigate their environment. Over four chapters covering works of literature and television from the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, including Thomas Pynchon’s Crying of Lot 49, Lucy Ellmann’s Ducks, Newburyport, the 2019 HBO miniseries Chernobyl, and several recent works of science fiction, I explore the ad hoc epistemic systems humans generate when entangled in material and informational ecosystems. My overarching argument is that as the formidability of unstable material environments becomes increasingly prevalent, it is necessary to consider how our stories, relationships, and the production of knowledge itself are transformed by the often incomprehensible nature of the sprawling social and ecological interconnections that structure our lives. Seeking models for such stories, relationships, and epistemic strategies, my dissertation casts a wide, interdisciplinary net that includes climate prognosticators, energy and information infrastructures, encyclopedias, cybernetics, geopolitics, geoengineering proposals, and conspiracy theories to engage with an array of diverse approaches to epistemological breakdown amidst destabilized environments

THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT, PROPHETIC WITNESS: A THEOLOGICAL MODEL FOR PROPHETS

Much of Christianity today neglects the role of the prophet. Christians who do acknowledge prophetic ministry commonly limit the impact of prophecy. Pentecostals, who embrace the role, often do not have a full biblical understanding of what a prophet is and what a prophet is to do. The project first builds a theological framework for the function of prophets and prophecy within the ecclesial community. From the theological framework, a model of the prophethood of believers is developed to encourage prophetic ministry that is inclusive, exercises discernment, and is faithful to the witness of Jesus Christ. The prophetic model is implemented in the lives of believers as they interact with the biblical story and the testimonies of prophetic believers. The prophet is distinguished first by a face-to-face relationship with YHWH. The prophet then serves as a witness of YHWH and ministers by speaking and actuating the word of God. In an intimate encounter, a prophet hears from God, receives a word to be shared with God\u27s people, then acts. However, it is not just the prophet who is to act. The prophet\u27s work is to move all of God\u27s people to act. The study investigates prophetic ministry in proto-Pentecostals of the nineteenth century, the classic Pentecostals of the early twentieth century, and the classic, charismatic, and independent Pentecostals from the 1970s to the 2020s. Field research from 2018-2020 focused on a sample of American Christians’ theology of prophets and prophecy. The Ministry of the Spirit, Prophetic Witnesses encourages sons and daughters to live as prophetic witnesses in the community. The identity of prophetic witnesses is not found in a charismatic gift or office; they are defined by the Risen Lord Jesus Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to prophesy. This prophetic ministry model could help contemporary believers develop discernment to engage the culture and confront the day\u27s voices in the power of the Holy Spirit

Being accountable for the sake of truth: the case of Águas de Portugal

Dissertação de mestrado em ContabilidadeGiving an account of ourselves to others is an essential part of our social nature. But contrary to what it may seem, when we tell something about ourselves, we are not just communicating with others, we enter a complex process of self-formation where what is told will eventually constitute who we are seen to be by society. Visibility depends on others believing that what we are telling them is true. However, what society considers to be truth limits what we can tell about ourselves, forcing us into leaving something unsaid. Being unable to fully account for ourselves is thus equivalent to failing to be entirely visible to others. The act of giving an account is thereby revealed as a game of exertion of forces played between the subject being held accountable and the other who demands an account so that agreement is reached about who we are truly seen to be. Therefore, giving an account of ourselves allows for the link between truth and subjectivity to be recognised. Considering accounting as a practice founded on the act of giving an account, the first purpose guiding this thesis consists in understanding the importance accounting has in establishing the above mentioned link. Yet, how we account for ourselves bears on the way we feel and are held accountable, which is tantamount to affirming that accountability reflects our subjectivity. Through this reflex, the meaning of the former becomes dependent on the way truth relates to subjects. The second objective of this essay is to study how accountability’s meaning derives from the link between us as subjects and truth. Within extant literature, case studies have regularly been employed in the research concerning accountability. Following such trend, and supported by Foucault’s studies about the technologies of the self, this essay investigates the role Portugal’s leading actor in the water sector, Águas de Portugal (AdP), has been playing so far in the process of reshuffling the sector from 2007 to 2012. Because AdP was the main focus of that reorganisation, the company was subject to a whole game of forces exerted on its identity by means of its own accounts. The conclusions reached here reveal accounting as a truth-extracting and truth-assimilating process subjects undertake in order to achieve meaningfulness. To account is to tell the truth. On the other hand, the interdependence between truth and the subject emerges when the latter gives an account. And because accountability is reflective of our subjectivity, its meaning will necessarily depend on the meaning given to truth.Sermos capazes de prestar contas sobre nós próprios é essencial à nossa natureza social. Mas ao contrário do que nos possa parecer, quando dizemos algo de nós não nos limitamos somente a comunicar com os outros. Entramos sim num processo de autoformação, em que o que é dito acaba por constituir o modo como somos vistos pela sociedade. Tal visibilidade depende da crença dos outros em que o que nós dizemos é verdadeiro. Porém, o que a sociedade considera como verdade é limitativo do que podemos afirmar sobre nós próprios, pelo que algo fica forçosamente por dizer. Ao não sermos capazes de prestar contas integrais sobre nós, não nos é possível ser completamente visíveis ao olhar dos outros. O ato de prestar contas é revelado como um jogo de forças reciprocamente empregues entre quem é accountable e quem exige contas e cujo objetivo consiste num entendimento acerca de quem somos verdadeiramente. Então, o ato de prestar contas sobre nós permite o reconhecimento da existência da ligação entre a verdade e a subjetividade. Considerando a contabilidade como uma prática baseada no ato de prestar contas, o primeiro objetivo deste estudo consiste em compreender a importância da contabilidade no estabelecimento da ligação acima mencionada. Todavia, a maneira como prestamos contas sobre nós está relacionada com o modo como nos consideramos accountable, o que equivale a afirmar que a accountability reflete a nossa subjetividade. Através deste reflexo, o seu significado torna-se dependente do modo como a verdade se relaciona com os sujeitos. O segundo objetivo desta investigação prende-se então com a determinação do significado de accountability através da ligação entre a verdade e nós, como sujeitos. Os estudos de caso têm sido regularmente utilizados na pesquisa referente à accountability. Seguindo esta corrente, e com recurso aos estudos de Foucault sobre as tecnologias do ser, nesta dissertação investiga-se o papel que o interveniente principal no setor das águas em Portugal, a Águas de Portugal (AdP), tem desempenhado no processo de reestruturação do setor entre 2007 e 2012. Uma vez que a AdP foi o foco desta reorganização, a empresa foi sujeita a todo um jogo de forças exercido sobre a sua identidade através das suas contas. As conclusões deste estudo revelam a contabilidade como um processo em que a verdade é simultaneamente extraída e assimilada pelos sujeitos de modo a poderem adquirir significância. Prestar contas é dizer a verdade. Por outro lado, a interdependência entre a verdade e o sujeito emerge quando este presta contas. E como a accountability reflete a nossa subjetividade, o seu significado necessariamente depende do da verdade

An in-depth case study of beneficiary accountability practices by an Indonesian NGO

This study aims to build an understanding of beneficiary accountability, including defining the term, the operational mechanisms through which it is discharged, the processes that enable such practice and the consequences that result from those processes. To achieve the aim, a qualitative case study design is adopted and a rich fieldwork carried out in an Indonesian NGO to gather empirical evidences via 46 interviews, five focus groups and field observations. Framed by Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998)’s three dimensions of social capital (cognitive, structural and relational), this study shows that social capital acts as both an antecedent factor facilitating the discharge of beneficiary accountability, and also as its consequence. The study thus makes a theoretical contribution to social capital literature while also addressing Inkpen and Tsang (2005)’s call for research to examine interaction effects among the three dimensions of social capital, particularly within NGO accountability context. Moreover, the discharge of beneficiary accountability, as understood by participants in this study, can be viewed as the non-procedural practice of positioning beneficiaries as the central focus of an NGO’s activities, whether in delivering provisions and assistance, disclosing financial information or strategically empowering beneficiaries to become self-reliant. This investigation into what constitutes beneficiary accountability serves as a critical path to shedding light on the operationalisation of beneficiary accountability. It also enables this study to respond to recent calls (e.g. by Banks, Hulme, & Edwards, 2015; Boomsma & O'Dwyer, 2014; Schmitz, Raggo, & Vijfeijken, 2012) for a more comprehensive understanding of beneficiary accountability practices. Additionally, practitioners working in NGOs may also derive benefits from this study as it provides empirical evidence for them to reflect on their commitment to beneficiaries as the very reason for their work, allowing them to be inspired by a comprehensive discussion of the mechanisms through which accountability is discharged to beneficiaries