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Worship and church building in small congregations : challenge and potential. An empirical-theological analysis of the practice of worship in correlation with church building in small free church congregations in Switzerland
Thesis (PhD (PhD (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2024.
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University of Pretoria
2025
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Ott, Bernhard |
| author_browse | Ott, Bernhard |
| author_facet | Ott, Bernhard |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| description | Thesis (PhD (PhD (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2024. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/103279 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:37:38.698Z |
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| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
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| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/103279 Worship and church building in small congregations : challenge and potential. An empirical-theological analysis of the practice of worship in correlation with church building in small free church congregations in Switzerland Ott, Bernhard rafael.vonarx@bluewin.ch Lombaard, Christoffel Johannes Stephanus Von Arx, Rafael UCTD Small church Worship service Church development Worship participants Liturgical forms Free churches Thesis (PhD (PhD (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2024. This thesis examined the worship service of small free church congregations in Switzerland and its effects on church development. Social science research was carried out using grounded theory methods to answer the question of which liturgical forms and content, from the perspective of worship participants, make it difficult or support church development. This revealed that worship in small churches represents a staged activation that leads to the congregation being built up. In concrete terms, this means that worship participants are so encouraged by the worship experience that they want to let others participate in the worship service and the spiritual experiences associated with it. They therefore begin to put a lot of effort into designing the worship service so that first-time visitors can feel comfortable in addition to regular visitors. This means that worship participants are involved in working in the worship service, but also in other areas of the church. This in turn leads to joint development of strategies to further develop the worship service and the church. These strategies then shape the characteristics of the congregation, which contribute to regular worshipers identifying more with the congregation, but also to outsiders becoming aware of the congregation and attending the service. These observations make it clear that the worship service of small congregations plays a central role in building up the congregation. The most important liturgical elements emerged as the sermon, praise and fellowship. Since these three core elements in particular were assessed very differently due to different individual needs, a final clarification of the initial question was only possible to a limited extent. Only the SWOT analysis carried out afterwards, with its strong practical relevance, enabled a differentiated evaluation. There it became clear that it was less about the individual elements and more about the interplay between worshipers, liturgical forms and the associated interactions. In detail, it was shown that the liturgical forms in the worship service of small free church congregations contribute to the building of the congregation when the worship participants attend the service with spiritual expectations and can help shape it through (spontaneous) participation. Other important factors are the integration of the different generations in the worship service and the worship service information on other congregational activities. Diese Arbeit untersuchte den Gottesdienst kleiner freikirchlicher Gemeinden in der Schweiz und seine Auswirkungen auf den Gemeindeaufbau. Entlang der Fragestellung, welche liturgischen Formen und Inhalte aus Sicht der Gottesdienstteilnehmenden den Gemeindeaufbau erschweren oder unterstützen, wurde mit Hilfe der Methodik der Grounded Theory eine sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung durchgeführt. Diese ergab, dass der Gottesdienst in kleinen Gemeinden eine inszenierte Aktivierung darstellt, die dazu führt, dass die Gemeinde aufgebaut wird. Im Konkreten bedeutet dies, dass die Gottesdienstteilnehmer durch das Gottesdiensterlebnis derart ermutigt werden, dass sie auch andere am Gottesdienst und den damit verbundenen geistlichen Erlebnissen teilhaben lassen wollen. So beginnen sie sich mit grossem Einsatz um die Gestaltung des Gottesdienstes zu bemühen, damit sich neben den regelmässigen Besuchern auch Erstbesucher wohl fühlen können. Daraus ergibt sich, dass sich die Gottesdienstteilnehmenden in der Mitarbeit im Gottesdienst, aber auch in anderen Bereichen der Gemeinde, engagieren. Das wiederum führt dazu, dass man gemeinsam Strategien entwickelt, um den Gottesdienst und die Gemeinde weiterzuentwickeln. Diese Strategien prägen dann die Merkmale der Gemeinde, welche dazu beitragen, dass bei den regelmässigen Gottesdienstteilnehmenden eine verstärkte Identifikation mit der Gemeinde stattfindet, aber auch dass Aussenstehende auf die Gemeinde aufmerksam werden und den Gottesdienst besuchen. Diese Beobachtungen machen deutlich, dass der Gottesdienst der kleinen Gemeinden für den Gemeindeaufbau eine zentrale Rolle spielt. Als wichtigste liturgische Elemente haben sich dabei die Predigt, der Lobpreis und die Gemeinschaft herausgeschält. Da im Besonderen diese drei Kernelemente aufgrund der verschiedenen individuellen Bedürfnisse sehr unterschiedlich bewertet wurden, war eine abschliessende Klärung bezüglich der ausgehenden Fragestellung nur begrenzt möglich. Erst die anschliessend durchgeführte SWOT-Analyse mit ihrem starken Praxisbezug ermöglichte eine differenzierte Auswertung. Dort wurde deutlich, dass es weniger um die einzelnen Elemente als vielmehr um das Zusammenspiel zwischen Gottesdienstteilnehmenden, liturgischen Formen sowie den damit verbundenen Interaktionen geht. Im Detail zeigte sich, dass die liturgischen Formen im Gottesdienst kleiner freikirchlicher Gemeinden dann zum Gemeindeaufbau beitragen, wenn die Gottesdienstteilnehmenden mit einer geistlichen Erwartungshaltung den Gottesdienst besuchen und diesen durch (spontane) Beteiligung mitgestalten können Weiter wichtige Faktoren sind die Integration der verschiedenen Generationen im Gottesdienst sowie die gottesdienstlichen Infos zu den weiteren Gemeindeaktivitäten. Practical Theology PhD (Practical Theology) Unrestricted Faculty of Theology and Religion SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions 2025-07-10T08:40:52Z 2025-07-10T08:40:52Z 2025-04 2024-08 Thesis * A2025 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/103279 Disclaimer letter en © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | UCTD Small church Worship service Church development Worship participants Liturgical forms Free churches Worship and church building in small congregations : challenge and potential. An empirical-theological analysis of the practice of worship in correlation with church building in small free church congregations in Switzerland |
| title | Worship and church building in small congregations : challenge and potential. An empirical-theological analysis of the practice of worship in correlation with church building in small free church congregations in Switzerland |
| title_full | Worship and church building in small congregations : challenge and potential. An empirical-theological analysis of the practice of worship in correlation with church building in small free church congregations in Switzerland |
| title_fullStr | Worship and church building in small congregations : challenge and potential. An empirical-theological analysis of the practice of worship in correlation with church building in small free church congregations in Switzerland |
| title_full_unstemmed | Worship and church building in small congregations : challenge and potential. An empirical-theological analysis of the practice of worship in correlation with church building in small free church congregations in Switzerland |
| title_short | Worship and church building in small congregations : challenge and potential. An empirical-theological analysis of the practice of worship in correlation with church building in small free church congregations in Switzerland |
| title_sort | worship and church building in small congregations challenge and potential an empirical theological analysis of the practice of worship in correlation with church building in small free church congregations in switzerland |
| topic | UCTD Small church Worship service Church development Worship participants Liturgical forms Free churches |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/103279 |