The Kingdom of God and the Christian Community in Rehoboth - The Sermon on the Mount and its Relevance for the Namibian Church

Document from the year 2021 in the subject Theology - Practical Theology, Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary, language: English, abstract: Like in most parts of Namibia, Christianity plays a major role in the Rehoboth community. The goal of Christian ethics in any community is to glorify God. Many people in Rehoboth would agree with that statement, in principle. However, as Heinz Mouton's research shows, Pentecostal and mainline Protestant preachers in Rehoboth offer little-to-no ethical application of key passages, such as Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Mouton argues that this, in part, explains why the lifestyles of many Rehoboth Christians differ significantly from the ethical values of God's Kingdom recorded in the New Testament. His plea to the Rehoboth church, therefore, is for stronger teaching and preaching that emphasises the ethics of Christ's Kingdom, and how they touch all aspects of human relationships: from the workplace, to the neighbourhood, to the family home.