Discipleship in I Peter as a model for contextual mission

The purpose of the dissertation was to identify a contextual mission for the middle-class Protestant Church in America on the basis of an understanding of discipleship interpreted from I Peter. In the first chapter the interrelationship of mission and discipleship was described along with the relevance of I Peter to the study. Discipleship was seen as a calling to follow the example of Christ in obedience to the will of God. Contextual mission was defined as the concrete expression of discipleship in the midst of one's socio-historical context.; The context of I Peter was discussed in chapter 2. The literary issues of authorship, date and purpose were viewed in their interconnectedness. It was concluded that I Peter is a letter that was probably written by the apostle himself or at least by a community that had been closely associated with him during his lifetime. The letter's overall purpose was determined to be an emphasis on the "costly grace of God," which demands obedience from the true follower of Christ. A socio-historical context of the recipients was described that acknowledged their social alienation within the communities of Asia Minor. The chapter ended with a social profile of the recipients.; Chapter 3 looked more closely at the concept of discipleship that is presented in I Peter. Five special demands of discipleship were delineated in the light of particular aspects of God. An analysis of the contextual mission of the initial recipients of the letter concluded the chapter.; Chapter 4 applied the demands of discipleship from I Peter to the socio-historical context of the middle-class Protestant Church in America. A picture of an "oppressed society of oppressors" was portrayed as the primary crisis in modern American society. This present crisis has a two-fold foundation: modernization and secularization. The former creates a sense of alienation and anxiety, the latter has coerced the Church into a privatized faith and an accommodation to secular values.; Chapter 5 sought to place the proposed contextual mission within an historical and biblical perspective. It was concluded that the Church needs to develop a "servant-pilgrim" identity in order to follow Christ faithfully within the context of modern American society.