Theology

Perceived health care needs were assessed for a community consisting largely of Muslims in Wandoor block of Malapuram District of North Kerala. The community used a variety of services for different health needs; for deliveries they went to the District or Taluk Hospital, for acute illnesses they went to private hospitals and PHCs were not often used.
One NGO run hospital that had closed down four years ago may have left its mark on the local population since that village sought allopathic health care more often than the others. While the participants in the focus groups felt the need for better health care facilities, the lack of stress on prevention, particularly immunization was identified by the
focus groups as a need, as well as more services for the geriatric age group. Chronic illnesses were reported twice as often as acute illnesses by those interviewed. If the NGO restarts the hospital, the perceived needs of this community as well as management of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension needs to be addressed both in Primary and Secondary care settings.

Good Health is an essential necessity for development, for individual or community. There are many health and development programmes for a community which do not reach the persons to whom they are intended, especially those below poverty line and those who are in the vulnerable group. There exists a big gap between availability and utilization. So it is crucial to fill this vacuum by providing link between the programmes, the executing machinery (for health and development) and the community consumer. This project is a step towards fulfilling this with people’s participation. Good people’s participation ensures success of the project.

Sharing the Gospel with Muslims is part of Christ's calling to fulfill The Great Commission. As Christians, we are passionate about Christ's Great Commission to make disciples as recorded in (Mathew 28:19-20) "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." There are more Muslims alive today than ever before. Also, it is easier today to reach Muslims because of their migrations, media availability, powerful outreach tools, etc. Our task is to highlight to Muslims that Jesus, our crucified Savior, is God's only Son, who came down to earth in flesh and blood to reveal the Father and die for our sins' iniquities. This is the message of the Gospel as summarized in John 3:16, which says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16

Robert Jenson has, both in his Systematic Theology and in the Christian Dogmatics that he wrote together with Carl Braaten, argued for a view of the Communion as a sacrifice.  This paper contrasts that view with the orthodox Lutheran position.

The question of the Third Use of the Law continues to concern Lutherans.  Does the Law still apply in any sense to the regenerate? Werner Elert and Gerhard Forde have argued that it does not.  But the historic position of Lutheranism, since at least the adoption of the Formula of Concord is that the Law remains a guide after regeneration.