Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Behind The Numbers: A Traditional Church Faces A New America, Larry Vogel

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The dissertation examines membership data for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) from the mid-1970s to the present. It considers the analysis of LCMS decline by two scholars, George Hawley and Ryan MacPherson, who independently proposed that LCMS membership decline was internal in causation due to diminished birthrates and fewer young families. While acknowledging the reality of such internal decline, this dissertation argues that the lack of external growth is a greater cause for LCMS decline. Its lack of external growth is due primarily to the racial and ethnic homogeneity of the LCMS and its failure effectively to evangelize the increasingly …

Implementing Vocational Training At Escuela Quiteña De Estudios Bíblicos, Joshua K. Marcum

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This DMin project addressed the problem of the absence of a viable training model to equip graduates of EQEB (Escuela Quiteña de Estudios Biblicos) for self-sustaining ministry. Based upon a theology of vocation, the project implemented and evaluated the inclusion of a technical-skills component to EQEB’s current seminary training. The project followed the integration of sixteen EQEB students in the vocational program implemented during the 2015-2016 school year. Qualitative research data gathered from five group interviews with these students, my own field notes, and a faculty interview provided the substance upon which I based the project´s findings. Over a seven-month …

Transforming Attitudes And Commitment To Missions At The Mt. Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church In Greenville, South Carolina, Jermaine A. Boyce

Doctor of Ministry Projects

This ministry project's goal was to seek transformation in attitudes and commitment to missions at the Mt. Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina. The goal of transformation was to guide the congregation's mission practices to be exemplary of its 'Missionary' name and the overall mission of the church as discovered in Luke-Acts and in the Abrahamic Covenant.

The project tested the attitudes and commitment to missions from the Missionary Society in comparison to the general congregation. The project revealed both strengths and weaknesses in the attitudes and commitments of the Missionary Society and the congregation about missions. The …

Spiritual Care For Missionaries Within The Ministry Context Of Make Way Partners, Milton R. Smith

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Spiritual Care for Missionaries Within the Ministry Context of Make Way Partners is the report of a research project. The objective of this project was to study the spiritual care of missionaries within the ministry context of Make Way Partners (MWP). The ministry context of MWP is to prevent and combat human trafficking. The context of this project was in the country of Sudan, in and near Darfur.

In particular, the study addressed the possibility that the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator might aid the leadership of MWP in predicting how missionaries might respond to stress in the field. Also, the project …