Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Theological Education And Spiritual Formation In The Lives Of Engaged, Emerging Adults, Markus David Colbert

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis seeks to answer the following question: What is an effective discipleship method for emerging adults who are already engaged in IChurch? The method chosen was multi-layered and utilized corporate discipleship which involved a classroom setting geared toward theological and doctrinal education based on Bloom-Anderson’s taxonomy of educational objectives, communal discipleship which was concerned with small group activities and peer-to-peer accountability, and personal discipleship geared toward individual spiritual formation given an edited list of Whitney’s personal spiritual disciplines. Participants were asked to take an introductory Theological examination which plotted them from analyze level to the create level of Bloom’s …

Maintaining A Biblical Worldview: Mitigating Emerging Syncretism With Worldly Philosophies Through Focused Instruction In Christian Theology, Scott Kendal Leafe

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are granted a “new nature” that enables them to develop thinking, a worldview, based on the mind of Christ. Unfortunately, since every person’s worldview is continually being modified, it becomes ever more challenging for believers to keep their thinking consistent with Scripture. Therefore, this action research thesis assumes consistent participation in focused teaching on fundamental doctrines and theologies of the Christian faith is necessary to develop and maintain a cohesive biblical worldview. This research project comprised the teaching of a five-part Bible study course at a local church in eleven consecutive forty-five-minute classes on …

Investigating The Prevailing Worldviews Of American Public Education: A Brief Analysis And History, Chester Walker

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis investigates whether the philosophies and worldviews underlying U.S. public education contradict or purposefully undermine Biblical Christianity. It provides readers with an understanding of the Biblical Christian worldview to enable them to analyze and contrast prominent worldviews of public education. Pragmatism and Marxism run rampant in public education today. Both strongly oppose fundamental tenets of the Biblical Christian worldview. To determine any purposeful anti-Christian agenda, the author examines the men behind the worldviews. Christianity maintains that ideas and practices in education originate from deeply-held, personal beliefs, which are passed on to students. Education is a means of discipleship to …

Educating Church Leaders: Providing End-Of-Life Spiritual Care To Life Changers Church Ministry, Jermaine Joshua Ruffin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Life Changers Community Fellowship Church, of Jackson, Mississippi, struggles to provide end-of-life spiritual care to its members. Its church leadership has placed the responsibility of providing end-of-life spiritual care on institutions such as hospice and palliative care companies. These organizations do their best to provide end-of-life spiritual care, but struggle due to cultural and ethnical boundaries, and a lack of resources to provide such care. This study seeks to examine whether end-of-life spiritual care is a biblical concern and/or mandate within church leadership. In addition, this study will explore how hospice chaplains understand end-of-life spiritual care provided to patients and …

Finding Aid For White's Ferry Road School Of Preaching Collection, (1958-1972), Abilene Christian University Special Collections And Archives

White's Ferry Road School of Preaching Collection

Finding aid for the White's Ferry Road School of Preaching Collection, (1958-1972).

Developing A Strategy To Vitalize Volunteering For Successful Community Service In Korean Churches: Focusing On The Korean Baptist Church Of Blacksburg, Daijoong Park

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Volunteering is a practical method of community service which is an essential ministry of the church’s mission as the salt and light of the world. In order for a church to fulfill its mission of community service, the volunteer work of church members should be activated. However, many church members are still not participating in community service, and some volunteers have difficulty in continuing their volunteer work due to the lack of volunteer management for volunteering properly. The purpose of this study is to develop a viable volunteer management process to vitalize volunteering for community service of a church properly …

The Historical Evolution Of The A.M.E. Church: Social Intervention To Advance Blacks Socio-Economic Position, Jasmin N. Graham

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Though it is well documented that the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC) has been greatly involved in Black’s educational attainments; there is limited documentation on the connection between the educational efforts of the AMEC and its effect on the financial stability of Blacks. The objective of the study is to evaluate the AMEC’s tendency to intervene on behalf of its community. Tracing the different socio-economic initiatives of the AMEC through the lenses of education from the late 18^th century to the present has revealed the various meanings of the term freedom and how the church has adapted to acquire …

Re-Playing Maimonides’ Codes: Designing Games To Teach Religious Legal Systems, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

Lost & Found is a game series, created at the Initiative for

Religion, Culture, and Policy at the Rochester Institute of

Technology MAGIC Center.1 The series teaches medieval

religious legal systems. This article uses the first two games

of the series as a case study to explore a particular set of

processes to conceive, design, and develop games for learning.

It includes the background leading to the author's work

in games and teaching religion, and the specific context for

the Lost & Found series. It discusses the rationale behind

working to teach religious legal systems more broadly, then

discuss the …

Encountering The Gospel Anew: Confirmation As Ecclesial, Personal, And Missional Practices, Terri L. Elton

Faculty Publications

Given the challenges facing congregations and young people today, some church leaders are wondering if confirmation continues to have a role in discipling young people. Based on the findings from The Confirmation Project, this article asserts that confirmation is, in fact, uniquely positioned to be a vibrant ministry for young people to encounter the gospel anew when congregations integrate ecclesial, personal, and missional practices. Such an approach strengthens confirmands’ understanding of faith, deepens their experience with Christian community, and equips them to discern their call to join in God’s mission in the world.

Confirmation Basics, Terri L. Elton, Lisa Kimball, Gordon Mikoski

Faculty Publications

This article moves the findings of The Confirmation Project research from theory into practice. Three members of the research team highlight three themes (purpose, design, and leadership) and walk congregational leaders through a process of discovering how these ideas can help them find a way forward that is meaningful to their congregation.

A Study On The Development Of Professional Young Adult Pastors For Korean Churches, Hyeong Kim

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

At the end of the twentieth century, young adult ministries experienced abundant revivals through the churches and campuses of colleges, but are now much reduced. One of the causes is that there were not enough professional pastors for the young adult ministries. The revival and growth of young adult ministries in Korea is largely dependent upon the leaders who lead the ministries. This research emphasizes the importance of young adult ministries in Korean churches and aims to develop concrete manuals for pastors who can appropriately perform their ministries. In doing so, it will point out the roles for young adult …

A Compassionate And Caring Guide For Those Suffering With Hiv/Aids In The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Sandra Gripper

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This project will develop a hands-on practical Train- the-Trainer Resource Guide to implement caring HIV/AIDS ministries for the local churches in the Carolina Region of the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church. It will become an evangelistic tool to reach and empower the most marginalized in society that will provide resources leading to transformative ministries. Many lack understanding regarding those who suffer with HIV/AIDS, and winning over those who possess judgmental attitudes and fears keeps the church at odds with those living with this disease. Nonetheless, appropriate exposure to caring HIV/AIDS ministries can empower the disenfranchised and strengthen the faith community …

A Manual For An Evangelical State Prison Chaplaincy, Aaron Mobley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis will include the practical guidelines for prison chaplaincy in local state Department of Corrections. The goal would be to develop an instruction manual for new evangelical ministers entering into the State Prison Chaplaincy. Prison chaplains are frequently unprepared for ministry to incarcerated individuals. Chaplaincy is a difficult position and the prison environment adds to the difficulty. Too often Chaplains are under trained which magnifies the complexity of the position. In the prison environment they are trained in security issues but the religious issues are left untouched. This manual will assist newly hired Chaplains to become better acquainted with …

Biblical Hermeneutics For The Twenty-First Century African American Church: Introducing Seven Key Solutions Promoting Higher Education, Jacqueline Montague

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite the fact that education builds knowledge, higher learning through Seminary is preached from many African American pulpits as having little merit. The author's hope is to channel broader understanding on how the seminary experience can make a difference in accomplishing the assignment commissioned by Jesus to a postmodern society. To achieve this goal, the author divulges the importance and necessity of seminary studies from a semiotic approach. Research includes a study of the hermeneutic circle and its three parts: text, messenger, and listeners; collected data from culture analyses and statistical reports to comprise three pastoral interviews. The objective is …

Education Evangelism: Sixteen Best Practices For School Outreach, Paul Steinberg

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Students from non-Christian homes are coming in unprecedented numbers to Christian schools in the Milwaukee area due to the unique school voucher program begun in 2001. Each of the Christian schools in the voucher program, including the one where this writer serves, is searching for the best evangelism tactics. This new frontier can learn from the outreach efforts of Milwaukee's Lutheran voucher schools.
Pioneering experience, articles and interviews will reveal the history and practice of ministry in the voucher program and look toward the future. Surveys of ministry leaders will explain the results of different strategies. Surveys and interviews of …

Discipleship In Education: A Plan For Creating True Followers Of Christ In Christian Schools, Joseph Allotta

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Students are often tested to evaluate their academic knowledge, but few Christian schools evaluate whether a student has become a true disciple of Christ. Schools need to know what they can do that actually has an impact. This project will focus on high school seniors at Baptist schools in the Tampa Area. Students will take a custom survey to determine their biblical knowledge, use of spiritual disciplines, and beliefs on morality, along with what factors influenced them the most. School officials will be interviewed to identify how each is attempting to influence said aspects. Special attention will be given to …

Contemplative Education: How Contemplative Practices Can Support And Improve Education, Judith Johannes

Master's Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to explore how contemplative education can have a viable role in education. In the first part of this thesis I will share my own personal experience with contemplative practices and how they led to my personal growth and transformation.

The second part will give some brief insights about the benefits the ancient wisdom traditions Hinduism and Buddhism attributed to contemplative practices. They claim that those practices help to reach a state of expanded awareness and stillness of the mind. Contemplative practices such as mindfulness, which is a Buddhist meditation technique, were used to better …

How Does One Become Spiritual? The Spiritual Modeling Inventory Of Life Environments (Smile), Doug Oman, Carl E. Thoresen, Crystal L. Park, Philip R. Shaver, Ralph W. Hood, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

We report psychometric properties, correlates and underlying theory of the Spiritual Modeling Index of Life Environments (SMILE), a measure of perceptions of spiritual models, defined as everyday and prominent people who have functioned for respondents as exemplars of spiritual qualities, such as compassion, self-control, or faith. Demographic, spiritual, and personality correlates were examined in an ethnically diverse sample of college students from California, Connecticut, and Tennessee (N=1010). A summary measure of model influence was constructed from perceived models within family, school, religious organization, and among prominent individuals from both tradition and media. The SMILE, based on concepts from Bandura's (1986) …

"Bible Introduction", Bill Hatcher

White's Ferry Road School of Preaching Collection

Outline and notes from Leonard Gray's "Bible Introduction" course taught at White's Ferry Road School of Preaching. The document is typewritten and was compiled by Bill Hatcher.

"The Pentateuch" Outline, Steven Lee Brown

White's Ferry Road School of Preaching Collection

Two-page typewritten outline of the Pentateuch. The first page has "Library of Steven Lee Brown" stamped in red ink. Date of creation is estimated.