Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Leadership Strategy To Train And Equip African Pastors And Lay Leaders For Effective Ministry To Central African Refugees And Immigrants In Phoenix, Arizona, Joel Mpabwanimana

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

Since 2010, there has been a growing number of Central African refugees and immigrants resettling in Arizona. This transition adds many other challenges to the trauma some of them have already endured. Unfortunately, there is a lack of trained pastors and lay leaders to effectively minister to them. I designed this project to develop and implement an effective strategy to train and equip pastors and lay leaders to minister to Central African refugee and immigrant communities in the Ubumwe Seventh-day Adventist Church and Glendale Seventh-day Adventist Church in Phoenix, Arizona.

Method

This project had several primary objectives: (1) to …

A Lay Preachers' Training Program At Reading West Adventist Church Focusing On Preaching That Connects With Second Generation Seventh-Day Adventist Young Adults, Trevor A. Thomas

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The pastoral team and church members observed that most teenagers at Reading West up to the age of 18 attended church with their parents. However, from 18 to 25 years, the pastoral team and church members saw a drop in their attendance. Many attended universities in other cities. However, Reading, being a university town, should have attracted more Adventist young adults from other churches, and the young adults of Reading West should have returned during university term breaks. Sadly, most did not. Instead, they either visited other churches following popular youth preachers, attended other churches with a contemporary style …

Programa De Capacitación Evangelística Para La Iglesia Adventista Hispana De Poughkeepsie, New York, Fernando Rosario Castro

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

An investigation conducted along with the church board revealed that the congregation has not had an evangelistic training program in the last 5 years. Consequently, only 5 of the 347 members are involved in the evangelistic work of the local community. An evangelistic training program has the potential to involve members fully equipped to evangelize the people in their community.

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to develop an evangelistic training program to involve more church members in the evangelization of the community and to involve church members in holistic growth.

Methodology

This investigation belongs to the discipline …

Developing And Implementing A Community-Based Hospitality Awareness And Training Program In The Green Bay Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Titus Naftanaila

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

Most churches in North America usually consider themselves as welcoming and friendly to guests and existing church members. However, they may excel in programs and ministries, but visitors evaluate many as uncaring and cold. During my 25 years of ministry, I personally have pastored three mid-sized Adventist churches where a constant number of guests confirmed the difference of perception. The inhospitality of the church deprives the guests and the new converts of the essential benefits for emotional and spiritual growth with a direct impact on the retention rate.

Method

A community-based hospitality awareness and training program was developed and …

Programa De Capacitacion Para El Desarrollo De Nuevos Secretarios Ejecutivos De Uniones Y Campos De La Division Sudamericana, Edward Heidinger

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

In the territory of the South American Division (SAD), the rate of rotation of leaders in the secretariat area is high, when compared with presidency and treasury. According to the corresponding minutes of the executive committees and constituency meetings of Unions and Fields of the SAD, during the period of 2015-2020, at the Field level, 39% of the changes corresponded to the secretariat, and, at the level of Union, this indicator rises to 47%. In addition to this, there is the challenging reality that the secretariat’s spectrum of action is wide and specialized, and consequently, different from the pastoral …

Escuela De Capacitación De Liderazgo Para Ancianos De La Misión Sur Metropolitana De Chile, Josue G. Espinoza

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The observations made by this researcher between 2019 and 2020 in the South Metropolitan Chile Mission led to the conclusion that most elders from the 79 organized churches showed leadership deficiencies. This was deduced from observations during local church training events, activities provided by the local conference, and also from the analysis of growth indicators in congregations. It is also important to note that the average of 6.3 congregations per pastor makes it difficult for the elders to develop as local leaders. Added to this condition is the high mobility of pastors who often remain for only one or …

Perceived Effectiveness Of A Mentoring Program For Training Adventist Chinese Evangelists, Terry Man-Yuen Tsui

Dissertations

Problem

The fact that evangelism in the Unorganized Territories of the Chinese Union Mission was done mainly as personal evangelism and that public evangelism was limited to a one-day seed sowing meeting had led to a serious need for equipping pastors in effective public evangelism methods. It required a model of public evangelism, which is adaptable to the local Chinese culture, and a mentoring program that accompanies evangelists, who were still developing their skills in public evangelism.

Method

This study used a parallel mixed methods design to measure the perceived effectiveness of selected methods in the mentoring program. This design …

A Strategy To Train Members To Encourage Non-Members To Make Decisions For Baptism And Church Membership At The Middletown Valley Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Joshua William Voigt

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

In every church I have pastored, there have been individuals who attend the church but are not members. Some come to community-focused events the church holds throughout the year, while others come to the weekly worship service. There are also some who come whenever the doors of the church are opened. This group of people includes both Christians from other denominations, as well as non-Christians. The Middletown Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church had an unusually large ratio of non-member to member attendance.

Method

A six-month evangelistic strategy was developed for the Middletown Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church. The strategy began with …

A Pediatric Spiritual Care Training Model Utilizing Volunteers At Children's Hospital In New Orleans, Louisiana, Allen L. Mitchell

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

Children's Hospital—New Orleans is a regional medical center for children with a 247-bed capacity. The hospital is growing in size and scope. However, the number of quality spiritual care providers has not kept up with the growing needs of the institution. As a medical center continues to grow, more spiritual care providers are needed to meet the demand of our increasing patient population. Financial resources are limited and budgets do not favor hiring additional full-time staff chaplains.

Method

A spiritual care training manual was developed to increase the number of trained volunteers to provide spiritual care coverage. A 12-hour …

The Development, Implementation, And Evaluation Of A Preaching Discipleship Training Program For Church Members In The Knoxville First Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Marcus Alden Swearingen Bates

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The Knoxville First Seventh-day Adventist Church has members endowed with the spiritual gift of speaking (preaching). However, no training program was available for these gifted members to develop and practice their preaching skills. The senior pastor, associate pastor, and guest speakers handled the preaching responsibilities, while these members were not edifying the congregation through the exercise of their preaching gift. The absence of a preaching training program also revealed a neglect of the pastoral responsibility to disciple members in the area of preaching. This project was an effort to train gifted members in the preaching craft for a potential …

A Training Program For Members To Minister To Hiv/Aids Patients At The Nyagiki Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Kenya, Job Ogoti Getange

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

During my pastoral experience at Nyagiki, I observed that although HIV/AIDS was a big threat in the church and society, many of the church leaders were not involved in addressing this crisis. There were no intentional church training programs to warn the members about its danger. The church did not make a budget of time or money to address this pandemic. The root problem that caused this situation was lack of health information literacy on HIV/AIDS to equip these leaders with knowledge and skills to deal with this crisis.

Method

The Doctor of Ministry Research Project was conducted at …

Desarrollo E Implementacion De Un Programa De Entrenamiento Para Predicadores Laicos En Las Iglesias Adventistas Del Distrito De Fort Washington, Nueva York, S. Yeury Ferreira

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The task of this project was to develop, implement, and evaluate a training program for lay preachers in the Seventh-day Adventist churches within the district of Fort Washington, New York, where the author of this document has served as pastor since 2014. Given that this missionary district comprises three churches (Fort Washington, Washington Avenue, and Luz y Esperanza), it is impossible for the pastor to always preach in every one of those congregations, Therefore, the preaching responsibility falls on the shoulders of church elders and other lay preachers. Pastoral observation indicates that, out of the 400 church members who …

Training Selected Churches In The Iowa-Missouri Conference Of Seventh-Day Adventists To Minister To Cohabiting Couples, Jared S. Miller

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The number of cohabiting couples has dramatically risen over the last several decades. Even a significant amount of Seventh-day Adventist Church members, both young and old, have chosen to live together apart from a committed marriage. Living together without the covenant of marriage comes with many risks and many negative effects on both adults and children. With the prevalence of cohabitation increasing, the church is faced with a new ministry challenge and opportunity. Churches need to be educated about the biblical theology of sexual intimacy and the dangers and damage that come with cohabitation. Furthermore, churches need biblical strategies …

Technology Training For Administrators And Pastors In The Greater New York Conference Of Seventh-Day Adventists, Rohann D. Wellington

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The Greater New York Conference (GNYC) is located in what is considered the media capital of the world. Media and technology have changed our lives in meaningful ways, both globally and locally. The church in its local context, in this technological age, is struggling to adapt technology in meaningful and effective ways to impact discipleship and evangelism practices. I observed that the administrators and most of the pastors in the GNYC do not understand how to adapt today’s media technology effectively, and therefore, lack a vision regarding how this tool can be effectively adapted for ministry delivery.

Method

A …

Training Volunteer And Non-Professional Health Educators In The Context Of The Milwaukee Seventh-Day Adventist Community, Glenn Cassimy

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The Sharon SDA Church is a prominent faith based organization (FBO) in the Milwaukee district. Like many other churches in the community, the Sharon SDA Church continually seeks to adopt innovative strategies to assist in improving the health status of their congregants. Although the Sharon SDA Church and various faith-based organizations implement health program initiatives as a part of their mission, at the end of any program effort, there is still the need for ongoing member support to assist congregants in fully achieving the goals they set during their health initiative. This study, therefore, is an attempt to provide …

Development And Implementation Of An Effective Training On Servant Leadership Among The Youth In The Gekomu Ii Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Fred M. Okemwa

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The Gekomu II Seventh-day Adventist Church has a membership of about 1,500. The youth account for 35% of this membership; however, many of these young people are unwilling to play active leadership roles in the church. The absence of leadership trainings for the youth to develop skills and acquire knowledge to enhance their leadership abilities is one of the causes for their lack of involvement in the leadership roles. As a result, the leadership strengths and talents possessed by these young people are underutilized thus affecting the overall leadership quality of the church.

Method

In response to the above …

A Biblical Training Model To Improve The Financial Literacy Of The Members Of The Roundup-Lewistown District Of The Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Andrew Raduly

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

Pastoral observation suggested that one third of the Roundup-Lewistown Seventh-day Adventist district membership struggled with personal financial management issues. It was suggested that the root causes for the inability to manage financial resources was a lack of financial literacy and education and a lack of understanding of basic financial concepts, including misunderstandings about biblical concepts about wealth, borrowing, and stewardship of resources.

Method

In order to assess, improve, and observe the basic knowledge of the financial literacy and education of the Roundup-Lewistown Seventh-day Adventist church membership, a pre-financial literacy seminar assessment survey (PREFLAS) was administered. The PREFLAS was followed …

A Chaplaincy Training And Support Program To Equip Pastors For Ministry In The South Ghana Conference Of Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Nathan Teye Odonkor

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

There is currently no Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries capacity development plan to clinically train pastors as chaplains in the South Ghana Conference (SGC) of the Seventh-day Adventist church. This has resulted in the absence of professional chaplains within the denomination in South Ghana.

Method

I conducted a Chaplaincy Training and Support Program (CTSP) for 15 selected trainees at the South Ghana Church Headquarters Asoredanho-Accra. The Key area of competencies was Clinical Pastoral Education. I employed qualitative method of evaluating trainees by conducting oral and written assessments of data from trainees and ministry recipients.

Results

As a result of the CTSP, …

Making And Training Disciples Of Christ Using The Pursuit Of "Life... To The Full" As The Catalyst For Mission In High Springs Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Mark Swaisgood

Professional Dissertations DMin

Task

In the Spring of 2012, the High Springs Seventh-day Adventist Church had about 29% of its membership "active in ministry," meaning these members were involved in "ministry activities outside of Sabbath morning" or they served in "leadership responsibilities during Sabbath school and worship time" (i.e. I did not consider mere attendance as "active in ministry"). Approximately 9% of the membership was "missionally engaged," meaning they were participating in activities through "service to others outside of our denominational affiliation" (I considered serving people within our church membership as "active in ministry" not "missionally engaged"). The goal of this project was …

A Training Program For Non-Chaplain And Volunteer Chaplains Conducting Spiritual Care At Feather River Hospital In Paradise, California, Brad B. Brown

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

Responsibilities of chaplain services at Feather River Hospital (FRH) primarily include completing its mission of whole-person care by providing spiritual and emotional support to the patients and staff. However, the challenge of meeting this goal historically is due to insufficient funding to hire adequate staff chaplains to provide this service. Per conversation with fellow chaplains of other hospitals, this same staffing challenge in meeting the spiritual and emotional component of whole-person care is consistent. However, there is a potential solution. Staff and community volunteers with a spiritual bent have shown interest in filling this gap of spiritual and emotional …

Development Of Lay Leadership Through Teleconferencing In The Early Bird Bible School, Choong Hwan Lee

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

As a pastor in local South Korean Adventist churches in the United States, I tried several times to train and nurture members, but there was not much fruit. I discovered that the activities of lay leaders in these churches were steadily declining. Although there are many causes, the most serious challenge is a lack of leadership development training for lay leaders. And then, when leadership training is provided, the program fails to promote an evangelistic passion and ultimately causes a deficit of training for future church leaders. Even when churches do provide the program, many Korean Adventists cannot attend …

Training Church Members In The Theory And Practice Of Preaching In The Spanish District Of Tri-City In The Upper Columbia Conference, Jaime Flores

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem.

One of the challenges of a multi-church district is that the pastor cannot preach at each church, each Sabbath. The Spanish district of Tri-City is comprised of three churches (Pasco/Kennewick/Richland). Some elders are reluctant to speak when the pastor is absent at one of these three churches. In addition, my preliminary research shows that attendance is lower at these churches when the pastor is absent. The reason for this absenteeism, according to some members, is poor preaching. Accordingly, the challenge is to develop qualified preachers who can preach at those churches within the district when the pastor is absent. …

A Strategy To Train Local Church Elders For Effective Assimilation And Nurture Of New Converts, Enock Chifamba

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

In most multi-church districts the pastoral burden rests with the local church elders. However, these elders receive little or no training concerning the important pastoral duty of assimilation and nurture of new converts into a local church fellowship. Thus, new converts often feel isolated and neglected and some either backslide or remain inactive in their new-found faith. In the East Zimbabwe Conference 18,349 new members were added in 2010 bringing its membership to 247,935 with only 56 district pastors. The conference needs a cost effective strategy to nurture new members.

Method

The role of elders as pastoral care givers …

Seminario De Treinamento Para Lideres De Louvor De Capital Brazilian Temple, Edemilson Alves Cardoso

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The worship leader has a very important role at Capital Brazilian Temple in leading praise team and worship ministry. The difficulty lies in having church worship leaders prepared for this mission, as they have no Biblical training on worship theology. The worship leaders have has directed this ministry and congregational singing more based on ecclesiastical tradition and personal taste than according to Adventist theology of praise and worship.

Method

This research relates to the discipline of Applied Theology. It starts out by analyzing the Biblical and theological foundations of worship and praise in the Bible, the writings of Ellen …

A Training Program To Equip Local Churches For Small Group Evangelism In The East Ghana Conference Of Seventh-Day Adventists, Kwasi Ansah-Adu

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

Many Adventists in the East Ghana Conference like others in the global church erroneously perceive ministry as limited to activities at the church premises on the Sabbath or specific programs or events like a three-week evangelistic series, rather than a lifestyle. Even so few participate in ministry leaving the bulk of the membership in the pew as spectators.

Method

My research was based on the study of the Bible, E. G. White counsels, literature on church growth, statistics on growth trends of the East Ghana Conference, and the church in Ghana, as well as my personal journey as a …

A Model Course For Training Lay Persons Of The Chicago Area In Biblical Preaching, Leeroy M. Coleman

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, speak of the importance of preaching. The Christian Church of today places a high priority on preaching, but the burden is shouldered mainly by the clergy with little participation by the laity. The OT and the NT demonstrate the importance of clergy and laity sharing in the ministry of preaching, but today pastors need lay persons to preach and lay persons express their need to be trained in preaching. There is a dirth of materials and programs that will r effectively train lay persons to preach. It was task this project to …

Implementing A Training Manual For Adventist Local Church Leaders In The Gauteng Region Of South Africa, Eugene L. Fransch

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The youth department of the Southern Affican-Indian Ocean Division of the Seventh-day Adventist church (SID) has noticed a growing trend of frustration and ineffectiveness among local church youth leaders in their yearly church planning. This has lead to a high turnover rate among them due to a lack of adequate materials, poor program planning, and a clear knowledge of the department’s objectives to guide them in their planning.

Methodology

The purpose of the research was to implement a Youth Leadership Training Manual for church youth leaders that would help them overcome their current frustrations and assist them in planning …

Motivating And Training The Laity To Increase Their Involvement In Ministry In The Ouaga-Center Adventist Church In Burkina Faso, Boubakar Sanou

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem.

In many Christian religious circles, the subject of clergy and laity has received much attention because of a sharp distinction between them. In Africa, the laypeople are expected to give allegiance to the clergy and also to depend on them for spiritual guidance and help. Although the New Testament teaches the concepts of the priesthood of all believers (1 Pet 2:5, 9-10) and the priestly ministry of the church as the function of the total church membership, there is still a persistent tendency to create a dichotomy between clergy and laity. This practice clearly shows two classes of believers: …

Seventh-Day Adventist Leadership Recruitment And Training Program For Basarwa In Botswana, Africa, Boitirelo Kabo

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The Seventh- day Adventist church in Botswana, although being among the fastest growing churches in the country, has not been able to reach the Basarwa tribe since 1921. This is in spite of the church’s best effort. Among the contributing factors is the apparent failure by the church to develop a culturally relevant approach that considers the Basarwa unique lifestyle and a lack of Basarwa church leaders.

Methodology

Surveys were administered among the Basarwa in four districts to establish their awareness of the church and factors that hinder them from joining the church. Training on church leadership for the …

Holistic Approach To Preaching: A Training Program For Lay Speakers Of Manhattan Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Victor V. Dyman

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

Many congregations that are part of multi-church districts are presented with the challenge of motivating and equipping lay people with the skills they need for effective preaching in the postmodern world. This project sought to develop a compact and user-friendly preaching workshop, and preaching laboratory to train lay preachers to preach effectively.

Method

A Scripture and literature search was conducted on preaching. Principles were used to develop Holistic Preaching Workshop and Preaching Laboratory which were given to lay preachers of Manhattan Seventh-day Adventist Church in Manhattan, New York City. After the six-hour weekend workshop lay preachers delivered public presentations …