Christianity Commons^™

Devotio Moderna: The Cornerstone Of The Reformation, Willis Miller

Doctor of Ministry

Standing up to the ecclesiastical institutions of the late fourteenth century, the Devotio Moderna formed in the hopes of reforming the Catholic church. By comprehensively reviewing the Devotio Moderna, this thesis explores the question; was the Protestant Reformation possible without the steady and penetrating influence the Devout Brothers and Sisters? In contrast to the schismatic Reformation arriving a century later, this reformation pursued spiritual renewal for both laity and clergy. The movement achieved a measure of success, but in a manner the founders might not have anticipated. The Devout Brothers and Sisters lived in stark contrast to the failing Church; …

Discerning The Covenant Renewal Model, Randy Robert Butler

Doctor of Ministry

Modem Christians in the United States are products of both their environment and their past. In a time when "cultural relevancy" is the buzz word, there appears to be a desperate attempt to "get it right" with God. Modems have jumped from fads to fashions to forms, all in an attempt to find a connection with God. Yet there appears to be restlessness within the body of Christ. There is also division within the body of Christ. With the rise of postmodern Christians and the emerging church, modem Christians are left scratching their heads, searching for answers to questions that …

Igniting A Parent-Church Movement In The Congregations Of North America, John C. Bangs

Doctor of Ministry

Guided by the misleading church planting metaphor, North America's churches do not establish thriving new congregations in sufficient numbers to evangelize emerging generations effectively. A better metaphor is needed. In order to reach and disciple emerging North American generations effectively, a church parenting culture must be created in North American churches. The purpose of this project is to provide a book designed to motivate potential parent-churches to conceive, birth, and nurture daughter congregations. Section 2 establishes the priority of starting new churches in the evangelistic task. The section also demonstrates that existing churches do not establish a sufficient number of …

On The Origin And Intent Of The Quaker Women's Meeting: Promoting And Preserving The Influence Of Women During And Beyond The Period Of Institutionalization, John Ross

Doctor of Ministry

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) had as a hallmark from its inception, a strong commitment to egalitarian theology and practice. As the movement took shape in the 1640s and 50s, women were prominent among their preachers, leaders, and evangelists. As the Quakers began to institutionalize in the 1660s, women Friends were in real danger of being marginalized, their voices lost behind a complex system of meetings for business and government. The answer proposed by Quaker leaders George Fox and Margaret Fell was the Women's Meeting. These meetings, settled throughout England and eventually throughout the world, mirrored the monthly, quarterly, …

Recovering Spiritual Direction In The Protestant Tradition, Morris Dirks

Doctor of Ministry

The purpose of this dissertation is to foster a commitment to the development of spiritual direction in the ongoing care of pastors within the Protestant tradition. The need to recover this practice, once well established in the church, is made obvious by the increasing challenges faced in ministry and the spiritual and emotional impact now experienced by pastors. More and more leaders are losing their way as a result of the unchecked stress fostered by the overwhelming expectations, whether real or perceived, which are placed on them. Pastoral responsibilities have been significantly compounded by the increasing programmatic and executive functions …

Maintaining Spiritual Connectedness Over An Entire Ministry By Elders In The North Georgia Annual Conference Of The United Methodist Church, Charles W. Green

Doctor of Ministry

No abstract provided.

Wealth And Discipleship In Affluent America, Jeffrey T. Lincicome

Doctor of Ministry

The question addressed by this dissertation may be stated as follows: How do wealth and affluence affect individual and communal Christian discipleship? In response, we propose that while wealth and affluence provide some discipleship opportunities, there are many more dangers and risks to Christian discipleship connected to wealth and affluence. To be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ in the midst of affluence, people must be aware of its dangers, and have a church home committed to wrestling with the challenges together. In Chapter 1, the ministry challenge is described through the narrative account of church members and a description of …

Building A Reformed Life: Recovering John Calvin's Theology Of The Christian Life For The Church Today, Neil E. Trainer

Doctor of Ministry

The problem addressed by this dissertation may be stated as follows: How can members of First Presbyterian Church, and others like it, be assisted in both their understanding of God's plan and their appropriation of God's power for their growth toward maturity in Christ's likeness? To address the stated problem, we propose to recover John Calvin's theology of the Christian life, which understands spiritual formation as the necessary and progressive reformation of the deformed image of God after the pattern of Christ through spiritual union with Christ by the process of repentance. In this light, spiritual formation is viewed as …

Spiritual Formation: An Emerging Narrative In Clinical Supervision Of Counseling And Family Therapy, Evangeline Willms Thiessen

Doctor of Ministry

Clinical professionals in the disciplines of counseling and family therapy, despite the many decades of separation between spirituality and science, currently face the challenge to attend to the spiritual realities and resources of clients' stories. As spirituality, an aspect of therapeutic diversity, moves increasingly to the forefront of counseling and family therapy literature, many clinicians still find it uncomfortable or difficult to negotiate the experiential path of addressing spirituality in practice. Although the need to address spirituality and religion is recognized, there continues to be a lack of conceptualization and methodology to guide the training experiences and preparation of clinicians. …

Pastoral Care, An Effective Front Porch For The Postmodern Church, Mark B. Hale

Doctor of Ministry

For over 18 years, Disney has offered over a million alumni the opportunity to benchmark the philosophies of the Walt Disney World resort. Since I am implementing the metaphor of the front porch as an integral part of the overall care model of the church, I ask, who better implements a welcoming, front porch atmosphere than Disney? Where Disney has elevated the mouse as its icon of celebrating and welcoming, I propose that Jesus is the icon for the front porch.

Rex Miller in The Millenium Matrix reminds us, "That original thinking will certainly include experimenting with past mediums of …

Building An Ethos Of Discipleship For Transition In The Twenty-First Century, Greg J. Boulton

Doctor of Ministry

The tension between old and new tears at the heart and soul of the church in the United States. For example, does the church focus on building new churches and allow old ones to die? Do church leaders develop a more effective ethos that renews the hearts and minds of Christians in old and new churches? This paper deals with how leaders can develop an ethos that sustains discipleship in the life of its members. It is the thesis of this paper that long-term members of the Christian faith can be revivified through a biblical discipleship process. The paper explores …

The Kingdom Of God: An Ancient/Future Ontology Of Leadership For The Twenty First Century Church, Stephen A. Campbell

Doctor of Ministry

The Church is facing a crisis ofleadership. For the past several hundred years the Church has embraced an ontology, or basic understanding of the nature ofleadership, based on a modern interpretation of the world. With the emergence of the postmodern world, Church leaders need to embrace a new, ancient/future ontology ofleadership based on Jesus' teachings on the kingdom of God. This will enable the Church to be relevant in the twenty-first century. Chapter two will evaluate Jesus' teaching regarding the kingdom of God. This examination will reveal four characteristics of that kingdom which will serve as the basic framework for …

Conforming To The Image Of Christ: Structuring A Spiritual Growth Paradigm For Churches Of The Stone - Campbell Movement, Jerry J. Dean

Doctor of Ministry

There is a general need for churches of the Stone-Campbell movement to reach beyond reading for the gathering of knowledge for doctrinal purposes. It becomes necessary to balance the desire for biblical truth with a pursuit of spiritual growth. This is referred to as finding a balance. This balance is achieved through a process of spiritual development and maturity. The central claim for this thesis is that Restoration churches of today, given to a rational, empirical form of hermeneutics, need to allow spiritual growth practices to run parallel with rational thinking.

Creating An Environment For Growth: Utilizing Classical Spiritual Disciplines Within A Spiritual Formation Curriculum For A Postmodern World, John R. Morley Jr.

Doctor of Ministry

The postmodern college students of today are highly tolerant of others, technologically advanced, overly protected, and exceedingly busy. Excitedly though, many of these young men and women, desire to live in community and are returning to more traditional Christian values. These spiritually sensitive students are looking for ways to grow in their personal relationship with Christ and serve others in the world. They are coming to traditional Christian colleges in record numbers in search of opportunities to deepen their walk with Christ, but many of these students do not possess the necessary tools to do so. To help these young …

Unspoken Prayer In Spiritual Formation: Tool Or Trouble, Wayne Lewis

Doctor of Ministry

The questions addressed in this document are: Can unspoken prayer be used in Christian spiritual formation? If so, how? And are there dangers that come with its use? For the purpose of simplicity and utility, the term "unspoken prayer" will refer to prayer that is not verbalized with voice or mind and is prayer offered to God as listening, focused waiting, or thought focused meditation. Unspoken prayer is utilized by Christians in forming a more intimate relationship with Jesus as Savior and Lord. Many terms are used for this type of prayer including contemplative prayer, silent prayer, listening prayer, and …

Preach To Reach: Seven Characteristics Of Effective Evangelistic Preaching, Alan Ehler

Doctor of Ministry

Although studies continually show that Americans consider themselves spiritual, church attendance has continued to decline. A common reason people give for not attending church is that the sermons are boring and irrelevant. Far too few pastors effectively communicate in a way unchurched people understand, relate to and connect with in their sermons. In order to address this problem we will propose seven traits that characterize preaching that effectively reaches unbelievers and leads them to lasting faith in Jesus Christ: I) biblical, Christ-centered content, 2) relevant to unbelieving listeners, preached with 3) persuasive appeal, using 4) engaging illustrations and 5) dynamic …

The Lazarus Project: The Dying And Raising Of The Rural Church In The Minnesota North District-Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, Richard John Manual Hans

Doctor of Ministry

Rural communities and the church at large currently face the difficult challenge of rapidly dying rural churches. As a result of this decline the six thousand churches in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) face a number of issues including the loss of financial aid for mission work in United States and abroad. The closure of this one church also affects the middle judicatory. The district depends financially upon the churches in its district to support mission starts and financial concerns affect a congregation's ability to support a pastor. Overall, the closure of the local church demonstrates a lack of …

E-Learning And The Academy: A New Paradigm For Training Youth Ministry Students, Richard Chromey

Doctor of Ministry

The technological revolution of cyberspace has forced various institutions to reinvent. In recent years, many colleges and universities have converted partially or wholly to distance education or "e-Iearning." However, countless other schools and learning institutions (especially ministry training) remain firmly entrenched within site-based, seat-time, lecture-rooted, modern educational frames.

And therefore, the problem arises: how can cyber technology and on-line educational delivery systems train and equip youth and family ministry students for professional or lay ministly?

The purpose of this work is an investigation of electronic learning in order to propose alternative strategies for future youth ministry education. Ultimately, readers will …

Relational And Incarnational Leadership: A Flattening Of The Congregational Hierarchy And A Shared Journey Of Faith, Timothy D. Ozment

Doctor of Ministry

The problem addressed in this paper is: How can mainline congregational leadership move a church forward toward health in a postmodern world wherein the mainline Church as a whole is in such serious decline? This problem will be addressed by proposing a model of pastoral leadership that lives relationally and incarnationally with the congregation, flattens the hierarchy, and nurtures key lay leaders who are empowered to: answer their personal call, cultivate intentional relationships, and nurture the congregation into a missional and incarnationally focused living organism. Pastoral leadership, as we will argue, is, therefore, primarily living incarnationally and relationally with a …