Practical Theology Commons^™

Spiritual Coaching: Helping People Develop And Implement Their Own Growth Strategies, Jenny E. Mcbride

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

In spite of a plethora of discipleship programs and good preaching, the church in general has failed to empower believers who consistently re-present Jesus and His ministry in the earth today; nor are they reproducing other disciples. The limiting factor appears to be internal fears and beliefs within the disciples, rather than a lack of knowledge or skills. A more effective disciple making process whereby both pastors and congregants can move people of varying levels of maturity, knowledge and experience toward God is imperative if the church is to fulfill the Great Commission to “go and make disciples.”

Method …

A Lay Mobilization Program For The Seventh-Day Adventist Church In Zimbabwe, Cuthbert Machamire

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The church in Zimbabwe involves lay people in ministry, but the proportion of people involved is small compared to the total membership of the church. Further, while the church believes in the biblical teaching on spiritual gifts, this concept is not given enough emphasis in enlisting members for ministry. This results in some members experiencing frustration as they serve in ministries for which they are not gifted. Others stay uninvolved either because they are not personally invited to take part, or because they do not find a ministry in the church that matches their gifts.

Method

In this dissertation, …

A Description And Analysis Of The Implementation Of A Strategic Leadership Team In The Oerlikon Sda Church, Paul N.T. Wright

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The Oerlikon Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church in a suburb of Zurich, Switzerland declined from a total of 204 members in 1975 to 103 members at the end of 2008. This represents a membership loss of nearly fifty percent in thirty years. It is a hypothesis of this paper that a lack of strategic leadership at local church level is one reason for this decline. The task of this paper is to describe and evaluate a Strategic Leadership Team which came into existence in 2006 as a means of promoting growth in that local church.

Methods

The project begins by …

Church Planting To Reach Postmodern Generations: Launching A New Church In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Jeffrey T. Potts

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The Henderson Highway Seventh-day Adventist Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was failing to attract unchurched young adults (ages 18-35). Many of the young adults who had grown up in the church were lapsing into irregular worship attendance. Attempts were made to help the congregation become more relevant to postmodern generations. However, these attempts failed to create a church environment that truly engaged young adults.

Method

Under the direction of its senior pastor, the Henderson Highway Church decided to plant a new congregation to reach unchurched young adults. The church was designed to be relevant to the postmodern context. Launched at …

Recruiting And Equipping Postmodern Immigrant Youth Preachers In Emmaus, Christian Fellowship, And Community Tabernacle Seventh-Day Adventist Churches, Anthony L. Usher

Professional Dissertations DMin

After spending over six years at Emmaus SDA church, on January 1, 2004, the author was assigned to Christian Fellowship SDA Church and Community Tabernacle Mission. He observed that the fierce shifting winds of postmodernism have fueled the retardation of youth evangelism. If the trajectory of this dreaded trend goes unchecked, youth preaching in these churches will spiral downward into the obscure corridors of oblivion. A relevant profile, as well as a specific demographic composition of all three congregations, enhanced the development of an empowering argument that potentially could reverse the momentum of this encroaching tide back to God’s side. …

Curso Introductorio Para La Educación Integral De Maestros Y Funcionarios De La Universidad Adventista De Colombia, Gamaliel Florez

Professional Dissertations DMin

The Colombia Adventist University, UNAC, is an institution of higher education that belongs to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. The philosophy of the institution comes from both the Bible and the writings of Ellen White, cofounder and ideologist of the Seventh-Day Adventist education. UNAC expects that its instructors develop their teaching work inspired and based on a deep knowledge of this philosophy. Due to its philosophical position, UNAC aims to educate students in all of the Human Being aspects: spiritual, intellectual, physical and social. These aspects are denominated by Adventists as holistic education.

In this paper, a bibliographical research was done …

Strategies Of Team Formation In A Multi-Staffed Church, Larry C. Becker

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

This project sought factors that bring about the formation of pastoral teams.

Method

Methods included the study of current literature, testing a hypothesis, administering a self-developed survey with pastoral teams in the Southeastern California Conference of Seventh day Adventists, and work with the Redlands Seventh-day Adventist Church pastoral team. Data was gathered from 30 churches, totaling 77 pastors and results were tabulated with SPSS software.

Results

Analysis of the teams in the main cohort and Redlands revealed both support for the hypothesis and factors of team formation. These pastoral teams formed in a culture, in relationship, with trust, mutual …

An Evaluation Of The Implementation Of Natural Church Development Within Seventh-Day Adventist Churches In The United States And The Resulting Church Growth, Rodney Jon Mills

Professional Dissertations DMin

The Problem

Natural Church Development (NCD) is a church health paradigm that is being used in Seventh-day Adventist churches across the United States as a tool for increasing both church health and growth. One question that needs to be addressed is whether the implementation of NCD within Seventh-day Adventist churches results in church growth.

The Purpose

The purpose of this dissertation is to establish a validation of the NCD process by evaluating the church growth experienced at the Milwaukee Central Seventh-day Adventist Church and compare that growth with Seventh-day Adventist churches across the United States which have participated in taking …

Transformational Youth Ministry, Allen Walshe

Faculty Publications

This paper will point out how deeply ingrained post-modern thinking has become in Western culture. It will remind us that our youth and young adults, who are post-modern, are not the enemy (as some would categorize them), but that they are ‘the beloved of God.’ We have been called and commissioned to reach them by the grace of God. This paper will argue that the church’s response to our post-modern youth, if it is to be efficacious, will require a paradigm shift, from its predominantly information style toward a more relational model of ministry. This can be facilitated by restructuring …

Organizational Leadership : A Study Of The Perceptions Of Servant Leadership Practices And Beliefs, And Its Implications For A Private Christian Institution Of Higher Education In Brazil, Jose Iran Miguel

Dissertations

Purpose. This study verified the perceptions of the workers of Brazil Adventist University (UNASP) regarding the beliefs and practices of servant leadership by using data collected online through the instrument called the Organizational Leadership Assessment (OLA), focusing on six key areas of organizational health, according to three independent variables, which are leadership categories, campus, and gender.

Method. As a quantitative comparative study, the relationship between dependent and independent variables was determined by means of a one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and a 2 by 3 factorial design in order to observe significant differences and interactions between variables. …

"There They Go": Short Term Mission Trips As A Metaphor And Model For Youth Slipping Out The Back Door, Steve Case

180 Symposium Publications

Millennials slip out the back door of church involvement for a variety of reasons. One currently popular youth ministry activity, Short-Term Mission Trips (STMT), provides a metaphor and a model for this phenomenon. STMT take into account both positive and negative elements as well as a host of factors with intensities that vary from one millennial to another. Utilizing STMT as a metaphor, and the varieties within the model, demonstrate the complexity of the issue rather than providing a singular and simplistic explanation and solution. Inherent in this model is a proactive sending motif rather than a passive clinging for …

Ennui, Entertainment, Or Encounter? Cultivating The Climate For A Transformational Approach To Leadership, Keren Toms

180 Symposium Publications

After studying the various qualities that have made for effective leaders, both in Bible times and in more recent church history, it is apparent that some were empowered by a guardian/guide mentality, others an entertainer/enabler mindset, and others possessed a difficult to define but easily recognizable cluster of virtues that enabled them, through their passion for mission and love for people, to be creative and observable role models for what recent leadership experts have termed transformational leaders. Creating a climate for the selection and the empowerment of transformational leaders is key for a successful youth ministry in the new millennium.

Proclamation Vs. Protection: Reshaping The Vision Of Adventist Youth Ministry, Ronald R. Pickell

180 Symposium Publications

In this chapter, the author argues that youth ministry in the Adventist church has focused on protection and retention of the youth that have grown up in the denomination. To achieve this goal, the majority of the denomination’s resources have been invested into the educational system (I). Drawing attention to some of the short-comings of this approach, the author suggests a transition to a proclamation model of ministry and provides some basic principles (II). Furthermore, he draws attention to the increasing number of Adventist youth studying outside the denominational educational system and argues that it is both urgent and opportune …

Circle Of Courage, Jonathan Duffy, Gary Hopkins

180 Symposium Publications

This chapter promotes the “Circle of Courage” as a model for developing resilience in young people. Resilience in the context of this chapter refers to factors which contribute to the success of young people and protect them from participating in risk behavior. The “Circle of Courage” is a child rearing model used by Native Americans before white conquest and has four main components – Belonging, Mastery, Independence, and Generosity. The components are in alignment with what modern psychologists are promoting for young people today and are common to most indigenous groups.

A Study Of Youth Retention And The Challenge Of Delayed Commitment In The Norwegian Union, Victor Marley

180 Symposium Publications

A contributory factor in the increasing rates of young people going through the “back door” and out of our church is the extension of adolescence and the corresponding postponement of commitment. This paper will look at pluralism, the extension of adolescence, and the erosion of adulthood as some reasons why commitment is being delayed. Some fundamental questions will be addressed: Is there a need to focus on the age of commitment? What about rites of passage? Do we need some in the Adventist culture? This paper will, in conclusion, look at the experience of the Norwegian Union and the Absolute …

An Adventist Identity For Postmodern Youth, Jeroen Tuinstra

180 Symposium Publications

During the teenage period, a youth shapes his or her identity in confirmation with the group he or she belongs to. The identity our church provides at that stage is a particular modern identity shaped by a modern rational world-view. At a later stage, our youth will find themselves in conflict with the identity provided by the church and their own mainly postmodern world-view. In this paper, I will explore the possible changes in our identity that will have to take place in order to accommodate the postmodern world-view. I will also argue that the church has to accommodate this …

Resolving Young Adult Attrition, Martin Weber

180 Symposium Publications

Many Seventh-day Adventist clergy suffer the loss of their adult children to denominational attrition, and their pain is shared throughout the general population of North American Adventist parents. To identify the causative factors and design remedies, I devoted a Doctor of Ministry project involving active and retired clergy couples in the Mid-America Union. A 111-point questionnaire was mailed to each of 222 active and retired clergy who have adult children. Data requested was based on the research question: What influences from Seventh-day Adventist clergy parents in Mid-America may affect whether their children experience attrition from that denomination upon becoming adults? …

Suffer The Little Children (And The Young Adults), Ed Dickerson

180 Symposium Publications

In addressing the problem of young adults leaving the church, Adventists tend to concentrate on changing the youth, while the real solution calls for changing the church to adapt its methods and worship to make the congregation attractive. This involves making church a place friendly for children and creating intergenerational worship. Separate ministry to young adults fails to integrate them into the congregational life.

Youth Ministry: It Starts Sooner Than You Think! A Youth Ministry Case Study Report, Jiwan S. Moon

180 Symposium Publications

When does youth ministry really begin? It is a question we all need to ask to be effective in ministering to our youth. What really is youth ministry? These two questions come from a belief that there is a specific time frame and a particular way to minister to young people that is different from where they have come and where they are going. However, I would like to introduce a different idea. The idea that youth ministry really begins before childhood ends. It is a continuous mentoring and nurturing of children, helping them mature and grow in Christ from …

Bringing Home Our Adventist Prodigals, Paul Tompkins

180 Symposium Publications

Studies agree that the church is losing a significant proportion of its young people. This trend is hurting families, congregations and the church as a whole but very little seems to be done about it. Now is the time to do so. Back in the 1990’s the church last looked at restructuring youth ministry — following a commission on youth, the autumn council of 1992 voted a six point plan including revival, recovery, evangelism and nurture. A strategic plan was also authorized but the aspect of recovery has only recently begun to gain significant attention. Now is the time to …

Principles For Relational Young Adult Ministry, Lisa M. Hope

180 Symposium Publications

Young adults are conspicuously missing from the majority of Seventh-day Adventist churches. Finding effective means of ministry for the millennial generation is essential for the health and growth of Adventist young adults in the 21st Century. While each young adult is unique, there are general relational principles that are imperative to build the relationships and establish the community this generation seeks: finding a social prop, mastering small talk, asking questions, curiosity, vulnerability. The church must move forward, choosing to err on the side of love, acceptance, and mercy to be relevant to young adults today.

The Millennial Generation: A Demographic, Ethnographic, And Religious Profile, Monte Sahlin

180 Symposium Publications

A new generation is emerging into adulthood in the first years of the new century. Born from 1977 through 1994, most are the offspring of parents in the Baby Boom generation. Just as their parents’ childhood and adolescence largely paralleled the development of television, so the Millennial generation has grown up with the Internet. They share many of the values and interests of their Baby Boomer parents, although the world is starkly different. There is much greater diversity, and global boundaries are transparent, while economic anxiety is increased. The young adults and teens in the Millennial generation tend to be …

Burst The Bystander Effect: Making A Discipling Difference With Young Adults, A. Allan Martin

180 Symposium Publications

Decades of research continue to point to greater than 50 percent attrition of young adults from faith community, yet there appears to be minimal efforts to change this alarming trend. This article offers suggestions as to what you can do to foster authentic relationships and revive young adult discipleship in the Seventh-day Adventist Church context.

The Development Of Adventist Youth Groups And Ellen White’S Empowerment Of Youth In Evangelism And Service, Cindy Tutsch

180 Symposium Publications

How did youth work begin in the Adventist church? Did it start with “professionals”? What was the point of Adventist youth groups originally? And what is the point today? This provocative paper may generate some discussion with your youth and leadership team –and maybe even re-focus your ministry!

I Don’T Want To Go To Church Anymore!, Margaret D. Dudley

180 Symposium Publications

It is heartbreaking when a young person, raised in an Adventist home, decides to abandon the faith. There are practical steps that can turn the situation around. Suggestions are given for friends, parents, and church leaders. In a climate of love, God can work miracles.

Prevention Of At-Risk Behaviors, Resilience, And Youth Retention: A Mandate For Action In The Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Peter N. Landless

180 Symposium Publications

No abstract provided.

Where Have All The Youth Leaders Gone?, Timothy P. Nixon

180 Symposium Publications

Valuegenesis has been a tremendous tool that has given the Seventh-day Adventist church valuable information about youth and young adults. It represents a fair cross-section culturally and ethnically of our young people. However, the sample is of 16,000 respondents of Seventh-day Adventist Youth in Seventh-day Adventist schools throughout the North American Division during the 2000 school year (Gillespie, 2004). The majority of the expenses are borne by local parents and churches (Gillespie, 2004). Sixty percent of the students said there was a youth pastor at their home church (Gillespie, 2004). Monte Sahlin’s work in Adventist Congregations Today, says most Adventist …

Adventist Identity Crisis: In The Leaders Or The Led?, Japhet De Oliveira

180 Symposium Publications

Recent church attendance statistics indicate a high percentage of the millennial generation is exiting their local faith communities–either openly rejecting the values or silently slipping away. In addition to these two types of departure lies a third group not included in the statistics that appear faithful through attendance but in reality are disconnected. Should we combine these three categories our only success is retention with engagement. Which begs the answer to this question: Retention and engagement with what? Our once proclaimed uniform Adventist identity is crumbling by globalization. Today within two streets of each other you can experience practically opposite …

Unity And Ministry Through The Massification Of Adventism, Van G. Hurst

180 Symposium Publications

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has a history of ministering to people groups who have been fractured from their original congregations or social norms (demassification) and then renew their identity in Adventism (remassification). The unique needs of today’s generations are a rapid remassification of youth groups who need to be discipled. The uniqueness of these youth, their need for parental influence, peer affirmation, and a horizontal leadership structure to enable future mentoring and ministry at minimal cost are a vital part of the cycle of ministry which appears to be currently nonexistent in many Adventist congregations.

Stop The Sad Exodus: Three Practical Solutions, Chris Blake

180 Symposium Publications

Students of Adventist campuses of higher education experience the finest in ministry options. When they graduate, they often return to congregations that are much lacking the ministries to which they have been accustomed. Three solutions for the campus are: (1) Risky Sabbath schools that involve students in outreach, (2) Youth summits, and (3) Training for involvement in local congregations.