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Full-Text Articles in Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion
Evaluating “Grit” (Genuine Relationships, Intergenerationally Tied) Groups At The Highland Church Of Christ: An Intergenerational Enhancement Of Small Group Community Life, Beth Ann Fisher
Doctor of Ministry Theses
ABSTRACT This project, Evaluating “GRIT” (Genuine Relationships, Intergenerationally Tied) at the Highland Church of Christ: An Intergenerational Enhancement of Small Group Community Life is a response to the request for intergenerational partnership in worship, fellowship, and ministry by the university students at Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas. The church’s robust small group life was a logical place to create a vehicle in which intergenerational partners could ride for a determined period in pursuit of their common goals of furthering Highland’s mission and vision. The “Genuine Relationships, Intergenerationally Tied” or GRIT groups were formed by combining existing small groups …
Ripe For The Harvest: Developing Servants Through Spiritual Formation At Fairhaven Church Of Rootstown, Vincent A. Maltempi
Ripe For The Harvest: Developing Servants Through Spiritual Formation At Fairhaven Church Of Rootstown, Vincent A. Maltempi
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
This action research project addresses the need to develop committed Christian servants within a church ministry context by utilizing a spiritual formation initiative focused on service as a means towards and evidence of spiritual formation and development. Fairhaven Church of Rootstown had not been instructed on the fundamental need for members to serve together. Consequently, service within the church was not a necessary part of discipleship or its spiritual growth plan. The purpose of this intervention was to create and implement a three-fold spiritual development initiative focused on Christian service that includes a sermon series, a midweek study, and a …
Church-Supported Esl Ministry In Canada: A Look At The Church’S Mission In Action, Gordon Moulden
Church-Supported Esl Ministry In Canada: A Look At The Church’S Mission In Action, Gordon Moulden
Great Commission Research Journal
English is a dominant business, academic, and communicative language throughout the world. Immigrants and refugees coming to the West have a great need to learn the language but often do not have the funds or time to pursue studies full-time. Churches often offer English classes to minister to not only their language needs but also to their relational and spiritual needs. This mixed-methods survey and interview research investigates the state of church-supported English as a Second Language (ESL) programs across Canada following the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 50 teachers and program coordinators completed the survey, which revealed needs relating to training …
Sampling Methods And Sample Size In Church-Based Research, David R. Dunaetz
Sampling Methods And Sample Size In Church-Based Research, David R. Dunaetz
Great Commission Research Journal
An underlying assumption of most church-based research is that the sample from which the data is collected is representative of a wider collection of church members, church leaders, small groups, churches, denominations, or whatever is the focus of the study. To increase the likelihood that this assumption is met without making the research an impossible undertaking, various sampling strategies are used ranging from random sampling to convenience sampling, each with advantages and disadvantages. After a sampling strategy is chosen, an appropriate sample size should be pursued, depending on the nature of the study. The sample size of quantitative studies seeking …
Forming Saints In A Digital Context, Mark R. Teasdale
Forming Saints In A Digital Context, Mark R. Teasdale
Great Commission Research Journal
Biblical and scholarly sources agree on the importance of forming Christians to seek after holy living to make them more effective evangelists, such that the ministries of evangelism and spiritual formation are intertwined. They also agree that one of the primary roles of the church is to provide for this formation. However, the practices for doing this have been complicated by the heavy move toward digital ministry because of COVID-19. Congregations can continue this formational work even in highly digital contexts by helping Christians tell their story through lifelogging, providing rituals and disciplines to sanctify time and physical spaces, and …
Gerontic Evangelism, Yakubu Jakada
Gerontic Evangelism, Yakubu Jakada
Great Commission Research Journal
Gerontic Evangelism focuses on sharing the gospel with senior adults. Many evangelism ministries are focusing on children, youth, women, and other adult members of society, but few focus on the elderly. Senior adults in most cases are not seen as a peculiar group that needs to be strategically reached with the gospel. Their importance in society and their growing population worldwide should attract the attention of evangelists and missionaries to target them as a special group for gospel witness. This paper argues that winning the senior adults to Christ is a necessity and may open doors for the evangelization and …
Competing Notions Of Humility: Why Korean Americans Do Not Need To Abandon Confucius To Get To Christ, Eunice Hong, Max Botner
Competing Notions Of Humility: Why Korean Americans Do Not Need To Abandon Confucius To Get To Christ, Eunice Hong, Max Botner
Great Commission Research Journal
Korean Americans often go to church not only for religious reasons, but also for social and cultural reasons. Due to the close tie between the Korean immigrant church and cultural traditions, second-generation Korean Americans often struggle with trying to balance Eastern and Western cultural values. In particular, tensions arise for second-generation Korean Americans between competing notions of humility. Such tensions, however, provide opportunities to reflect on the particular nature of Christian humility. This article presents biblical humility as one that is neither the maintenance of cultural traditions nor the personal growth of individual disciples; rather, Christ-shaped, Spirit-filled humility is the …
Church-Based Research: Using Theories, Concepts, And Operationalizations, David R. Dunaetz
Church-Based Research: Using Theories, Concepts, And Operationalizations, David R. Dunaetz
Great Commission Research Journal
Church-based research requires working with abstract concepts ranging from sin to sanctification. Theories, concepts, and operationalizations allow us to work with these abstractions. Theories are sets of statements describing how specific concepts relate to each other. Concepts are broad ideas that exist in our thinking that can be used to describe phenomena, both within and exterior to the church. If we measure the concepts in our theories among multiple people, we can determine to what degree the relationships in our theories are true or discover under what conditions they are true. Sometimes concepts can be measured directly; other times they …
Breaking Depression’S Silence Within The Church Through Friendships, Robert D. Mcbain
Breaking Depression’S Silence Within The Church Through Friendships, Robert D. Mcbain
Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology
This article explores the silent nature of depression in the local church and suggests that developing Jesus-style friendships can break the silence. It adapts the author’s Doctor of Ministry (DMin) research project, which explored the silent nature of depression in the local church and Christianity’s interpretive healing qualities. This article argues that the church has a rich history of helping sufferers interpret their experiences of depression, but changing worldviews, the growth of the modern medical model, and the effectiveness of pharmaceuticals monopolized health and shoved the church to the periphery of the conversation. Silence became the church’s typical response, which …
Maintaining A Biblical Worldview: Mitigating Emerging Syncretism With Worldly Philosophies Through Focused Instruction In Christian Theology, Scott Kendal Leafe
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 …
One In The Spirit: An Exploration Of And Movement Toward The Theology Behind Acceptance Of, Affirmation Of, And Advocacy For Transgender People In The Church, Jo Newton
Beets Paper Contest
No abstract provided.
Kandhamal Riot 2008 : Its Impact On Current And Future Christian Community, Lalit Kumar Nayak
Kandhamal Riot 2008 : Its Impact On Current And Future Christian Community, Lalit Kumar Nayak
ATS Dissertations
No abstract provided.
Narcissistic Pastors And The Making Of Narcissistic Churches, Darrell Puls
Narcissistic Pastors And The Making Of Narcissistic Churches, Darrell Puls
Great Commission Research Journal
Can churches take on the pathological behaviors associated with narcissism through the influence of a narcissistic pastor? While there is a large body of literature on narcissistic individuals, and a smaller body of research into narcissistic organizations, there is little research on the prevalence of toxic narcissism in clergy and little to none on narcissistic churches. This paper is written from the perspective of currently available research and the author’s experience in working with churches suffering from severe internal conflicts in which both the pastor and church evidenced toxic levels of narcissism. The intent is to increase awareness, open a …
The Power Of Faithfulness In Relational Evangelism, Lance C. Hahn
The Power Of Faithfulness In Relational Evangelism, Lance C. Hahn
Great Commission Research Journal
Many evangelistic efforts bear little fruit. It may be due to our inability to convey the right information, but it may also be due to an inappropriate environment for the information to be interpreted correctly. This article describes a process that God may use to engage a person whose heart has been prepared, so that the seed sown is received, not only as truth, but with joy. Relational evangelism carried out faithfully allows consistent sowing until chaotic moments open the heart.
Spiritual Formation Of Millennials : An Exploration Of Best Practices For Crosspoint Church, Robert D. Chartrand
Spiritual Formation Of Millennials : An Exploration Of Best Practices For Crosspoint Church, Robert D. Chartrand
ATS Dissertations
No abstract provided.
Being Biblical In A Pluralistic Age
Being Biblical In A Pluralistic Age
Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)
One way to define a disciple is “a follower of someone’s words.” In a pluralistic age, there are many words beckoning would-be disciples to particular ways of life, all promising some kind of wellness. These word-ways are ingredients of worldviews, a program or map for orienting oneself in the world. Worldviews answer core questions about human existence, often in the form of a story. This essay argues that contemporary pluralism is the result of abandoning the Bible as our control story, a loss that is as much a failure of what Charles Taylor calls the social imaginary. If this diagnosis …
Progressing From Corruption To Fidelity : An Exploration Of Church-Initiated Agentry In Nigerian Society, Babatunde Oladimeji
Progressing From Corruption To Fidelity : An Exploration Of Church-Initiated Agentry In Nigerian Society, Babatunde Oladimeji
ATS Dissertations
No abstract provided.
Missional Fidelity Of Movein : An Intentional Christian Mission Movement To Unreached Immigrants To North American, Micah Kim
ATS Dissertations
No abstract provided.
Orthodoxy And The Great Commission In The South Georgia Conference Of The United Methodist Church, Lee Edward Pettis
Orthodoxy And The Great Commission In The South Georgia Conference Of The United Methodist Church, Lee Edward Pettis
ATS Dissertations
No abstract provided.
Entre El Templo Y Las Ciudad : Constructing A Pentecostal Lived Ecclesiology, Wilmer Estrada-Carrasquillo
Entre El Templo Y Las Ciudad : Constructing A Pentecostal Lived Ecclesiology, Wilmer Estrada-Carrasquillo
ATS Dissertations
No abstract provided.
An Examination Of Art In The American Evangelical Church For The Purpose Of Discipleship And Evangelism, Joshua Dugan
An Examination Of Art In The American Evangelical Church For The Purpose Of Discipleship And Evangelism, Joshua Dugan
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
Christianity, in previous eras, has been the foundation of the art community. But, it has surrendered that role over the past three centuries and with it a significant potion of its influence on culture. In addition the church is not effectively reaching an entire demographic of people, those who would define themselves as creatives and artists, because it has distanced itself from the arts. This paper will research the previous methods employed by the church and the current limitations of art within the American Evangelical church through applied academic research as well as interviews with church leaders and artists. The …
The Ecclesiological Implications Of The Priesthood Of All Believers, Alan Parker
The Ecclesiological Implications Of The Priesthood Of All Believers, Alan Parker
Faculty Works
The Protestant Reformation encouraged the "priesthood of all believers" but how does that concept impact the local church in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination? The lack of a clear ecclesiology has hampered the growth and effectiveness of Adventism. Both Exodus 19:6 and 1 Peter 2:9 provide a theological hermeneutic for how to reframe our ecclesiology in a way consistent with the Protestant principle of every believer serving as a priest. Priests are teachers, holy representatives, and mediators. The practical implications of these three aspects are examined. Luther's struggle with papal power structures are examined in the light of his radical understanding …
Corporatization Of The Church Compromises Christian’S Priorities, Purpose, And Practices, Edwin Alston
Corporatization Of The Church Compromises Christian’S Priorities, Purpose, And Practices, Edwin Alston
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
In effort to mainstream its exposure, income, agenda, and influence among the people all over the world, some churches have embraced a corporate model in operating and ministering to the masses. Corporatization advocates business mindset, which leads to less sensitivity to building a relationship with God. This trend focuses on revenue and the bottom line. By seeking a self-gratifying importance in society, a growing number of churches are no longer the institution that houses individuals who serve as the salt of the earth and light of the world. This strategy minimizes spiritual formation and discipleship in order to promote a …
Overflowing Generosity, Glenn Featherstone Douglass
Overflowing Generosity, Glenn Featherstone Douglass
ATS Dissertations
No abstract provided.
Ten Essential Lessons Learned When Transitioning From A Long-Term Tenured Pastor In The African American Baptist Church, Marcus Allen
Ten Essential Lessons Learned When Transitioning From A Long-Term Tenured Pastor In The African American Baptist Church, Marcus Allen
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
When a pastor has a served long tenure at one church, the members hold this individual in high regard. He has conducted many marriages and countless burial ceremonies, baptized most of the membership, and have been there for the members and their families during their most difficult moments in life. When pastors are called to these churches, they are faced with several challenges. The church is unsure of the leadership ability of the new pastor, their expectations are high, congregants are hesitant to change things, and refuse to be challenged with new methods of doing ministry. This research is based …
Preaching Wesley's Ordo Salutis : A Study In Wesleyan Theology Today, Edward E. Beedle
Preaching Wesley's Ordo Salutis : A Study In Wesleyan Theology Today, Edward E. Beedle
ATS Dissertations
No abstract provided.
Missional Leadership : A Case Study Of The Representative Congregations Of Methodist, Presbyterian, And Other Churches In Tahan-Kalaymyo, Sagaing Region, Lal Thla Muana
ATS Dissertations
No abstract provided.
Hispanic United Methodist Church Growth : The Factors That Impact Growth In Hispanic United Methodist Churches Within The Kentucky Annual Conference, Iosmar Alvarez Alfonso
Hispanic United Methodist Church Growth : The Factors That Impact Growth In Hispanic United Methodist Churches Within The Kentucky Annual Conference, Iosmar Alvarez Alfonso
ATS Dissertations
No abstract provided.
Reintroducting The Doctrine And Experience Of Christian Perfection To United Methodists, Matthew Hatcher Johnson
Reintroducting The Doctrine And Experience Of Christian Perfection To United Methodists, Matthew Hatcher Johnson
ATS Dissertations
No abstract provided.
The Dying Of The American Church: Five Biblical Principles For Revival, Stan Mars
The Dying Of The American Church: Five Biblical Principles For Revival, Stan Mars
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
The majority of churches in America continue to suffer a numerical plateau or a decline in church growth. As a result of disobedience to God to follow His commandments in the making of disciples, the church also suffers from a flat lined, virtually non-existent, adult conversion rate. People of the world who do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior are not being evangelized by the church using the first century process of discipleship and therefore, the numbers of conversions to Christ are dismal. The modern day American Church needs to return to the first century process of …