Digital Commons Network^™

Why Seek Profits?: A Missional Perspective On Business, Jooho Lee

All Faculty Open Access Publications

There are plenty of good reasons to be suspicious about profit-seeking. There are also good reasons to be suspicious about attempts to justify the pursuit of profits by focusing solely on the value of profits or of the work that produces the profits. Nevertheless, there is a good reason for the Christian to engage in profit-seeking: it can be a way to participate more fully in the missio Dei. Profit-seeking plays a central role within the market process by communicating and incentivizing a certain way of relating to the material and social world. When we realize profits in ways that …

Great Members, Great Churches: Adaptive Change And Missional Theology In The Local Church, Christopher Jacobsen

Doctor of Ministry Theses

An Action Research (AR) project focusing on congregational participation in ministries within the church and outside it. Theological lenses of Trinitarian theology, missional theology, and spiritual practices. Theoretical lenses of adaptive change theory, consumerism and social capital, and organizational theories of relationship, four-frame model, and open source model. Identifies adaptive challenges faced by a small Reformed Church in America church in northern New Jersey, with a strong emphasis on the tension between living busy lives and active participation in the ministry of the triune God. Reframes leadership through the lens of writing the church’s story.

Business As Mission And Mission As Business: Case Studies Of Financially Sustainable Christian Mission Ventures With A Focus On Anglican Dioceses In East Africa, Dennis Obura Tongoi

Business as Mission Theses and Dissertations

Anglican dioceses established by The Church Mission Society and other Western-founded Christian denominations in East Africa were envisaged to grow and become self-governing, self-propagating and self-supporting. The first two goals (to be self-governing and self-propagating) have more or less been achieved. The third goal (the pursuit of self-support) is at a critical stage, especially considering that resources, in terms of funding and personnel, are in decline. This research sought to document the factors that contribute to, or hinder, the role that lay people (business people in particular) can play in sustaining the ministry and mission of Anglican dioceses. The research …

An Integrative Study Of Doxological Metanarrative, Mission, Motivation And Mechanism, João Mordomo

Business as Mission Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation engages in an integrative study of the doxological metanarrative of Scripture in relation to mission, motivation and mechanism, with special attention given to the business as mission (BAM) mechanism in Brazil. Two research techniques were utilized: 1) archival research in order to define and describe both the doxological components (metanarrative, mission and motivation) and the BAM mechanism; and 2) case study method in order to examine the motivations that drive successful Brazilian Christian entrepreneurs to start Kingdom companies.

The researcher identified three key metanarrative frameworks for understanding Scripture and redemptive history: the Nature of God (NOG), the Kingdom …

Structure And Mission Effectiveness: A Study Focused On Seventh-Day Adventist Mission To Unreached People Groups Between 1980 And 2010, Abraham Guerrero

Dissertations

The present study examines the impact of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's structure on mission effectiveness in taking the gospel to unreached people groups between 1980 and 2010. A historical descriptive study, this dissertation's theory base includes structure from an anthropological perspective; structure, mission, and effectiveness from an organizational perspective; and church structure and mission effectiveness in Christian history.

The impact of structure on mission effectivenessis evaluated in the present work by looking for patterns in history in which the structure has been either a facilitator or a hindrance for establishing churches among those who have not been reached with the …