Digital Commons Network^™

Women In Pastoral Leadership Within The Assemblies Of God: How Can The Numbers Advance?, Carolyne D. Butler

Selected Honors Theses

The number of women in pastoral leadership within the Assemblies of God grows by the addition of credentialed women. While the numbers seem increasingly exponential, their validity in credentialed growth of women is staggered, lacking true egalitarian equality. It is questioned how many credentialed women are actually in an active, executive role of leadership within the A.G. Data from the A.G. examines the increase in female credentialing and ministry status over a fifteen-year span and its contribution to the total number of female ministers. Biblical theology and historical examples enhance the credibility and authority of female leadership while gender roles …

Beautiful Feet: Infusing Liturgical Dance And Discipleship, Ariesha Wilbert Murray

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Liturgical dance, when combined with other biblical elements in addition to worship, can revolutionize the life of a disciple. This mixed-method study explores the infusion of liturgical dance and discipleship as another method that can be used to help disciples better understand the scriptures used in the pastor’s message on fulfilling the Great Commission. While discipleship was previously the church’s primary focus, it has slowly fallen to the wayside, whereas disciples are not being made or taught how to make disciples of all nations. This research uses a focus group with the members of a local ministry to demonstrate whether …

Prayerlessness: Using Expository Sermons To Change The Way Believer's Pray, Joshua Kenton Smith

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In America, the church is operating with less supernatural power than it once did or currently does in other parts of the world, especially as it relates to those like East Barbourville Baptist Church who belong to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). For example, the Annual Church Profile data of the SBC for the 2018 year reveals that its overall membership has reached a thirty-year low. Likewise, the data reveals a decline in baptisms for the tenth year in a row. Yet, the church has access to more ministry tools and better training than any previous generation, so what is …

Experiencing God: Engaging Elementary-Aged Children In Corporate Worship, Laura Rushing Hancock

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The engagement of children in meaningful worship has been neglected, despite the investment of modern churches in essential safety protocols and digital media in children’s ministry. The twenty-first-century consumerist mindset is driving worship design, essentially undermining the worship leader’s role as the shepherd of a child-centered and Christ-focused approach. Many churches are neglecting the biblical instruction to cast vision and express value for children’s corporate worship. A sense of awe and wonder is notably absent in many corporate services designed for children. Drawing upon biblical principles, educational theory, and corporate worship practices throughout history, this qualitative historical study seeks to …

Talk This Way: A Look At The Historical Conversation Between Hip-Hop And Christianity, Joshua Swanson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Christianity and Hip-Hop culture are often said to be at odds with one another. One is said to promote a lifestyle of righteousness and love, while the other is said to promote drugs, violence, and pride. As a result, the public has portrayed these two institutions as conflicting with no willingness to resolve their perceived differences. This paper will argue that there has always been a healthy conversation between Hip-Hop and Christianity since Hip-Hop’s inception. Using sources like Hip-Hop lyrics, theologians, historians, autobiographies, sermons, and articles that range from Ma$e to Tipper Gore, this paper will look at the conversation …

The New Left In American Evangelicalism, Jonathan E. Harris

Masters Theses

In the late 1960s and early 1970s a new kind of evangelical emerged as a result of interaction with New Left ideas. The evangelical left gained strength until the mid 1970s, only to reemerge in the 2010s.

Capitalism And Biblical Ethics, Sarah D. Stewart

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

There has been a growing trend in some expressions of Christianity to view Capitalism as fundamentally incompatible with the Christian faith. This article looked to a variety of sources to argue that Christianity and Capitalism are not fundamentally incompatible. Rather, Capitalism developed alongside developments in Christian theology during the Middle Ages. This traditional form of Capitalism is defined and argued for in this article. The article attempts to demonstrate that the elements that allow Capitalism to thrive are compatible with Christian ethics. The case is made by first examining the historical development of Capitalism and its relationship to Christianity. From …

God Sees And God Rescues: The Motif Of Affliction In Genesis, Emily Christine Page

Masters Theses

The book of Genesis mainly centers on the fulfillment of God’s patriarchal promises. However, the book presents characters who first experience hardship before they receive blessings from God. Many of the hardships are described in Genesis as “afflictions” (√ענה), the same word used to describe Israel’s suffering in Egypt (Exod 3:7). Although the motif of affliction receives attention for its appearance in Exodus, few scholars note the significance of this motif in Genesis. The purpose of this thesis is to trace the motif of affliction in Genesis and to determine the pattern of its appearance. The motif serves the larger …

The Acts Model Designed To Make Disciples, Phillip Harold Stevens

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Churches are in decline. Every relevant statistic reveals the church has a major problem, and if it is to continue to survive it must make changes. The church is not evangelizing, not making disciples, and not making an impact in our communities. Every year it is estimated that over 4,000 churches close each year. The organism founded by Jesus is being overcome. Winfall Baptist Church, located in Gladys, VA, was arguably a church on the decline. Members of the Winfall community believed the church building would one day end up becoming a hay barn. Based on Scripture, surveys of current …

Pastoral Burnout: Practical And Biblical Insights For Prevention And Rehabilitation Within The International Pentecostal Holiness Church, Jim Tunnell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With the excessive demands in pastoral ministry, the spectrum of ministry workload has become a stressful occupational peril that could trigger pastors to give in and ultimately abandon ministry altogether. Before and after secession, clergy, particularly pastors, experience a wide variety of maladies, including but not limited to physical and psychological distress, that may lead to intensive outcomes. As the number of resignations continues to rise, there is an emergent interest among leaders, particularly in the denominational sector, to determine the interposing contributing factors and to develop appropriate resources to be of assistance when pastoral burnout is recognizable. With the …

José In Egypt: Reading Genesis 37-50 With People On The Move, Jean-Pierre Ruiz

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

Brief Introduction To Numbers And Deuteronomy; Conclusion On Leviticus, Milo A. Rediger

Milo Rediger Sermons

No abstract provided.

Deuteronomy, Milo A. Rediger

Milo Rediger Sermons

No abstract provided.

Exodus (1st Lecture): Review Of Joseph And Introduction To Exodus, Milo A. Rediger

Milo Rediger Sermons

No abstract provided.

Exodus (3rd Lecture): Plagues, Milo A. Rediger

Milo Rediger Sermons

No abstract provided.

Exodus (4th Lecture): Passover, Milo A. Rediger

Milo Rediger Sermons

No abstract provided.

Following The Guide: A Wilderness Theology Of Youth Ministry, Rachel M. Weisz

Honors Projects

Scripture offers readers a unique characterization of wilderness spaces and provides us with a great deal of information about what to expect. This discussion traces various scriptural narratives of encounter with God in the wilderness, offering the reader a model for what a wilderness experience of God may entail, and then turns to more current conversation about wilderness youth ministry. The project traces current research of fields that are tangentially related to wilderness youth ministry including wilderness therapy, outdoor adventure education, and camp ministry, and seeks to highlight the ways that they can enhance, alter, and confirm various practices within …

Are Christian Schools Worth Having?, Robert Bruinsma

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

The Development Of A Comprehensive Biblical Worldview In Undergraduate Students Who Attend A Regionally Accredited Christian University Located In A Church Setting, Nell Ivy Prince

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The problem this study addresses is that Christian undergraduate Generation Z students at Southeastern University’s Bayside Regional Campus (SEUB) do not have a comprehensive biblical worldview. This was confirmed when a worldview test taken by SEUB students at the beginning of this study revealed that zero students part of this study had a biblical theist worldview, and 15 percent had a moderate Christian worldview. This problem is widespread among universities as a 2018 study from Barna revealed that only 4 percent of Gen Z engaged Christians have a biblical worldview. This study proposes that students who attend a regionally-accredited Christian …

On Vias Negativa And Positiva In John’S Dialectical Theology—Apophatic And Kataphatic Thrusts In Philo And Within The Johannine Tradition, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

The Vias Negativa and Positiva are evident in Jewish Scripture and Philo, but they also come across dialectically in the Fourth Gospel.1 Indeed, connections between these writings and the Fourth Gospel abound, as Peder Borgen and others have shown over the years, but this particular subject of overlap is an intriguing one. 2 Of special interest here are the apophatic and kataphatic thrusts of John’s historical, theological, and compositional interests with relation to the 9LD 1HJDWLYD and the 9LD 3RVLWLYD , as played out within histories of John’s situation and composition. Put simply, John’s presentation of Jesus and his ministry …

The Seventy-Weeks Prophecy Of Daniel 9:24–27 And First-Century Ad Jewish Messianic Expectation, David J. Hamstra

Andrews University Seminary Student Journal

For Christians who interpret the seventy weeks of Daniel 9:24–27 by correlating the coming of the messiah with the arrival of Jesus Christ, the question of whether Jesus could have been identified as the predicted messiah at the time of fulfillment is theologically significant given biblical claims of prophetic intelligibility. There is a consensus among scholars affirming the view that interpretation of the seventy-weeks prophecy led to a climate of messianic expectation among certain sectors of first-century Jewish society. This position is supported by the explicit connection of the seventy weeks to the anticipated arrival of a messiah in Melchizedek …

Adolescent Spiritual Formation: Practical Theology As A Filter For Youth Ministry, Jeremy Smith

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

There seems to be a disconnect between the practice and scholars of youth ministry. Historically, the practice of youth ministry has been overly concerned with method, creating multiple approaches, each with its own inherent shortcomings. Responding to this overemphasis on method, scholars of youth ministry have argued for a more theological framework, assuming that the problem lies within a lack of theological education among youth ministry practitioners. In 2001 youth ministry scholarship made a case to place the field of youth ministry under the discipline of practical theology in hopes of grounding the practice of youth ministry in theology. Over …

Cultivating Virtue: Developing A Guiding Document For Youth Ministry At Cookeville First United Methodist Church, Adam Daniels

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to produce a guiding document of virtues that represented the type of Christ-like character qualities desired in youth at Cookeville First United Methodist Church. The six virtues chosen in the document represent a comprehensive vision for character growth over the course of students’ time in the program. To provide a theological foundation for this project, I examined the idea that virtue has a narrative shape where words find their meaning in a story. For our purposes, this story is generally stated as the story of Jesus at first but is then seen as best …

Helms' "Prayer 101: What Every Intercessor Needs To Know" (Book Review), Nancy Warwick

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Increasing State Restrictions On Russian Protestant Seminaries, Mark R. Elliott

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"In sum, Russian Protestant seminaries are presently undergoing a trial by state inspection that threatens their very existence. Academics Perry Glanzer and Konstantin Petrenko are correct in asserting that the Russian state’s “power to license and accredit” is “the power of life and death” over any educational institution.

State justifications for close oversight of Protestant seminaries appear overstated at best and lack credibility at worst. As regards state concerns for quality control, should not the Russian constitution’s requirement for separation of church and state take precedence over a secular government’s presumption to instruct believers on how best to train their …

When Students Follow Jesus : Toward The Christian Life, Ty Benbow

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Basis For Continuing Homiletical Education : The Development Of A Preaching Training Program For Lay Pastors In The Province Of Cebu, Philippines, Soo Young Lee

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Role Leadership Can Play In Consolidating Relationships For Peacebuilding : Building A Healthy Relationship Between The Abudu And The Andani Royal Families Of Dagbon Traditional Area, Ghana, Abukari S. Yakubu

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Young's "Abigail’S Story: Biblical Wisdom From A Woman Of Strength And Faith" (Book Review), Cynthia Hammell

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Keener's " Christobiography: Memories, History, And The Reliability Of The Gospels" (Book Review), Jeff Gates

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.