Digital Commons Network^™

Korean Church Planters’ Perception On Church Planting Education, Hansung Kim

Great Commission Research Journal

This study seeks to understand how Korean church planters perceive the church planting education that they received. This study employs the qualitative approach, which uses words and open-ended questions to explore and understand the meaning that individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem. To collect data, I interviewed nine church planters. I analyzed, interpreted, and wrote data as soon as possible. In addition, I collected other data. I also compared different data with each other to generate categories, and it was done consistently. The followings are the findings. While their passion for church planting was great and …

Book Review: You Don’T Have To Cross The Ocean To Reach The World: The Power Of Local Cross-Cultural Ministry By David Boyd, Jeff K. Walters

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Shaped By God’S Heart: The Passion And Practices Of Missional Churches By Milfred Minatrea, Grant Horner

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Bridges Of God: The Mission Legacy Of Donald Anderson Mcgavran, Charles Van Engen

Great Commission Research Journal

This short essay is about Donald McGavran and his ground-breaking book, Bridges of God, that became the cornerstone of Church Growth theory and the foundation of what is now called the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Missiological thinking and missionary practice was transformed by the energy, vitality, insight, and stubborn tenacity of Donald McGavran. Whether they agreed with McGavran or not, after the publication of The Bridges of God, mission professors, mission executives, and mission practitioners could no longer do business as usual, nor their usual business.

Book Review: Vintage Church: Timeless Truths And Timely Methods By Mark Driscoll And Gerry Breshears, Aaron James Meraz Sr.

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Doubling Down On Jesus, Joshua Rhone

Great Commission Research Journal

How can we go about meeting people's needs in a way that is faithful to the Good News of Jesus Christ?

Whither Church Planting?, Hutz Hertzberg, Francis Lonsway

Great Commission Research Journal

Church planting is a clear response to the gospel command to spread the good news. While the term “church plant” may not be shared across Christian traditions, its meaning and goal are universally embraced. What is also clear, however, is the fact that the establishment of a new plant does not guarantee its success. Likely the critical factor in denomination, free, or independent church expansion is the nature of the individual or team assigned or commissioned to spread the good news.

Ethical Guidelines For Church Planters: A Suggested Approach For Starting (And Continuing) The Conversation, J. D. Payne

Great Commission Research Journal

Church planters, regardless of their ministry contexts, need to develop a set of ethical guidelines to direct their ministry practices. This paper presents eleven particular guidelines.

Fit Churches Missionally Engaged, Phil Stevenson

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

This concept of church health and fitness has intrigued me. Is there a difference between a healthy church and a fit church? Might a church move from unhealthy to healthy, but fall short of fitness? If a church can be healthy, but not fit, what does that mean? How does a healthy church move toward fitness? Does a healthy church need to be fit in order to be effective? My short conclusion is that a church can be healthy but not fit. And just as in our physical being, fitness can enhance health. Therefore, healthy churches should move to fitness. …

Book Review Of The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating The Missional Church By Alan Hirsch, Bob Wenz

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

No abstract provided.

Evangelism Lessons Learned Abroad That Have Implications At Home, Tom Steffen

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

This article will address my journey in evangelism among the Ifugao of the Philippines and years of consulting and teaching on the topic at home and abroad. It will seek to take the things I've learned in cross-cultural settings and demonstrate possible implications and applications for a postmodern, post- Christian, post-literate, post-denominational, post-commitment generation in the USA.

Planting Diverse Ethnic Seventh-Day Adventist Churches In Berlin, Germany, Berndt Dietrich Wolter

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Purpose

The purpose of this dissertation is to develop a contextualized model for an ethnic church planting process in large cities such as Berlin.

Statement of Problem

The unchurched population of foreigners in Germany stands at around seven million with 450,000 of them living in Berlin. A few existing ethnic Adventist churches in Germany have been established in the past but no strategy has been developed to reach new foreign groups. Although there are some Adventist ethnic churches in Berlin, they have not developed a coherent strategy to reach the rest of the foreigners. The German attitude toward integration of …

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

Doctor of Ministry Projects

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 …

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

Doctor of Ministry Projects

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 …

Ministering With Millennials: A Complete Report On The 180 Symposium, Roger Dudley, Allen Walshe

All Books

Millennials in your community range in age from 15 to 32. The youngest are in the early years of high school and the oldest may or may not be married with families. One important Millennial generation attribute is delayed commitment. Ministering with Millennials starts with a complete overview of this interesting and important generation.

Papers presented at the 180 Symposium covered five major ministry themes:

• The Search for Identity
• Relationships are the Key
• Spirituality is Essential
• There is a Call for Leadership
• A Theme of Service

Among the 25 papers included in Ministering with Millennials, you will find powerful …

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.

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 …

Handing On Faith: Equipping The Next Generation To ”Leave Church”!, Peter Roennfeldt

180 Symposium Publications

In view of the continuing high attrition of next generations from the Adventist church, perhaps, like with effective parenting, the best the church can do is to equip the next generation to “leave church” — releasing them to give birth to the next generation of Adventism. This involves trust — trusting the next generations, and trusting God with the future of his church.

2009 - 92nd Annual Summit, "On The Mountain With God: Exodus Expedition, Abilene Christian University

Lectureship and Summit Programs

No abstract provided.

Book Review: The Living Church – Convictions Of A Lifelong Pastor, Roger Trautmann

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Planting New Churches In A Postmodern Age, Daryl Thompson

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Simple Church: Returning To God’S Process For Making Disciples, Bob Beaver

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

No abstract provided.

The Art Of Vision Casting For Church Multiplication, J. D. Payne

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

“A plan in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding draws it out.” Proverbs 20:5 (NASB). The writer of the above verse reminds us of the importance of having knowledge in regard to moving one’s plans out of the deep recesses of the heart to the surface to where those plans can be carried out. This proverb has much to say about casting a vision for multiplication. Casting, or drawing out that vision from the heart so that others will take ownership of that vision and work to carry it out, requires a discerning …

The State Of Church Planting In The United States: Research Overview And Qualitative Study Of Primary Church Planting Entities, Edward Stetzer, Warren Bird

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

The launching of new Protestant churches in the United States, widely known as church planting, plays an increasing role in today's ecclesiastical landscape. This article summarizes salient findings from existing literature (multiple church planting studies, 54 doctoral dissertations, 41 journal articles, and over 100 church planting books and manuals), giving particular attention to a 2007 study by Leadership Network, which itself involved fresh research among more than 200 church-planting churches, over 100 leaders from 40 denominations, 45 church planting networks, 84 organic church leaders, 12 nationally known experts, and 81 colleges and seminaries. The Leadership Network findings review the contributions …

Factors Of Survivability Of Church Plants In The Tarrant, Collin, North Texas, And Denton Baptist Associations, Aaron James Meraz Sr.

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

When I planted Bridgeway Baptist Church, McKinney, Texas, in October 2005, my association put me in contact with two recently deceased church plants to get some of their materials to use in our church. I talked with the two pastors and asked them why their churches died, hoping I could avoid their destiny. Though both churches made it past their fourth birthday, the pastors said that they needed more time to give to the church, a team member, and more financial support. I began looking into the survivability of church plants and, thanks to my church planting colloquium, was able …

Book Review: Breakout Churches: Discover How To Make The Leap, Gordon Penfold

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

No abstract provided.

Introduction, Gary L. Mcintosh

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

For the past fourteen years, it has been my privilege to edit the Journal of the American Society for Church Growth. John Vaughan’s vision of seeing a new journal devoted to Great Commission research became a reality when the first issue was released in 1990. He edited the first four years, and I followed him as editor in 1995. My two major goals were to publish on a regular time schedule, and to move to multiple issues per year. Both of those goals were accomplished in 1997 when we first began publishing three issues per year. Now, after editing thirty-seven …

Missio Apostolica Special Chs Partnership Issue, Leopoldo Sánchez, Rudolph Blank, Eloy S. González, Mark Junkans, Melissa Salomón, Michael Doyle, Douglas Groll, Daniel G. Groody, Benito Pérez, Jessie Pérez

Artículos obra entre Hispano/Latinos

Confessing Christ contextually has been one of the emphases of this Journal since its inception fifteen years ago. Our readership has experienced the joy of missionaries sharing the faith with various peoples and cultures in domestic as well as distant lands. Colleague Leo Sanchez has provided us personnel as well as resources to publish this edition with an emphasis on mission and ministry among the Hispanic/Latino population of God‘s world. An added feature in this issue is summary statements of the articles in Spanish.

This issue is comprehensive in its scope as it presents topics and voices such as Marginality …

Prophet, Priest, And King : The Impact Of A Pastoral Theology Course On The Practice Of Pentecostal Pastors In The Philippines, Albert C. Clavo

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Training Program In Preaching For Pastors Of The Morogoro-Pwani District Of The Tanzania Assembly Of God, Kent Adrian Reynolds

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.