Digital Commons Network^™

Complete Issue

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

No abstract provided.

Friends And Watershed Discipleship: Reconciling With People And The Land In Light Of The Doctrine Of Discovery, Cherice Bock

Quaker Religious Thought

Members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) express frequent adulation for the denomination’s heritage of standing up for social justice. As a member of the denomination, I share this pride in our heritage, and yet, I feel increasingly convicted in relation to Quaker scholarship and praxis that we need to reevaluate our history and current practices with recognition of the “wicked” web of interconnected social, economic, and environmental injustices we currently face as a global community. This necessitates awareness of our part in creating the current situation, and a willingness to actively work to change the problematic areas of …

Reclaiming A Multiplying Discipleship: Fostering The Dance Of The Gathered And Sent Church, Matthew Lake

Doctor of Ministry

In the postmodern world, the local church has experienced significant decline as Christendom gives way to a more secular culture. Many shrinking denominational churches have missed imaginative opportunities and practices to produce multiplying disciples. This dissertation explores how declining denominational churches can embrace new opportunities for flourishing in a postmodern context through the development of a culture of multiplying discipleship. History—through examples such as the early church and Wesleyan movements—has shown that multiplying discipleship movements are possible in cultures not familiar with the Gospel. Such movements reveal new possibilities produced through the tension found between more formational offices of teaching, …

Discipleship In A Digital Age: Leveraging Multimodality And Digital Networks, Jennifer Miles

Doctor of Ministry

Advancements in communication technology, particularly since the Internet Age, have impacted culture in several fundamental ways. Cognitive and psychological changes have changed how people seek and understand knowledge. The development of horizontal networks made of both space of places, physical locations, and space of flows, Internet locations,1 has reshaped academic, social, and political spheres. The rise in entertainment to transfer information has shifted society’s focus to one of experience and service in everyday life. These changes have impacted the institutional church through a reduction of individuals self-identifying as Christian and in behaviors traditionally considered Christian.

In response, the church has …

What Forms Of Gratitude Expression Are Most Appreciated? Applications For Christian Leaders, David R. Dunaetz, Peggy Lanum

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

Both the emotion and expression of gratitude produce benefits for the person who is thankful, as well as the person being thanked. This study explores the degree to which various forms of gratitude expression are appreciated by those being thanked. In a survey-based study (N=361), costly, private expressions of gratitude were more appreciated by people being thanked than less costly, public expressions. Higher levels of the HEXACO personality traits of conscientiousness and emotionality increased the degree to which people appreciated being thanked. Lower honesty-humility (e.g., narcissism) predicted a greater appreciation of receiving public expressions of gratitude while higher honesty-humility predicted …

The Deaf Catholic, Spring 2020

ICDA The Deaf Catholic

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in USA

ICDA The Deaf CatholicFinding Aid

Christian Leaders At Midcareer: Navigating The Opportunities And Challengs In Midlife, Seth J. Nelson

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

In this article, the author suggests midcareer is a central but transitional season in a Christian leaders’ life-course. During this season, the Lord seeks to bring clarity to, and integration between, the leader's calling as a citizen of the Kingdom of God, the leader’s personal identity as united with Christ, and the leader’s occupation within his or her organization. After proposing a conceptual framework for the experience of midcareer, the author discusses common themes, challenges, and opportunities of “middlescence” (Morison, Erikson, & Dychtwald, 2006), which exist on a continuum from “burning out” on one end to the “sweet spot” of …

The Socialist Impact On Christian-Muslim Shared St. Naum Monastery, Evelyn Reuter

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Shared religious places may be provocative phenomena—for the members of the sharing communities as well as for uninvolved observers. An increasing number of research literature focusing on the contesting character of such places and the consequences for the identities of sharing communities serves as evidence for that thesis. The heads of the theoretical discussion regarding the influence of sharing religious and political identities are the anthropologists, Robert Hayden and Glenn Bowman. Due to the long-lasting Christian- Muslim contacts characterized by peaceful as well as conflicting interaction, both bring examples from Southeastern Europe, especially from the post-Yugoslavian context. It is obvious …

Believers Armor: How The Christian Church In The United States Can Survive And Overcome Spiritual Warfare, Michael A. Webb

Doctor of Ministry

This research seeks to discover why the Christian church in the United States has struggled to withstand the effects of spiritual warfare. Resisting Satan’s evil schemes continues to be a personal need and spiritual challenge facing people in today’s fastpaced digital world. Failing to resist Satan creates a severe problem for the Christian church. As a result, believers are unprepared to both understand and withstand the effects of spiritual warfare. The author, inspired by the Holy Spirit, created an artifact that has become a powerful ministry tool to address this challenge. The Armor of God challenge coin was fashioned from …

The Impact Prayer Has On Reducing Anxiety, Casey D. Groover

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Anxiety predates the modern world as its history is biblical. Christians have traditionally battled the conditions of anxiety, and it currently adversely impacts people in various ways today. A process used to reduce the effect of anxiety is prayer, and Christians among the Church of God denomination practice its rituals so that God will provide for their requests. This Christian prayer is experienced through different prayer rituals as God recognizes and responds to Christians using them. The results of prayers when experiencing reactions to anxiety are reported in the testimonies of ten research participants who provided three significant themes in …

Not A Megachurch? Creative Methods Toward Intergenerational Worship Within A Small Evangelical Church: A Case Study, Brenda L. Widger

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Larger churches have historically had the advantage in the realm of creative worship ministry due to larger budgets, more volunteers and dedicated professional staff. While megachurches have dominated the creative worship model, smaller evangelical churches have struggled to capture the essence of creativity in their services. There is a need to explore the obstacles faced by the smaller church along with methods that can be applied to overcome the challenges to offer effective worship experiences that include creative worship elements in a multigenerational model. In this qualitative historical case study, insight into the processes and resources necessary to move the …

The Correlation Between Pastors’ Leadership Style, Their Organizational Change Commitment, And Their Organization’S Readiness For Change, Jerusha Smith Drummond

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this non-experimental correlational study was to determine whether a relationship exists between pastors’ perceptions of transformational leadership, pastors’ organizational change commitment, and their organization’s readiness for change, controlling for gender, age, education, tenure, and geographical location of lead pastors in the South Carolina Baptist Convention (SCBC) churches. Leadership and change are intertwined; thus, pastors’ commitment to organizational change and their organization’s readiness for change highlights dynamic leadership in the management of church life. The pastor must possess a leadership style that moves the church toward organizational change while keeping parishioners in attendance. The study answers the following …

Reformed Worship (Rw) 135 - Ascension / Pentecost (March 2020), Reformed Worship Editors

Reformed Worship Magazine

Features

Worship Series: Listening to God: Scripture, Spirit, and Stillness by Joyce Borger....3

Why Are You Just Standing Around? by Rachel Bouwkamp....12

"Amen" Living by Rachel Bouwkamp....24

To God Be the Glory by Laura TenHave-Chapman....28

Articles

Editorial: The Story Isn't Over by Joyce Borger....2

Ascension: To Do or Not to Do by Eric Dirksen and Rod Snaterse....10

For Pastors: The Eventful Spirit by Scott Hoezee....14

Q&A: Like a Multifaceted Diamond by John D. Witvliet....36

A Tribute to Chris Overvoorde by Emily R. Brink....38

Grace and Peace by Joel Jupp....40

Resources …

Vision, Spring 2020

Vision

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in USA

VisionFinding Aid

Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University: Fpu's Effect On Tithes And Offerings In The Evangelical Church, Jay Forseth

Doctor of Ministry

In The Evangelical Church, giving actually went down after FPU in 23 out of our 42 churches (55%) the year the class was held. Nevertheless, our overall average increase in giving to the 42 churches was +2.39% the same year. The following year, giving further increased a total of 4.24% over the year before the class was taught, which supports Ramsey’s claim of a 4% giving increase. In year three after the class, total giving reached a remarkable increase of 7.06%, while 67% of our churches saw a positive net increase in giving after hosting FPU.

However, in the fourth …

Partners In Ministry: Practical Advice For Ministers And Their Spouses, Nancy Rockey, Ron Rockey, Petr Cincala

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

No abstract provided.

Reforming Christian Higher Education: Why Christian Colleges And Universities Need Reformation Theology, Javier Garcia

Pro Rege

Editor's Note: Dr. Garcia presented this paper at the Prodigal Love of God Conference, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Canons of Dort, April 2019, sponsored by Dordt University and co-sponsored by the Lilly Fellowship Program, as a regional conference.

American Prodigal: White Church, Black Church, And The Feast Of Social Justice, Melissa Vanden Bout

Pro Rege

Editor's Note: Dr. Vanden Bout presented this paper at the Prodigal Love of God Conference, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Canons of Dort, April 2019, sponsored by Dordt University and co-sponsored by the Lilly Fellowship Program, as a regional conference.

William Carey's Expectation For Missionary Cooperation : An Inquiry Into The Significance Of Interdependence In The Missionary Partnerships And Collaborative Efforts Of The First Baptist Mission In India, Andrew D. Mcfarland

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Early Christian Responses To Persecution And Their Implications For Christians In Northern Nigeria, Yakubu Tanko Jakada

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Theological Education Of Seventh-Day Adventist Women In Nigeria, Harriet O. Ikhane

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Adventist Devotional Theology In Mission: An Emphasis On Spiritual Life In The Encounter With The Buddhist Karmic Understanding Of God And The Afterlife, Regine Rimarzik

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

St. Ignatius As Psychotherapist? How Jesuit Spirituality And Wisdom Can Enhance Psychotherapy, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

The great wisdom traditions associated with various religious and spiritual practices and institutions have offered a variety of helpful strategies for more effective living and coping with life’s many challenges. In most recent times, efforts to secularize these strategies have been made in order to appeal to the general population as well as to secular mental health professionals as tools for their clinical practices. Although mindfulness meditation and yoga are perhaps the most notable examples, many other intervention strategies have been and can be borrowed from various religious and spiritual traditions to use in a secular manner if so desired. …

Virtue And Human Fragility, Kate Ward

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

New perspectives from virtue ethicists engaged with human fragility make concrete moral theology’s long understanding that humans are both free and constrained in our virtue pursuit. Theologians examine the possibilities of virtue under conditions of oppression as well as the virtue and vice of oppressors. Some adapt the term “moral luck” from philosophy to describe how persistent life circumstances shape the pursuit of virtue. Others focus on determinative individual acts through the lens of moral injury, a concept developed by psychologists caring for veterans. Finally, theologians engaged with disability describe flourishing, virtuous lives lived amid human mental and physical fragility.

The Effectiveness Of The African American Church Evangelism Outreach Process, Jeffrey Lawrance Dennis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Many African American churches are on a continual decline or have become stagnant in membership due to a lack of relational and spiritual community evangelism. The focus of this project reflects that African American churches in North Carolina are not growing because they do not focus on Jesus Christ’s central mandate to his disciples and the church to evangelize the community and the world around it. The researcher performs applied research on African American churches that directly interacted with these communities and investigates positive and negative data by surveying twenty African American churches in Winston Salem, Greensboro, High Point, and …

Church Leadership: Examining The Role Of Non-Pastoral Leadership In A New Church Plant, Douglas Martin Beckman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In today’s western Christianity, many small churches are closing their doors; hundreds of pastors are quitting the ministry. Churches are planted quickly, and just as quickly close and disappear. What can be done to bring a halt to this downhill slide? The great message of Jesus Christ is as important and powerful as it always has been. However, in many churches today, there are dissident elements working to take attention away from the gospel. Dissident non-pastoral leadership (a person or persons who undermine the Pastor’s authority and cause disruption for their own benefit) can destroy the entire vision of a …

Engaging The Poor: Leveraging Local Poverty Assistance Programs To Prepare For Global Engagement, Darren Hercyk

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With globalization, there has been an explosion in travel by academic institutions and the church. For the church, this growth has been in short-term mission trips. Unlike traditional missionaries, most short-term travelers are untrained or lightly trained laypersons. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to understand how local poverty assistance programs could be leveraged to prepare the church today for global engagement. This study provided ten church volunteers with training that included a Scripture overview of the poor, the multidimensional factors of poverty, reducing harm in poverty programs, and the skills for affirming dignity during an interview. Following …

The Ministry Of Ezra: A Biblical Model Of Intergenerational Worship, Matthew Ryan Nix

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite many studies on intergenerational worship, there is little focus on a specific biblical character with the aim to edify the Church family as a whole in terms of intergenerational worship and how it impacts all generations and family types in the Church today. This study focuses on the ministry of Ezra and how he led others through a time of intergenerational worship and transition. Guided by examples from Ezra’s ministry, along with historical research, this study will seek to discover ways that Ezra taught worship across generational lines, lessons that the 21st-century church can glean from his ministry, and …

Spirit Possession In Luke-Acts And Modern Eyewitnesses : An Analysis Of Anthropological Accounts As Evidence For The Plausibility Of The Lukan Accounts, Joy L. Vaughan

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Professionals: Any Room In God’S Ministry?, Andrew C. Von Maur

Faculty Publications

As Christian professionals, the activity of architects is steeped in technicalities. They are expected to work a lot of hours; leaving them no extra time for actual “ministry.” In such an environment, with hardly enough time for family or personal Bible study, can they possibly be missionaries? “Yes, we can,” says a professional in this field.