Digital Commons Network^™

The Pilgrimage Of Ralph Albertson, Theodore Kallman

Communal Societies

No abstract provided.

Calvin Theological Seminary Academic Catalog 2025-2026, Calvin Theological Seminary

Seminary Academic Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Who Do I Say I Am: A Review Of Catholic Teachers’ Spiritual Identity And Factors Affecting Its Formation, Nancy Lourdes U. Toledo

Journal of Catholic Education

Teachers in Catholic schools are not only required to provide quality education through mastering the essential skills of pedagogy; they are also called to “be a reflection, albeit imperfect but still vivid, of the one Teacher” (Gravissimum educationis, 1965, para. 23). Thus, the spiritual identity of all teachers in Catholic schools, not only those who teach religious education, must be integrated with their professional identity. This review draws from 20 empirical peer-reviewed articles on Catholic school educators to understand how Catholic teachers see their spiritual identity as teachers and how these spiritual identities are formed. The results show …

Solutions To Building Consistent And Sustainable Youth Ministry Programming, William C. Kincy

Doctor of Education Dissertations

This mixed methods convergent study explored strategies for building consistency and sustainability in Baptist youth ministry programming, with a particular focus on the AFC Youth Ministry. Guided by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Hitt et al., 2018) and Senge’s (2006) Systems Thinking approach, the study addressed three key research questions: What needs are youth seeking to meet that lead them to join a Baptist church youth ministry? What programming can AFC Baptist Church’s youth ministry provide to youth that would promote retention of the youth in the youth ministry? What are the best practices in delivering programming to youth in a …

Can Servant Leadership Reinvigorate Communities Of Faith, Jonathan Owens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

This study examined the relationship between servant leadership characteristics and church growth in Episcopal congregations. Using quantitative analysis, the research assessed whether leadership characteristics—such as emotional healing, creating value for the community, conceptual skills, empowering followers, helping followers succeed, putting followers first, and behaving ethically—were significant predictors of numerical growth. Data were collected from 40 churches (20 growing, 20 declining), with leadership perceptions measured through a validated servant leadership instrument.

The findings indicate that while growing churches exhibited slightly higher mean scores across several servant leadership characteristics, none of the differences were statistically significant. Logistic regression analysis further demonstrated that …

A Hopeful Or Hopeless Future? Perspectives On The Challenges And Opportunities In Catholic Education, Christine Robinson, Linda Cranley

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The research presented in this paper offers a significant contribution to existing discourse that explores the challenges and opportunities within Catholic education. In an increasingly secularised world, Catholic education continues its mission to form and inform young people in the faith. The Church acknowledges that the Catholic school enacts the mission of the Church in society and does so despite a detraditionalised cultural context. The Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education, known as G.R.A.C.E, was formed to act as a global network of Catholic educators to respond to the ‘signs of the times’ in an innovative and integrated way. This paper …

Vol. 9, No. 5, Glen Goodknight

Mythprint

Mythprint is the monthly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society, a nonprofit educational organization devoted to the study, discussion, and enjoyment of myth and fantasy literature, especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. To promote these interests, the Society publishes three magazines, maintains a World Wide Web site, and sponsors the annual Mythopoeic Conference and awards for fiction and scholarship, as well as local and written discussion groups.

The Banner - V. 159, No. 10 - (November 2024), Christian Reformed Church In North America

The Banner

No abstract provided.

Discerning The Missional Implications Of Context: A Demographic Study Of Great Falls For The Great Falls Church Of Christ, Matthew C. Burleson

DMin Project Theses

The purpose of this Lipscomb University June 2024 Doctor of Minstry project thesis was to discern the missional implications of GFCC’s (Great Falls Church of Christ) context. Three components comprised the larger purpose. First, the purpose was to survey the mission of God in Scripture with a team made up of members from GFCC. This survey would facilitate the missional aspect of discerning the missional implications. Second, the purpose was to acquaint this team with practices and principles of spiritual discernment. Acquainting the team with these practices would facilitate the discerning aspect of discerning the missional implications. Third, the purpose …

Christian Innovation Communities: A Wicked Problem Framework For Church Innovation, Leslie Stewart

Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses

ABSTRACT

Leslie A. Stewart

Mar 11, 2024

Christian Innovation Communities: A Wicked Problem Framework for Church Innovation

This dissertation uniquely proposes a “Wicked Problem” approach to Church Innovation. It introduces the term Christian Innovation Communities to the Church Innovation discussion advocating for a local and regional innovation ecosystem. The framework for Christian Innovation Communities uses a cross-discipline approach combining adaptive leadership principles, a collaborative systems design approach, asset-based community development principles, pastoral discernment, and missional theology. These are synthesized into a visual, action-driven, practical guide. It shows adaptive leaders how to lead a leadership team through an innovation process. A …

E Pluribum Una Ecclesia: Addressing Ideologically Driven Disunity Through A Multifaceted Approach, John M. Craft Iv

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Pastors and church leaders within the Rocky Mountain Church Network, an association of 48 churches, face difficulty caused by ideologically driven disunity (IDD). Current polling shows IDD's negative effect on pastors, church leaders, and congregations. Due to the foundational nature of ideologies, attempts to alleviate IDD have typically worsened the situation. This action research project seeks to identify the presence and impact of IDD as well as provide a strategy and tools to address IDD in a congregation. Using surveys, focus groups, and personal interviews, the researcher acquired quantitative and qualitative data from 22 project participants that affirmed the data …

Canadian Lutheran History Sources And Resources Presentation: Remembering For The Sake Of The Gospel, Karen Kuhnert

Consensus

This Article is from a three-part presentation delivered in Webinar 2 (November 15, 2022) of the Webinar Series “For the Sake of the Gospel” hosted by the Remembering Today for the Church of Tomorrow Project in partnership with Martin Luther University College and Lutheran Theological Seminary. The presentation featured images, some of which are presented herein.

Remembering Canadian Lutheran World Relief—Relationships: Mid-Century Concord And Discord, A Propositional History, Karen Kuhnert

Consensus

This paper extends from a presentation prepared for Webinar II (November 15, 2022) of the Webinar Series “For the Sake of the Gospel” hosted by the Remembering Today for the Church of Tomorrow Project in partnership with Martin Luther University College and Lutheran Theological Seminary. The original presentation featured images, some of which are presented herein.

(Special Section Introduction) Hymns Beyond The Congregation: Constructions Of Identity And Legacies Of Meaning, Erin G. Johnson-Williams, Philip Burnett

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

We offer here the first of two special sections on the theme of "Hymns Beyond the Congregation." Divided into the two sub-themes of “Hymns Beyond the Congregation: Constructions of Identity,” and “Hymns Beyond the Congregation: Legacies of Meaning,” our authors (based in institutions both in the USA and the UK) comprise both early career and senior scholars and come from a range of disciplinary backgrounds in American history, South African colonial history, political history, the history of mission education, and historical musicology. Together, these two special issues will pave the way for facilitating new dialogues between historians, musicologists and congregational …

Positive Factors Related To The Decision To Study For The Office Of The Ministry By Men Of The Lutheran Synod Of Nicaragua (Iglesia Luterana Sínodo De Nicaragua/Lutheran Church—Canada), Edmund Auger

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Auger, Edmund D. “Positive Factors Related to the Decision to Study for the Office of the Ministry by Men of The Lutheran Synod of Nicaragua (Iglesia Luterana Sínodo de Nicaragua / Lutheran Church—Canada).” Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2023. 128 pages.

The Lutheran Church throughout the world needs a continuing supply of men to serve as faithful pastors in the public ministry of the Gospel. The identification and spiritual formation of candidates for Word and Sacrament ministry is critical for the young national church body, Iglesia Luterana Sínodo de Nicaragua (Lutheran Synod of Nicaragua).

This project is …

The Emergence Of Radical Christianity: The Mystical Dunkers, Its Antecedence, Hermetical Founding, Germanic Diaspora, And Its Apogee On The Frontier Of Colonial America, Daniel Jason Geyer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Dunker Sect, a radical Christian fellowship founded by Alexander Mack and Ernst Christoph Hochmann von Hochenau, grew from the endless conflict and radicalization of Christianity that emerged in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century in what is now Germany and Switzerland. These men were guided by Christian leaders such as Jakob Spener, August Hermann Franke, and other radicals in Eastern Germany. Both Hochmann and Mack were separatists, in that they wanted nothing to do with what they considered the corrupted Church of the Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed denominations. The term “separatist” however, only describes their removal from the …

Full Issue

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Dannebrog On The Prairie: The Development Of Danishness In The Elk Horn–Kimballton Area Of Iowa, Lise Just

The Bridge

My father’s family comes from a small Danish farming community in Als parish in Jutland, where it was customary for young people to marry the sons and daughters of neighboring farmers. It was a closed community, largely because of a policy known as adscription (restricting peasants to the estate of their birth) that did not allow able-bodied men to leave the parish. This policy was in place for most of the eighteenth century, but in 1788, adscription was abolished. In the same period, the population in Denmark was increasing rapidly, due to, among other things, better hygiene and lower child …

From Sustainable Finances To Faithful Investing: A Moral Proposal According To The Catholic Social Thought, José L. Fernández-Fernández, Rocío Acedo-Rico Pablo-Romero

Journal of Management for Global Sustainability

Finance is an element of economic life that can contribute to shaping a more humane, equitable and sustainable world; and finance oriented by reference to ESG criteria represents an encouraging step forward at the service of the Common Good. In this article we contrast finance from ESG criteria with Faithful Investing, more specifically, with the tradition of Catholic Social Thought (CST) and its criteria for ethical, responsible, and sustainable investing decisions. Therefore, we try to go beyond, opening a path towards a more explicit way of acting in financial markets from a moral option rooted in religion: Faithful Investing. The …

Shepherding Church Staff: Stakeholders' Perceptions Of A Useful Leadership Development Plan, Bobby Allen Thompson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

As leadership demands grow, churches need a way to develop more effective leaders. Many pastors have received limited training in how to develop leaders and may not be aware of stakeholders’ expectations for leadership development. This thesis project reveals the importance of intentional leadership development of those who have answered the calling to work in the local church. The researcher believes the current shortage of lay leaders as well as consistent burnout rates among staff and volunteers can be altered with the correct plan and people in place. The researcher conducted open ended semi-structured interviews for those currently working in …

Reading The Signs Of The Time: Three Voices In The Confessional Lutheran Church As They Relate To Segregation, Racism, And Apartheid In South Africa From 1900–1978, Christoph Dietrich Weber

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Weber, Christoph, Reading the signs of the time: “Three voices in the confessional Lutheran Church to segregation, racism, and apartheid in South Africa from 1900–1978.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2022. 425 pp.

According to August Vilmar, reading the signs of the times was an essential task of all pastors and theologians. It was a part of their prophetic task to interpret the world and its context with the word of God and to proclaim the voice of the church in law and gospel. The three theologians analyzed in this dissertation: Karl Meister, Hermann Sasse, and Friederich W. Hopf respected Vilmar …

Book Review: You Found Me By Rick Richardson, David C. Thiessen

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Worship, Discipleship, And Evangelism: How The Purpose Of The Church Affects Congregational Singing, Justin Aaron Mckinney

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

For several hundred years, in response to Charles Finney’s innovations, American churches emphasized evangelism over worship within corporate worship services. This approach redirected the vertical focus of corporate worship from God to the horizontal focus of non-believers as the primary audience. The Bible supports a horizontal audience for corporate worship for edifying fellow believers, but non-believers as the primary audience of corporate worship is contrary t¬o both the Bible and most of church history. The purpose of this project is to establish the necessity of worship preceding evangelism by examining their relationship through biblical exegesis, scholarly literature, and church history …

Understanding Motivations To Attend Various Sized Churches: A Study Using Family Communication Patterns, Expectancy Violations, And Anxiety To Predict Church Attendance, Molly Bradshaw

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Two separate studies were conducted to examine whether communication variables impact religious views and church attendance. For the first study, 228 students from a large Southeastern university completed a web survey. The second study was a web survey of 204 adults that was conducted via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTURK). Both surveys were sent out to determine one’s motivations to attend a small, medium, or large church using family communication, anxiety, expectations, and religion variables as predictors. Family communication, anxiety, and expectancy variables were positively correlated to many aspects of religious views. Hierarchical regression models utilizing demographics, family communication, anxiety, expectancy …

“The Jesuit Mission Proves We Were Here”: The Case Of Eighteenth-Century Jesuit Missions Aiding Twenty-First Century Tribal Recognition, Andrew R. Beaupre

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Records indicate that during the French colonial period, Jesuits established four mission congregations within the territory now known as Vermont. These missions were established to preach to both French colonists and Native converts on Isle La Motte, on the Missisquoi River in Swanton, at Fort Saint-Frédéric on Lake Champlain, and in the area known as the Koas on the Connecticut River. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the Abenaki peoples of Vermont have had a long and difficult road to gain state and federal recognition. These descendant communities have invoked the existence of Jesuit missions to the Abenaki as proof …

Proven Biblical Discipleship: Make It According To The Pattern, Anthony Ray Mckee

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The first-century church’s spiritual growth methodology functioned to achieve the goal of Christlikeness through discipleship. God crafted a design for his church to advance followers of Jesus toward Christian maturity. God’s instruction for Israel to “see that you make it according to the pattern” came from God’s perfect mind and is practical guidance for today’s spiritual growth practices. According to the countless number of discipleship methods available, some churches communicate that Christian maturation can be achieved through any discipleship perspective. This project aims to study local churches that offer a discipleship program, process, or pedagogy and compare them with twelve …

The Way We See Matters: Developing A New Theological Vision For Effective Cross-Generational Evangelism, Michelle Naomi Jeremie

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Today, North American churches have great opportunities and face unique challenges in fulfilling their mandate to make disciples. This DMIN thesis discusses the issue of how to more effectively evangelize the Millennial generation and Generation Z in a postmodern context. The purpose of this thesis is to address the need for church leaders to utilize a specialized evangelism training program to equip Christians to evangelize to non-believers across generational lines. The focus of this project is to implement the Cross-generational Evangelism Training (C-GET) Program at a ministry that has a low representation of Millennials and Generation Z. This Program will …

Reformed Worship (Rw) 139 - Ascension / Pentecost (March 2021), Reformed Worship Editors

Reformed Worship Magazine

Features

Worship Series: Echoes of the Holy Spirit by Diane Ritzema, Michael Kooy, and Matt Mulder....3

Children's Pages for the Christian Year by Lindsey Goetz....16

Home by Sam Gutierrez....18

Locating Your Place in God's Story by Leon Johnston....34

Articles

Editorial: Finding Home by Joyce Borger....2

The Rest of Worship by Ron Man....28

For Pastors: Bolder? by Scott Hoezee....30

Liturgical Appropriateness by Adán Alejandro Fernández....38

Q&A: Shifting Preference Talk and Rule Talk to Wisdom Talk by John D. Witvliet....40

Lifting Our North American Asian Voice in Worship by Josh Lee....42

Resources …

Halfway To Everywhere: What Churches Can Learn About Community Vibrancy From Its Professional & Entrepreneurial Women, Catherine L. Holland

Consensus

No abstract provided.

The Sobramesa Dinner Group: Discipline Boomers In Active Adult Living Communities, James Divine

Doctor of Ministry

Over the next 25 years, the American Church will be in a unique position to impact the eternity of almost 77 million people. As the Baby Boomer population moves into the third age of life, the church has the opportunity to reintroduce this population to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Within this large mission field is the added dimension of a large migration of retired and semi-retired people into Active Adult Living Communities (AALCs). While AALCs represent the largest-growing urban segment of the USA, the church is doing little to evangelize these communities. What the church does for these adults …