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Proclamation Vs. Protection: Reshaping The Vision Of Adventist Youth Ministry, Ronald R. Pickell

180 Symposium Publications

In this chapter, the author argues that youth ministry in the Adventist church has focused on protection and retention of the youth that have grown up in the denomination. To achieve this goal, the majority of the denomination’s resources have been invested into the educational system (I). Drawing attention to some of the short-comings of this approach, the author suggests a transition to a proclamation model of ministry and provides some basic principles (II). Furthermore, he draws attention to the increasing number of Adventist youth studying outside the denominational educational system and argues that it is both urgent and opportune …

Church Climate And Youth Ministry, Barry Gane

180 Symposium Publications

This paper compares youth who belong to congregations with a strong program of youth ministry with those who do not. Those who experience youth ministry are more likely to have personal devotions, remain in the church, perceive the pastors’ influence more positively, and avoid at-risk behaviors. It stresses the need for personal involvement, demonstrations of caring, and willingness to make changes in congregational programming. It gives a number of suggestions for discussions with youth groups.

Let The Little Children Come, Ashleigh Jardine

Lake Union Herald

No abstract provided.

How To Have A Christ-Centered Youth Ministry In A Small Church Using Mentoring, Missions And Meetings, Kris R. Eckenroth

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

As of 2005, there was only one Seventh-day Adventist church within the Pennsylvania Conference that was providing consistent youth ministry. Many of the churches have seemed to have had difficulty finding individuals who have both the experience and the necessary training to lead a local church youth program. Due to the absence of local church youth ministry, the needs of the youth are being unmet and many are leaving the church.

Method

The method used to address this problem began in 2005. Training sessions were provided to potential leaders within the churches in the Pennsylvania Conference. There were five …

Recruiting And Equipping Postmodern Immigrant Youth Preachers In Emmaus, Christian Fellowship, And Community Tabernacle Seventh-Day Adventist Churches, Anthony L. Usher

Doctor of Ministry Projects

After spending over six years at Emmaus SDA church, on January 1, 2004, the author was assigned to Christian Fellowship SDA Church and Community Tabernacle Mission. He observed that the fierce shifting winds of postmodernism have fueled the retardation of youth evangelism. If the trajectory of this dreaded trend goes unchecked, youth preaching in these churches will spiral downward into the obscure corridors of oblivion. A relevant profile, as well as a specific demographic composition of all three congregations, enhanced the development of an empowering argument that potentially could reverse the momentum of this encroaching tide back to God’s side. …

The Millennial Generation: A Demographic, Ethnographic, And Religious Profile, Monte Sahlin

180 Symposium Publications

A new generation is emerging into adulthood in the first years of the new century. Born from 1977 through 1994, most are the offspring of parents in the Baby Boom generation. Just as their parents’ childhood and adolescence largely paralleled the development of television, so the Millennial generation has grown up with the Internet. They share many of the values and interests of their Baby Boomer parents, although the world is starkly different. There is much greater diversity, and global boundaries are transparent, while economic anxiety is increased. The young adults and teens in the Millennial generation tend to be …

Unity And Ministry Through The Massification Of Adventism, Van G. Hurst

180 Symposium Publications

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has a history of ministering to people groups who have been fractured from their original congregations or social norms (demassification) and then renew their identity in Adventism (remassification). The unique needs of today’s generations are a rapid remassification of youth groups who need to be discipled. The uniqueness of these youth, their need for parental influence, peer affirmation, and a horizontal leadership structure to enable future mentoring and ministry at minimal cost are a vital part of the cycle of ministry which appears to be currently nonexistent in many Adventist congregations.

Burst The Bystander Effect: Making A Discipling Difference With Young Adults, A. Allen Martin

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

No abstract provided.

Analisis De Razones Por Las Que Los Jovenes Abandonan La Iglesia Adventista Del Septimo Dia En Argentina, Jorge De Sousa Matias

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem. A 65% of the new Church members in the Argentinian Union Conference (UA) are below 30 years old. However, 35% of them leave the Church annually. This generates the following question: what are the reasons by which such a high%age of young people leave the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDAC) in the UA?

Methodology. Three surveys were conducted. The first survey was applied to 146 distrital pastors, the second one to 319 young Adventist members, and the third one to 52 apostate young members.

Results. The pastors that answered the first survey recognized that they do not have a permanent …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Summer Day Camp In The Local Church As An Opportunity To Encourage Youth In Their Spiritual Growth, Church Identity, And Service, Michael J. Stevenson

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Large amounts of time and effort are expended by youth directors in providing camp related opportunities for employment. It is widely hoped by these youth directors that the experience of being a camp staff person will increase spirituality among the staff, that it will strengthen their identification with the Seventh-day Adventist church, and that, in the future, these same staff members will desire more opportunities to serve in the mission of the church. The purpose of this project is to qualitatively study whether staff are affected positively or negatively in the ways mentioned above, by being staff members of …

Bringing Home Our Adventist Prodigals: A Strategic Plan To Reclaim Youth In The Trans-European Division, Paul David Tompkins

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Seventh-day Adventist church is losing far too many of its young people. This trend is hurting the world-wide church, the local congregation, and individual families. Yet very little is being done about it! The purpose of this study is to address this issue and to specifically formulate a Strategic Plan for reclaiming inactive youth in the Trans-European Division (TED).

Method

The TED territory is extensive, covering over thirty-five countries, therefore, a local pilot project was conducted. This involved identifying young people who the local church listed as inactive, or non-attending, and then contacting them with a questionnaire as …

The Validity Of The Growing Disciples In Community Model Among Adolescents In Seventh-Day Adventist Schools In North America, Kathleen Beagles

Dissertations

Purpose of the Study. There is little empirical research about discipleship, and particularly discipleship and adolescents. An understanding of Christian discipleship might, however, be an antidote for a growing trend toward consumer mentality in the church, the effect of post-Christian culture on the home, and the departure of the younger generations from active church life, which are all seen as problems that face Western Christianity. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of a discipleship model—Growing Disciples in Community.

Method. A conceptual model of discipleship and discipling based on theology and social science theory is developed and …

Three Reasons To Serve, Gary L. Hopkins, Duane C. Mcbride, Stuart Tyner, Jonathan Duffy

Faculty Publications

Young people in the Seventh-day Adventist Church are in need of leadership creating effective strategies for protecting the youngsters from engaging in high risk behaviors along with finding effective methods of keeping these same youngsters churched. It is clear that God had answers to these problems long ago. A review of Matthew 25 clearly states that our purpose as Christians should be to serve individuals in need. When young people engage in service, they are more likely to be attracted to the church, get involved in the church, and stay in the church. Furthermore, service is associated with better grades …

Transformational Youth Ministry, Allen Walshe

Faculty Publications

This paper will point out how deeply ingrained post-modern thinking has become in Western culture. It will remind us that our youth and young adults, who are post-modern, are not the enemy (as some would categorize them), but that they are ‘the beloved of God.’ We have been called and commissioned to reach them by the grace of God. This paper will argue that the church’s response to our post-modern youth, if it is to be efficacious, will require a paradigm shift, from its predominantly information style toward a more relational model of ministry. This can be facilitated by restructuring …

Church Of Refuge: A Support Ministry For Youth And Young Adults, Ron Whitehead, Jeff Boyd

Faculty Publications

At least 40 to 50 percent of youth and young adults leave the Seventh-day Adventist Church. To reverse this trend by helping local congregations meet the spiritual, social, and community impact needs of youth and young adults, the Center for Youth Evangelism proposes to launch Church of Refuge (COR). This organization will support churches in incorporating nine principles in their master planning. After demonstrating the inclusion of these principles, local congregations will be certified as Churches of Refuge and will be promoted to youth and young adults through web and print materials.

Adventist Identity Crisis: In The Leaders Or The Led?, Japhet De Oliveira

180 Symposium Publications

Recent church attendance statistics indicate a high percentage of the millennial generation is exiting their local faith communities–either openly rejecting the values or silently slipping away. In addition to these two types of departure lies a third group not included in the statistics that appear faithful through attendance but in reality are disconnected. Should we combine these three categories our only success is retention with engagement. Which begs the answer to this question: Retention and engagement with what? Our once proclaimed uniform Adventist identity is crumbling by globalization. Today within two streets of each other you can experience practically opposite …

"There They Go": Short Term Mission Trips As A Metaphor And Model For Youth Slipping Out The Back Door, Steve Case

180 Symposium Publications

Millennials slip out the back door of church involvement for a variety of reasons. One currently popular youth ministry activity, Short-Term Mission Trips (STMT), provides a metaphor and a model for this phenomenon. STMT take into account both positive and negative elements as well as a host of factors with intensities that vary from one millennial to another. Utilizing STMT as a metaphor, and the varieties within the model, demonstrate the complexity of the issue rather than providing a singular and simplistic explanation and solution. Inherent in this model is a proactive sending motif rather than a passive clinging for …

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.

Stop The Sad Exodus: Three Practical Solutions, Chris Blake

180 Symposium Publications

Students of Adventist campuses of higher education experience the finest in ministry options. When they graduate, they often return to congregations that are much lacking the ministries to which they have been accustomed. Three solutions for the campus are: (1) Risky Sabbath schools that involve students in outreach, (2) Youth summits, and (3) Training for involvement in local congregations.

Circle Of Courage, Jonathan Duffy, Gary Hopkins

180 Symposium Publications

This chapter promotes the “Circle of Courage” as a model for developing resilience in young people. Resilience in the context of this chapter refers to factors which contribute to the success of young people and protect them from participating in risk behavior. The “Circle of Courage” is a child rearing model used by Native Americans before white conquest and has four main components – Belonging, Mastery, Independence, and Generosity. The components are in alignment with what modern psychologists are promoting for young people today and are common to most indigenous groups.

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 …

Burst The Bystander Effect: Making A Discipling Difference With Young Adults, A. Allan Martin

180 Symposium Publications

Decades of research continue to point to greater than 50 percent attrition of young adults from faith community, yet there appears to be minimal efforts to change this alarming trend. This article offers suggestions as to what you can do to foster authentic relationships and revive young adult discipleship in the Seventh-day Adventist Church context.

Youth Ministry: It Starts Sooner Than You Think! A Youth Ministry Case Study Report, Jiwan S. Moon

180 Symposium Publications

When does youth ministry really begin? It is a question we all need to ask to be effective in ministering to our youth. What really is youth ministry? These two questions come from a belief that there is a specific time frame and a particular way to minister to young people that is different from where they have come and where they are going. However, I would like to introduce a different idea. The idea that youth ministry really begins before childhood ends. It is a continuous mentoring and nurturing of children, helping them mature and grow in Christ from …

Where Have All The Youth Leaders Gone?, Timothy P. Nixon

180 Symposium Publications

Valuegenesis has been a tremendous tool that has given the Seventh-day Adventist church valuable information about youth and young adults. It represents a fair cross-section culturally and ethnically of our young people. However, the sample is of 16,000 respondents of Seventh-day Adventist Youth in Seventh-day Adventist schools throughout the North American Division during the 2000 school year (Gillespie, 2004). The majority of the expenses are borne by local parents and churches (Gillespie, 2004). Sixty percent of the students said there was a youth pastor at their home church (Gillespie, 2004). Monte Sahlin’s work in Adventist Congregations Today, says most Adventist …

Bringing Home Our Adventist Prodigals, Paul Tompkins

180 Symposium Publications

Studies agree that the church is losing a significant proportion of its young people. This trend is hurting families, congregations and the church as a whole but very little seems to be done about it. Now is the time to do so. Back in the 1990’s the church last looked at restructuring youth ministry — following a commission on youth, the autumn council of 1992 voted a six point plan including revival, recovery, evangelism and nurture. A strategic plan was also authorized but the aspect of recovery has only recently begun to gain significant attention. Now is the time to …

Ennui, Entertainment, Or Encounter? Cultivating The Climate For A Transformational Approach To Leadership, Keren Toms

180 Symposium Publications

After studying the various qualities that have made for effective leaders, both in Bible times and in more recent church history, it is apparent that some were empowered by a guardian/guide mentality, others an entertainer/enabler mindset, and others possessed a difficult to define but easily recognizable cluster of virtues that enabled them, through their passion for mission and love for people, to be creative and observable role models for what recent leadership experts have termed transformational leaders. Creating a climate for the selection and the empowerment of transformational leaders is key for a successful youth ministry in the new millennium.

The Development Of Adventist Youth Groups And Ellen White’S Empowerment Of Youth In Evangelism And Service, Cindy Tutsch

180 Symposium Publications

How did youth work begin in the Adventist church? Did it start with “professionals”? What was the point of Adventist youth groups originally? And what is the point today? This provocative paper may generate some discussion with your youth and leadership team –and maybe even re-focus your ministry!

A Report On The 180 Symposium, Roger Dudley, Allen Walshe

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reflections, Roger Dudley

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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 …