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Articles 1 - 12 of 12
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Invisible Poverty: Awareness, Attitudes, And Action, Joseph W. Johnson
Invisible Poverty: Awareness, Attitudes, And Action, Joseph W. Johnson
Doctor of Ministry Theses
In small-town rural America, we do not tend to see poverty. Poverty is relatively invisible, especially among our youth and children. Invisible Poverty explores the issues, challenges, stereotypes, and causes of small-town rural poverty while presenting possible solutions. Drawing from Alvin Luedke, Craig Van Gelder, Alan Roxburgh, Patrick Keifert, Cynthia Duncan, and Shannon Jung, Invisible Poverty presents a missional theology of accompaniment seeking justice and avoiding shame. In an effort to understand the complexity of rural poverty, Invisible Poverty asks; How might Action Research interventions affect awareness, attitudes, and actions of the congregation concerning the issues of poverty?
Harvesting Hope: Biblical Preaching With People Of The Land, Catherine Belles
Harvesting Hope: Biblical Preaching With People Of The Land, Catherine Belles
Doctor of Ministry Theses
This project seeks to customize generic preaching skills to better serve rural Midwest churches in a time of great transition. “What seeds are we planting that our harvest will be hope in Jesus Christ? Does the Word of God affect our response, and are we transformed by that change, so that hope becomes part of our faith DNA?” Seeking to encourage prophetic visioning, preacher, leaders, and members to live into God’s ongoing new creation. Harvest is a major theme in rural communities and biblical narrative, a metaphor of grace and judgement. Preachers are encouraged to glean the faith stories of …
Liberated For Mission: Theology Of The Cross Informing A Fresh Missional Imagination, Pamela M. Marolla
Liberated For Mission: Theology Of The Cross Informing A Fresh Missional Imagination, Pamela M. Marolla
Doctor of Ministry Theses
“How might an action research intervention cultivate a hermeneutic of missio Dei as it relates to baptismal vocation?” This study used mixed methods action research including interventions, questionnaires, Dwelling in the Word, and interviews. Biblical and theological lenses were God’s liberating nature, baptismal vocation, theology of the cross, missio Dei and more. Theoretical lenses were leadership theories, strengths, assets, hospitality, and imaginative interaction. Interventions were a sermon series, dwelling in the word, and contextual leadership. Through these the congregation gained understanding of the liberating nature of God through prophecy, reconciliation, being known, and their own place in missio Dei.
God’S Beautiful Mission: Missional Church And Leadership In The Light Of Theological Aesthetics, M. Scott Boren
God’S Beautiful Mission: Missional Church And Leadership In The Light Of Theological Aesthetics, M. Scott Boren
Doctor of Ministry Theses
This project seeks to ascertain how pastoral leaders who have been trained in missional theology have led in a way that has been influenced by theological aesthetics. The view of missional leadership here is built upon a re-imagination of missio Dei and missional church that is informed by theological aesthetics. This theology of beauty is based upon the work of Gregory A. Boyd, Jonathan Edwards, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This proposal seeks to advance the views of the missional church rooted in the work of Lesslie Newbigin and advanced by Craig Van Gelder, Alan Roxburgh, and Pat …
Lutheran Higher Education In A Secular Age: Religious Identity And Mission At Elca Colleges And Universities, Brian A.F. Beckstrom
Lutheran Higher Education In A Secular Age: Religious Identity And Mission At Elca Colleges And Universities, Brian A.F. Beckstrom
Doctor of Ministry Theses
This exploratory mixed methods case study examined the relationship between espoused and perceived religious identity and mission at five colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America through the lenses of secularization theory, missional leadership, ecclesiology, Trinitarian theology, adaptive leadership, and challenges in the higher education market. Results indicated that humanism is the primary means of describing religious identity and mission at ELCA schools and there are widely varying assumptions about what it means to be a college or university of the church. Advocates and skeptics of the institution’s religious identity and mission interpret reality through the lens …
Great Members, Great Churches: Adaptive Change And Missional Theology In The Local Church, Christopher Jacobsen
Great Members, Great Churches: Adaptive Change And Missional Theology In The Local Church, Christopher Jacobsen
Doctor of Ministry Theses
An Action Research (AR) project focusing on congregational participation in ministries within the church and outside it. Theological lenses of Trinitarian theology, missional theology, and spiritual practices. Theoretical lenses of adaptive change theory, consumerism and social capital, and organizational theories of relationship, four-frame model, and open source model. Identifies adaptive challenges faced by a small Reformed Church in America church in northern New Jersey, with a strong emphasis on the tension between living busy lives and active participation in the ministry of the triune God. Reframes leadership through the lens of writing the church’s story.
Generous Leaders, Generous Congregations: A Study Of The Relationship Between The Financial Generosity Of Congregational Leaders And The Financial Generosity Of Their Congregations, Ryan D. Brodin
Doctor of Ministry Theses
This sequential explanatory mixed methods comparative case study research project explores personal financial generosity in pastors and Congregational Council members of five suburban mainline congregations to discover what influence their generosity has on the congregations they lead. This research involved a survey of all the leaders, interviews with each pastor, focus groups with Congregational Council members, and financial statistics for each congregation. Although there are many insights in this research project regarding financial generosity in leaders and congregations, the results do not show a direct influence of the personal financial generosity of the leaders on the financial generosity of the …
Walk Me To The Gate: Christian Practices Of Accompaniment With People Who Are Dying And Their Families, Yolanda Kali Denson-Byers
Walk Me To The Gate: Christian Practices Of Accompaniment With People Who Are Dying And Their Families, Yolanda Kali Denson-Byers
Doctor of Ministry Theses
This mixed-methods concurrent triangulation research project asks, “What practices should we incorporate into the hospice ministry of Fellowship Lutheran Church in order to help dying people and their families experience a peaceful death with love?” Utilizing two focus groups, four interviews, and a congregational census, this project finds that research participants are terrorized by death and are hungry for hospice and bereavement ministries provided by their community of faith. This exploratory project illuminates the specific practices which missional congregations may utilize to empower the priesthood of all believers to create a beloved community which points to the hope of resurrection.
Cultivating The Holy Callings Of Ordinary Saints: The Church At Work For The Life Of The World, Jeffrey A. Eisele
Cultivating The Holy Callings Of Ordinary Saints: The Church At Work For The Life Of The World, Jeffrey A. Eisele
Doctor of Ministry Theses
The Christian Church has long struggled to make better connections between Sunday and Monday by effectively equipping the priesthood of all believers for living out its faith in the world. This thesis reports the results of a participatory action research project aimed at cultivating connections between faith, baptismal callings, daily work, and the missio Dei through several congregational interventions. The results showed the effectiveness of cultivating a congregational culture through worship, faith formation activities, service, and especially small groups, for the purpose of strengthening congregation members’ witness in the workplace.
Led To Lead: Vocational Discernment And Emerging Pastoral Leadership In The Reformed Church In America, Tanner Smith
Led To Lead: Vocational Discernment And Emerging Pastoral Leadership In The Reformed Church In America, Tanner Smith
Doctor of Ministry Theses
This mixed-methods sequential exploratory research project investigates the leadership development practices of two Christian organizations—a multi-site church and seminary—within the Reformed Church in America. The study identifies the best practices of both organizations for building vocational discernment capacity in emerging leaders, and compares the practices of the organizations in an attempt to foster dialogue that leads to collaboration in leadership development efforts.
Earth Stewardship And The Missio Dei: Participating In The Care And Redemption Of All God Has Made, David M. Carlson
Earth Stewardship And The Missio Dei: Participating In The Care And Redemption Of All God Has Made, David M. Carlson
Doctor of Ministry Theses
This explanatory sequential mixed methods research project surveyed leaders and conducted focus group interviews in an ELCA synod. It evaluated earthkeeping practices and perceptions using several lenses: sustainability, globalization, global civil society, nature as active subject, stewardship as participating in God’s mission, perichoresis as modeling reciprocal relationships with nature, eschatological themes of redemption and reformation, and sacramental imagination. Results revealed concern about environmental challenges, openness to earth stewardship, significant differences by political preference, and more pronounced personal than congregational practices. Congregations with creation care teams have promising capacity to exhibit earth stewardship’s missional character through personal, congregational, and community engagement.
Cross-Training Christians For Rural Servant-Leadership : An Exploration Of The Role Of A Congregation In Nurturing Leadership In The Community Of Wessington Springs, South Dakota, John H. Paulson
Doctor of Ministry Theses
This study explores the relationship between what is learned and experienced in the Christian faith community and people’s involvement in collaborative leadership within the rural community of Wessington Springs, South Dakota. The author makes use of Martin Luther’s theology of the cross and his teachings regarding Christian vocation, including the calling of parents as family leaders. This approach to leadership development employs a missional ecclesiology, with attention to the Triune God’s transformative, sending work in the world, and examines contributions from knowledge about civil society and human and social capital. Asset mapping is examined as a tool for leadership development.