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My Pilgrimage In The Growth Of The Church, Charles Van Engen

Great Commission Research Journal

I have lived a life invested in the growth of the church and forming leaders who would mobilize the church toward growth. I have sought to pay forward what others did for me. Born of missionary parents, I was raised in the state of Chiapas, in southern Mexico. From 1973 to 1985, my wife, Jean, and I served the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico in Chiapas, Mexico, in leadership formation, training evangelists, pastors, and teachers of rapidly growing churches. In 1981, I received a Ph.D. in missiology under Johannes Verkuyl at the Free University of Amsterdam. I taught Mission Theology …

Church Revitalization In A Southwest United States Retirement Community Church: A Case Study, Donald L. Fraser

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Eighty percent of churches in the United States are either plateaued or declining. Across all denominations, as many as 7700 churches permanently close their doors each year. Pastors of once-vibrant churches transition to survival mode rather than continuing to build their churches. However, there are bright spots where a declining church reverses the downward trend and begins a renewed cycle of growth. This case study examined church growth and revitalization of Southwest Community Church (the name has been changed to protect the identity of the participants), a revitalized church in a dedicated retirement community. For this research, revitalization has been …

The Development And Leadership Implementation Of Strategies Promoting Church Health In The Presbytery Of The Central West, New South Wales, Australia, Mark S. Armstrong

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Many Churches in the Presbyterian rural landscape have plateaued or are in decline. Little research has been done to address the causes and provide strategies for remediation. This study examines this problem in the Presbytery of the Central West, New South Wales, Australia. The purpose of the project is to identify factors causing church decline in rural areas and develop revitalization strategies for ministers and elders across the Presbytery. The research consists of two layered responses. The first layer identifies factors causing church decline and develops five strategies suitable for implementation. The second layer utilizes Mezirow’s transformative learning framework to …

Developing A Church Growth Strategy For Church Revitalizations In Suburban Communities Within The U.S. Assemblies Of God, Thomas A. Galban

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Suburban communities are experiencing demographic and socioeconomic shifts that have presented challenges for the local church. These changes have correlated with the decline and plateau of many suburban churches within the U.S. Assemblies of God. This dissertation explores which successful models of church revitalization can be adapted, learned from, and created for suburban church contexts within the U.S. Assemblies of God. Using a qualitative research approach utilizing interviews, this study examined seven suburban churches and the pastors who successfully led through a revitalization process. Each pastor was interviewed concerning their leadership approach, strategies that were employed, contextual realities, funding models, …

What Church Planters Need : How Community, Training, & Intentional Relationships Fuel Church Growth, Carolina G. Miller

Heritage Material

No abstract provided.

What Church Planters Need : How Community, Training, & Intentional Relationships Fuel Church Growth, Carolina G. Miller

Academic Books

No abstract provided.

Prayer Presence Patience: How The Church Multiples Around The World, Carolina G. Miller

Books

No abstract provided.

A Brief History Of The American Society For Church Growth And Great Commission Research Network, Gary Mcintosh

Great Commission Research Journal

This article surveys the 40‑year history of the Great Commission Research Network, originally founded in 1985 as the American Society for Church Growth. It traces the Society’s origins in the vision of C. Peter Wagner, its early development alongside emerging academic and consulting roles in the Church Growth Movement, and its subsequent evolution through changing leadership, themes, and institutional partnerships. The narrative outlines major milestones, including organizational restructuring, name changes, expanding conference formats, and increasing collaboration with seminaries, denominations, and the Society for Church Consulting. Across four decades, the Society has produced significant research, cultivated key leaders, supported academic scholarship, …

Church Doors And Hospital Doors: The Interrelationship, Azubuike Chukwubumnobi Okeke, Samuel Obiajulu Ike

Great Commission Research Journal

This study examines the place of medical evangelism as a means of church expansion in modern Nigeria. It is a retrospective cross-sectional investigative study involving data collection from the Good Shepherd Specialist Hospital’s anonymized patient records. The Good Shepherd Specialist Hospital is in Enugu State in southeastern Nigeria. Over 100,000 patients sought medical care in the hospital during a period of 19 years. Seventy-four percent had spiritual care provided by a person of the same faith. Most of the respondents came from within the Enugu metropolitan area. Using the church planting ministry of the Chapel of His Resurrection within the …

Pastors Of Smaller And Larger Churches Face Different Challenges: Empirical Evidence, William Ingersoll, David R. Dunaetz

Great Commission Research Journal

This study seeks to expand our understanding of the differences between the challenges faced by pastors of smaller churches and the challenges faced by pastors of larger churches. Pastors of North American churches (N = 347), generally with a theologically conservative orientation, responded to an online survey indicating how difficult they perceived each of 79 challenges to be. In general, evangelism and retaining youth were the most difficult challenges. However, clear distinctions were found between pastors of smaller churches and pastors of larger churches for over one-third of the challenges. For example, pastors of larger churches found that adequately addressing …

A Phenomenological Study Of Church Revitalization In Coastal North Carolina, Paolo Engle Santos

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Pastors and ministry leaders share the important responsibilities of church growth and revitalization. This research focused on overcoming decline and moving towards a season of strength and multiplication. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore church growth and revitalization within Southern Baptist churches in coastal North Carolina. The theory guiding this study was Rainer's (2020) central thesis about revived churches, which suggests that churches must adapt to cultural shifts and actively engage with the changing world. The study sought to gain insights into the perspectives and mindsets of full-time pastors and ministry leaders regarding numerical expansion, spiritual awakening, …

Discovering Discipleship : Evaluating The Impact Of An Intentional Discipleship Training Program At Grace Christian Church, Daniel J.H. Jackson

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Decline In Attendance At Local Churches In Queens, New York: A Biblically Based Strategic Revitalization Plan To Bring Local Churches Back To Spiritual Health, Marilyn A. Dolloway

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The decline in church attendance is not a new phenomenon. Historical evidence shows that God has intervened to revitalize and restore the church to a healthy state. Unfortunately, attendance at churches in contemporary times worldwide has declined, as congregations at approximately ninety percent of churches have shrunk. This trend is evident in the United States, where upwards of fifty congregations close their doors permanently each week, resulting in an annual attendance decline of one to two percent. The decline is remarkable in the New York borough of Queens. Churches have been declining for decades, with only fifteen to twenty-five members …

My Pilgrimage In Church Growth, Gary L. Mcintosh

Great Commission Research Journal

A short autobiography by Gary McIntosh focusing on his role in the Church Growth Movement

Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis And Church Planting, Ben Gerig, Hank Voss

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Discovering Best Practices Of Contextual Discipleship Program Leading To Church Growth Of Multi-Site Churches : Implementing Best Practices Of Contextual Discipleship Program For Win Churches In The Philippines, Mark Eduard Yu

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Nigerian Fastest Growing Churches And Their Intersection With The Poor, With Poverty And With Poverty Alleviation, Chinyereugo Euphemia Adeliyi

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Leadership Culture: An Effective Leadership Strategy For Church Growth And Spiritual Maturity, Sikiru A. Asifatu

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In every organization, leadership culture patterns require a constant assessment to ensure members adhere to corporate practices. In church settings, leadership culture not only creates change but also transforms ministry strategy. Often, church leaders do not perceive culture as the driving force behind effective ministry operations. At Gateway Church, the researcher encountered church growth issues that other ministries struggle with as well, from organizational structure to leadership style. These problems will continue to be a challenge unless the church reinvents an effective leadership strategy focusing on ministry development. This research aims to address the leadership development issue at Gateway Church …

The Decline And Absence Of Young Adults At Grace Place Christian Church, Michael Carnell Mcgill

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of the study was to address the problem of low attendance and engagement among young adults at Grace Place Christian Church. This topic is given consideration based on the researcher’s observation of the absence of this demographic within the local ministry context. The literature review revealed this is a common problem throughout the Body of Christ. Grace Place Christian Church is a predominately African American within a military community. The unique characteristics of this ministry context warranted research specific to it. The researcher interviewed twenty unchurched young adults and ten pastors and collected over one hundred nine questionnaires …

The Pilot Project For A Conference-Wide Church Multiplication Project In The Ontario Conference Of The Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Jakov Bibulović

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

An assessment of the vitality of the Seventh-day Adventist churches in the Ontario Conference revealed a lack of multiplying congregations. This finding raised serious concerns. At the same time, the Ontario population net growth continued to increase at a higher rate than the Conference average net growth. There is a need for an intentional approach in identifying barriers for church growth, developing a strategy to remove these barriers, and initiating a congregational culture change that would unleash a God-given multiplication potential in congregations. In order to facilitate the congregational culture-change process, coaching in ministry would increase the chances for …

Characteristics Of Growing Churches In Estonia: A Qualitative Study, Ago Lilleorg, Kaido Soom, TõNu Lehtsaar

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This is an overview of the characteristics of growing churches in Estonia. The study is grounded in semi-structured interviews conducted in 2019-2020 in nine Protestant congregations that have grown in 2003-2017. There were three to four interviewees from each congregation, a total of 14 being women and 18 men. The transcripts of the interviews were analyzed by combining both the open and the invivo coding model. No prescribed categories were used in the analysis. The results were formulated as characteristics of growing churches: spiritual life; inner climate; human focus; the minister of the church; relationships outside the church; and a …

The Importance Of Hypotheses In Church-Based Research, David R. Dunaetz Editor

Great Commission Research Journal

The role of hypotheses is central both in church-related research and in Christian ministry. Hypotheses guide the collection of data to determine what is true in research and provide tentative guidelines for action in ministry, even when they are not yet confirmed. Well-constructed hypotheses are based on previous research and provide clear potential solutions to research problems. They succinctly posit a testable relationship between two or more variables. Such hypotheses can be tested through appropriately designed research. Statistical techniques can indicate to what degree the evidence collected supports the hypotheses. In church-based research, hypotheses to be examined can come from …

Church-Based Research: Challenges And Opportunities, David R. Dunaetz

Great Commission Research Journal

Because the church is the body of Christ, research focused on the Great Commission and Jesus’ concern for evangelism and disciple-making needs to be church-based. The goal of such research is to better share God’s love to a world who does not know him by building up a collection of knowledge that will enable us to do so. This research may be both theological (focusing on what the Bible and other theologians have said) and scientific (focusing on collecting new data and interpreting it, especially in light of theology). Church-based scientific research may be either qualitative (exploring broad ideas and …

Leadership Dynamics And Factors Of Fast-Growing Church Plants And Revitalized Established Churches In The Christian And Missionary Alliance, Kedrick L. Hirschy

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The pursuit of this action research project is to construct a leadership growth plan for Christian and Missionary Alliance churches experiencing a decline in their local church or slow church plant growth for the sustainability of the local church in the Alliance movement.

Barriers And Solutions For Indigenous Leadership Development: An Outline For Equipping A New Generation For Dynamic Mission Among The Poor, Don Davis

Essays

No abstract provided.

Leaving Decline And Towards Growth: Discovering The Keys To Church Regeneration In South Wales, Elizabeth M. A. Linssen

Doctor of Ministry

This paper highlights the current spiritual climate of Christianity in Wales today, calling for urgent attention to certain deficits within the Church. Section one begins by examining the claims of secularists who believe that Christianity is in a terminal condition in Britain, and whether that is an accurate view. We then progress by looking for signs of new life in UK churches and what it actually means to be a healthy church.

From there, we turn to the great commission Jesus Christ entrusted to His church prior to His ascension, and look at the relationship between growing healthy disciples of …

A Record Year For Church Growth., David J. B. Trim

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Unique History, Unique Opportunity: Evangelicalism In Austria Since 1945, John D. Doss M.Div.

Liberty Theological Review

The article deals with the history of evangelicalism in Austria, a subject on which there is hardly any scholarly research. In focus is the development of the newly recognized baptist, charismatic, mainline evangelical, mennonite and pentecostal denominations since 1945. The role of immigration in the growth of evangelicalism is examined, especially during two periods: the decade after WWII (1945-55) as well as the massive immigration from Eastern Europe (particularly from Romania) after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. The article also presents examples of indigenous church movements among the Austrian people themselves, especially during the 1970's and 1980's. …

A Plan For Developing An Effective Community Outreach Strategy For Churches In The Northeast, Roscoe Lilly

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Community outreach is an essential part of a church's mission to be "salt and light" to those around them. Community outreach creates the crucial platform for a church's evangelistic efforts. While many churches want to reach out to their community, few have a clear understanding of how or where to begin. The purpose of this project is to help churches in the Northeast better understand how to increase their community's receptivity to the gospel through a strategic community outreach plan. The project will use NorthStar Church as a case study. It is the aim of this project to demonstrate how …

Strategies For Twenty First Century Healthy Church Growth: With Special Reference To The Jang Choong Presbyterian Church In South Korea, Hyung Seok Kim

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study is to find strategies of healthy church growth and apply them to local churches in the United State and South Korea. The model of church used was Jang Choong Presbyterian church (JCPC). This paper utilized surveys; this project also analyzed the current conditions of JCPC, exploring growth factors such as: Worship, Fellowship, Training, Ministry, and Evangelism. The factors of healthy church was investigated and delineated based on literature reviews, on the personal studies and questionnaire surveys submitted to members of JCPC. This project suggested eight principles to build healthy churches including JCPC and local churches …