Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Legacy Of Inanna, Michael Orellana

Papers

No abstract provided.

Toward A Model Of The Ontology Of The Divine Indwelling Of Humans: A Comparative Study Of John Wesley And John Cobb, Cory Wetterlin

Dissertations

Topic

The topic of this dissertation is moving toward a model of the ontology of the divine indwelling by the means of a comparative study of John Wesley and John Cobb.

Problem

The purpose of this research is to survey and analyze the writings of Wesley and Cobb, in order to present their models of the ontological nature of the divine-human indwelling. In addition, an effort will be made to evaluate their models, based on their interpretations of Romans 6-8 compared with each other and selected current scholarship.

Sources

Sources used in this research include but are not limited to …

Measuring The Perceived Effectiveness Of Five Selected Professional Courses Taken By Alumni Theology Majors And How They Are Related To Selective Demographics: A Mixed Methods Study, Barry J. Tryon

Dissertations

Problem

The study was prompted by the need for the evaluation of current theological educational programs for preparing students to meet the many challenges of pastoral ministry in a rapidly changing world. However, to date there has been little published research addressing the effectiveness of undergraduate theological education. Furthermore, changes implemented in the theological education program at Southern Adventist University (Southern) have not been evaluated for their effectiveness for ministerial job preparedness.

Method

This descriptive study measured the perceived effectiveness of five professional courses taught in the undergraduate theological educational program at Southern for ministerial job preparedness. A parallel mixed …

The Doctrine Of Prevenient Grace In The Theology Of Jacobus Arminius, Abner F. Hernandez

Dissertations

Topic

This dissertation addresses the problem of the lack of agreement among interpreters of Arminius concerning the nature, sources, development, and roles of prevenient grace in Arminius’s soteriology.

Purpose

The dissertation aims to investigate, analyze, and define the probable sources, nature, development, and role of the concept of prevenient or “preceding” grace in the theology of Jacobus Arminius (1559–1609).

Sources

The dissertation relies on Arminius’s own writings, mainly the standard London Edition, translated by James Nichols and Williams Nichols. However, I also frequently consulted the original Latin edition of his works when needed to clarify some translations. Secondary sources played …

Editorial, Bruce L. Bauer

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"One of the original purposes of this journal was to provide a forum for missionary and cross-cultural research and to help build a body of literature dealing with Adventist mission theory and practice. Therefore, this issue is focused on mission research with the hope that as readers around the world read the articles that illustrate the many ways of doing missiological research that they will also be encouraged to conduct research and write for future issues of the journal." [Excerpted from Editorial]

[Introduction]

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Contents

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

On Epistemology Of Missiological Research, Petr Činčala

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"In this article I addressed the nature of missiology and missiological research. Missiology is like a dynamic river that can “flow” with any academic discipline examining human behavior “to expand missiological theory and applications and to extend the mission Dei” (Elliston 2011:112). Theological research as a stand-alone research method may or may not serve missiological purposes; however, missiology and theology are related disciplines. This same rational does not apply to the social sciences and missiology. Missiology can benefit enormously from a social science approach to research but may be paralyzed by utilizing social science research as a whole package."

An Exploration Of The Relationship Between Strategy And Structure To The Work Of Starting And Supporting Church Planting Movements, Laurence G. Burn

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"A church that defines itself by movement structures sees the center or activity as taking place in hearts and homes of its members. The mission is living the message, empowering, facilitating, and catalyzing and should define the culture of the organization. It is my conviction that this journey with its focus on creating movements represents a seismic shift in thinking and behavior. There is no doubt that further research is needed that by God’s grace will help create a multitude of disciple-making movements again in many parts of the world."

Proposed Research Instrument For Establishing A Baseline Measurement Of Buddhist Background Believers, Gregory P. Whitsett

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"My plan for this survey is to create a self-administered questionnaire. What makes this a preferred method of research is that it can be conducted quickly using a drop-and-collect technique by national church leaders sending the survey packets to local church leaders to then distribute to willing participants. Self-administered questionnaires are relatively inexpensive and respondents are not influenced by the interviewer or her bias. Another advantage is that this type of survey allows longer batteries of questions than you could ask in person as well as giving the respondent anonymity. The disadvantages include that there is no control over how …

An Aging Church In An Aging Society: Averting A Possible Grim Future For The Seventh-Day Adventist Church In Russia, Yuri N. Drumi

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"Being an international and highly diverse community of believers, the world-wide Seventh-day Adventists Church has always struggled with maintaining its identity in a fast-changing world. This is natural, and much credit is to be given to several generations of church leaders for success in this regard. Nevertheless, after the seeds of Adventism have been liberally sown all over the world and as the seeds have grown, it is time to let those plants share more responsibility for their own future. Paternalism and top-down strategizing is no longer adequate to facilitate the spiritual rejuvenation of local forms of Adventism. To experience …

Family Resilience In Displacement: Defining Validity And Reliability In A Hermeneutic Phenomenology Inquiry, Regine Rimarzik

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"The voices of the poor confirmed a common recommendation among scholars to combine the best of person-focused approaches with the best of variable-focused approaches in resilience studies. This could be especially beneficial for comparative studies in terms of religion and culture adherence. In other words, I am considering to slightly tweak my research topic and widen the scope towards a comparative religious study within the same environment and to specify the impact of comparative faith traditions on the human development context in displacement. Finally, my better understanding of the nature of family resilience awakened my curiosity for discovering the nature …

The Concept Of Social Justice In The Social Sciences, In The Bible, And In Adventism, Michelet William

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"Social justice is included in the mission of God to redeem and restore humanity. While in the early years evangelicals viewed social justice with suspicion, considering it subordinate to evangelism, since the second half of the 20th century, social justice has gained momentum among evangelical Christians who have become favorable to a more holistic approach to mission. William Carey had already set the tone in the 19th century as his work in India included missiological responses to social justice concerns. Other more recent and similarly mission-focused social advocacy work followed, such as the Temperance Movement in early Adventism, the ongoing …

Window Shopping And Turf Control, W. Milton Adams

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"In the past there has been much appropriate emphasis on the laity’s posture of respect toward church leadership. But what matters now is an equal and proactive posture of respect toward the laity. As new methods and new plans spring forth from the laity, cooperation and mutual respect must also spring forth. The result will look and function like a peer relationship. In today’s developing culture, the onus will lie on church leadership to rid themselves pf any turf control and instead develop skills of cheering, funding, and quickly embracing God-honoring lay ministries. So, a call to smooth the way, …

Using Essential Questions To Develop A Biblical Perspective, Glynis M. Bradfield

Faculty Publications

Workshop Tasks •Establish context for faith integration in educator’s life and work. •Learn how to use the Visual Valet as a faith integration tool, focusing on questions that increase critical thinking and biblical perspective development. •Learn how to create units that build on essential questions.

Cross-Cultural Conflict Transformation In Southeastern California Conference Of Seventh-Day Adventists, Jonathan J. Park

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Today’s world has become more globalized than ever before. The North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists is perhaps a division with the most ethnically diverse members in the world. This diversity is especially found in the Southeastern California Conference, which has more than 70,000 members with 175 churches and companies and many different ethnic groups. The Asian ministries alone have eleven different ethnic groups. These Asian churches not only face cultural differences between the first and later generations of the church members but must also deal with generational differences. These differences create conflict that need to be addressed.

Method …

Programa De Capacitação Para Fortalecer O Discipulado Através De Pastores Na Associação Central Paranaense, Aquino G. Bastos

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The involvement of members regarding discipleship in the Central Parana Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (CPC) seems not to follow the numerical growth of the church. An analysis of Sabbath School quarterly reports of the churches belonging to CPC for the first three quarters of 2015 indicates that only 1,091 (4,1%) of the 26,076 members are involved in the process of making new disciples. This low level of participation evidenced the need to design, implement, and evaluate a discipleship strengthening project that would enable pastors to become better equipped as discipleship training agents in their respective local churches at the …

Development And Implementation Of An Effective Training On Servant Leadership Among The Youth In The Gekomu Ii Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Fred M. Okemwa

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Gekomu II Seventh-day Adventist Church has a membership of about 1,500. The youth account for 35% of this membership; however, many of these young people are unwilling to play active leadership roles in the church. The absence of leadership trainings for the youth to develop skills and acquire knowledge to enhance their leadership abilities is one of the causes for their lack of involvement in the leadership roles. As a result, the leadership strengths and talents possessed by these young people are underutilized thus affecting the overall leadership quality of the church.

Method

In response to the above …

Training Volunteer And Non-Professional Health Educators In The Context Of The Milwaukee Seventh-Day Adventist Community, Glenn Cassimy

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Sharon SDA Church is a prominent faith based organization (FBO) in the Milwaukee district. Like many other churches in the community, the Sharon SDA Church continually seeks to adopt innovative strategies to assist in improving the health status of their congregants. Although the Sharon SDA Church and various faith-based organizations implement health program initiatives as a part of their mission, at the end of any program effort, there is still the need for ongoing member support to assist congregants in fully achieving the goals they set during their health initiative. This study, therefore, is an attempt to provide …

A Marriage Preparation Program In The South Central Ghana Conference Of The Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Francis Tuffour

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Similar to many other places in the world, the divorce rate in Ghana is on the rise. Certain media reports in Ghana have attributed the spate of marriage breakdown to a lack of marriage preparation. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Central Ghana Conference is confronted by a plethora of marital problems. Many couples schedule their wedding dates and then simply inform their pastors, whereas others adopt the traditional or customary marriage without telling the church. The short notice couples give to pastors and the church makes it difficult for adequate marriage preparation to take place. No official …

Expanding The Ecclesiastes Worship Center In Sacramento, California By Using A Documentray Of The Russian Reform Movement, Udo Sokolovsky

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

During the last decades of the twentieth century, the Greater Sacramento area of California became one of the largest Russian-speaking communities in the United States. According to Russian American Media, there are approximately 300,000 Russian-speaking residents. Many of them came to America as victims of religious persecution. However, today only about 30,000—just 10% of the total number of immigrants—are active members in different Christian churches. One reason for this is that the Russian Orthodox Church is trying to intensify its impact on Russian immigrants by linking all that is Russian with Orthodoxy. As a result, many Russian immigrants do …

Reducing Pastor-Dependency In The New Market Seventh-Day Adventist Church Through Self-Managed Ministry Teams, Shane N. Anderson

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Between 2004 and 2015, members of the New Market Seventh-day Adventist Church independently—that is, apart from the pastoral staff—initiated only a handful of new ministries (either for in-reach or outreach) and only occasionally attempted to substantially improve existing ministries. This stunted the church’s ability to reach, baptize, and mature new members. Two professional assessments of the church indicated that this problem was caused largely by an unhealthy dependence on the pastoral staff to make the majority of substantive ministry decisions.

Method

Self-managed ministry teams were implemented into a significant portion of the church over a period of 18 months …

A Strategy For Developing Outreach-Oriented Small Groups For Millenial Students At Georgia-Cumberland Academy Church, Greg Hudson

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Millennial students at Georgia-Cumberland Academy (GCA) are not being inspired and equipped to actively engage in community outreach. GCA is a boarding school with 80% of students having homes in other locations, limiting their opportunity to develop connections with any local community, both at home and at school. The result is that students are graduating without needed skills to spiritually interact with their community and to share their faith in Jesus in meaningful ways. About 60% of Adventist youth are leaving the church, and part of the problem may be their lack of connection to the outreach ministries of …

A Process For Implementing Devotional Patterns For Members Of The San Diego Central Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Limuel M. Liwanag

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

A church with declining membership for over 20 years and almost devoid of additional new member through baptism is a pastoral concern. Such is the situation with San Diego Central Seventh-day Adventist church. This scenario appears contrary to the biblical formula for individual as well as congregational health that Jesus emphatically stated in John 15. Connectedness to Jesus, the Vine, naturally results in fruitfulness. When a person does not bear fruit, it may indicate a lack of or no connection to the Vine at all. Connection to Jesus is nurtured and sustained by a devotional pattern. A process that …

Teaching Reflective Scripture Reading In The Context Of Small Groups In The Walla Walla University Church, Emily M. Whitney

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem.

While the Seventh-day Adventist Church has emphasized the importance of God's Word and is effective in teaching people how to search Scripture for doctrinal truth, many disciples are not spending significant time in Scripture or growing in relationship with God. This lack of formational Scripture reading is due to numerous challenges that can discourage people from spending time in God’s Word. A primary challenge is that many people confess that they do not know how to read Scripture for relationship with God; they long to know how to read Scripture to hear from God and relevantly and meaningfully apply …

Developing, Implementing And Evaluating A Leader Development Process For Stone Mountain Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Joel L. Honore

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Stone Mountain Seventh-day Adventist Church’s vision calls for a reiterative process of growing the worship attendance to 2,000 worshipers, then initiating a new church plant every four years. At the initiation of this project, Stone Mountain Church did not have the capacity to achieve its vision. Its facility could not accommodate 2,000 worshipers. There were insufficient leaders to minister to 2,000 people, neither was there adequate leadership to take the congregation through a facilities expansion process. The shortage of leaders precluded the vision of Stone Mountain Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Method

Bolman and Deal (2008) provide four approaches for engaging …

Relational Health Through The Communion Service At The Lighthouse Seventh-Day Adventist Church In Fort Lauderdale, Fl, M. Curtis Powell

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The history of conflict at the Lighthouse Seventh-day Adventist Church can be traced to the different attitudes and approaches toward the corporate worship experience held by the membership. One view of worship is more akin to traditional liturgy and style. One segment of the congregation, composed mainly of older members, prefers the use of hymns, emphasizes reverence in the sanctuary, and is skeptical of drums. Their posture could be considered reflective rather than overtly expressive. The other view of worship is more akin to contemporary elements and style. They prefer more contemporary genres of music, a more contemporary liturgy, …

Technology Training For Administrators And Pastors In The Greater New York Conference Of Seventh-Day Adventists, Rohann D. Wellington

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Greater New York Conference (GNYC) is located in what is considered the media capital of the world. Media and technology have changed our lives in meaningful ways, both globally and locally. The church in its local context, in this technological age, is struggling to adapt technology in meaningful and effective ways to impact discipleship and evangelism practices. I observed that the administrators and most of the pastors in the GNYC do not understand how to adapt today’s media technology effectively, and therefore, lack a vision regarding how this tool can be effectively adapted for ministry delivery.

Method

A …

An Action Plan For Youth Involvement Leadership At Francois In Martinique, Louise R. Nocandy

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Youth involvement leadership in Seventh-day Adventist local churches remains an issue of concern. Part of the vision of the Seventh-day Adventist World Church and the local church is to encourage the youth to be faithful disciples of Christ and to teach, train, equip, and involve them in the Seventh-day Adventist local churches. However, the Annual Local Churches Strategic Plan is not intentionally oriented towards youth involvement leadership and the Annual Youth Strategic Plans are generally not based on the vision for the entire church. This gap reveals a lack of partnership between the youth department and most other departments …

Developing A Structure To Strengthen Youth Ministry In Florida Conference, Pedro E. Perez

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem.

Florida Conference did not have a way to connect the Youth Ministries Department to local churches to support the churches’ teen ministry. There was a need for a structure to create a connection between the conference and local churches to strengthen youth ministry in the local church. With over 300 churches in the conference, the youth director could not achieve this alone. Furthermore, there was not even a contact list to know which churches had a youth leader or young people. Developing a structure would be a means of gaining access to local church youth leaders so that the …