Missions and World Christianity Commons^™

Loving Your Neighbor: A Guide To Developing And Sustaining Community Service Projects, Rickey Houston

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A current ministry concern is mobilizing and engaging the congregation in service projects throughout the immediate and surrounding communities to spread the love of Christ and build the kingdom of God. The purpose of this project is to examine and shed light on an approach or approaches to effectively transform service beyond the walls of the congregation to intentional, appropriate, and relevant service within the community. This subject matter has the potential of transforming congregations from a predominant notion of interaction with self to interaction with organizations and individuals who are part of the church's mission field. In addition, there …

Finding Still Waters And Green Pastures: Understanding And Reducing Stress In Urban Church Planting, David R. Dunaetz

Selected Faculty Publications

The work of urban church planters is often hindered by high levels of stress. Stress may be viewed as a process that involves stressors and an individual’s perceptions of both the level of threat and his or her ability to deal with the threat. The long term and the short term consequences of stress can be attenuated through appropriate coping strategies such as problem solving, prayer, and seeking social support. Recent empirical evidence indicates that exposure to nature is also very effective, a strategy that might be especially beneficial to urban church planters and their ministries. Several practical applications are …

Goals And Accountability For Ministry Effectiveness: Insights From Psychological Science, David R. Dunaetz

Selected Faculty Publications

In this overview of what psychological science has discovered about goal setting, we will see that goal setting tends to make people more productive. This essay examines the conditions under which goal setting is most effective, as well as the situations where goal setting can be dangerous. Studies of goal-setting theory have found that job performance increases when people have challenging but specific performance goals. The mechanisms that cause goal setting to lead to greater effectiveness are just as present in Christian ministry as in any other kind of work. Also the dangers associated with goal setting are especially relevant …

A Thread In Japan’S History: The Historical Journey Of Japanese Christianity To The Brink Of Modern Japan, Rebecca Velker

Senior Honors Theses

A Jesuit missionary named Francis Xavier pioneered the Christian faith in Japan in 1549. Japan was open to the gospel, and many missionaries followed Francis Xavier. Japanese people from a wide range of social standings supported Christianity for a variety of reasons. The Tokugawa government soon viewed Christianity as a threat to the authority of the Japanese government. Japan persecuted the Christians and the Japanese church was driven underground. Over two hundred years later during the Meiji Restoration, Japan altered its policies towards the West and tolerated Christianity in Japan. Despite never being fully welcomed, the Christian belief resonated with …

The Korean-American Church In The 21st Century; A How To Model For Church Growth, Dongsik Kim

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Although Korean-Americans have high religious affiliation, they have a low religious commitment. Many Korean-Americans think of the church as a place for relaxation and social connection rather than a place of worship. With the distorted perspective towards the church, the Korean-American churches experience split and division; the church's growth stagnates or declines, and the church is no longer healthy. This project provides suggestions for becoming a healthy church through a case study of the Lord-Jesus Korean Church (LJKC) in Richmond, VA. Based on questionnaires, the project evaluates the effectiveness of the ministries of the LJKC and suggests recommendations for becoming …

“Heaven And Earth” Samoan Indigenous Religion, Christianity, And The Relationship Between The Samoan People And The Environment, Grace Wildermuth

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper examines Samoan indigenous religion and the relationship between Samoans and the environment before and after the introduction of Christianity. It looks at how Christian beliefs and the cultural perspectives of European missionaries affected Samoa’s environment. It then considers Samoan indigenous religious values that may be helpful to combat current environmental problems. Primary and secondary sources were used, including interviews with both theologians and environmentalists. Samoan indigenous religion promoted a sustainable relationship with the land but Christianity and the cultural lens through which it was delivered had negative environmental effects. Samoa retains a deep environmental knowledge in the memories …

Extending Story Listening As A Practice Of Communal Formation At The Lake Orion Church Of Christ, Eric R. Magnusson

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the results of a project that explores the potential for extending a practice of story listening as a way of forming community across social circles at the Lake Orion Church of Christ in Lake Orion, Michigan. The intervention involved guiding a group of six participant-researchers, each of whom had previous experience in story listening, through six sessions in the fall of 2011. Each phase of the project was informed by a participatory social Trinitarian theology. The first three sessions were designed to empower participant-researcher pairs to facilitate story listening groups of four to five …

The Initiation Of Growth-Focused Relationships Involving Healthy Accountability At The Carbondale Church Of Christ, Stephen Shaffer

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

After several years of transition, the Carbondale Church of Christ is in the early stages of becoming a spiritual growth-focused community. However, the emerging growth community appears to reflect the prevailing cultural assumptions that growth is a personal, private, and an individual task. To shape this emergent growth culture, this project initiated a group of congregational opinion leaders, organized in pairs, into the practice of growth-focused relationships involving healthy accountability. The initiation involved a theological orientation followed by a four-week healthy accountability praxis.

The theological framework of the project involved three main aspects. First, the project used the body image …

The Father's Business Person, The Shift To Tentmaking Missions Strategy, Chris White

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the important place that tentmaking holds or should hold in missions strategy. It is the belief of the author (supported by almost 20 years of ministry experience overseas) that visas and money are often barriers to ministry effectiveness. This paper would like to provide a solution (i.e. tentmaking) to these common tensions that most missionaries encounter. The value of the topic is very personal to the author's ministry: first because I am currently serving on the mission field (needing a visa and money), and second because of the potential tentmaking holds for …

Implementing A Discernment Phase For Those Nominated In The Shepherd Selection Process At The Cinco Ranch Church Of Christ, Aaron Walling

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the results of a project that implemented a discernment phase for those nominated in the shepherd selection process at the Cinco Ranch Church of Christ. Occurring in the fall of 2010, this project involved nominees in a series of six one-hour, thirty-minute sessions designed to establish the theological foundations for shepherding and to explore its practical expression at Cinco Ranch. For the theological component, this project primarily utilized Ephesians 4:11-16, and for the practical side, it incorporated group interactions with those serving as shepherds along with the review of guiding leadership documents. The project‟s …

Crafting A Congregational Narrative For The College Church Of Christ In Fresno, California, Jason W. Locke

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes a ministry project in the College Church of Christ in Fresno, California. In this project I led the congregation through a narrative crafting process in order to clarify the church’s identity and increase its capacity for mission. In recent decades, the College Church moved away from some of its founding characteristics yet failed to clarify a new sense of identity. It subsequently had difficulty acting with a unified sense of purpose and instead moved increasingly toward fragmentation.

Data for crafting the new narrative came from three weeks of group interviews. My research team conducted these interviews in …

Discerning A Vocational Theology Of Marriage For The Smyrna Church Of Christ, Daniel F. Camp

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this project was to discern a vocational theology of marriage for the Smyrna Church of Christ in Smyrna, Tennessee. Through a group discernment process, the participants studied Genesis 1-3 and 2 Corinthians 5 as a basis for understanding God’s design for marriage at creation, the effects of sin on the vocational aspect of the marriage relationship, and the call of Christ for husbands and wives to participate in the resurrection life through the ministry of reconciliation. At the end of the discernment process, the participants articulated a theology statement for the church that examined our current context …

Understanding The Effects Of Diversity In Mission From A Social Science Perspective, David R. Dunaetz

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This study presents an overview of the results of empirical studies concerning diversity in work teams. Although these studies have most often been carried out in secular contexts, they support perspectives of human nature that are consistent with the biblical themes found associated with the Tower of Babel (the Similarity/Attraction Perspective) and Paul's metaphor of the Body of Christ and spiritual gifts (the Information/Decision Making Perspective). Key concepts are explained, including the measurement of diversity and team performance, task and relationship diversity, faultlines, cultural versus non-cultural diversity, and status. When the results of the various diversity studies are combined, it …

A Missiological Study Of The Phenomenon Of Dual Allegiance In The Seventh-Day Adventist Church Among The Yoruba People Of Nigeria, Paul Adekunle Dosunmu

Dissertations

Problem

Many Africans and members of other traditional societies of the world who still hold to a supernaturalistic and spiritualistic worldview visit diviners, shamans, spiritualistic herbalists, and the traditional medicine men and women who use enchantments, divination, charms, invocation of the spirit world, etc. They engage in such practices for various reasons which include, to diagnose and treat various ailments, both physical and psychological which plague their clients, a quest to know the future through divination, and also for the preparation of different kinds of charms and medicines. Christians, including some Yoruba Adventists, also engage in such consultations, a practice …

Christian Cooperation And Ministry Effectiveness: Insights And Applications From Empirical Research In Group Processes, David R. Dunaetz

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

“Co-operation and the Promotion of Unity” was one the major themes addressed at Edinburgh 1910. The goal was increased cooperation among Christian organizations that would lead to greater ministry effectiveness. Five group processes are presented in light of empirical studies demonstrating their ability to increase group performance: 1) Trust (reciprocal beliefs that the one party will promote the well being of another; 2) Constructive conflict (objective consideration and evaluation of various ways of accomplishing a common goal); 3) Decision commitment (beliefs held by all parties concerning the importance of following through on group decisions); 4) Accountability (the expectation that a …

Long Distance Managerial Intervention In Overseas Conflicts: Helping Missionaries Reframe Conflict Along Multiple Dimensions, David R. Dunaetz

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Effective ways of conflict management must be found for missionaries when no trusted mediator in the region is available. Home office management or leaders in other regions can intervene through context rich media, such as the telephone and video conferencing, to provide help. Intervention through context poor media, such as email, is much less likely to succeed. Effective managerial intervention involving interaction with each party can lead to reframing the conflict into an opportunity to cooperate and find mutually beneficial solutions. The manager can present information, ask questions, and help the parties see that resolution is possible by addressing key …

Good Teams, Bad Teams: Under What Conditions Do Missionary Teams Function Effectively?, David R. Dunaetz

Selected Faculty Publications

Missionary teams are popular, but not always effective. Five conditions contributing to healthy team functioning are examined in light of empirical evidence: trust, task conflict, commitment to decisions, accountability, and group goals.

Organizational Justice: Perceptions Of Being Fairly Treated, David R. Dunaetz

Selected Faculty Publications

When members of mission organizations perceive injustice within their organization, they work less effectively and attrition is more likely. This paper examines various types of organizational justice (distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational) which need to be monitored and maximized to help mission organizations accomplish their goals.

Communally Discerning A Covenant Of Hospitality For The Care Of Children At Westview Boys' Home, Ron Bruner

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This project addressed the lack of a covenant defining the practice of hospitality towards children for team members of Westview Boys’ Home. The purpose of the project was to facilitate the creation of such a covenant. The Westview ministry team already claimed hospitality as a strength; the hope was that reframing the ministry around this strength would improve the quality of care for children and the quality of life for the community. Invited into a communal discernment process (the methodology), the ministry team invested weeks in the examination of biblical texts, theological tradition, personal and communal narratives, cultural trends, psychological …

Totally Devoted: Developing A Holistic Spiritual Formation Course For Western Christian College, Stanley N. Helton

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reports research results from a learning community composed of faculty, support staff, ministry leaders, and students who collaborated in a professor’s development of a new course proposal in Christian spiritual formation at Western Christian College in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The professor used qualitative research methods in the analysis and evaluation of the data produced by the group. The outcome of the project was ethnographic data that informed the creation of the course proposal that included new course application, course syllabus with course schedule, planned activities, bibliography, initial classroom assignments, and initial assessment tools.

H. M. Chauke Research Of African Hlengwe People, Happyson William Matsilele Chauke, Tillerman Houser

ATS Digital Resources

This is a collection of historical and cultural research works about the vaHlengwe people of Zimbabwe, created by Happyson Chauke before his untimely death by a hit and run driver in 2009. It was compiled by his friend Tillman Houser, who spent 35 years as a missionary to Zimbabwe under the Free Methodist Church. The bulk of the collection is comprised of the book entitled: "The miracle of Lundi Mission: lest we forget."

Tolerance, Democracy And Fundamentalism(S) : Challenges In Time Of Systemic Bifurcations, Guillermo C. Hansen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Developing A Model For An Incarnational Ministry At The Webb Chapel Church Of Christ, L. Bert Alexander

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the results of a project to promote the development of an incarnational ministry at the Webb Chapel Church of Christ. This intervention employed a team of Webb Chapel opinion leaders representative of various subgroups of the congregation. In the fall of 2008, this group met for eight sessions to discuss the self-emptying practices of Jesus and the need for his followers to emulate those self-emptying practices in their individual lives. Through interaction in the eight sessions, the group developed a model by which self-emptying practices could be implemented at Webb Chapel. Evaluation of the …

Transforming Chaos Into Beauty: Intentionally Developing Unity In Church Plants, David R. Dunaetz

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This paper describes how unity can be developed in young church planting contexts. Two dimensions of unity are explored: Task cohesiveness and Relational cohesiveness. Empirically verified approaches to increasing both dimensions of unity in organizations are presented along with applications for church planting.

Tolerance And Democracy Instead Of Fundamentalism And Empire, Guillermo C. Hansen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Plaque In Christ Chapel, Amanda C. Caligiuri

Hidden in Plain Sight Projects

We see them every day and pass them as we rush to class. Painting, monuments, and even old photographs that remind us of Gettysburg’s past. They have become so commonplace that we hardly spare a second glance for them so that they start to fade into the general scenery, eventually losing their meaning and with that, the rich history that they denote. What if one could turn back the clock and return to the beginning of freshman year when every sign and monument was new, worth our attention and more importantly, our curiosity? Although Gettysburg College is well steeped in …

Blessing And Sending The Church Into The World For The Sake Of The World, Using Congregational Blessings As A Missional Enterprise, Michael Harbour

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This thesis project equipped the elders to function as a community of men called and authorized by God to bless and send his people into the world for the sake of the world. They were equipped through seven sessions of theological reflection on Scripture and reflection on narratives of those who have offered pastoral blessings. The sessions also included an examination of templates and the opportunity to practice writing and speaking blessings. The elders have been speaking a shepherd’s blessing as the last liturgical act of the Sunday assembly. In this project, missional and textual focus was given to the …

Race, Nation, And Religion In The Americas, Edited By Henry Goldschmidt And Elizabeth Mcalister, R. Bryan Bademan

History Faculty Publications

Book review by R. Bryan Bademan.

Goldschmidt, Henry and Elizabeth McAlister, eds. Race, Nation, and Religion in the Americas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

ISBN 978-0195149197

God In Civil Society: Prophetic, Sapiential, And Pacific, Gary M. Simpson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Chw Productions: A Study To Determine Market Potential For Missionary Videos, Shalayne Packer, Francisco Pascual, Jed Lloyd

Student Works

At the request of the CHW Productions, Shalayne Packer, Jed Lloyd, and Francisco Pascual, students of the Marriott School of Management located at Brigham Young University, were commissioned to determine the market potential for LDS missionary videos. PPL Consulting is comprised of Shalayne Packer, Francisco Pascual and Jed Lloyd.