Practical Theology Commons^™

The Future Of Denominational Research: Souther Baptist Research Fellowship, Larry L. Mcswain

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

Denominational researchers must focus on their unique role in relation to the role of other researchers. Our future as competent and effective researchers is dependent on our ability to keep up with the technology available to us. We must develop and maintain networks among researchers to avoid duplication of effort and create adequate sharing of what we know. We must also find ways to include the most difficult research subjects in our efforts. Moreover, if our calling is to have any meaning we must have the kinds of relationships and influence with decision makers that the information we have will …

Megachurches: High-Impact Ministries, John N. Vaughan

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

This paper analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of megachurches.

The Prime Time Plus (+) Megachurch, Kenn Sanders

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

I have found that churches which were having three or four services on Sunday morning immediately increased their attendance by 20% after building new facilities on their present site. These new facilities enabled them to have two prime time services between 9 A.M. and noon. Services during these hours are found to be more desirable to members, and they allow for a better distribution of workers. (Versatility is the key in today's church.) Two services are good stewardship of time and money.

Intervention Aimed At Conference-Wide Church Growth, Steven L. Todd

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

In 1987, the Nebraska Conference of the United Methodist Church began an ambitious process aimed at reversing its two decade membership decline. Contracting with Church Growth, Inc., headed by Dr. Win Am, the conference's newly created Church Growth Committee introduced to its 432 congregations in the state an enterprise labeled "Daring a New Harvest." The plan consisted of an introductory Basic Growth Seminar, followed by a three-and-a-half year process called Love in Action (LIA).

Where Has All The Commitment Gone, Harold Westing

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

Two contemporary sociologists, Allan Bloom (The Closing of the American Mind) and Robert Bellah (Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life), focus our attention to the growing problems in America brought about by our often individualistic and uncommitted values. Christian leadership struggles to find ways to bring Christians to a serious commitment to Christ.

Generations In Conflict, John W. Ellas

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

Christians must recognize that there is a generation gulf. There exists not only an incredible difference in the values, perspectives on life, and needs of future church members as compared to present church members, but more important, even now, there is a vital difference that already exists between members of today's congregations. A failure to understand and deal with this present challenge is creating conflict and numerical decline in a multitude of churches. These issues are not limited to any region or religious tradition. Churches that understand the real issues and address them through effective ministry are experiencing significant growth.

Churches - The Hot One, Elmer Towns

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

This paper discusses several large, influential churches that may be considered model churches because they have influenced a vast section of our nation. These include Calvary Temple of Denver (Charles Blair), First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana (Jack Hyles), Thomas Road Bapist Church, Lynchburg, Virginia (Jerry Falwell), Grace Community Church, Panorama City, California (John McArthur), Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul, Korea (David Yonggi Cho), and Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Illinois (Bill Hybels).

About The North American Society For Church Growth 1992, John N. Vaughan

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

No abstract provided.

The Gift Of Evangelism And Its Relationship To Evangelism, Larry Gilbert

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

Possibly the greatest contribution the Church Growth Movement has made to spiritual gifts is recognizing and properly defining the gift of evangelism. Understanding this gift is imperative to understanding the relationship of spiritual gifts to church growth.

Calvin Theological Journal (Vol 27 No 2 - November 1992), Calvin Theological Seminary

Calvin Theological Journal

Editorial: John Bolt - 217 / The Catholicity of Christianity and the Church by Herman Bavinck, translated by John Bolt - 220 / The Limits of Power and Obedience in the Later Calvin by Ralph Keen - 252 / Abraham Kuyper's Philosophy of Science by Del Ratzsch - 277 / Pannenberg's Systematic Theology, Vol. I: A Symposium: I. Introduction by Brian J. Walsh - 304 / II. The Irrelevancy of Theology: Pannenberg and the Quest for Truth by Stanley J. Grenz - 307 / III. Pannenberg on the Truth of Christian Discourse: A Logical Response by Rory A. …

Assessing Patterns Of Disengagement And Re-Entry In Two Local Congregations Of Churches Of Christ, David Mitchell Malone

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates two congregations among Churches of Christ with a prototype instrument adapted from questions used in a national survey (The Unchurched American, The Princeton Religion Research Center, 1978). The ministry objective for this project thesis is to generate an assessment instrument to be used as a tool for ministry between active and inactive church members.

Specific questions addressed are: what are the patterns of disengagement and re-entry in two local congregations connected with Churches of Christ? Is the disengagement of teenagers and young adults (age 13-24) in each local congregation measurably greater than other recognized age categories over …

Calvin Theological Journal (Vol 27 No 1 - April 1992), Calvin Theological Seminary

Calvin Theological Journal

Editorial: By John Bolt - 7 / Articles: “A Kingship and Priests”: Inaugurated Eschatology in the Apocalypse by Andrew J. Bandstra - 10 / On Unity and Truth: Martin Bucer’s Sermon on John 17 by James R. Payton, Jr. - 26 / Faith and Assurance in the Heidelberg Catechism and Its Primary Composers: A Fresh Look at the Kendall Thesis by Joel R. Beeke - 39 / Humanity in Reformed and Feminist Perspectives: Collision or Correlation? by Douglas J. Schuurman - 68 / Scholia: Herman Bavinck on Scripture and Science, translated by Al Wolters - 91 / …

A Biblical Program For Building New Self-Love In African American Males And Fathers, Anthony Roach Sr.

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

A training program for building new self-love in African American males and fathers was developed, taught, and implemented. The author made a conscious effort to employ an integrative approach to the curriculum, using both the resources of theology and psychology in its framework.

Heralds Of Hope (Titus 2:11-15), C. Raymond Holmes

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.

1992 -- 74th Annual Bible Lectureship, "Corinth Revisited: Studies In I Corinthians", Abilene Christian University, Abilene Christian University

Lectureship and Summit Programs

No abstract provided.

A Love Affair With The Law, Siegfried Herman A. Roeske

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.

Pauline Cosmology: Relic Or Relevant?, Bruce Norman

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.

Wave Makers, Bill M. Sullivan

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

1991 Presidential Address of the North American Society for Church Growth. It discusses critical issues facing the Church Growth Movement in the 1990s.

Church Planting In The Korean Nazarene Church: An Evaluation Of The "1991 Thrust To The City Of Seoul" Program, Ki Young Hong

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

The Korean Nazarene Church (KNC) plans to plant 70 new churches in Seoul by 1993 through the "1991 Thrust to the City of Seoul” program. To date, more than fifteen churches have been planted in Seoul through this program. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the KNC’s church planting effort in Seoul and offer some suggestions for how it could be strengthened.

Reaching The Buster Generation, Elmer L. Towns

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

The first Baby Buster turned 25 years of age in 1991, but Busters do not march to the same drum beat as their Boomer parents. Their Boomer parents were fighters and winners, fighting for women’s rights, nuclear freeze, and the peace movement. They hated Vietnam and the Cold War and they loved the "Camelot" Kennedy Years in the White House. But their Baby Busters are different. They have no great dreams, no battles to win, no mountains to climb. They are a generation with busted dreams, busted ambitions, and busted trust.

Staffing A Church For Growth: A Church Planting Model, Gary L. Mcintosh

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

What is the best way to staff a church so that it grows? Historically this has not been an urgent question for church leaders. Throughout most of church history few churches were large enough to have multiple church staff members. It has only been since the Industrial Age of the mid 1800s that enough people were clustered in cities to produce churches large enough to need multiple staff members. Even then multiple staffing did not become a well known phenomenon until the 1950s when the growing complexity of the so-called Information Age sprang upon the church increasing mobility, diversity, and …

The Framework For A National Strategy In Church Planting, Charles Chaney

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

A revolution has occurred in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in the past half century. The geographical boundaries of the South no longer contain us. Cultural and racial sameness, which once marked the convention, while still pervasive in some areas of our greatest strength, is no longer true nationally. Southern Baptists are ready now to think and act from a national perspective. For the first time, a truly national strategy is a possibility.

Old First Church: Growth Models, John N. Vaughan

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

This study attempts to identify characteristics of "First Churches” experiencing growth and listed among the five hundred fastest growing churches listed in the Vol.3, No. 6 1988 issue of Church Growth Today.

A Movement Is Born: Church Growth Beginnings In An Old Church In Germany, Hans Martin Wilhelm

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

A new approach must be discovered to break old, encrusted traditions which have kept the church in a "Babylonian captivity." Lack of spiritual vitality and creativity have stifled attempts to inject new life into the church. Unfortunately, the influx of missionary personnel into the European scene has not produced the breakthrough it hoped to accomplish. Mission societies have failed to be the change agents they wanted to be. This is principally due to the failure to understand the historical and cultural context, as well as the theological complexities of the German situation.

Calvin Theological Journal (Vol 26 No 2 - November 1991), Calvin Theological Seminary

Calvin Theological Journal

A Tribute and Thanks by John Bolt - 311 / East Friesland and the Reformed Reformation by James Tanis - 313 / Hendrikus Berkhof and Theological Appeals to Experience by David Graham Murphy - 350 / Eschatological Hermeneutics, Women's Ordination, and the Reformed Tradition by John Bolt - 370 / Calvin Bibliography: 1991 by Peter De Klerk - 389 / Scholia: Postmodernism as an Emerging Worldview by Craig Van Gelder - 412 / Postscript to "Partners of the Deity" by Al Wolters - 418 / Book Reviews - Fowler, Stuart, Christian Educational Distinctives, reviewed by John Van Dyk - …

Imitating The Genre Of Parable In Today's Pulpit, Timothy R. Sensing

Restoration Quarterly

Sensing, Timothy R. (1991) "Imitating the Genre of Parable in Today's Pulpit,"Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 33 : No. 4.

This repository hosts selected Restoration Quarterly articles in downloadable PDF format. For the benefit of users who would like to browse the contents of RQ, we have included all issue covers even when full-text articles from that issue are unavailable. All Restoration Quarterly articles are available in full text in the ATLA Religion Database, available through most university and theological libraries or through your local library’s inter-library loan service.

Invitation Letter To Linda Thompson To Join Heartbeat Board, Landon Brady Saunders

Landon Saunders Documents

Letter from Landon Saunders to Linda Thompson inviting her to join the Heartbeat Board of Directors. Invitation was part of Heartbeat's desire to expand the existing board to include more women and ethnically diverse members.

Landon Brady Saunders Biography (Secular), Unknown

Landon Saunders Documents

One-page biography of Landon Saunders for secular events, circa 1991.

Letter Announcing New Heartbeat Board Members, Landon Brady Saunders

Landon Saunders Documents

Letter from Landon Saunders to Don Williams announcing the current Board of Directors' decision to add new and more diverse people, including women, to the Heartbeat Board. Lists the criteria for consideration suggested by the current Board. Contains a reply form for additional nominees, a list of current board members and their addresses, and a list of names and home states of new nominees approved by the Board on July 13, 1991.

Drafts And Suggestions For Letter Inviting Nominees To Join Heartbeat Board, Landon Brady Saunders, Tim Minnix

Landon Saunders Documents

Initial draft of the letter inviting nominees to join the Heartbeat Board. This is one draft of several that the folder contains. Draft contains handwritten notes and suggested edits.

Separate pages list editing suggestions from various board members to Landon Saunders and notes about the board expansion overall.