Practical Theology Commons^™

A Strategy To Increase Devotional Reading Of Ellen G. White's Books On The Bible Story At The Augusta First Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Bobby J. Boles

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Some members of the Augusta First Seventh-day Adventist Church felt the writings of Ellen G. White were irrelevant and thus had no influence in their spiritual life. The church members had dismissed her writings in their spiritual journeys and instead read the works of more contemporary authors. This group seemed to be apathetic to the matter of Ellen White as a prophet, and some avoided her written work all together. A contributing factor to this indifference might have been a lack of devotional reading of her books on the Bible story. By addressing this lack of devotional reading, I …

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 …

A Discipleship Model For Youth At The Paradise Adventist Church, Milton Daniel Marquez

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

For more than a decade the Paradise Adventist Church had been experiencing a common problem facing most churches in North America: approximately 60% of the youth were leaving the church. Rainer and Rainer (2008) argue that one of the factors in two-thirds of young adults between the ages of 18 and 22 leaving our churches after high school is the lack of a simple and effective discipleship process. Pastoral observation concurs that a primary contributing factor to the loss of Adventist youth is that the youth are not being discipled effectively and thus not rooted in Scripture, connected to …

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, …

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 …

A Parental Management Strategy For Single-Mothers With Adolescent Boys In South Chicago, Philip C. Willis Jr.

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Mizpah and Brunswick Heights Seventh-day Adventist Churches are located in a predominately low-income community in the South side of Chicago. The church has many single mothers who face the challenges of raising their children without the presence of a father or male figure. This has had a devastating impact on the family and the children. Single-mother families are more likely to suffer from economic insecurity than two-parent families (McLanahan, 2004). Father-loss causes object hunger in males (Herring, 2005) and 75 % of all drug users and 65 % of all suicides (Sowers, 2010) come from fatherless homes.

Method …

A Leadership Development Project Design For Financial Stability And Missional Momentum At The Houston Northwest Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Richard M. White

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Houston Northwest Seventh-day Adventist church, located in Spring, Texas, has experienced very little membership growth and a decline in attendance and contribution in the ten years from 2003 to 2012. Due to financial challenges during this period, the church did not develop any defined and significant outreach or evangelistic strategies. The need to create financial stability and missional momentum consisting of leadership development is needed. A lack of such intervention the church would continue to remain stagnant in its membership growth with a decline in its contribution and attendance.

Method

This project document explored the Houston Northwest Seventh-day …

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 …

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 …

A Chaplaincy Training And Support Program To Equip Pastors For Ministry In The South Ghana Conference Of Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Nathan Teye Odonkor

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

There is currently no Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries capacity development plan to clinically train pastors as chaplains in the South Ghana Conference (SGC) of the Seventh-day Adventist church. This has resulted in the absence of professional chaplains within the denomination in South Ghana.

Method

I conducted a Chaplaincy Training and Support Program (CTSP) for 15 selected trainees at the South Ghana Church Headquarters Asoredanho-Accra. The Key area of competencies was Clinical Pastoral Education. I employed qualitative method of evaluating trainees by conducting oral and written assessments of data from trainees and ministry recipients.

Results

As a result of the CTSP, …

Discipling The Second Generation: Parent Education For Latino Immigrants, Richard Pinero-Calzada

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

There is a perceived lack of parental knowledge and skills in first generation Latino-immigrant families that contributes to second-generation youth and young adults leaving the Seventh-day Adventist faith.

Method

The purpose of this project is the development of a psychosocial adult education seminar geared toward Latino-immigrant parents, within the context of the United States, of second-generation children ages seven and younger. This project, however, is theoretical in nature, and has not been implemented. To assess the effectiveness of the seminar in regard to attitudinal and behavioral modifications towards parenting, a pre- and post-questionnaire was developed.

Results

This project consists …

A Comprehensive Strategy For The Calgary Metropolitan Area Churches, Christopher L. Holland

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

In my 16 years of ministry, in every location I have pastored, the church has struggled to connect with the surrounding community. In Calgary, there are 14 Seventh-day Adventist churches and companies. These churches have, on occasion, worked in unity for evangelism. However, according to several of the local pastors, that has not happened for over 10 years. If the churches in Calgary are to fulfill the Great Commission, an effective way of engaging the community is needed. Because the communities that surround churches are growing increasingly secular, comprehensive evangelistic strategies may be an effective way of reaching them. …

Programa Para Confrontar La Disidencia Antitrinitaria En La Asociacion Central Amazonas De La Iglesia Adventista Del Septimo Dia, Abraao Vergasta Reis

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The task of this project was to develop, implement, and evaluate a seminar to confront anti-Trinitarian dissidence in the Central Amazon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Brazil. In a historical study, Burt (2006) pointed out that the progression of Adventists from anti-Trinitarianism to a biblical Trinitarian view has been a difficult process (p. 126), and he also explained on the same year that “the last decade has seen an increased anti-Trinitarian agitation within the Seventh-day Adventist Church” (p. 125). Whidden, Moon, and Reeve (2002) point out that there are “increasing reports” of anti-Trinitarianism in North America and around the world, …

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 …

The Power Of Praying Parents, S. Joseph Kidder

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Indexing Evidence Of Faith Integration, Glynis M. Bradfield

Faculty Publications

Workshop Tasks

•Reflect on types of faith integration

•Consider what happens at an Adventist school or university

•Experience and critique a program faith integration index

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.

Estrategia “Comunión, Relacionamiento Y Misión–Crm” Y Su Influencia En La Fidelidad Hacia La Iglesia En Los Miembros De Grupos Pequeños En Un Distrito De La Misión Centro Oeste Del Perú, César Fernando Palacios Pinedo

Dissertations

Problem

The leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the North Union, in particular, in the West Central Peru Mission, have planned a series of activities to be conducted among Small Groups and also at the church level as part of the strategy of Communion, Relationship and Mission (CRM in Spanish). Nevertheless, it is not known the degree of influence of activities such as Bible reading, prayer, witnessing and a relationship with God in the level of fidelity towards the church among members of small groups that will increase their permanence in the church. Therefore, there was a need to …

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."

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, …

The Adventist Pilgrim: A Construct For Theological Reflection, Erik C. Carter

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

"Adventist historians and tour guides refer to site visits using words like “living experience,” “spiritual reflection,” and “sacred space,” but these terms are not adequately engaged, thus rendering them abstract and relegating them to the background. Michael Campbell suggests, for example, that those who participate in an Adventist historical site visit are “personally confronted with the reality of God’s continued leading.” But what exactly does this mean, and perhaps more importantly, how does it happen? We need a more systematic way of connecting these places with our own experience, laden with personal meaning. The purpose of this brief study is …

Ellen White, Health, And The Third Angel’S Message: Part 1–Improving Health Through Reducing Transmissible Diseases, Warren A. Shipton

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

"A systematic approach to Ellen White’s statements on health, particularly in the physical realm, has shown that her words need not be misunderstood and are as sound today as when they were given. She conveyed a profound sense of reverence for God’s word and His instructions on health. Her statements were meant to amplify the principles contained in the Scriptures. I could find no evidence of deficiency in either source. The claim that modern science has discounted her views on such things as leprosy114 is inaccurate. White was more aware of things happening in her day than some modern-day writers …

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church And “Growing In Christ”: From Ecclesiological Awareness To Missiological Engagement, Michée Badé

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"“Growing in Christ” touches the theme of freedom from evil and satanic oppression––a topic with universal appeal and special relevance to many cultures. In this article I have argued that for Adventist mission to succeed cross-culturally, the following new perspectives need to be taken into consideration. First, as we near the close of cosmic conflict, the missiological perspectives demand special attention for the achievement of God’s mission (Kim 2013:127). Second, Adventists are called to “reveal the true character of God to the world as manifested in a unique way in His Son, calling everyone to worship Him as Creator and …

A Biblical Training Model To Improve The Financial Literacy Of The Members Of The Roundup-Lewistown District Of The Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Andrew Raduly

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Pastoral observation suggested that one third of the Roundup-Lewistown Seventh-day Adventist district membership struggled with personal financial management issues. It was suggested that the root causes for the inability to manage financial resources was a lack of financial literacy and education and a lack of understanding of basic financial concepts, including misunderstandings about biblical concepts about wealth, borrowing, and stewardship of resources.

Method

In order to assess, improve, and observe the basic knowledge of the financial literacy and education of the Roundup-Lewistown Seventh-day Adventist church membership, a pre-financial literacy seminar assessment survey (PREFLAS) was administered. The PREFLAS was followed …

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 …

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 …