Practical Theology Commons^™

Ethical Decision Making In Nursing Practice: The Impact On Moral Distress, Anthony W. Green

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

There is significant research that indicates nurses working in a hospital setting experience moral distress while caring for their patients. While there are many barriers that prevent nurses from overcoming moral distress and moving toward moral resilience, this research project focused on eliminating barriers that nurses face in making good ethical, moral, biblical decisions. The research methodology for this project was qualitative, interpretive, and longitudinal. There was an initial interview with five participant nurses at Ellis Medicine regarding their knowledge of ethics in healthcare and moral distress. The researcher then provided an education program for participant nurses to increase their …

Small Groups Evangelistic Growth At New Gainesville Seventh-Day Adventist Church, John Raymond Sconiers

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Christian denominations generally have low growth rates and stagnant evangelistic programs. While churches struggle to evangelize new believers, evangelistic models that utilize small group methodology have shown various degrees of success. The purpose of the author is to conduct a church growth study of the New Gainesville Seventh-Day Adventist Church by developing, implementing, and evaluating small groups over a thirteen-week period to analyze it’s effect on quarterly growth rate. The author will define and implement biblical principles of small groups and measure the outcome of numerical and personal growth among participants. As a result of implementing small group evangelism into …

A Study On The Small Groups For The Vitalization Of Young Adult: With A Focus On Dang-Il Church, Jongkil Park

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis is a study on the revitalization plan for youth ministry in the church. The purpose of this study is to study the effect of small group ministry on faith growth and youth revitalization as a way to promote youth ministry based on the understanding of youth. Today, while the growth of Korean churches is slowing and the number of members decreases, the youth group has also stopped growing, facing a crisis of spiritual growth and a crisis of existence itself. The decline of the young generation is not a problem only today, but at a time when the …

A Biblical Understanding Of Making Disciples, Gregory Douglas Brown

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

One of the many functions of the local church is to make disciples. Unfortunately, thoughtful and consistent efforts have not always proven to yield the results that accompany transformational living. This thesis project seeks to address and remove some of the barriers around discipleship and disciple-making in the local setting. This study provided a discipleship training course targeted toward spiritually mature male leaders. Individuals were invited to attend a six-session training course where they were equipped with a biblical understanding of discipleship, and training in spiritual disciplines, to aid in their personal growth and ability to teach others. Data was …

The Way We See Matters: Developing A New Theological Vision For Effective Cross-Generational Evangelism, Michelle Naomi Jeremie

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Today, North American churches have great opportunities and face unique challenges in fulfilling their mandate to make disciples. This DMIN thesis discusses the issue of how to more effectively evangelize the Millennial generation and Generation Z in a postmodern context. The purpose of this thesis is to address the need for church leaders to utilize a specialized evangelism training program to equip Christians to evangelize to non-believers across generational lines. The focus of this project is to implement the Cross-generational Evangelism Training (C-GET) Program at a ministry that has a low representation of Millennials and Generation Z. This Program will …

Potential Ministry Approaches For Reaching Hispanic Millennials In El Paso, Texas America’S Largest Ethnic Demographic In The Borderland, William Howard Lavender Ii

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

How can evangelical churches be more effective when conducting Christ’s missional mandate to make disciples of all nations among one of the United States’ largest ethnic people group? A recent demographic study reveals that 60% of Hispanic Millennials form one of the nation’s largest ethnic demographics. The El Paso Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is home to the largest concentration of Hispanic Millennials living in the United States. This Doctor of Ministry project discovers ministry approaches that will equip ministry leaders in El Paso, Texas to be more effective at conducting Christ’s missional mandate within their ministry context.

Church Revitalization: Fashioning Church For Growth, Willie Lee Wormack

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis research project is an approach to resolve the issues of the critically declined and dying Friendship Baptist Church whose membership cannot support a viable ministry. Friendship Baptist Church exists with minimal infrastructure at 38503 Mosstown Road, Dade City, Florida, in the rural Lacoochee, Florida area. Friendship Baptist Church needs a visionary plan with leadership and team support directed to assist with church development and growth. The case study approach will implement exploration on the meanings and beliefs of Christianity for the church in the church’s social setting. Investigations about cultural associations of faith with the church is engaged …

A Study Of A Systematic Evangelistic Discipleship Process At The Lighthouse Free Methodist Church, Thomas Michael Doherty

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Lighthouse Free Methodist Church in Barryton, Michigan, lacks a systematic discipleship program that produces disciple-makers. This Doctor of Ministry project purposes to integrate a systematic discipleship program into the Lighthouse Free Methodist Church. The research methodology includes pre-and post-surveys and interviews. Pre- and post-survey data were collected to compare the number of disciplers, salvations, worship attenders, and the number of new systematic evangelistic discipleship groups. Six People participated in the training provided. The Lighthouse FMC is located near a small community of three-hundred people and is in the middle of a ten-mile circumference with thirty thousand. Thirteen people started …

Preparing The Next Generation For A Pluralistic World: The Need To Teach Systematic Theology To Christian Youth, Terrance Jermayne O'Neil

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The continuation of Christianity is rooted in the historical practice of the preceding generation theologically educating the next generation. This process has led to the spreading of the gospel throughout the world. However, in recent years, the Christian church has watched an entire generation walk away from the faith. Many youths who affirmed their faith in Christ are abandoning their confessions and practice. The challenges and skepticism of a pluralistic and relativistic culture have questioned historic Christianity. Regretfully, Christian youth are unable to respond theologically and accurately with confidence. The church has failed to prepare them. This study sought to …

Educating Church Leaders: Providing End-Of-Life Spiritual Care To Life Changers Church Ministry, Jermaine Joshua Ruffin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Life Changers Community Fellowship Church, of Jackson, Mississippi, struggles to provide end-of-life spiritual care to its members. Its church leadership has placed the responsibility of providing end-of-life spiritual care on institutions such as hospice and palliative care companies. These organizations do their best to provide end-of-life spiritual care, but struggle due to cultural and ethnical boundaries, and a lack of resources to provide such care. This study seeks to examine whether end-of-life spiritual care is a biblical concern and/or mandate within church leadership. In addition, this study will explore how hospice chaplains understand end-of-life spiritual care provided to patients and …

Christian Liberty, Harry Allotey

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Christian liberty is freedom from the law, made possible through the finished work of Christ. This project seeks to present a biblical and theological explanation of Christian liberty and develop concepts that apply to the believer’s everyday experience. It is important to address the ever-present dangers of legalism and libertinism and their impact on the Christians and churches. The project focuses on a New Testament explanation of Christian liberty, drawing lessons from both the deliberations of the Jerusalem Council of 49 A.D. and the Pauline thesis to the Galatians. What happens after a person has been freed from the demands …

Bringing Millennials Back To Church, Katherine Noell Parrish

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study is focused on the millennial age group at Mechanicsville Baptist Church in Gordonsville, Virginia. The overall purpose of this study is to increase the attendance of the millennial age group at MBC. If the church gains a better understanding of the dropout problem, increases communication, and improves discipleship, then it should increase millennials at MBC by 20% over four weeks. There were several events planned, along with increased communication, in the hope of meeting this goal. Some of these events had to be modified or cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic limits for any gatherings in Virginia. The unforeseen …

A Study On The Development And Effectiveness Of Christian Leaders Through Cambodia Christian International School, Changsoon Son

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This paper is about fostering Christian leaders and missionary roles in Cambodia through the operation of the Christian International School in Cambodia. The researcher emphasizes the necessity and importance of Christian international schools in Cambodia, a Buddhist country, and aims to present missionary strategies through them. Cambodia is located in Indochina, southeast of Asia, and has a painful history of the Killing Fields. In 1976, a Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, killed at least one million Cambodians by 1979, systematically sweeping the educated middle class and most of those who seemed enemies of the government. As a result, Cambodia …

A Study On Alternatives For Next Generation Through Vitalizing Family Worship: The Case Of Daegil Church, Eunjick Cha

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis aims to highlight the necessity of family worship for the succession of the next generation's faith by studying the effect of the revitalization of family worship on the transmission of faith to the next generation. The growth of Korean churches in the past has grown so rapidly that it is hard to find in the history of churches around the world. However, despite the fact that there are various forms of worship and training programs, in the 21st century, Korean churches are experiencing a slowdown in church growth along with the stagnation of Sunday School. There may be …

Intentional Discipleship: Effective Disciple-Making For Church Growth In Liberia, George L. Suah

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Pastors of extremely effective disciple-making churches are conscious of the degree of church efficiency, and they recognize the significance of intentional discipleship for church growth. The purpose of this study is to investigate intentional discipleship for church growth in Liberia. An anonymous research study of 12 pastors and church leaders (evangelists) from Unity Light Ministry Network (UCC) in Kakata, Liberia, West Africa, was conducted to explore why Unity Light Ministry Network (UCC) in Liberia is struggling to grow their church numerically and spiritually. The study found that the Ministry does not have adequate and systematic training on intentional discipleship for …

Biblical Literacy: Developing A Habit Of Personal Bible Reading Among The Members Of Contending For The Faith Christian Fellowship, Christopher L. Coleman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Biblical literacy is an important value in the life of any person, and especially in the life of a believer in Jesus Christ. However, all too often, believers lack a firm grasp of Scripture knowledge and understanding, and consequently, are unprepared to detect and avoid erroneous teaching and to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3). One of the reasons for this pervasive lack of biblical literacy among many believers is because there is a lack in the development of a habit in personal Bible reading outside of the weekly church services. …

Expository Teaching For The Stonepath Church’S Understanding Of Worship, Cassidy Ryan Kesler

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Expository teaching is a method of explanation that can raise the biblical understanding in the minds of those receiving the teaching. This paper studies a group of participants from Stonepath Church who receive three expository teaching lessons on three biblical passages on worship. The initial understanding of biblical worship is gauged by the scores of the participants on a worship survey taken before the first lesson, and the increase in biblical knowledge is gauged by the scores of the participants on the same worship survey taken after the third lesson. A statistical analysis is run to determine whether or not …

Preaching And Teaching: An Integrative Evaluative Approach To Christian Practices At Fil-Am Sda Church, Ernst Jacques

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In this thesis, biblical expository preaching is defined as the exegetical method that brings out the theological nuances of a narrative biblical passage in relation to content and context. Biblical expository preaching in the USA is facing a significant theological challenge as churches are becoming culturally diverse. Research has shown that theological understanding plays a great role in Christian spiritual formation; it has also shown that believers are generally more receptive to sermons that are contextualized. This thesis project aims to determine how biblical expository preaching can make sense to believers and spur them on to spiritual maturity in a …

Prosperity Gospel In Liberia: A Theological Alternative To The Gospel Of Jesus Christ, Jerome A. Newman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Many indigenous Liberian pastors are not theologically grounded on a solid biblical foundation. As such, many Liberian Christians lack foundational knowledge of the truths of the Gospel of Christ for salvation. The prosperity gospel or “Faith, Wealth, and Health” theology in Liberia is a significant deviation from the Gospel of Christ that undermines sound hermeneutical interpretation of Scripture. This study examines why a growing number of pastors in Liberia are replacing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the prosperity gospel. An anonymous survey research study of 12 pastors from Unity Light Ministry Network (Unity Community Church) in Kakata, Liberia, West …

The Role Of Emotional Intelligence In Chaplaincy: An Analysis If Ei In The Delivery Of Patient-Centered Care, Dean A. Darroux

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study addressed the role of emotional intelligence among healthcare chaplains and its place in delivering patient-centered care at Adventist healthcare, Maryland. The study assumed that since healthcare chaplains’ journeys with their patients help them process their feelings as they understand the nature of their illness, they must identify their feelings and that of their patients to provide better care. It further examined the role of personality in determining its relationship with emotional intelligence and how it would influence patient-centered care. The literature surveyed indicated that emotional intelligence helps individuals understand their emotions as well as that of others. A …

Recognizing And Overcoming The Problem Of Individualism In A Local Church, Michael John Jackson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Individualism, the concept that a person’s own thoughts and interests are ethically paramount over any governmental system, can be a problem in a church, especially a small church where changes in numbers can directly affect the church’s ability to carry out its vision and mission. This project will look at a rural Illinois church to show how it handles the problem of individualism, specifically in its leaders, by emphasizing the biblical concepts of the body of Christ and the family of God. The project will include an interview with a Bible college president who has researched church leadership to talk …

A Mixed-Method Study: Executive Pastors And The Performance Of Fast-Growing Churches, Donald Wouter Bosch

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Based on available literature, little systematic investigation has explicitly considered the extent to which investing in church management, including hiring executive pastors, affects church performance. The purpose of this exploratory sequential mixed-methods study is to assess phenomenological and correlational data from one hundred of the fastest-growing churches in the United States, as ranked by LifeWay Research (2018) for calendar years 2017-2018 and draw available conclusions on church executive leadership capacity versus performance. Phenomenological data was used to qualitatively examine the executive management functions at these churches and analyze how each determined its need for such expertise based on leadership team …

A Study On Worship Vitalization Plan Through Blended Worship: The Case Of Sundoo Church In Korea, Jongsup Kim

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this thesis is to study the ways of revitalizing Korean church worship through blended worship, to preserve the essence of worship, to resolve the worship conflicts of young and older generations, to seek the vitalization of worship and to present concrete alternatives. In the current church, the older generations tend to keep the traditional worship, and the younger generations tend to prefer modern worship, and the conflicts in the worship form in the church arise and worship in different ways, or worship is stagnated due to passive participation. This study will examine the essence of worship by …

A Study On Sermon Preparation By Sermon Types: Focus On Giving Impression To Congregation, Chang Joong Kim

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this dissertation is to study ways to prepare sermons with giving impression to the congregation. In order to give impression to the congregation through preaching, the preacher should be blessed through the Word in advance and deliver that blessing and impression. To execute these procedures, the researcher will examine the principles and elements that trigger impressions in sermons and provide practical suggestions on impressive preaching. To obtain objective data from the fields for this research, a survey was conducted with 75 pastors. 75 participants were composed of pastors who were acquainted with the researcher and pastors who …

A Study On The Conflict Resolution In Church: Focus On Sekwang Church, Byeong Joo Im

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study aims to minimize conflicts that impede church unity and causes a decline in growth in advance, present a general diagnosis and analysis of the causes, and suggest appropriate solutions to them to mature the conflicts that have arisen. The Korean Church has achieved quantitative growth. Since the 1990s, however, Korean churches have seen a decline in growth. One of the causes is the inability to resolve the deepening and diversity of church conflicts. The researcher wrote this dissertation with the hope that the pastors of the Korean Church are ready for conflicts. Unfortunately, some pastors have become a …

A Study On The Process Of Establishing Church Vision Through The Vision Room: The Case Of Incheon Shinkwang Church In Korea, Sungho Park

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study is to suggest a systematic process in establishing church’s vision by emphasizing the importance of having a clear vision in church growth and by communicating with the church members in the midst of a situation where stable ministry transition is required due to the replacement of the senior pastor now that 50 years has passed since the church was planted. For many years, the Korean church has experienced steady growth and revival. However, from the 21st century, the growth is slowing down and is stagnant. One of the reasons is the conflict between the former …

A Study On ‘Big Forest Movement’ Of Ansandongsan Church: The Case Of Church Planting, Dongsung Park

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation aims to study about the ‘Big Forest Movement’ conducted by Ansan Dongsan Church which experienced healthy growth in its community through small group ministry. The Korean church has been leading growth and revival through church planting. However, from the 21st century, church growth is rapidly declining and planted churches are also experiencing severe period of decline. There are still many churches being planted but the reality is that many of them are not growing or being shut down. There may be various reasons for this phenomenon but the main reasons would be the lack of preparation and no …

Four Scriptural Principles: Creating A Discipleship Culture In A Caribbean Church Context, Reynold Decourcey Price

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Pastors and church leaders have critical roles to play in the spiritual development of their members. In this study, this student proposes to present a practical solution to a perennial issue that plagues his church and many others in Trinidad and Tobago. Presently, many church members are spiritual consumers of the ministry of a few, while they remain spiritual infants who do not contribute to the local church or to fulfilling the Great Commission. The churches are faced with the problem of determining how to teach, train, and disciple its members effectively to become spiritually mature disciples who know their …

A Study On The Family Worship Training For The Settlement Of The Family Worship: The Case Of Nonsan Central Church, Won Kew Ji

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This purpose of this study is to examine how the family worship training affects the settlement of family worship within Korean churches, and thereby, stress the necessity and importance family worship training in churches and suggest its specific methods. The Korean church in 21stcentury is experiencing slow down and stagnation in its growth. There can be various reasons for this but indifference in succession of faith due to the lack of education in faith at home is one of them. In this context, the researcher will emphasize the necessity of family worship by observing that education in faith should be …

A Study On The Healthy Church Growth Through The Revitalization Of Small Group In Traditional Church, Min Yong Park

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The church is the body of Jesus Christ, which Christ has built and became the head of it. Therefore, the church is not a building or a social organization, but a family community of the laity who saved through Christ and united under him. Recently, however, the Korean church has lost its original nature planned by God. They achieved significant external growth that made churches around the world focus. But lost the true nature and obsessed with the outward buildings and numbers. As a result, the holy influence of the church on the world diminished.

This paper defines the term …