Search

Autism is a neurotype that causes a different set of strengths and weaknesses and thus should be embraced and accommodated within the church. Not only are autistic believers able to grasp Christian concepts, but they also have different perspectives and skills that can be instrumental in building up the church. Promoting a correct view of autism and accommodating neurodiversity within the church will allow autistic believers to follow God’s command to be part of a body and build up the church. The church can employ several strategies to create an accessible environment for believers on the spectrum, including creating sensory-safe spaces and cultivating informed leadership. This thesis will educate the church on autism and equip leaders and church members to welcome autistic believers into their communities.

Timothy Keller's 2023 passing serves as an occasion to consider his ministry legacy. His magnum opus, Center Church, encapsulated his philosophy of contextualization. This philosophy was rooted in a robust theology that informed and balanced missions, evangelism, and church planting. Keller's passion for city missions defied current ministry trends that favored suburbia and avoided urban contexts. His ministry conviction overcame cultural opposition and ministry bias and grew a thriving ministry in an unlikely ministry setting. Keller’s ministry captured the imagination of rising generations of pastors, missionaries, and ministry practitioners and provided the needed theological framework and training for successful urban ministry. He started and led Redeemer Presbyterian Church to become an influential mega-church, and his ministry inspired hundreds of new churches within American urban contexts. Keller's championing of city missions overcame cultural obstacles, reduced the fear of cities, and inspired Christians to restore cities to God’s intended design.

Discipleship may not be a requirement for salvation. However, it is a requirement for spiritual development and a command that Jesus has given all His disciples to obey. Christians must understand that they are Jesus' followers with a calling to bring others to Christ. Jesus makes it clear when He calls His disciples to follow Him. He calls them to follow so that they can become disciple-makers (Matt 4: 19). However, some members, mainly lay leaders at the church, whose responsibility is to disciple others, were not trained to disciple others, which creates a burden for the pastoral ministry in the church. The DMIN action research project's purpose is to urgently implement a discipleship program to equip lay leaders, who are the backbones of the church, with the necessary skills and knowledge to enhance their involvement in the church's discipleship ministry. If Redemption Baptist Church implements this discipleship training for lay leaders, they will be equipped to disciple others for Christ and help the pastor carry the church's discipleship load. The intervention comprised an eight-week discipleship training consisting of a one-hour and 30-minute teaching session each week that was crucial in guiding and teaching the participants the necessary characteristics of a genuine disciple of Christ. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected before and after the intervention. The results revealed a significant increase in the participants' knowledge and commitment, demonstrating the potential of discipleship training to engage in the church's discipleship ministry actively.

The purpose of this study was to discover how discipleship can be transformative for the learners within the African Strategic Discipleship Movement (ASDM) training program currently being offered to Christian denominations located in 33 countries throughout Africa. The educational theory that guided this study was Bruner’s constructivism methodology of learning as it suggested a theoretical framework that could be integrated into the field of discipleship. The Central Research Question asked how the specific instructional methods and practices of discipleship presented by the African Strategic Discipleship Movement (ASDM) provide or not provide the participants with transformational results. Sub-research questions asked about the learner’s use of the 4H Model, mentoring, digital platforms during discipleship, as well as the transferability or multiplication of the ASDM methodologies. The research design demonstrated an intrinsic case study approach that established a broad investigation and evaluation of the ASDM program. The participants included a sample of 13 second and third generation disciples who had been trained by ASDM Disciple Making Leaders (DMLs). The African setting provided a contextual site for the qualitative data to be collected both in-person and virtually. The data collection involved a triangulation of sources that offered a wide range of information for depth and insight including the three data sources of interviews, document analysis, and participant observations. Analysis included the evaluation of repeated themes of transformation acquired from interviews, the use of a spiral affect method of analyzing ASDM documents, and the assistance of observed field notes with reflection. Research findings revealed transformational results were experienced among the learners of the ASDM program.

The rapid development of technology in recent decades has brought with it many unforeseen challenges. This project focuses on the challenge of learning to manage the influence social media has on worldviews. Young people are consuming information on social media with little or no instruction on how to discern what is real or true. Worldviews are being shaped by influencers who proclaim ideological messages that are often in conflict with a biblical Christian worldview. As with any tool, social media in the hands of a trained user can be used powerfully for good. Without a proper understanding and awareness of the dangers of social media and the precautions that one should take, many young people will be left to follow that which seems right in their own eyes. This project focused on a group of high school seniors at Lee Park Preparatory School to develop a series of six lessons designed to teach the importance of having and articulating a worldview, establishing a healthy identity, building healthy relationships, and discovering and understanding one’s purpose and mission. The results showed that high school seniors can learn to manage the influence that social media has on their worldviews.

Surrendering to the biblical mandate and God's call to pastoral ministry produces profound joy. However, pastoral burnout intensifies, and pastors leave the ministry at a staggering rate. Adding to the pressure of pastoral ministry, many churches implement an annual pastoral performance review policy. Imitating secular employment performance reviews, many churches base successful pastoral ministry on numerical metrics, performance goals, and preaching effectiveness. The researcher evaluated various pastoral evaluation forms across different denominations. Additionally, the researcher investigated the biblical theology of pastoral leadership. The action research project aimed to design a comprehensive, intentional, and biblical pastoral evaluation strategy for a congregation-led church. The project aimed to lead congregational leadership through an eight-week course that equips participants with the STEP Pastoral Evaluation Strategy. The research data was a pre-course questionnaire that collected participants' insights and views on pastoral evaluations, behavioral observations as a collective group, and a post-course survey. The data revealed that participants are willing to embrace a strategy that evaluates pastoral leadership comprehensively, intentionally, and biblically. When churches are willing to embrace the STEP Pastoral Evaluation Strategy, then congregations have a clear pastoral evaluation strategy that produces a unifying purpose in pastoral evaluations.

The purpose of this action research project is to design, execute, and evaluate a small group instructional framework that cultivates a missional culture focused on communal discipleship at MVMNT Church, a local church in the Association of Related Churches network, while also addressing a gap in scholarship surrounding the interrelation of discipleship and the missional church. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study leveraged inductive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with survey data to validate the lack of discipleship activity at MVMNT Church and moderate-to-low comprehension of topics related to mission, discipleship, and leadership in the church. This project recommended and directed an intervention consisting of an instructional program that targeted seven members of MVMNT Church in formal and informal church leadership to cultivate an environment for learning, knowledge-sharing, and mutual edification in discipleship to address the problem. Longitudinal analysis of survey data collected post-intervention demonstrates the success of the instructional framework in improving comprehension of these topics and the effective catalysis of discipleship. This project proposes an instructional framework bridging the gap between mission and discipleship scholarship, with the potential to improve missional discipleship cultures in many other similar church environments. The project processed the generalizability and transferability of this research and areas warranting more in-depth study.

The declining Mass attendance and participation in campus ministries at Cabrini University prompted this action research project. It was designed to engage students in guided dialogue defending key Christian doctrines to boost their Mass attendance and deepen their spiritual engagement. By involving seventeen students and employing interviews, focus group discussions, questionnaires, and surveys, the intersection of religion and spirituality among young adults was explored. Insights highlighted the participants’ perspectives regarding declining Mass attendance and disengagement from institutionalized religion. Meaningful dialogue around fundamental Christian doctrines, such as God’s existence and Jesus’ death and resurrection, was fostered to motivate students to increase Mass attendance and active participation in campus ministry programming. Future researchers should explore means for establishing connections between campus ministers and students holding diverse beliefs, fostering inclusivity and understanding within the community, and promoting personal growth among young adults. Continued support and mentorship for young adults exploring spirituality and religiosity, during the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood, are crucial. Understanding the processes behind religious change during this critical life stage is also essential. Moreover, literature on these endeavors needs updating with research on the contemporary landscape of Catholic campus ministries. By embracing the inclusive ethos of Catholicism, campus ministries can evolve into beacons of faith in Christ for the spiritual needs of students. Collaboration among Christians of different denominations can further enrich this endeavor for the benefit of college students.

In careful reflection, the members at St. Louis Baptist Church need a more structured way to train on disciples making disciples. The purpose of this DMIN action research project is to develop and deliver a structured small group training process for making disciples who will become St. Louis Baptist Church disciple-makers. The current thesis for a Doctor of Ministry degree focuses on disciple-making. The objective is to learn and teach the membership how to become disciple-makers within the St. Louis Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas. Allowing these matters to address disciple-makers will also enable the researcher to discover the topics and effective kingdom-building within the body of Christ. It is the essence and principle of focusing on questions about the ministerial problem with disciple-making in the St. Louis Baptist Church and developing a purpose to motivate discipleship to maximize St. Louis' members with confidence in disciple-making. Furthermore, this will allow each member to grow in belief and faith, bringing out the apologetic expression of discipleship for every Christian to stand firm in the Word of God.

The field of spiritual formation is replete with models, ways, and processes, including many that propose the integration of psychology and Christianity and have further examined the psychology of Paul. Yet, none emphasize the impact of neuroscience, our brain function, neurochemistry, and neurobiology integrated with the tools and techniques of psychological science facilitated by the Holy Spirit and scripture-based truths derived primarily from Pauline theology in the Christ-follower for growth in spiritual maturity. A model formulated from Pauline theology, psychology, and neuroscience, as such, is novel within the field of spiritual formation. Therefore, the claim stems from the need for an integrated spiritual formation model, as spiritual formation inherently emphasizes praxis, practice distinguished from theory integrating a symbiotic relationship between action with thinking, what the model refers to as connecting cognitions with actions resulting in spiritual growth which is intrinsically linked to our psychological and neurobiological selves. This dissertation presents a model that aims to facilitate Christ-followers' development by equipping them with a spiritual toolbox designed to provide a lifestyle for living Christ in but not of the world in the here and now. The model emphasizes the process of sanctification, theologically described as the continual process of the Holy Spirit refining us into the image of God—progressive sanctification as evidenced, for example, in 2 Corinthians 3:18.

The purpose of this action research project is to help members of First Baptist Church Greenville, KY, interpret and apply the Minor Prophets from a Christ-centered perspective. This project measured church members’ understanding of the Minor Prophets as they pertain to Christians today. It also measured attitudes and affections toward the Minor Prophets. A total of eleven people participated in the study. Eight were female; the other three were male. Each participant completed a pre-intervention survey, along with three instructional workshops that focused on biblical exposition, biblical theology, and hermeneutics. An eight-part sermon series was implemented to model the kind of interpretive methods taught during the workshops. Participants completed sermon evaluations after sermons three, five, and seven. At the conclusion of the sermon series, each participant took a post-intervention survey that was identical to the first survey. There was also a focus group meeting with eight of the participants. A statistical comparison of the pre- and post-intervention survey instruments demonstrated a significant improvement in church members’ ability to understand and apply the Minor Prophets from a Christ-centered perspective. Data from the sermon evaluations and focus group meeting corroborated the statistical data, showing that participants grew in their understanding of Minor Prophets and came to value these books as relevant to their lives as modern Christians. This study demonstrates how coupling instructional workshops with expository preaching has the potential to enhance church members’ understanding of how all of Scripture points to Jesus Christ.

This review of Practicing Christian Doctrine provides a helpful overview of Dr. Jones’ articulate survey through major Christian doctrines and related Christian practice. This resource serves as a succinct, formative primer to Christian theology with an aim at orthopraxy for the maturing Christian.

Many Christians are skeptical regarding the practical relevance of theology for the common believer. Exploring how the subdiscipline of biblical theology can be applied can effectively dispel this misconception. In particular, the apologetic applications of biblical theology’s primary deliverances underscore the relevance theology has to the average Christian. Given the growing need for effective Christian apologetics, it would be wise for the Church to further explore biblical theology and to incorporate it into the defense of Christianity. Existing scholarship has largely overlooked biblical theology’s apologetic potential. Thus, there is a need to explore this relationship for the benefit of the Church’s global witness. Biblical theology’s two primary deliverances, a proper understanding of Scripture’s metanarrative and a framework for properly applying Scripture, have apologetic applications and implications that are important for the average Christian. Although there are many possible approaches to apologetics, the utilization of biblical theology remains an overlooked method with significant potential.

Tyra, Gary. Introduction to Spirituality: Cultivating a Lifestyle of Faithfulness. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2023. 189 pages. $24.99

Born between 1995 – 2012, America’s young and emerging adults are known as “Generation Z.” As with nearly everything they are involved in, a shorter version of that label is available as simply Gen Z, or Gen Z’ers. Generally speaking, Gen Z’ers were raised by Millennials but have had life and social interactions going as far back as the Baby Boomer Generation (those born near the end of World War II and into the mid-sixties). In “Know. Be. Live.,” the combination of what has been handed down to them by previous generations, and the current state of cultural, political, and world affairs are examined. These factors have left the Church very low on the list of priorities for this generation. On top of those factors, Gen Z had a pause, shutdown, lockdown, and reset of their adolescence in a way not seen in a century. Efforts to evangelize to this audience were already fledgling. Doing so in the wake of Covid-19 has added an additional layer of difficulty. The ball is now in the hands of the Church. Boomers, Gen X, and Millennial Christians must answer the call and properly inform and motivate millions of young people desperately wanting to positively impact their own culture and the world.

The Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) ministry program faces challenges due to limited awareness among Southern Baptist pastors, leading to inadequate promotion and participation. The proposed solution involves providing targeted education, improved advertising, and encouraging local leaders to promote engagement. The project aims to prepare three churches in Mason and Stanton, TN, to serve as Disaster Relief teams through specialized training and courses like ‘Introduction to Disaster Relief.’ The goal is to increase awareness of SBDR, recruit and train new members, and inspire individuals to become endorsed SBDR and Public Safety Chaplains. The project incorporates a theological foundation to integrate faith and crisis response. It involves curriculum development, training sessions, and evaluation. The impact extends beyond the local community, contributing to the growth of SBDR efforts regionally and potentially internationally. Ultimately, the project aims to empower churches to serve as beacons of hope during disasters, demonstrating the profound intersection of faith and crisis response.

This thesis explores the relationship between creative writing techniques employed by pastors and congregational engagement in the public square. The central thesis posits that if pastors incorporate creative writing methods in extended weekly communications with congregants, then the necessary factors for engagement in the public square will be fostered, leading to attitudinal shifts demonstrated by increased congregational interest or participation in civil affairs. Through an extensive literature review, the thesis fairly examines historical and contemporary views of church and state, the Two Kingdoms doctrine, concepts relative to public square participation, Christianity’s waning cultural influence, communication science, developmental theory, literature familiarity, theological foundations for creative communication, and the potential benefits and challenges of employing such writing techniques within a religious context. Built on best practices in research, the thesis then presents an intervention in which nine pastors from nine different congregations employed a uniquely crafted writing rubric once a week for twelve weeks. Prior to the writing effort, the congregations were surveyed to detect initial perceptions relative to public square engagement. The same survey was administered and synthesized at the study’s conclusion to detect attitudinal shifts. Prior to and throughout the intervention, participating pastors joined in four seminars designed to cultivate, enhance, and maintain their participation toward the effort’s goal. Overall, this study resulted in an attitudinal shift while simultaneously contributing to a deeper understanding of the importance of Christian engagement in the public square and the role of pastors in fostering such engagement. Residually, and practically, it provides insight for engendering trust between pastor and parishioner.

In recent years the theological term “pronomianism” has emerged within lay scholarship and academia. While still evolving as a concept, it is the doctrine that affirms the ongoing and universal nature of all God’s commandments, to be practised literally and non-literally (by way of principlism and paradigm), as opposed to a theological framework that designates only the “moral” as operative and those that are “civil and ceremonial”, as redundant. This dissertation contends that pronomianism is an accurate and credible doctrine of interpretation in which the Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus Christ are to abide by all the commandments of God as taught throughout the entirety of Scripture and intended as a means of sanctification. The study will start by survey the role of the Law through Church history and evidencing pronomian practises throughout the centuries, defining pronomianism and establishing thirteen principles to guide this pro-Torah hermeneutic and methodology of interpretation, contending the ongoing observation and validity of circumcision, kashrut, and appointed festivals, while also exploring a Law-affirming interpretation of Matthew 5:17–20, the presence of the Law prior to its codification at Mt. Sinai, promoniam attributes of Scripture, and the role of the Law, in particular the appointed festivals, in a futurist reading of Ezekiel 45:9–46:15.

The researcher identified the lack of intentional interaction for the sake of the gospel between members of Furnace Creek Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, VA and people in the local community as an issue that should be addressed. This problem was addressed by developing and implementing a program of home hospitality with members of FCBC. Hospitality in private homes was identified as an important and biblical method of increasing interaction between the church and the community that has been neglected in doctoral action research. Many hospitality projects have addressed the corporate hospitality dynamic, but few have dealt with Christian hospitality in private homes, other than those related to housing refugees. The researcher developed a three-month program of practicing hospitality that included one month of teaching and small group study on biblical hospitality, followed by two months of participants practicing hospitality. The study included before-and-after questionnaires to conduct a longitudinal comparison, a personalized hospitality plan for each participant, a unique hospitality notebook for participating members to record their hospitality activities, results, and thoughts, and post-intervention interviews. Thirty-eight percent of eligible member households participated in the project. Individual results varied, but the overall number of intentional interactions between members of the church and people in the community increased fourfold. The project was a success. The small-group and sermon material should be useful for other local church contexts, along with some of the practical ideas implemented. Home hospitality can be an important tool for church revitalization and evangelism in an increasingly hostile culture.

The purpose of this case study was to examine pastoral perspectives of Biblical healthcare. These perspectives are essential to consider due to the long history of the connection between spirituality and healthcare and the church’s successful intervention worldwide for increasing healthcare outcomes. Since the church has been successful worldwide at creating faith-based organizations that meet community needs, it is vital that research focus on how churches might continue this success within the United States. This study used semi-structured interviews to examine the research questions of 1) What is the Biblical responsibility of healthcare? 2) How does culture influence the role of the Church in healthcare? and 3) What current programming in local Churches supports the Biblical responsibility of healthcare? Data was collected from 10 semi-structured interviews with pastors located throughout the United States. Qualitative analysis indicated that pastorals generally held that health is important to God, and that healthcare resources need to ideally be available to all. Overall, this study demonstrates that pastoral perspectives of health and healthcare are not united or clear, and that there may be opportunities for pastoral education to increase understandings of both the why and the how behind the biblical responsibility of healthcare. Pastors expressed a general openness to learning more about the topic, presenting an opportunity that may exist within the system to bring science and faith back together in a way that honors the foundations of the historical past while holding space for change and growth to provide professional resources within Church walls, and in doing so, reinventing holistic healthcare.

Is it possible to articulate an apologetic practice from the account of Luke-Acts, which is not among the current popular Christian apologetic practices within contemporary apologetic scholarship? Can one consider the narratives in this history of Acts as a description of apologetic methodology, a sort of a first Christian apologetic practice demonstrated by Jesus and then replicated by His disciples? The answer is yes. The historical work of Luke offers an early apologetic practice in which the story of Scripture, the narrative of God, witnessed incarnationally through the life of Jesus and continued by the early church. Like Scripture, the concept of lived narrative demonstrates the capacity to create plausibility structures for non-Christians to become Jesus’ followers as they enter a new story/narrative to live. The church’s lived narrative was an apology and invitation to allow His story to explain life better.

This action research project addresses the need to develop committed Christian servants within a church ministry context by utilizing a spiritual formation initiative focused on service as a means towards and evidence of spiritual formation and development. Fairhaven Church of Rootstown had not been instructed on the fundamental need for members to serve together. Consequently, service within the church was not a necessary part of discipleship or its spiritual growth plan. The purpose of this intervention was to create and implement a three-fold spiritual development initiative focused on Christian service that includes a sermon series, a midweek study, and a hands-on, Service-Learning component through which participants will implement and practice a Christian service plan. If Fairhaven Church of Rootstown continues to implement this project’s spiritual formation initiative focused on servanthood, then members will be empowered and motivated to serve, which will strengthen the church by addressing the needs of the church community through service.

The research project strived to improve the Christian Ministry Training program at Alaska Bible College, by adding a multi-generational equipping mentorship focus to the already existing program. The addition of the multi-generational mentorship is modeled after the exhortation found in 2 Timothy 2:2. Adding the primary goal of equipping to the mentorship program is founded in Ephesians 4:11-16. There were a total of 28 participants in the research project, which included recent graduates, faculty, staff, and currently enrolled students as of January 2023. The research project seeks to equip students of Alaska Bible College to begin equipping mentorship as student mentors with the desire that it will be carried into the ministries in which they serve. The research data was collected through Likert Scale surveys, focus groups, and interviews. Within the field of discipleship, there is an apparent lack of literature addressing the importance of equipping mentorship in institutions of biblical higher education. The stakeholder buy-in of this research project reveals the value of equipping mentorship. The principles of mentorship that were modeled in this research project could positively influence the field of discipleship as the value of mentorship is considered within the discipline.

Preaching is a form of rhetorical narratology aimed at persuading its audience via sermons to experience a renewal of the mind and the transformation of their life. While previous research established the fact that listeners comprehend sermons through their rhetorical appeal, it has been unclear how this has motivated evangelical listeners to act. The purpose of this qualitative narrative study was to explore how the rhetorical appeal of preaching influences evangelical listeners’ motivation at evangelical churches in Savannah, Georgia. A comprehensive approach to exploring a sermon’s rhetorical appeal was utilized by focusing jointly on individual perception and social context. The Narrative Transportation Theory served as the theoretical framework, and 34 participants from six churches were interviewed to reach saturation. The findings showed that the rhetorical appeal embedded in preaching, plus its narrative essence, influences evangelical listener motivation. In addition, listeners subconsciously understand that aspects of rhetoric and narrative work together in sermons to influence their motivation. This study specifically identified three themes, seven categories, 13 conditions, and 32 codes relevant for rhetorical appeal to be effective and to help motivation occur. The three themes of Relatability, Applicability, and Engagement were aligned with Ethos, Logos, and Pathos, and then integrated with Environmental, Cognitive, and Behavioral functions, to create the Sermon Listener Motivation Triangle. This study’s corroboration of preaching’s collaborative nature between the perfectly divine and the imperfectly human is shared in hopes of helping speakers prepare scripturally authentic sermons and communicate in engaging ways that inspire change.

Graduate School of Mission and Theology, Recognizing a deficit in Royal Oak Baptist Church’s (ROBC) practice of making disciples who make disciples, this project sought to discover a way to reimagine an effective process of discipleship that was particularly suited to its Baptist setting and socio-cultural location. Utilizing Branson and Martinez’s practical theology cycle over three years to increase the congregation’s adaptive capacity has assisted ROBC in experimenting with practices related to Christian discipleship, Baptist ecclesiology, and partnership with Māori. For the most part, those experiments related to replacing a traditional “sit and reflect” style Sunday gathering with ones that required a more embodied collective engagement. The experience has highlighted unspoken values that were barriers to progressing ROBC’s stated values and mission, providing an opportunity to preserve, discard, or rearrange those things considered critical to the DNA of ROBC.

Doctor of Ministry (DMin), This project aims to design a comprehensive and contextualized practical theology curriculum for Assemblies of God Bible School, Quetta. The objective of this curriculum is to equip future ministers with a basic understanding of concepts in Christian theology relevant to their community, i.e. poor and marginalized Christians in Pakistan. The thesis has been tested on a group to verify its applicability and practicality in the Pakistani context. Assemblies of God Bible School (AGBS) is located in the beautiful city of Quetta within the Baluchistan province of Pakistan. The institute’s vision is to train future Christian ministers and equip them with theological and biblical knowledge for better ministry in their respective areas. This low-cost institution is affordable for those who want to learn and then step into a ministry context. This contextually designed practical theology curriculum will help students who want to be leaders equip themselves with ministry skills that will help them in their ministry context. The first part of this dissertation explores the geographical, cultural, and historical context of ministry among the marginalized poor community in Quetta. This section includes cultural background about the people of Baluchistan and why AGBS was established in Quetta. Then, in the second part, a literature review highlights the need for this project. After theological reflection about how the Holy Spirit works in lives for the transformation of mind and heart, this section presents the design basis for the contextualized practical theology curriculum. Lastly, conclusions are presented about the effectiveness of the curriculum in the Pakistani context based on a small-scale administrative group experience. The complete practical theology curriculum, developed as part of this project, is presented in Appendix A.

In this thesis I critique the American socioeconomic system and culture through a multidisciplinary lens. Using the works of philosopher Karl Marx, economist Robin Kimmerer, and forensic psychologist Christopher Williams, I argue that there are three interconnected characteristics of our socioeconomic system that disincentivize us from creating growth-fostering relationships. These characteristics are the encouragement of overconsumption, the prevalence of hyperindividualism, and that people are valued for what they produce, not who they are. To counteract these characteristics, we must fight to create a Culture of Encounter, which is a culture with a radical dedication to seeing, hearing, and loving individual people without condition, expectation, or a specific goal. The works of St. Teresa of Calcutta and St. Therese of Lisieux, combined with the tenets of Relational Cultural Theory provide an argument for why creating a Culture of Encounter is necessary. Finally, I provide a concrete four step plan that helps people implement a Culture of Encounter into their everyday lives.

In this thesis I critique the American socioeconomic system and culture through a multidisciplinary lens. Using the works of philosopher Karl Marx, economist Robin Kimmerer, and forensic psychologist Christopher Williams, I argue that there are three interconnected characteristics of our socioeconomic system that disincentivize us from creating growth-fostering relationships. These characteristics are the encouragement of overconsumption, the prevalence of hyperindividualism, and that people are valued for what they produce, not who they are. To counteract these characteristics, we must fight to create a Culture of Encounter, which is a culture with a radical dedication to seeing, hearing, and loving individual people without condition, expectation, or a specific goal. The works of St. Teresa of Calcutta and St. Therese of Lisieux, combined with the tenets of Relational Cultural Theory provide an argument for why creating a Culture of Encounter is necessary. Finally, I provide a concrete four step plan that helps people implement a Culture of Encounter into their everyday lives.

As the church strives to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges and navigate tumultuous times to fulfill its Great Commission, church leaders must strive to understand the type of leadership required to best accomplish their kingdom work. In researching the type of pastoral leadership that will most effectively build the church of Jesus Christ and advance his kingdom, much work has been dedicated to examining the leadership styles and influence of senior or lead pastors. However, few studies have explored the influence of second-chair pastoral leaders (SCPLs). This study is the first to quantitatively examine whether SCPLs who demonstrate the personal humility and professional will characteristic of Level 5 Leadership, as conceptualized by Collins (2001), contribute to the growth of the churches they serve. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study will be to determine if a statistically significant relationship exists between the leadership effectiveness of SCPLs considered to be Level 5 Leaders as conceptualized by Level 5 Leadership Theory (L5LT) and measured by the Level 5 Leadership Scale (L5LS) and church growth as reflected by annual average weekly worship attendance, annual total baptisms, and annual total financial contributions for Southern Baptist megachurches averaging at least 2,000 in weekly worship attendance in comparison to the growth realized by Southern Baptist megachurches led by SCPLs not considered to be Level 5 Leaders (cf., Collins, 2001; 2005; DeNeal, 2019; Reid, 2014).

The decline of the youth attendance is evident in many Protestant churches. This research paper examined forty-three young believers from three Haitian Baptist churches, respectively, located in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. These data results help develop a suitable spiritual program that includes the six key influencing factors for spiritual growth: discipleship, mentoring, parental influence, church attendance, personal devotion, and ministerial involvement. This spiritual program was tested on a small group of young people from Great Commission Church in Queens. This research uses a mixed-method methodology, which is a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze the data. The results show that parental influence can help Haitian youth attend church, but it does not encourage discipleship, mentorship, and ministerial involvement in the church. Further studies should aim at understanding the extent of parental involvement needed to encourage Haitian youth to be involved in the church's ministries.

Discipleship often evokes different responses. However, contemporary Christians have a faithfulness dilemma driven by the constant messages they hear. This DMIN project seeks to develop and promote a ministry structure that educates, equips, and enriches the Christian life based on God’s grace. The project seeks to provide a framework for participants to be transformed holistically by God’s grace. Often, the members of South Rock Christian Church understand grace as the entry point into salvation, but not the identifying trait of their faithful life in Christ. This action project consists of qualitative research that demonstrates a gap between belief and action in its participants. Therefore, this project will explore the breakdown of what the disciple believes and what they put into action. It also consists of qualitative research which entails a six-week Participation Group examining the identity marks of a disciple. The research promotes a grace-based discipleship approach that demonstrates God’s grace as His transformative presence in the disciple’s life. The approach will combat the lies that disciples believe about God, self, and others. The results of the research show that the discipleship problem at South Rock Christian Church is not a belief problem, but one that is not based on God’s grace. The research confirms the reality of a contemporary legalistic lifestyle. Therefore, this DMIN project seeks to provide a fresh approach to the church’s discipleship efforts that are based on God’s grace rather than on human achievement.

This research aims to apply the US Army concept of spiritual readiness to help Christians manage emotional stress in a civilian context through an online community. This project invites disconnected Christians to join an online community where they can address negative emotions by developing self-awareness of their maladaptive thinking and embody the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. This approach assists individuals in building emotional resilience, a concept emphasized in the military. This project addresses five negative emotions (anger, shame, sadness, fear, and loneliness) by replacing them with positive emotions taught in the Bible. The project consists of eight weekly sessions, each addressing one of the five negative emotions and three theological virtues. Through engaging discussions and a connection with God, participants develop their coping mechanisms. Each session will involve collaborative discussions on familiar subjects, encouraging self-reflection and a deeper understanding of the topics. Through fostering spirituality within a group environment, individuals can learn from one another to develop coping strategies for negative emotions linked to challenging situations. This research project has two primary implications. Firstly, it develops a virtual program to overcome the geographical limitations that disconnect Christians so they can experience deep fellowship without the need for in-person interaction. Secondly, it pioneers the use of a non-traditional approach to spirituality, focusing on the practical aspects of biblical teachings.

This study is a hermeneutical and exegetical exploration of the Christological application of the Mosaic Law for Christians. It involves a clear understanding of the relationship between the continuity and discontinuity from the Old Testament to the New Testament, the relationship between Israel and the Church as people of God, and the relationship between the Old and the New Covenant. It also requires a clear understanding of the meaning and purpose of the law for the initial audience, and its current significance for Christians today. Romans 10:4 presents Christ as the culmination of the law as it sees him as the final goal and its temporal end. 1 Corinthian 9:20–21 reveals that a believer is not under the law of Moses, but he is under the law of Christ. The law of Christ is not presented as a list of rules to be followed. Rather it is the continuous guidance of the Holy Spirit which is the ground of the conduct of a believer who has been justified because of faith in Christ. It is the fulfillment of the promises of the New Covenant foretold in Isaiah 55:1–5; Jeremiah 31:31–34, 32:36–41; and Ezekiel 36:22–28. However, this does not mean that the law of Moses is useless for Christians. Paul says that it was written for our instruction (Romans 15:4) and is profitable for our training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). The distinctive feature of this study is that it is not applying Scriptures or the law of Moses directly to Christians. Rather the law and the other Scriptures are applied first to Christ and then seeing their application to Christians in the light of fulfilment through Christ. So, this study arrives at the conclusion that the Mosaic Law is applied to Christians through the grid of fulfillment in Christ which involves recalibration of each of its commandments around Christ without making Christians subject to it. The four hermeneutical principles of transformation, ending, maintenance, and extension of the commandments guide through the recalibration o

This phenomenological study explores the reasons for a lack of participation in in-person Baptist churches and the rise of participation in online Baptist churches in Seminole County, Florida. The theory guiding this study was Martin Heidegger’s hermeneutical framework which focuses on the commonality of experiences. Heidegger believed that to arrive at the essence of a phenomenon a researcher must go through the revisionary process of what Heidegger termed the Hermeneutic Circle. The principal research question in this study explored existing relationship(s) between in-person and online Baptist church leaders and how such relationship(s) contributed to a lack of church participation. The remaining questions explored what understanding of a lack of church participation existed amongst Baptist church leaders, how online Baptist church participation affected in-person Baptist church participation, and what relationship existed between in-person Baptist church members and online Baptist church members. Study data were derived from a qualitative research design which included interviews, a reflective journal, an audio recorder, and observations. Data were analyzed through the use of the NVivo 12 Pro qualitative data analysis computer software program.

Carl F.H. Henry was a leading theologian of American Evangelicalism and prominent voice in the Neo Evangelical movement of the twentieth century. His prominent book The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism (1947) persuaded conservative evangelicals to avoid the separatist inclinations of fundamentalism. He, instead, championed a biblically based brand of cultural engagement rooted in the kingdom theology found in the Gospels. Harnessing the “Already, but not yet” view of the kingdom popularized by Herman Ridderbos and George Ladd, Henry effectively engaged culture during a tumultuous twentieth century. This paper will begin with a survey of the historical legacy of Carl F. H. Henry’s social ethics. It will then analyze those ethics within the context of the kingdom of God as described in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. This paper will end with a critical evaluation of those kingdom ethics from a cultural engagement perspective. Carl Henry’s most significant contribution as a public theologian was his ability to keep the best of both arguments from the modernist and fundamentalist positions. His “already, but not yet” or “Kingdom Now, Kingdom Then” approach to God’s kingdom provided an accessible philosophy of ethics that remained faithful to scripture and encouraged him an appropriate and compassionate form of cultural engagement.

This review examines John Piper's 2023 Come, Lord Jesus. The book is shown to be a valuable contribution to the broader eschatological field, and a particular contribution to the Historic Premillennialist camp.

In December 1912, William Borden embarked on a journey halfway around the world to become a missionary to Chinese Muslims. Just four months later, Borden contracted meningitis, which took his life. He was never to serve as a missionary. American newspapers picked up the story, as Borden was the heir to the Borden family fortune. The outcry by some was, "What a waste!" People lamented that a man who had so much to live for had wasted his life by giving it to God and dying before he had a chance to fulfill his calling or collect his fortune. William Borden addressed these cries before his death. In his journal, he wrote these words, "No reserve, no retreat, no regrets." A life lived for the glory of God can make this same claim of no reserve, no retreat, and no regrets. Christ demonstrated approbation during His time on earth among those He encountered. He gave approbation to those who lived with no reserve, no retreat, and no regrets. Christ approved those who sacrificed extravagantly, abandoned fully, and obeyed completely. Jesus Himself earned the approbation of God by displaying these same qualities of sacrifice, abandon, and obedience through His life and death. An understanding of the approbation of Christ during His time on earth will not only show the people and actions that merited His approval but will also lay the foundation of what Jesus Himself did to gain the approbation of His Father.

This action research project aims to evidence how biblical memorization and meditation are effective means of spiritual warfare. The need for this type of study arises from the neglect of biblical memorization and especially biblical meditation in many evangelical churches. This author hopes the research project will help retrieve these spiritual disciplines for his home church Calvary Chapel of the Hills and broader evangelicalism. To promote biblical memorization and meditation in the author’s home church, he self-published a workbook titled Memorization and Meditation Manual: A Guided Workbook to Memorize and Meditate on Ephesians 6:10-18. This workbook guides readers in a step-by-step process to memorize and meditate upon the classic armor of God text in Ephesians 6:10-18. A small group of participants at Calvary Chapel of the Hills agreed to use the workbook and practice biblical memorization and meditation for thirty-six days. To protect the privacy of participants, no proper names were used in the writing of this paper. Assessment tools were administered at the intervention's beginning, middle, and end to gauge whether biblical memorization and meditation improved participants’ effectiveness in fighting the world, the flesh, and the devil. Specifically, these assessment tools measured participants’ spiritual sobriety, spiritual preparedness, spiritual empowerment, and their ability to strand strong. The results demonstrated a strong correlation between practicing biblical memorization and meditation and one’s effectiveness in spiritual combat. While the study is specific to Calvary Chapel of the Hills, both the intervention and concomitant implications offer fruitful avenues for the wider body of Christ to become more victorious in spiritual battle.

This thesis project addresses Biblical Illiteracy in the context of Christian Apologetics: A response to a growing concern at Faith Baptist Church of Tyler, Texas. The focal point of this project is to rectify Biblical Illiteracy in the Context of Christian Apologetics. Pastors across America have not identified that their congregations are uninformed on the basics of Christian Apologetics. This doctoral thesis project aims to give Pastors a structured format for reducing biblical illiteracy in Christian Apologetics with their congregation by providing a curriculum that can be taught and assessed. The methodological approach will be a focus group intervention. This doctoral thesis project will influence Pastors who desire to see two Bible passages demonstrated in their congregations' lives. The first Scripture is in 2 Peter 3:18 "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” The second Scripture is 1 Peter 3:15 "Always be ready to give an answer to every man who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." This thesis project will equip Pastors with a working format to combat biblical illiteracy in the context of Christian Apologetics for their congregations.

This research addressed the problem of the lack of training in pastoral counselors in the Iglesia Bíblica Bautista de Iquique, Chile, to help wives and their families suffering suspicious jealousy due to childhood traumas. This DMIN action research project trained pastoral counselors to connect childhood trauma to wives suffering suspicious jealousy. There are two stages of this action research; the first is to establish the connection of obsessive morbid jealousy (OMJ) to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The second is to prepare pastors and counselors to recognize the symptoms and causes of obsessive morbid jealousy and to have a clear strategy to create change that will make a difference. This research used two questionnaires each for spouses with obsessive morbid jealousy and a different questionnaire for the pastors and counselors to discover their level of preparation. This research chose nine couples based on the questionnaires and previous counseling of wives with obsessive jealousy. Each participating husband and wife (18 total) took two interviews; the first established the presence of obsessive, jealous traits and the second discovered adverse childhood experiences that may have led to this condition. The results from the questionnaires, the interviews, and the field notes from previous counseling showed a clear connection between the OMJ to ACEs, specifically the adverse role of an unfaithful father. This researcher will use these results to prepare a training program for pastors and counselors of the Iglesia Bíblica Bautista de Iquique and its satellite missions.

The purpose of this action-based research project was to address the absence of a therapeutic process wherein pastoral counselors at Life Management Group (LMG) can responsibly attempt to reconcile spiritually abused Christians to a local church in Augusta, Georgia. One hundred percent of clients citing spiritual abuse in LMG’s pastoral counseling department were abstaining from any religious activity within a community of faith at the outset of this project. Data was researched at the international, national, state, and local levels. The researcher concluded that published research related to the topic of spiritual abuse is theoretical in nature only and not application based. The project intervention utilized interviews, questionnaires, weekly counseling sessions, and observations to gather information from fourteen participating LMG clients and ten partnered local churches to survey the problem of spiritual abuse, discover, and apply spiritual safety best practices. This action-based research project sought to bridge the application gap in spiritual abuse research by monitoring real-time progress, milestones, and results of LMG clients attempting to reintegrate into a local church. The results of this research prove helpful to the pastoral counselors and church leaders in the city of Augusta as they consider implementing the concepts herein. The project revealed that the counselor-church partnership, combined with client-focused therapeutic modalities that address spiritual abuse, is successful in promoting client-church reconciliation. The results indicate that pastoral counselors can positively impact the success of spiritually abused Christians attempting to reintegrate into a local church.

Ancient mythology, precisely that of the Ancient Near East, includes the treacherous characters of chaos monsters who cause disorder due to their destructive supernatural influence in the natural world. Scripture includes chaos monsters of various sorts that cause the same destruction in the wake of their cosmic work. While an array of methodologies has been developed to study chaos monsters in the Ancient Near East considering their sources—i.e., Mesopotamian, Babylonian, Akkadian, etc.—there is a lack of a Biblical hermeneutic to adequately exposit chaos monster passages in Scripture. In the Apocalyptic Perspective on Paul, scholars have sought to develop a way to study the Pauline corpus considering the “unveiling” of the cosmic work of Christ in terms of his militant and cosmic mission in setting God’s people, as captives, free. Such work has led to developments in Biblical interpretation, exegesis, and exposition regarding the cosmos and the defeat of evil. Additionally, the cosmic work of Christ has revealed a unique perspective in understanding and facing evil, specifically of sin—identifying it as a cosmic reality that needs to be supernaturally handled. Regarding this study, scholars of the Apocalyptic Paul have developed a means to approach Scripture that can be utilized outside of the Pauline corpus to exposit chaos monster passages considering cosmic sin. In short, this dissertation exposits chaos monster passages using an Apocalyptic Paul hermeneutic to reveal sin’s cosmic nature and prove that the life and work of Jesus served, in part, as the redemption of humanity through the restoration of order by his triumph over cosmic sin.

In the Western world, Christian apologists, missionaries, and thinkers who noticed the dangers of a cultural shift called postmodernism have developed many resources in recent years to engage it. This shift started from a time when it was impossible to not believe in God to one in which such faith is one among many possibilities. Meanwhile, extensive analyses of and apologetic engagement with the Eastern culture (Arabic, Confucian, and Southern Asian clusters) has been sidelined, with only limited resources to believers in those parts of the world. Unlike communities and cultures in the West, Eastern communities are shaped more by a sense of honor and shame than by individual reasoning, guilt, and innocence. Hence, a recent apologetic method, called the Inside Out method, developed by apologists Mark Allen and Josh Chatraw, is proposed to engage the prevailing cultural narratives found in the Eastern cultures, particularly in Peninsular Malaysia, a Southeast Asian country. This presentation will apply an Inside Out method within the Malaysian context to engage its cultural narratives of religious pluralism and filial piety. The paper shows how apologetic conversations can be framed with a non-Christian Malaysian. By identifying and challenging his or her take on pluralism and piety, the method invites him or her to consider how the Christian faith tells a better narrative, because the Gospel is the greatest narrative to be told.

This action-research project focused on equipping members of Crossline Community Church to live out their identity in Christ. The intervention was an eight-week discipleship plan, “Becoming who you already are in Christ.” The action-research project aimed to evaluate the impact of equipping believers with their identity in Christ upon their transformation into Christ-likeness. The project incorporated biblical, theological, and devotional content with a comprehensive pedagogy designed for maximum influence toward progressive sanctification. The twelve participants in the intervention engaged in sermons, training classes, small groups, and personal Bible studies as a part of the action research. Triangulated evaluation tools were used to analyze the impact of the project. Project results were interpreted and recorded. The need for this research is local and universal. As a local church, Crossline Community’s mission among its membership and community is to make disciples. Discovering biblical models and curricula that equip believers to experience progressive sanctification is at the heart of helping the local church fulfill its biblical mandate. Transferable models of making disciples and assisting believers in living out their identity in Christ also help the universal Church by providing reproducible tools for fulfilling the Great Commission. The goals of the action-research project were to effect transformation among participants into Christ-likeness as measured by cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral change. Through multiple learning modalities, the researcher facilitated the project’s curriculum and intentionally focused on achieving the project’s goals.

This qualitative phenomenological study aimed to explore how high-tech, high-touch senior pastors who practice servant leadership establish and maintain personal contact with their church members and lead them using digital technology. This research was particularly relevant in an era of social distancing required by the COVID-19 pandemic. The theoretical framework for this study was Greenleaf's servant leadership theory. Ten experienced pastors were interviewed to determine how they balanced the impersonal nature of streaming worship services while maintaining personal contact with their congregations. These interviews were transcribed, and important themes were identified to determine best practices for using technology while maintaining high levels of personal contact and individual attention. The objective was to gain more insight into the senior pastor taxonomy of rapidly expanding churches and to understand how to use technology to communicate with their congregation in the digital era through high-tech, high-touch ministry. Social scientists assert that the best setting for human growth and development is one that encourages social connection with other developing individuals (Lowe & Lowe, 2018). The study's results may be helpful to pastors who want to use technology to minister to their flock and keep in touch with them personally. Pastors perceive that technology has allowed them to maintain relational connections with their congregation despite physical distance. They acknowledged technology limitations and the importance of in-person interactions and community development. Advantages include greater accessibility and efficiency. Disadvantages include the potential for shallow relationships. Pastors perceive in-person, face-to-face connections as crucial for spiritual connection and understanding.

The shepherd motif provides one of the most significant portraits of God in the Old and New Testaments. Various research on the historical metaphor within these studies frequently focuses on the relationship between rulers and leaders in the ancient Near East. The shepherd motif provides a tangible picture of the characteristics of deities and kings in their world. Therefore, it is a natural step for the prophets of the Old Testament to utilize a commonly used metaphor. In modern research, numerous studies in Ezekiel 34 have explored different facets of the shepherd motif. Several studies are related to leadership roles. The shepherd is one of the most beloved metaphors, and Psalm 23 is one of the most used funeral passages. In addition, much research relates to Jesus and the Good Shepherd in John 10. However, most essays and books discuss leadership and how humanity should act or lead. But do these passages express something about the character of God? Are these passages in the prophets contributing to a theology of God reflecting his nature? Yes, in the Old Testament, the prophets painted God with familiar imagery and explained his role and character to his people. In addition, the shepherd imagery demonstrates the purpose and plan of Yahweh through human agents. Lastly, the prophets express a theology of God utilizing the shepherd motif that reflects his mercy, judgment, compassion, and faithfulness, which displays the character of God.

The local church finds itself in crisis and the decline in attendance and membership in churches is undeniable. The thesis project establishes that there is more to being a Christian than identifying as one. To reverse the declining trajectory, churches must understand what a church is, what a church member is, and the importance of regenerate church membership. The premise of this project thesis was that if the pastor preached on the church’s historic covenant, it would serve as a starting point for the revitalization of the declining church by affecting the member’s understanding of the church and their role in it. The project drew inspiration from the Bible, church history, and pre-existing literature to develop the conceptual framework. The resulting project was to create a desire in the congregation to return to a biblical ideal, create a new way of thinking, and spur internal change in the participants. The project thesis aims to answer the question, “Does knowing and understanding the covenant of Hillcrest Baptist Church make a difference in our efforts to revitalize a declining church?” The project measured any potential change through pre-study and post-study questionnaires. The ultimate result of this project thesis was that the participants expected no change following the study’s conclusion. The project thesis came to an unintended outcome, but it lays the foundations for other churches that could potentially follow or develop the study further.

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the principle of restitution and how it is an essential part of biblical forgiveness. What makes this principle so important is that God wanted to ensure that there was no barrier to the unity of the body of Christ and unforgiveness related to a transgression can be a huge barrier as it creates resentment and anger. Since the ultimate goal of God is the unity of His creation, God provided a system where true forgiveness could be achieved, both from a legal standpoint, where a debt was repaid, and from a moral standpoint, where the person recognized his or her transgression, sought to remedy the matter, and was forgiven so that forgiveness was granted and the relationship restored. The dissertation examines the concept of restitution, providing an analysis which concludes that this is a principle that is taught from Genesis through the New Testament. This was not a concept that was for the Israelite people or the Jews during Jesus’ time, but was one that God expected believers to follow even today. This work evaluates how the different societies of the ancient Near East included restitution as part of their law codes and how that differed in focus from what God viewed as the purpose for restitution. The work also examines how theologians throughout the Christian age saw the necessity for restitution and how it is included as a solution for correcting a wrong in the doctrine of many of the Christian denominations.

At issue is the question of whether it is logically consistent to embrace the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent God in the presence of evil and suffering. Many factors prima facie seem to indicate that the existence of such a God in the presence of an abundance of pain, evil, and suffering is logically incoherent. If such a God does exist, why does He allow the evil and suffering that He does? Hume asserts, such a being should be capable of preventing evil and suffering. Van Inwagen argues that the existence of a world that is constantly modified to override the laws of nature by preventing evil and suffering, Hume’s happy world, would be massively irregular. Furthermore, Van Inwagen counters that an adequate defense can demonstrate that seemingly incoherent facts are not necessarily evidence against a theory. Therefore, is it possible to construct a defense that could satisfy some of Hume’s demands without causing massive irregularities? Can the construction of a possible world reconcile some of the demands of Hume’s hedonic Utopia with Van Inwagen’s objections? Is it possible to develop a middle ground—a middle world—that might behave as a defense against the problem of suffering? A Patristic Christological Defense explores potential options that may be available for how an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent God may overcome evil and suffering, should He decide to do so. A possible world capable of making a Patristic Christological Defense against the problem of suffering caused by broken relationships must include 1. An omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent God who cares about justice. 2. Should He decide to counter suffering, He must also behave within certain self-imposed limitations that were set the moment that creatures with moral competencies came into being. 3. This possible world must also include higher-level freewill, sentient creatures who are subject to natural laws (regularity), like the actual world. And finally, 4. these m