Theses/Dissertations from 2016
Empowering Congregations to Move from Simple Hospitality to Celebration of Ethnic Diversity within Their Church, Stephen R. Gibson
This thesis addresses the question of how a large church can best pursue ethnic diversity. Using qualitative research methods the researcher demonstrated that the best practices found among secular organizations in pursing diversity are eff...
Transformation of the Prescott Foursquare Church: Becoming a Church Planting Church, John W. Gooding
This study is a qualitative study of the Prescott Foursquare Church and its transformation from a small, broken denominational church to a disciple making and church planting fellowship of churches. The project sought to discover the key tr...
Clergy Leadership Development: Exploring Factors in the Leadership Development Process of United Methodist Clergywomen, Mary Bendall Henley
This project was designed to discover factors associated with the leadership development of effective United Methodist clergywomen. The researcher chose a collective case study approach incorporating principles from grounded theory in the d...
Conceptualizing and Engaging with Pastoral Authority, Scott R. Maurer
Church conflict harms those in the church, obscures God’s glory, and hurts the church’s witness to a watching world. Some church conflict is related to congregants’ limited ability to conceptualize and engage with pastoral authority. While ...
Exploring Anthropological Monism for Pastoral Care Practice in a Local Church, Michael Robert McLeod
This research project explored the viability and benefits of anthropological monism for pastoral care practice in a local church. Monism, as it relates to human nature, refers to humanity consisting solely of materiality or physicality from...
Demonic Actions on Christian Leaders and Followers: The Reality of Demons' Existence and Their Wicked Spirit World of Abode and Kingdoms, Matthew Folorunso Olaniyi
The problem this project addressed is in the reality of the existence of demons’ in their wicked spirit world of abode and kingdoms coupled with the challenges that wicked activities of demons pose to the lives and ministries of Christian l...
The Use of Oral Training in Uganda to Develop Biblically Trained Leaders, Kevin J. Olson
The researcher spent a year in rural Tanzania and found that the volunteer lay leaders had little training. These lay leaders had a love for Jesus and for his people, but the obstacles these men faced in order to get further training were o...
Imparting Biblical Theology Cross-culturally for Transformation, Malcolm S. Reid
Moore Theological College’s Preliminary Theological Certificate has been a vehicle to impart an approach to Biblical Theology not only domestically but also outside Australia. Course participation overseas has seen significant growth and th...
Engaging Leadership at Marshfield Christian Church, Nicholas Alexander Ruth
This project addresses the dwindling number of people active in leadership roles at Marshfield Christian Church. Research focused on four aspects of church leadership: barriers and incentives to assuming a leadership role, characteristics o...
Integrating Biblical Teaching and Organizational Wisdom in the work of Pastor-Church Relations, Christian Reformed Church North America, Cecil VanNiejenhuis
This project addressed the lack of integration of biblical teaching in the consultation work of Pastor-Church Relations in the Christian Reformed Church of North America. The goal of this project was to demonstrate and encourage a thorough ...
Theses/Dissertations from 2015
Reconciling the Body: Working Toward Ecclesial Unity, Brien J. Aadland
In this project the researcher studied the similarities and differences of the United Church of Christ and the Emerging church. In Christianity, Christians should be unified in goal and mission in the Kingdom of God. The researcher explored...
A Petition For God's Forgiveness in Gambella Ethiopia, Omot Olopk Aganya
This thesis project explored the root causes of the ethnic conflicts in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. It examined the issues of ethnic, social, political, and historical conflict occurring at the regional level, which are vital to compre...
The Discipline of Applying the Gospel for Servant Leadership Development, Matthew P. Anderson
This project examined the relationship between the gospel and servant leadership development. The purpose of the project was to show the need for a process to develop servant leaders at the heart level and propose a model for developing ser...
Exploring the Principles Behind Effective Collaborative Ministry on Multi-Point Charges in the Peninsula-Delaware Conference of the United Methodist Church, Drew Mitchell Christian
The Peninsula-Delaware Conference of the United Methodist Church covers the Eastern Shore of Maryland and the State of Delaware. The area, known as the “Birthplace of Methodism,” has 451 churches. Many churches are older, small membership c...
Building Sustainable Faith Experience for Urban Youth, Stephen James Crawford
Every generation of believers face obstacles in figuring out how to pass on the Christian faith to the next generation. The North American urban church is currently experiencing attrition rates that are startling to the researcher. It is cr...
Factors that Affect Sustainability of Transitional Homes for Sexually Exploited Women, Ruth E. deGuzman Dalman
The problem this thesis project addressed was the factors that prevent the sustainability of transitional homes for sexually exploited women. The goal was to gain understanding as to why some transitional homes fail and what components are ...
Preaching as a Cultural Formation Tool, Jason P. Esposito
The problem addressed by this project is a lack of awareness some pastors have of the power their preaching has to shape their church culture. In response to this problem the researcher explored the biblical foundations of preaching with a ...
Advocacy For A Biblical And Communication Based Interpersonal Competency Course For Seminary Education, Philip H. Frazier
This project advocates for a change in communication course teaching for Baptist and independent seminaries in the United States and Canada. The researcher used a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative processes to analyze communicati...
Discovering the Work of Baptist General Conference Mission in Ethiopia: The Essence of Mission that Lasted for Six Decades, Kebede Gonfa
The researcher has explored six decades of mission work and leadership development by the Baptist General Conference (BGC) in Ethiopia. The main purpose of this project is to summarize the work of the mission in Ethiopia and its relationshi...
A Co-created Incarnational Missiology For Evangelizing Hip-hoppers, Ferguson Lee Harris
This research project contextualized the gospel of Jesus Christ for unbelieving hip-hoppers. The research showed that hip-hop culture is a distinct culture that is worthy of contextualization by Christian evangelists. The literary review an...
Resiliency and Self-care for Pastors in Japan Facing a Disaster, John G. Houlette
For Japanese pastors facing a disaster, exercising resiliency and self-care is an enormous task as clergy deal with varying disaster-related attitudes, impact within the church and overwhelming need and opportunity in the community. In addi...
The Systemic Integration Of Kenyan Immigrants Into The American Culture, Yabesh Nyakang'o Maroko
Important social transformation has occurred for many Kenyans migrating from Africa to the Twin Cities, Minnesota in the last two decades of the 1900s. This influx of immigrant singles and families migrated to the West in hope of transformi...
A Theology and Practice for Implementing Pastoral Care Through Community Groups at Calvary Church, Joshua Paul Mateer
As a church of over 4000 attenders, Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan was in need of a system and structure that would provide care for all who were in need. This project developed a system of care based on the biblical principles of...
A Qualitative Analysis Of Moral Leadership Crises In Kenyan Evangelical Churches As It Relates To Developing Authentic Leaders, Peter N. Mulinge
This project addressed the moral leadership crises among the evangelical churches of Kenya. Evangelicalism is the fastest growing religious movement in Kenya, a country that already has Africa’s largest percentage of evangelicals overall. T...
Toward Permanence: Addressing the Need for Accessible Premarital Care for Deaf Couples, Peter Christopher Myers
Deaf people in America have become increasingly recognized in recent years as a distinct community. While Christianity within the Deaf community has a recorded history dating back some five hundred years, little is known regarding pastoral ...
Conversion: A Reflection On The Influences Involved In The Personal Eternal Change Event Within The Global Community, Edward Charles Nelson
What is conversion? For many, conversion is defined psychologically, sociologically, anthropologically and culturally, philosophically, or religiously and theologically. No matter how conversion may be defined academically, that definition ...
Rediscovering the Urgency of Intentional Discipleship in the Naga Churches in Nagaland, Orenvungo Ngullie
The problem this research addressed was the lack of intentional discipleship which has resulted in spiritual apathy and has hampered the development of leadership in the local churches in Nagaland, rendering Christians ineffective to impact...
Providing Relevant and Effective Leadership for Millennials, Valorie Cannon Nordbye
This thesis surveyed the leadership style preference of Millennials. Other areas focused on their loyalty to bosses, the importance of a company’s values and social practices, and their preferences about working independently or collaborati...
Avoiding Division within a Church: A Proactive Approach for Identifying Sources of Conflict and Creating a Healthy Ministry Environment, Kenneth V. Polley
Serious conflict in a church can damage its vitality and ministry effectiveness. The problem this research addressed was factors in a church ministry which can allow serious conflict to form and expand. In response to this problem, the rese...
Negotiating the Doing to Being Boundary in J. Robert Clinton's Leadership Emergence Theory, Charles W. Sattgast
According to the research of J. Robert Clinton only a third of leaders finish well. Clinton describes a developmental barrier he refers to as “the doing to being” boundary that many leaders face in their forties or fifties. This barrier req...
Exploring Leader Anxiety within the Family System when Implementing Organic Leadership Development, Bruce Michael Sexton
The purpose of this study is to develop a theory regarding the level of anxiety in the church family system when implementing organic leadership development. The researcher analyzed three biblical leaders’ developments while considering the...
Leadership Development Through Theological Education in the Theological Education Initiative of Central Missouri, April A. Welch
Access to leadership development through theological education is limited in places without seminaries. The Theological Education Initiative of Central Missouri started the Emerging Church Leadership Institute to fill that gap. Utilizing ph...
The New Reformed Pastor: Zwinglian Wisdom for Modern Ministers, Scotty Jermaine Williams
Throughout churches in the Reformed tradition, there is a growing interest in renewing Eucharistic practices. This growing interest has led to a series of discussions among Reformed clergy regarding the role of pastors in the Eucharistic co...
Chaplain, Pastor, Leader: A Biographical Study Of Leadership Transitions In The Life Of Chaplain (Colonel) James E. Wright, Brian P. Wright
A distinct transition occurs when military chaplains return to civilian service as pastoral leaders. This project engaged in a biographical study of (Colonel) Chaplain James E. Wright in order to understand the effect service as a military ...
A Qualitative Study Of Doubt In The Evangelical Tradition, Benjamin B. Young
This project explored the difference between evangelicals who doubted and stayed in the evangelical Christian faith and those who left the fold. Grounded theory was the primary research methodology and data was gathered from interviews with...
Theses/Dissertations from 2010
Sojourn through Spiritual and Religious Tension: A Quantitative Study of Intercultural Competence and Worldview Development, Naomi Ludeman Joy Smith
In today’s increasingly interculturally connected world, educators are charged to prepare students to be productive global citizens. The dilemma is determining pedagogy to effectively support students through the intercultural challenges th...
Theses/Dissertations from 2005
Group Spiritual Direction for Pastors in Sioux County, Iowa, Jeff L. Sajdak
The assumption is often made that seminary students and pastors are prepared to care for their own souls. It is assumed that they will be able to nurture their own spiritual formation, becoming conformed to the image of Christ for the sake ...