Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

1979

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

D. Min

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Don Jacobsen

Second Advisor

Arnold Kurtz

Third Advisor

Roy E. Graham

Abstract

Problem

For most of the ministers who are employed by the Seventh- day Adventist Church in the Republic of South Africa, there is little opportunity for continued education beyond the B.Th. level. Each year the limited resources of the bursary committee allow perhaps one minister the privilege of further study in the Theological Seminary at Andrews University. There is furthermore no existing system of in-service training apart from an extension school offered once every four years by the above-mentioned Seminary.

Methods

The methods used followed the classical developmental stages as follows: The support and acceptance of the Church Administration and the total ministerial body in a selected Conference was obtained for the concept of a program of continued education. A Planning committee was elected by the above-mentioned bodies to design and structure learning experiences that would meet the needs of the ministers as these became known. A climate conducive to learning was established. The designed learning experiences were implemented and evaluated. Following each seminar the design was modified and refined and each succeeding topic which was treated was that which was chosen by the participants. Three such seminars are reported in this paper.

Results

With each succeeding seminar the interest and participation increased while the degree of refinement and sophistication in the design and structure of the learning experiences was discernible. Evaluation instruments revealed learning and attitudinal shifts. Increased efficiency on the professional level and satisfaction and fulfillment on the personal level were attested to by the participants, while within the group of ministers as a whole a productive spirit of collegiality was manifested.

Conclusions

The results of the evaluations conducted indicate an ongoing need for the continuance of this program. The effect of this pilot program was the revelation of needs among the ministers, the viability of the short intensive model as a method for meeting those needs, and the possibility of the proliferation of similar programs in neighboring Conferences of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. However the need for continual development and refinement of the programs is seen as essential.

Subject Area

Clergy -- Post-ordination training

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dmin/294/

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