Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

David Penno

Second Advisor

Gorden R. Doss

Third Advisor

Kelvin Onongha

Abstract

Problem. The West Houston Church is a large multicultural congregation and is located within a large multicultural neighborhood on the west side of Houston. As such, one would assume that the church, with its diverse nature, would have an active and strong presence in the local community. However, that was not the case. Pastoral observation suggested that the members were too internally focused and struggled to relate to people from a different cultural background within the congregation. The consequence was a disconnect between the church and the community. There existed a paramount need for cultural intelligence in the minds of the members if they were to productively engage their community.

Method. A cultural intelligence model was designed, developed, and implemented to empower and equip the members with the tools for multicultural ministry. The project was evaluated to determine the extent to which the members were empowered and equipped through interviews and the extent to which the local community has been impacted by their transformation. Objective measures included looking at church growth, new community ministry initiatives, and an increased profile in the community.

Results. The congregation transformed into a more loving, tolerant, inclusive, and culturally aware community. The church membership grew from 531to 582 and the average weekly attendance increased by 10% to 603. Five new community ministry initiatives were established and the church profile was significantly raised in the local community.

Conclusions. This study demonstrates that the implementation of a cultural intelligence model can significantly empower a church to minister multiculturally with success.

Subject Area

Cultural intelligence, Cultural awareness, Multiculturalism--Religious aspects--Seventh-day Adventists

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/123/

Download

Share

COinS