Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

1984

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Nancy Jean Vyhmeister

Second Advisor

Roger L. Dudley

Third Advisor

Arnold K. Kurtz

Abstract

Problem. Frequently local church officers are not effective in their leadership roles because they are not prepared to serve the church. In addition to increasing their skills and competencies, they need to understand clearly the function of their position. Local leaders also need to learn to participate in the decision-making and goal setting for the local church.

Project. In response to the problem stated above, this project studied the biblical and theological foundations for ministry. It vas ascertained that ministry is a shared service (diakonia) rendered by all members of the body, in cooperation one with another. Leadership in the NT is indeed servanthood. The importance of sharing in ministry, decisions, and the setting of goals vas noted in a review of selected literature on church leadership and administration.

On the basis of the theoretical background presented in the first part of the paper, a year-long program vas developed for the church officers of the Rochester, New York, Seventh-day Adventist church. In a regular seminar these officers vere exposed to the biblical basis for church servanthood-leadership, to the clarification of their roles as church officers, and to function to the church's departments. They also had opportunity to acquire and exercise decision-making and goal setting skills. They also studied the role of the gifts of the Spirit in the church and attempted to identify and put to use those they felt they possessed. During the program, church attendance and participation increased noticeably. At the same time, church officers came to see the church as their own and vere increasingly willing to participate in its activities.

Subject Area

Laity--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/194/

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