Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Kathleen Beagles

Second Advisor

Stanley E. Patterson

Third Advisor

Richard Sylvester

Abstract

Problem

Sabbath School is designed to be a system in which people are engaged in the process of becoming disciples, however, the church tends to operate in a formal and mechanical manner. As a result, the Sabbath School cannot be an agency to produce Christ’s disciples and the church cannot be a community of discipleship. Both of these conditions can be addressed by attending to the health of the faith community which allows the process of discipleship to accomplish transformation of the members of the community. The Seventh-day Adventist Church has Sabbath School, which is a great system for the purpose of encouraging discipleship. This study will develop an Educating for Discipleship model to ignite the spirit of discipleship. Sabbath School will be an active time of inspiring discipleship and working to achieve Sabbath School’s original goal, that of education for soul-winning and mission.

Method

This study applies research, Bible analysis, a review of literature, an analysis of Counsels on Sabbath School (White, 2002a) and the combined aims of Sabbath School to the process of discipleship.

Results

This study develops the Educating for Discipleship model, a Bible study centered model which leads children, youth and new believers to become Christ’s disciples and His missionaries. The Educating for Discipleship model is operated in Sabbath School because Sabbath School is a place of Bible study for believers and its expressed goals are matched with the discipleship process.

Conclusion

The Educating for Discipleship model will establish discipleship through purposeful studying of the Bible. Bible study in Sabbath School creates cooperation between teachers and members, with influence extending to families and the entire churches. It utilizes inductive and deductive reasoning simultaneously. The Educating for Discipleship model restores the function of Sabbath School, which is to help believers to apply and practice the word of God in their lives. The restored Sabbath School plays a pivotal role in the church, fostering the growth of a discipleship community. Sabbath School operated via the Educating for Discipleship model will provide a practical educational environment for participants to live as Jesus’ disciples especially as missionaries and servants in many different fields.

Subject Area

Discipling (Christianity); Sabbath schools; Seventh-day Adventists--Korea (South)

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/292/

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