Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Russell Burrill

Second Advisor

Eduard Schmidt

Third Advisor

Fitzroy Maitland

Abstract

Problem

Millennial students at Georgia-Cumberland Academy (GCA) are not being inspired and equipped to actively engage in community outreach. GCA is a boarding school with 80% of students having homes in other locations, limiting their opportunity to develop connections with any local community, both at home and at school. The result is that students are graduating without needed skills to spiritually interact with their community and to share their faith in Jesus in meaningful ways. About 60% of Adventist youth are leaving the church, and part of the problem may be their lack of connection to the outreach ministries of the church.

Method

A strategy for developing a church-wide system of outreach-oriented small groups was developed to provide Millennial students the opportunity to grow in community and to be inspired and equipped for outreach involvement. Characteristics of the Millennial generation were researched, along with successful small group strategies. Over four semesters during two school years, leaders were trained, group members were recruited, and outreach opportunities were developed based on an investigation of community needs. A Group Leader Training Series video curriculum was developed, along with Reach the World small group studies. Student attitudes regarding the impact of small groups on areas of their spiritual life were evaluated via surveys.

Results

A wide variety of affinity-based GROWgroups were formed with both GCA students and GCA Church members leading and participating. GROWgroup participants were involved in outreach both as groups and as individuals to meet the needs of the community. A majority of students that participated indicated that the GROWgroups were beneficial in the development of their spiritual life, their social interaction, and their attitude toward outreach.

Conclusions

Based on survey results and continuing small group interactions, the outreach-oriented small groups did have a perceived positive impact on inspiring and equipping for community outreach. Further study is recommended as to optimal group formats, outreach initiatives, and characteristics of future generations.

Subject Area

Generation Y, Smaill groups, Georgia-Cumberland Academy of Seventh-day Adventists (Calhoun, Ga.), Witness bearing (Christianity)

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/310/

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