Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

1997

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Clifford Jones

Second Advisor

Roger Dudley

Third Advisor

James North

Abstract

This study endeavored to find the causes of membership dropout in the Grenada Mission of Seventh-day Adventists and the ways that it may be reduced. The dissertation investigates the biblical and theological basis for seeking to reduce dropouts by undertaking a study of the Great Commission and God’s concern for dropouts. A select review of relevant literature on dropouts was done in an effort to get an overview of the problem in various denominations and regions, as well as to receive insights in reducing dropouts.

One hundred and sixty-nine questionnaires were completed by dropouts, and twenty-one by church leaders in the Grenada Mission of Seventh-day Adventists. The Research and Statistical Department of Andrews University evaluated the questionnaire responses. The responses to the questionnaire revealed that the churches in the Grenada Mission of Seventh-day Adventists are experiencing their greatest loss among members under the age of thirty-five (75.7 percent) who are single (67.5 percent). Both church leaders and the dropouts agreed that most dropouts take place within ten years after baptism.

The dropouts gave about thirty-five factors that caused them to leave, but when the factors were categorized the major contributor to dropouts was relational problems with members (41.9 percent). The other categories were sexual sins, external influences and pressures, worship and nurture, problems with church standards and practices, assimilation and acculturation, and socioeconomic status. The strategy developed in this dissertation was not tested before the completion of this dissertation but I anticipate a great reduction in dropouts as it is implemented in the Grenada Mission of Seventh-day Adventists.

Subject Area

Ex-church members--Grenada--Seventh-day Adventists; Seventh-day Adventist--Grenada

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/395/

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