Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

1991

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Benjamin D. Schoun

Second Advisor

Bruce L. Bauer

Third Advisor

John T. Baldwin

Abstract

Problem

The drop-out rate for pastors is and has been alarming. One reason for pastors leaving the ministry is their lack of opportunity and the knowledge of knowing where and how to enhance their pastoral skills. The objective of this project is to develop a design for the implementation of a resource center for pastoral skills development based upon a pastoral skills needs inventory.

Method

Methods used in this project varied. A research of literature was conducted. A personal interview with Mark Rouch resulted in the possession of the mailing list of the "Society for the Advancement of Continuing Education for Ministers." From the "SACEM" mailing list letters of inquiry were mailed to 60 organizations. Sixty letters were also mailed to Seventh-day Adventist organizations. These letters were seeking information on pastoral self-assessment or self-evaluation processes. Information received from these letters was developed into the Pastoral Skills Needs Inventory. The inventory was pre-tested on a small group of Seventh-day Adventist pastors prior to being administered on a volunteer basis to 45 ministers of the Carolina Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The Pastoral Skills Needs selected by these pastors became the basis of the resource center for pastoral skills development. Letters of inquiry (as to the whereabouts of resources for the needed pastoral skills) were mailed to Seventh-day Adventist and other than Seventh-day Adventist organizations. From the response of these letters resources were ordered for the resource center. The materials for the resource center were computer cataloged and organized, as well as being physically arranged at the Carolina Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Headquarters office in Charlotte, North Carolina. A procedure for material check-out was developed along with a computer catalog listing the contents of the resource center.

Results

As a result of the administration of the Pastoral Skills Needs Inventory all 257 specific skills contained therein were chosen by the pastors. Due to financial restraints and time limitations the specific skills the pastors desired were limited to their first, second, and third priority choices. These skills became the actual contents of the resource center. The resource center is composed of 1,710 pieces of information, in fifteen formats, relating to 71 specific skills under 15 major skills areas.

Conclusions

Due to the variety of information in the resource center and considering that the resource center is based upon the felt needs of the pastors, the opportunity is theirs to plan long-range continuing education programs. The Pastoral Skills Resource Center could enhance the morale and the professional competency of pastors in their skills development.

Subject Area

Clergy--Post-ordination training; Seventh-day Adventists--Clergy--Post-ordination training; Carolina Conference of 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/416/

Download

Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS