Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2002

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Alfonso Valenzuela

Second Advisor

Nancy Jean Vyhmeister

Third Advisor

Ricardo Norton

Abstract

The term “lay person” is usually applied to church members to distinguish them from the “clergy.” The New Testament uses the tenn laos, from which “lay” is derived, to refer to all of God’s people and not only to those who are not clergy. Therefore, lay people are the church and not only a part of the church. The function that the New Testament assigns to the laos or people of God is to preach the gospel in order to make disciples, as Christ commanded. According to the New Testament, “disciple” is one who preaches and practices the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus instructed his disciples so they could fulfill the task he gave them: preach the gospel and make more disciples. He gave these instructions directly, through parables, and by his own example. Nevertheless the disciples were not prepared to carry out the task Jesus gave them until they were equipped by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit completed the work of Jesus by equipping the disciples with power and special gifts. He also helped the disciples to fully understand the teachings of Jesus. He revealed to them the past, the present and the future and directed them in their evangelistic work.

The great commision, to preach the gospel and make disciples, was given to all the members of God’s people (the laos). To carry out this task, they need to receive theoretical instruction, so that they may know what to do and how to do it. But this instruction is not sufficient, as was the case for the first disciples. Church members will be equipped only when they are filled with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, instruction must lead all the laity to be submissive to and dependent on the Holy Spirit. Those responsible for providing this instruction, both theoretical and spiritual, are the pastors, the church leaders, and all who have received gifts to carry out this work. The appendixes of this dissertation provide all the materials needed to present a four-weekend workshop to instruct and equip volunteers to fulfill the great commission.

Subject Area

North Mexican Union of Seventh-day Adventists; Seventh-day Adventists--Mexico, North; Church work with youth--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/481

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