Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

H. Peter Swanson

Second Advisor

Kurt Johnson

Third Advisor

Eduard Schmidt

Abstract

Problem. The members of the Waipahu Seventh-day Adventist Church had a limited understanding about the connection that exists between good relationships and evangelism, due to lack of education or training. The church members needed to strengthen their interpersonal relationships and grow in their understanding that Christianity is not just a series of doctrines and beliefs. The purpose of this project was to develop a seminar to educate members about the importance of having good relationships with one another.

Method. Three questionnaires were developed to help the participants to reflect on their current level of relationship with one another. These questionnaires also helped to obtain pertinent information to determine the specific content to be included in the seminar. The seminar was conducted at Waipahu Seventh-day Adventist Church. It was presented in a 12-session format, 1 hour per session. An estimated 35 people attended each session. Study guides were provided to supplement the presentation material. A fourth questionnaire was developed to evaluate the impact of the seminar and to obtain feedback about the presenter, the content, and the environment.

Results. A positive result obtained throughout this process was manifested in my own life and ministry. The development and presentation of this seminar helped me appreciate the importance of the pastor as a facilitator and equipper. I understood that my role as a pastor was to create an informal and comfortable environment suitable for teaching and to provide opportunity for questions and comments, instead of merely sermonizing. Furthermore, a comparison of the questionnaires given before and after the seminar showed a definite increase in the understanding of the importance of good relationships and its connection with evangelism. The feedback from the fourth questionnaire about the presenter, content, and environment of the seminar were very positive and provided affirmation about the information that was shared. The expressions of gratitude from the participants reinforced this response.

Conclusions. Church members are eager to get more information and training that will help them to grow in their spiritual journey. Therefore more time needs to be invested in interactive training than in preaching. The project was effective in achieving a significant increase of theological understanding of the importance of good relationships in the life of members of the Waipahu Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Subject Area

Interpersonal relations--Religious aspects--Seventh-day Adventists, Interpersonal relations--Hawaii--Waipahu

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/51/

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