Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

James J. North, Jr.

Second Advisor

Hyveth Williams

Third Advisor

Richard Sylvester

Abstract

Problem

The Andrews Korean Seventh-day Adventist church in Berrien Springs, Michigan has holistic lifestyle problems that are on the rise. Church members are experiencing health issues such as cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, and insomnia. In observing dietary patterns, it was noticed that some of our members do not bother to ascertain the content of the food being eaten. Other members have express the desire to learn about a healthy lifestyle. Purposeful attention to this need of the church is necessary. As a church community comprised of mostly pastors, university students and their families it is time to advocate for lifestyle changes within the congregation. Although these students and their families are custodians of the Adventist health message, both here in the United States and in South Korea, most of these families do not follow or practice the health message as taught by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This lack of practicing the health message is partially due to a lack of understanding it.

Method

This study used a survey instrument designed and developed to identify the importance of the need for healthful living education among the Andrews Korean Seventh-day church members in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Focus group interviews were also conducted to determine the opinions of the Andrews Korean church members with regard to implementing NEWSTART health seminars in the church’s ministry roster.

Results

The NEWSTART program ministry is synonymous with having a healthy lifestyle. Thus, the Andrews Korean members’ awareness of the need for having healthy lifestyles was shown to have increased with introduction of the NEWSTART program ministry. The pastors became more aware of the necessity of this program ministry and they had an increased sense of responsibility for the health message a little more so than the church members. The program showed that both pastors and members generally believe that Adventism does have a relatively positive influence on their practice of healthy lifestyles. They also believe that many Adventists teachings are related to NEWSTART ministry as seen in the Bible and Ellen G. White’s writings.

Conclusion

The findings of this study showed that health education and awareness through NEWSTART needs to be developed into a regular ministry at Andrews Korean church. This would further assist church members in increasing their knowledge of living healthy lifestyles so that they would be able to positively influence their church and community with examples of healthy living. Continuous education is highly recommended as an approach to creating a ministry of healthy living awareness based on the dynamic healthrelated message of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Subject Area

Seventh-day Adventists--Michigan; Andrews Korean Seventh-day Adventist Church (Berrien Springs, Mich.)

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/545/

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