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

R. Clifford Jones

Second Advisor

Trevor O'Reggio

Third Advisor

Stanley E. Patterson

Abstract

Problem

The membership of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Botswana has been growing at an average rate of 6% annually in the past ten years. Conversely over the same period of time the Botswana Union has been losing pastors at an average rate of 2% per year. Although members continue to increase they lack pastoral leadership.

Method

I used a mixed methodology to conduct a survey on former and frontline pastors, spouses and children of former and frontline pastors, union and conference officers. One group filled questionnaires independently and the other filled them under my supervision. I conducted some of the questionnaires over the phone to avoid traveling long distances. Data from the above sources was analyzed to establish the likely causes for leaving the ministry.

Result

s A retention program for pastors was developed based on the study. The ultimate goal of this project is to keep pastors in Botswana motivated and fulfilled in all aspects of ministry through various empowerment programs resulting in retaining them in the ministry. This project will enable administrators to monitor the performance of pastors and to know their needs through conducting annual performance evaluations and needs assessment exercises.

Conclusion

A successful retention program for pastors would help to reduce the current pastor-membership ratio of 1:933 to levels that ensure spiritual growth through good pastoral care. Without a good retention program the church will continue to lose money through training new pastors and church members lack spiritual care. The success of this program is dependent on the concerted efforts of both pastors and conference administrators.

Subject Area

Seventh-day Adventists--Botswana; Seventh-day Adventists--Clergy; Clergy--Botswana; Botswana Union Mission of Seventh-day Adventists; Clergy retention--Botswana

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/546

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