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

Nancy Jean Vyhmeister

Second Advisor

Alfonso Valenzuela

Third Advisor

Werner K. Vyhmeister

Abstract

The biblical command is for all the followers of Jesus to go, make disciples. Nevertheless, a majority of church members does not participate in the fulfillment of this command. The purpose of this dissertation was to prepare a strategy to equip pastors and leaders in the different areas and departments of the church, so that they, in turn, may prepare and involve the whole church in this task. The biblical mandate to make disciples of all the nations is accompanied by instructions about how the task should be accomplished. Church growth has four biblical foundations. Salvation offered to all is the basis. Preaching, as a means of transmitting that gospel, is important. The guidance of the Holy Spirit and teaching how to do the work are also vita parts of the plan.

To better prepare the strategy, church members and pastors were surveyed and interviewed. Their opinions, which went from admitting that they did not participate in missionary work because they did not know how, to expressing how much they would like training to do it, were taken into account. A majority of those who gave their opinion said they would like to cooperate in the mission of the church if they were appropriately trained. On the basis of the early part of the research, a strategy was developed: “Multiplying Evangelism.” In this scheme, a small group of pastors would be prepared in a workshop to equip local church elders and leaders of the various church departments. Afterward, once the leaders have been equipped, they will train other church members, until all those wishing preparation are equipped. Spiritual gifts of the members will be identified using a spiritual gifts inventory, supplemented by the wisdom of those who know them well. Thus church leaders will work according to their gifts. The workshop for the pastors uses the principles of adult education and teaches them to teach their local leaders in the same way. Paul’s advice in 2 Tim 2:2, to teach those who in turn will be able to teach others, is at the basis of this model.

Subject Area

Church growth--Seventh-day Adventists; Seventh-day Adventists--Mexico; Inter-Oceanic Mexican Union 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/576

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