Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

David Penno

Abstract

Problem

2017 the North England Conference administrators evaluated my ministry, and although they were satisfied with my work, the feedback from some of the church members indicated dissatisfaction. It was evident that the diverse ethnic and cultural groups had different expectations of the role and responsibility of the pastor. It was difficult for me to do fulfill all their expectations.

Method

The research method employed in the design of this project was a qualitative one. It explored the question under examination by using semi-structured interviews, questionnaire, mentorship training, discussions, pastors' expectations, and cultural intelligence seminars. The semi structured interview and questionnaire was designed by the researcher and approved by the project supervisor and the mentor. Most of the data was collected by the two selected interviewers from Kingstanding and Perrybeeches congregations. The questionnaires and the semi-structured interviews were particularly used to enable the researcher to gather significant information from the members of the congregations quickly and cheaply. They were used to reduce the demands on the members time and to produce an efficient data analysis. The advantage of using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews is that they provided current information, although the disadvantage is that it cannot always be assumed that an accurate answer has been given.

Results

The results from the findings overwhelmingly revealed that the members from the different cultural groups in both congregations believe that the pastor should be knowledgeable about the cultural background of the various cultures and be extremely culturally intelligent. It also revealed that both the members and the pastor should increase their cultural intelligence. Additionally, it also shows that there are more similarities than differences in expectation. However, the differences that exist is significant in that it explains that culture can have a greater influence on expectations. The data shows that the discussions from the seminars reveal that some of the leadership team members and the participants have grown in their awareness and understanding of the different cultures and have become more culturally intelligent. The result is not in line with what the researcher predicted because of the commonality in the global Adventist teachings there would invariably be uniformity in behavior and practice in our local congregations. However, this study has shown the contrary and has highlighted that though Adventist doctrines are the same worldwide, cultural differences can affect expectation. The results have shown that even among people of the same religious persuasion where things on the surface appears to look the same there can be some distinct differences.

Conclusion

The study has revealed that often members perceive that a pastor can fulfill their expectation. However, it is evident from this study that it is often that many of the members are not cognizant of the challenges that the pastor has does not allow him or her to be able to manage all of the various cultural groups in the congregations. Therefore, there is a need to develop through training others local leaders who can assist in managing the expectation.

Subject Area

Birmingham Kingstanding Seventh-day Adventist Church (West Midlands, UK); Perry Beeches Seventh-day Adventist Church (Birmingham, UK); Multiculturalism--Religious aspects|-Seventh-day Adventists; Church membership--Cross-cultural studies; Pastoral Theology--Cross-cultural studies; General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Trans-European Division. British Union Conference. North England Conference; North England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dmin/767/

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