Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2003

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Abstract

In the face of required expenditures for competitive higher education and the growing challenges of quality Christian training, the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church is concerned about accountability in spiritual development and outcomes assessment. The General Conference Annual Council of 1996 voted the “Total Commitment to God” document. This document focuses on developing at each tertiary institution a comprehensive Spiritual Master Plan, proposed by the faculty and approved by the board, that identifies the spiritual truths and values, both cognitive and relational, which the institution is committed to share with its students, and to comprehensively identify the opportunities through which those values will be communicated in campus life.

Spicer Memorial College (SMC) is committed to the distinctive purpose of Adventist education and the holistic development of students. Toward this end, the college accepted the challenge and proposals suggested in the “Total Commitment to God” document. The Spiritual Master Plan for SMC was developed between September 2000 and December 2002.

The Spiritual Master Plan virtually evolved from the Mission Statement of SMC. On the basis of this statement and the institutional objectives, the SMC ideal student profile was developed for a spiritually mature SDA student. Then, considering the spiritual trends and needs, a vision for the plan was created. A SWOT analysis was done to know the present climate of spiritual life on the campus. A spiritual life inventory was then done to do a current appraisal of the various spiritual activities on the campus. Observations were made based on personal interviews reflecting on these activities, needs, and concerns.

Recommendations were also made on the four different studies that were done which include the Faith Maturity Scale, the Religious Activities Evaluation, the Non-Spiritual Activities Evaluation, and the Spiritual Indicators Questionnaire. Recommendations were made for each area and the Spiritual Master Plan for SMC was drawn up. The dissertation contains a history and description of SMC, as well as the narration of the development of the plan. The plan, as approved, appears in the appendix, together with the surveys and the raw data obtained.

Subject Area

Spicer Memorial College--Religion; College students--Religious life

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