Christian education of adults

Weizhong Geng D.Ed.Min.

Discipleship training is becoming more and more popular in Chinese churches, but the methodology is still based on traditional centralized teaching. Generation Z is growing up in an era of rapid technological and informational advancements where the internet and the smartphone are necessities for daily life. As the times change, the tools we use must adapt as well, which is why I believe the "Honeycomb Discipleship" mobile app can be a bridge to the existing gap.
The Honeycomb model is rooted in the core principles of Theology, Hermeneutics, Spirituality, Pedagogy and Psychology. The seven modules of the model include: biblical teaching, empowerment through the Holy Spirit, development of beliefs, altering our thinking, influencing our feelings, change in desires, and ultimately reshaping our behavior. The structure of the curriculum is built upon the Domains of Learning (Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor), Methods of Practice (through God, Self, Others), and some spiritual disciplines from the Middle Ages. So as to shape young Christians to have the six Christlike characters for becoming future leaders (See Appendix IX).
Twelve master and doctoral students were trained with the Honeycomb App from September 2021 to March 2022. I collected data on the students before, during, and after the study to evaluate their spiritual growth. Based on the results of The Christian Life Profile Assessment (R. Frazee), I observed an average increase of 10.4% within the group of twelve, thus verifying the original hypothesis of my dissertation.

Paul Anthony Cox D.Min.

The primary research question for this project is, “Will the principles presented in a biblically based Bible study series contribute to Christian men’s development of intentional, biblical-transformational living?” For the purpose of measurable results, the researcher invited Christian men in the local church and in the workplace who were willing to participate in a virtual Bible study series online. This project required the registration of men willing to participate in an 8-week virtual community Bible study series in an effort to evaluate how principles in a Bible study series help facilitate and develop intentional, biblical, transformational living in Christian men’s daily lives. Twenty-one men contributed to the project through their participation in the 8-week Bible study series and by taking a pre-test and post-test survey. Seventeen men also participated in a one-on-one interview following the completion of the Bible study series. Sixteen men participated in a follow-up discussion session approximately one month after the eight-week bible study series. The research project hypotheses were: (1) the principles in this Bible study series will contribute to the Christian men’s desire to be a man of Christlike character for biblical-transformational living; (2) the principles in this Bible study series will contribute to the Christian men’s desire to be a man of commitment for biblical, transformational living; (3) the principles in the Bible study series will contribute to the Christian men’s better understanding of their God-given purpose for biblical, transformational living; (4) the principles in the Bible study series will contribute to the Christian men’s better understanding the path to spiritual growth for biblical, transformational living; and (5), the principles in this Bible study series will contribute to the Christian men’s better understanding of their leadership as God’s design for biblical, transformational living.

Ryan Nicholas Egli D.Min.

Missio Seminary moved from Hatfield Pennsylvania to Philadelphia in 2019. This project aims to contextualize that move from a rural and suburban setting to an urban setting for the staff, faculty, and Board of Trustees of the seminary. The author, who was previously employed at Missio Seminary, performed a training workshop, multiple interviews with key faculty and staff, and surveys to support the findings. The author concludes with multiple recommendations for the future of multicultural urban theological education as it applies to Missio Seminary in Philadelphia. While this project is specific to one medium-sized North American seminary, the steps and tools can be implemented in other situations, in education, and churches, and families, to successfully introduce and compassionately integrate people or institutions into a new urban home

Diane Lynn Galmore D.Min.

As the Christian population continues to grow in North America, the desire to read and the ability to comprehend the Scriptures have not. For many, the commitment to study the ancient text persists in being an elusive pursuit. The hinderance can be described as biblical nescience. Although numerous Christians adhere to religious doctrine, church ordinances, and corporate engagements such as regular Sunday worship, Christian instruction, communion, Bible study, prayer, ministry service, and giving, largely excluded from the framework of faith is Bible reading. Some Christians acknowledge the major obstacle to be a lack of understanding of the storyline. Another challenge for readers is finding relevancy in the text, while others hold to the notion that comprehensive Bible reading and study are the sole responsibility of the pastor and church leaders to guide Christians beyond these complexities and aid future believers to embrace the Living Word. This writing seeks to reenergize and rekindle the importance of reading and having a deeper understanding of the Good News through the use of a biblical plot-line that places emphasis on God’s mission.

Kim Louise Blocher

This project explores the ways in which we teach, preach, and think about the resurrection within a church setting. The resurrection is the foundational doctrine of our faith, and yet many pastors struggle with imparting his or her belief. A pastor's beliefs surrounding the resurrection may be at odds with the primary belief systems of the people in the pews. Or perhaps a pastor does not know what he or she believes. A vacuum is formed that gets filled with popular theology from books promoting a dispensational worldview, television or movies. Sermons often promote the notion of heaven without confronting what we really mean when we say, "I believe in the resurrection of the body."

The study presents the point of view that our understanding of resurrection can be opened up through attending to the gap between belief and practice. In other words, what does it mean in our lives today when we say we are a people of the resurrection? Can we think of ourselves as rehearsing resurrection right now? Toward that end a curriculum was developed for an adult study on resurrection, based on the shared praxis model of Thomas Groome.

The curriculum was found to be a tiny, first step in a re-shaping of the way a congregation apprehends the resurrection. Other necessary pieces are pastoral study and reflection, developing a theology of practices within the congregation, the importance of the funeral sermon in teaching about resurrection, theological imagination, and a willingness of the pastor to be forthcoming about his or her own beliefs.

J. David Apple

The purpose of this project was to equip selected members of Big Canoe Chapel, Big Canoe, Georgia, to discover and integrate biblical prayers and disciplines of prayer modeled in Scripture. The project director will research selected prayers in Scripture in order to emphasize key personal prayer disciplines among the multi-denominational congregation. He will develop and conduct an equipping workshop for the selected group of individuals.

The project director will purposefully increase understanding of a variety of prayer disciplines represented at Big Canoe Chapel. The project director will also increase knowledge for developing training experiences regarding prayer for persons from a variety of Christian traditions.

Kevin Richard D.Ed.Min.

Teaching Their Biblical Role in Family Ministry to Parents of South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas

Kevin Richard, Doctor of Educational Ministry
Advisor: Danny R. Bowen, Ph. D
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2022

This project was designed to educate and encourage adults to take to heart their call to be the primary disciple in the life of their own children. The goals are to find out where parents are and how they view their role in discipleship towards their children, to create a curriculum to help them in understating their role, then to implement the curriculum and see if it helps.

Ali Zimmerman D.Min.

Many young adult Christians lack awareness of even their most basic patterns
of sin. This project sought to broaden awareness of such instinctive patterns by
identifying relationships between sin tendencies and personality types. Specifically, it
explored sin patterns in relation to each of the eight preferences of the Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator: introversion, extraversion, sensing, intuition, thinking, feeling, judging,
and perceiving.
All subjects had a 4-year college degree, were under the age of 35, and were
believers in Jesus Christ who were actively involved in Christian community. The study
took a mixed method research approach and collected both quantitative and qualitative
data. It began with a descriptive survey which yielded fifty-three usable responses.
Following the survey, the researcher conducted in-depth interviews with seven of the
respondents in order to gain deeper insight regarding the impact their personality
preferences had on their patterns of behavior.
When considered in combination, the quantitative and qualitative results
verified strong relationships between six of the eight preferences and specific sin
tendencies. While the hypothesis regarding the remaining two preferences was not
confirmed, the interview results suggested relationships between slightly different sin
tendencies and these preferences. The study recommends some specific additional
research be conducted to confirm these potential correlations. The project concludes with
recommendations regarding how one could utilize the findings to positively

Ron Wymer D.Min.

Metaphors concerning atonement theology that are misunderstood, poorly defined, and clumsily communicated often lead to a mischaracterization of God to those who have experienced trauma or abuse. Theological scholars, local church leaders, and pulpit preachers have discussed and debated the correct way to describe Christ’s work of atonement. However, little concern has been shown when communicating atonement theology toward those who have been injured by trauma and abuse. This study aims to provide a platform for the abused to share their stories concerning their spiritual formation through the lens of their experience both with trauma and theological teaching by church leaders. The use of terms trauma and abuse are defined by the participants in the study albeit as broad or narrow as the participant determines by their own definition.

To test this hypothesis, a survey was distributed to the entire congregation of a medium-sized Mid-Western Evangelical congregation concerning their grasp of atonement theological terms as well as their perceived characterization of the God of their understanding, connectedness with others in the congregation, and grasp of theological terms relating to atonement theology. Following a four-week teaching series, a second similar survey was conducted to gauge movement in the areas of study. Additionally, all survey respondents were given the opportunity to privately schedule individual interviews with the researcher to share their insights and experiences with trauma and the church teaching on atonement theology. Church survey responses were scored by numerical averages.

The results showed a significant increase in knowledge of atonement theology and small increases in correcting characterization of God and connectedness with fellow believers in the congregation. The interviews reported a lack of meaningful interaction with most of the subjects instead it was reported creating their own view of God’s care, comfort, and leading through the traumatic experiences.

Sergio Cedeño González

This thesis analyzes the impact of Pentecostal theological education in the local church and the community, in terms of the fulfillment of the church's mission. This work focuses on the context of the educational programs of theological formation of the Church of God of Prophecy in Chile. The purpose was to verify how the local churches have been impacted by the Pentecostal theological formation programs and to find out if the pastors and members who participate in these programs have developed in terms of their spiritual life, preparation to serve and commitment to the local church and its mission. And at the same time to evaluate if the curriculum responds to the needs of the local church and the context where they develop the mission.

In order to achieve this purpose, I used documents and reports related to this topic, and interviews with actors involved in these formation processes. Secondly, I used the survey methodology, directed to about 60 students (30 pastors and 30 members), which allowed us to have a representative sample of the population to be studied.

I came to the conclusion that the majority of the students surveyed have experienced progress in their spiritual development and commitment to the local church where they serve, however a smaller percentage, but no less important, understands that important changes are needed in the approach of the curriculum.