Bible--Study--Methodology

Carvil Antoney Richards D.Min.

This portfolio aimed to develop a collaborative model with six young adults of the Rosthern Seventh-day Adventist Church, Saskatchewan, to increase their confidence for preaching. A three-phase process was required to train the small group. The first phase involved allowing a few young adults to discuss the implication of an assigned Bible passage through the inductive Bible study method. The second phase involved training them to preach; the third phase allowed them to preach. For this portfolio, only the first phase was examined. The participants’ involvement included choosing four Bible passages to develop into four sermons.
This portfolio has V chapters. Chapter I is the introduction, which gives a general overview of the portfolio while chapter II focuses on the researcher’s personal journey and ministry context. Chapter III is about the author’s philosophy of leadership, which governed and guided his ministry practice; chapter IV examines the field research; and chapter V is the conclusion and implication.
The data collection methods used for this research were reflective journaling, participant observation and a survey. While there were things that could have been done differently in the research for a more effective outcome, the project’s conclusion revealed that the young adults’ confidence was increased through their contributions in the group collaboration.

Benjamin Paul Vanderheide Dr. D.Min.

In this Research Portfolio, the author develops a method for growing in intimacy with God, through faith in Jesus Christ, empowered by the Spirit using the metaphor of a fruit bearing tree. The method is developed in three parts. The first part is a spiritual autobiography where the author describes his life in Christ: Seed (Life before Christ), Death (New Life in Christ), Rooted (Learning from Christ), Pruning (Suffering with Christ). The second part is a spiritual formation model exploring how we grow in maturity in Christ: we discover our true identity in relation to Christ (know), as we abide in Christ (be) by intentionally practicing spiritual disciplines, and over time, we bear the fruit of the Spirit in Christ (do). The third part is a research project that reproduces the knowing-being-doing model in the context of a spiritual direction relationship, where the participants are led to use their imagination in prayer. As the participants connect with God using their imagination, their experience of God deepens, and the fruit is a positive change in their relationship with God.

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.

Cameron Lee Williams D.Min.

The Adrianic Application Charting System: Navigating the Applicational Methods of Adrian Rogers as a Tool Set (Toolset) for Expository Preaching.

This project demonstrates the presence of a discernible applicational method in Adrian Rogers’ sermons and proposes axiomatic principles that may be extracted from the pattern of techniques he employs to achieve such a method. Further, axioms derived of the research are organized to establish a system of tools that may be employed to equip an expositor to increase the quantity and quality of applicational content, improving communication of application in weekly sermons. The system, envisioned to encompass the techniques Rogers employs to navigate application, relies on analogous tools germane to early Adriatic sailing practices.

Chapters 1-2 establish the premises on which the writer based his project. Chapters 3-8 research Rogers’ four techniques and develop his principles into Adrianic axioms for tooling. Chapters 9-10 express motivating insights, both practical and theological, behind the goals of the project. Chapters 11-14 test the expectations of the project in light of successes, examining the Adrianic tool set for weaknesses that might be bolstered for continued improvement of the system.

Appendices 1-2 graph the research and parameters of datasets. Appendix 3 depicts iconographic materials representing the tool set (toolset) to better illustrate the Adrianic system. Appendices 4-5 outline focus-group survey findings and relate metrics for gauging successful implementation of research.

Cameron Lee Williams, D.Min.
School of Theology
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2022
Supervisor: Matthew McKellar, Ph.D.

Cor M Chmieleski D.Min.

The purpose of this project was to identify common challenges facing leaders in the
second generation of large churches. This was the reality of Hope Community Church
Downtown (HCC DT) in Minneapolis, MN at the time of this paper’s formation. Specific areas
of challenge which have been explored include growth from small to large and transitions in
leadership between generation and senior leaders. The fortification of the church depends on
building an accurate list of common challenges that can be later addressed by church staff and
leadership.

The process utilized to accomplish that purpose included robust biblical and literature
research followed by interviews with seven pastors serving in churches similar to HCC DT. The
initial research led to a preliminary list of challenges which were then utilized in interviews to
determine their relative validity within the lived experiences of pastors. Analysis of the research
and field work revealed five significant findings churches must address for the sake of long-term
endurance: (1) Answer the question, “Who are we today?”, (2) Address unavoidable realities, (3)
Foster the following, (4) Protect against these, and (5) Achieve success in pastoral succession.
Each of these is explained and illustrated with real-life examples from within local churches.

Upon completion of this project, a list of common challenges was presented to the elders
and staff of HCC DT. It was then their responsibility to read, discuss, pray, and respond to the
challenges addressed herein.

Matthew Bassett Ford D.Min.

Thesis:
A certain kind of habitual interaction the author calls “hermeneutical mediation” is both biblically warranted and effective for cultivating growth in life transformation for the Christian. The author asserts that properly interpreting the Scriptures as well as properly interpreting oneself in light of the Scriptures is paramount for life change. The study especially focused on cultivating this habit among Millennials.

Method:
After submitting a questionnaire to the congregation at large and facilitating pre-seminar interviews with a volunteer group of Millennials from the congregation, the author implemented a six-session seminar designed to cultivate “hermeneutical meditation” among the Millennials who volunteered. Post-seminar interviews were then facilitated in order to discern the results of the effort.

Conclusion:
The seminar could be improved, but after the implementation and interviews, it is clear that fostering hermeneutical meditation through a seminar format was effective for helping Christians (especially in this case, Millennials) grow in life transformation through their habitual interaction with Scripture.

Jane Janine Pekar D.Min.

This portfolio begins with a reflection of my personal journey in spiritual formation. In response to the contemporary shift in society’s affirmation of the rights an voice of children as world citizens and my experiences as a teacher, parent and ordained minister, I created a model of ministry for families with young children combining components of Young Child & Worship and Messy Church. Using Action Research, I introduced principles of the Reggio-Inspired Approach to enhance the children’s personalization of the experience. The observations of the children’s creative responses and intuitive initiatives were recorded and shared in four Documentations.

David Alan Shaffer D.Min.

This project seeks to answer the research question, “Does an eight-week, small group-based Bible study course for married couples strengthen the marriage relationships of its participants?” Today’s most effective marriage programs focus on important themes relevant to marriage and include transparency, a biblical foundation, and gentle accountability. Still, the question follows, “What comes next to further strengthen marriages?” This project answers this question with a process-based Bible study that, because of its design, strengthens the marriage relationship with improved communication, conflict resolution, and increased overall marital satisfaction (the three measures of this project). This methodology includes weekly individual study, couple discussion, and small group interaction.
Through the use of pre- and post-course surveys, the couples who participated in a study of Galatians provided ample quantitative research that yielded group, couples, and gender statistics. The couples’ data was measured by Positive Couple Agreement (PCA), which identifies couples’ responses as a relational strength when they choose the same response or are within one choice of each other (4 [agree] or 5 [strongly agree] on a positively worded statement, 2 [disagree] or 1 [strongly disagree] on a negatively worded statement).
The researcher designed Galatians: True Freedom – A Small Group Study for Couples to implement the new methodology to be evaluated. The quantitative data based on the pre- and post-course surveys provided the means to prove whether the three measures strengthened the marriages of the participating couples. The data supports the veracity of all three hypotheses (improved communication, improved conflict resolution, and increased overall marital satisfaction), showing strong growth in each measure, most notably with communication. These results led to the research conclusion: Yes, the methodology used in this eight-week, small group-based Bible study course for married couples developed for this applied research project did strengthen the marriage relationships of its participants.

Wilbert C Baker D.Min.

Chapter 1 of this dissertation project argues that using a disciple-making method that has relationship-building as a key ingredient in the process is more effective in reaching African-American inner-city apartment residents than door-to-door evangelism using tracts. This study is a comparison of how evangelism is typically done among Baptist churches (and most Evangelical churches) with how it should be done to fulfill the Great Commission.
Chapter 2 argues that both God and man have roles in evangelism, and that God’s sovereignty does not exempt man from his responsibility and accountability to God in receiving and sharing the gift of salvation.
Chapter 3 examines segments of evangelism and missions from a historical perspective and records insights for contemporary ministry from a historical and theological perspective.
Chapter 4 Describes the new people Group: African-American inner-city transient apartment residents. It describes their culture, world view, and their self-image.
Chapter 5 conducts research in the selected environment with selected indigenous individuals to collect and analyze data to discover the most effective means to reach inner-city African-American apartment residents with the Gospel.
Chapter 6 argues the conclusion, based upon the findings of the research accumulated from the two trained teams and the six selected families, that evangelism which engages in disciple-making after leading persons to Christ, is twice as effective as evangelism models that lead persons to Christ but do not include any follow-up and training. The disciple-making model is effective in this context and can be duplicated in the twenty-first century. This study does not compare evangelism without disciple making with evangelism with disciple making. This study compares what the majority of Baptist churches are doing to fulfill the Great Commission with what they should be doing to fulfill the Great Commission with particular attention given to the African-American inner-city transient apartment dwellers.

Daniel G Kachikis

Using a one-year Bible as the sole discipleship material and discussion as the primary method of guidance, the author surveyed three research study groups of different sizes. The findings indicate that using the one-year Bible helped the participants grow in their love for Christ and love for the Word. This study also saw participants grow in their confidence to make disciples and grow in their willingness to make disciple-making their lifestyle in following Christ. Regarding the optimal group size, the author found that groups of five to eight seemed to naturally become the best platform for discipleship.