Cross-cultural studies

Wilson Fernando Dantas Soaris D.Min.

Although the numbers show people responding positively to the Gospel in Spain, the Autochthonous People of Spain [APS] and congregations composed of Spaniards are not following the same pattern. The reason for considerable growth in the nation without necessarily reaching the APS is due to the number of immigrants living in Spain, especially from Latin America.
This dissertation investigates the EC in the Autonomous Community of Madrid [ACM] from its beginnings and its methods used to transmit the Gospel to unbelievers, especially among the APS. The analysis seeks to determine why the majority of the ECs in Madrid do not have many APS congregants.

Benjamin Kenneth Peltz D.Min.

This Doctor of Ministry (DMin) Research Portfolio details the author’s development as a leader throughout the program via his Leadership Narrative, Ministry Context Analysis, Project Report, and Philosophy of Leadership. His research project consisted of using Participatory Action Research (PAR) methods to develop a mentoring workshop for Cree adults. Using PAR methods caused him to revisit his assumptions and alter the way he designed and ran the workshop, which increased participants’ confidence in ways that he did not originally anticipate. This experience, alongside other elements of the DMin program and developments in his leadership responsibilities, led him to identify his calling as leading intergenerational and intercultural reconciliation using communal discernment processes. Alongside demonstrating how spiritual experiences, faithful mentors, Christian community, and formal education can enable an individual to overcome a difficult upbringing and become a capable Christian leader, this portfolio offers insights into the value of using PAR and similar processes for improving ministry endeavours in an indigenous context.

James McKeown Quainoo D.Min.

The Church of Pentecost Canada is an ethnic Pentecostal denomination with roots from Ghana. Over the last thirty years she has grown numerically, spiritually and geographically across Canada. However, the church is confronted with the need to reflect and explore how to be more relevant to the ever-changing church and Canadian culture.
This portfolio reflects the exegesis of the context of ministry of the church at McKeown Worship Centre in Toronto and the branch in Edmonton. It focuses on strengths, challenges and opportunities, philosophy of leadership, and a research project that initially began with a heightened interest towards exploring soul care and social action. The research project used a guided Appreciative Inquiry approach to enable participants to identify, design, and implement integrative initiatives. A greater awareness and urgency for more social engagements with the wider Canadian community have been created among a cross-section of church leadership. There is the need to use the principles of Appreciative Inquiry further to engage the whole church to develop more contextual and intentional strategic approaches to revitalization.

Mark Covel D.Min.

As part of the campus ministry of Cru, Design Movement seeks to come alongside the South Asian American college community. The purpose of this research was to gauge the effectiveness of specific training materials for equipping campus ministry workers for the ministry of Design Movement. To accomplish this, a newly written set of training materials were field tested, reviewed, and evaluated for effectiveness.

Design Movement uses a contextualized approach to ministry. It is a collegiate ministry seeking to come alongside the desi, or South Asian American, community. This community includes students who are Indian American, Pakistani American, Sri Lankan American, Bangladeshi American, Nepali American, Bhutanese American, and Maldivian American. Many of these American college students have a Hindu or Muslim background, while a smaller percentage of South Asian American students have a Christian background.

This major project arose from the need for more current and specific ministry training for staff and volunteers and resulted in the creation of the Design Movement Ambassador Training. The training is divided into four categories: “Learn about South Asian American Culture,” “Leverage Culture for Outreach,” “Launch and Grow a Design Movement,” and “Lead a Design Student Team.” Each category contains six modules for a total of twenty-four topics.

The study revealed that the training materials were successful in being able to equip campus ministers to effectively come alongside the desi community. The five Cru staff who participated in a focus group grew in their understanding about this contextualized ministry. The feedback from the five staff and four Consultants provided suggestions for minor improvements to the materials, including a few additional modules. Training materials specific to Design Movement proved helpful for meeting the needs of coaching students in Design Movement.

Frank Savadera D.Min.

Savadera, Frank Dennis, B., D. Min. Seattle University, 2019. 201 pp.
Chair: Taylor, Mark Lloyd, PhD

This qualitative study investigates the relevant descriptions that first-generation immigrant Filipino volunteer church workers use to characterize their adopted multicultural parish. Further, it investigates how these descriptions influence their views on inclusion and religious engagement in their communities. The study hopes to generate faith and encourage theological reflections on: (1) persons’ capacities to encounter and embrace the “other”; (2) capacities for multiple-mindedness and recognition of a multiplicity of gifts; and (3) the call to embody and participate in the Trinitarian communion.
The central research questions asked are as follows: (1) How do first-generation immigrant Filipino volunteer parish workers in the Archdiocese of Seattle describe their experience of a multicultural context and how it affects their faith life and their view(s) of the church as an organization (i.e., in terms of church leadership, decision making, community dynamics, perspectives about the faith, programs/activities, etc.); (2) What personal values and dispositions do these immigrants believe positively/negatively affect their views of their parish as a multicultural organization; and (3) What does it mean for them to practice their religious culture in a multicultural setting? The research also asks these related questions: What recommendations would they suggest to members of organizations such as their respective parishes and the Seattle Archdiocese to help sustain involvement and participation in such multicultural contexts?
To study a phenomenon, i.e., a multicultural church, within multiple, bounded systems, this study uses a multi-case study design. Our cases consist of three groups, one representing each parish under study. The research employs a non-probability purposive sampling procedure, an interview protocol prescribed by Creswell (2006, 132), methods of field observation, archival documents, and relevant demographics.

Duane Sterling Sims M.A.

This paper is concerned with the case story of Starry Hasmatali, who was raised in Trinidad and immigrated to Canada: first to Toronto and then to Moose Jaw. I have decided to interview her in particular, because she was an integral member of an historic Indo-Pentecostal family in the Church of God (Cleveland TN), in Trinidad. With her late husband, Edward D. Hasmatali, they brought the Church of God (CoG) to the island, and were deeply involved in leadership training and church planting.

Indo-Trinidadian Pentecostalism seems to be somewhat of an overlooked area of academic study, thus in interviewing Starry, I will seek to uncover their experiences in ministry in Trinidad and Canada, particularly in relation to their historic connection to the Church of God. I have also chosen to concentrate upon Indo- Trinidadian Pentecostals, since they comprise a significant section of the population of that country.

Duane Sterling Sims M.A.

This paper examines how the traditional Ghanaian worldview has been contextualized by grass-roots Christians in Ghana, and further by Ghanaian Pentecostals, and how this has been exported, adapted, and refined from Ghana across national and continental lines to its diaspora. I hope to address some key questions regarding Ghanaian deliverance practices (at home and abroad) and integrate my findings into ministry, whether to Africans or anyone. Some of these questions include: “What drives Ghanaians to seek deliverance? How have they, historically, sought to deal with the spirit realm? How do they currently seek to deal with it? What are some of the differences between a traditional Ghanaian understanding and that of a Ghanaian Pentecostal view?”

Temaki Carr D.Min.

The Legacy of Hope stares into the future, a future that seems riddled with change and transition, and ponders how best to serve a transforming community. Mt. Hope Baptist Church is a historically African American church nestled in a moderately rural Virginia community, which is in the midst of an enormous population, socioeconomic, and demographic transition. How will this community transition impact Mt. Hope? The purpose of the research was to determine what effect, if any, a relational meeting campaign and two multicultural, multiracial Christian education classes would have on incorporating multicultural, nonblack attendees into the life of Mt. Hope Baptist Church. The research determined that the threshold to incorporate multicultural, nonblack attendees into the life of Mt. Hope Baptist church has been traversed. The formal and informal relational meeting campaign with key leaders and nonblack worship attendees as well as two Christian education classes influenced the five measurement protocols towards a propensity of acceptance to multicultural ministry.

Thomas J Hayes D.Min.

e
The first missionary effort by Americans to engage in cross-cultural Christian
mission was by Adoniram and Ann Judson. They set sail from Salem, Massachusetts, on2
February 19, 1812.1 Since that day, a steady stream of missionaries and mission work has
departed from the American Church. There have been periods of incredible growth as
well as periods of marginal interest. However, from the twentieth century and extending
into the twenty-first century was a period of time in which the American Church led the
global efforts of cross-cultural mission work. During that more than one hundred years,
the American Church sent more cross-cultural workers into more nations than any other
country in the world. The American Church leadership of the global mission effort was
not simply relegated to the number of cross-cultural workers sent: the American Church
also financed more mission efforts than any other country, formed more diverse types of
mission agencies, and created whole new styles of ministries during this unprecedented
time period of mission growth

Mi Sook Han D.Min.

This thesis-project focuses on fostering interreligious dialogue between the Korean Conference of Religions for Peace (KCRP), the most active interreligious dialogue organization in Korea, and Korean Muslim leaders who asked KCRP’s leadership to include Korean Islam as a member. This issue is still pending. The project seeks to develop interreligious dialogue between these two groups through an exploration in Focolare Spirituality, a spirituality of unity. Focolare Spirituality aims to promote universal fraternity and to achieve a more united world in which people respect and value diversity.
The project deals with four dialogues: dialogue with religious leaders who are related to this issue, Catholic Church’s teachings on interreligious dialogue, dialogue between religion and culture in Korean context, and dialogue with the Focolare spirituality in order to achieve the goal of mutual understanding and collaboration with Korean Muslims. This project concludes by offering a method from a spiritual perspective for a fruitful interfaith dialogue.