Lancaster Theological Seminary

Leta J Herrington

It was hypothesized that pastoral counselors would perceive their faith affecting: their sense of call; their relationships with clients; the process of therapy; the content. In-depth interviews were conducted with each of ten pastoral counselors. The research concluded that the participating counselors: felt "called by God" and "would not be doing pastoral counseling if [they] did not experience it as God's work"; experienced a connection and progression from "relating to God" to "being more gracious with myself" to "being more gracious with my clients;" were more attentive to and respectful of selves and clients; determined their faith affected the content.

John R Tinklepaugh

An Episcopal parish's experience of developing a stronger sense of community by involvement with Habitat for Humanity, a hands-on mission outreach program, supports the possibility that other churches may also experience numerical and spiritual growth as a result of a similar effort. Various means were used to determine that perceptible attitudinal changes, attendance patterns, financial contributions, and growth of friendships were positively affected by the mission project, which involved building site activity, financial support, lunch-making and praying. It is possible to build community building buildings.

John A Zachry

A tradition of mystical experiences of the Holy is all but invisible to North American Protestantism. These experiences are important in the faith of some Protestants, but the church often ignores them so no one reaps the full benefit of these encounters. Interviews with members of the Lancaster Theological Seminary community about such experiences are analyzed, comments elicited about the relation of these experiences to their faith and relationship to the church, and suggestions are made about how the church can better honor such experiences, with an emphasis on the development of a sensitive and knowledgeable clergy.

David W Rogers

Clergy need a standardized simple model to do both personal and community-based crisis intervention. The specific goal of this project is to expand the theoretical foundation upon which crisis ministries are built and to provide a practical model that clergy can use in crisis intervention. Methodology was academic research and case study. The seven step crisis intervention model for clergy was helpful in a number of contexts of crisis ministry: individual and family crisis; a psychiatric emergency; a congregation in crisis; a community racial conflict; and, a major crisis in Mississippi jails and prisons. Evaluators believed that a straightforward and simple model was useful in providing a "map" during intervention and a system of accountability and evaluation following the intervention.

Levi J Ziegler

Preaching to older persons is different from preaching to a mixed audience. Research included: interviews with older people in a retirement center, caregivers, and speech therapists; a study of the nature of the older people using a variety of books and periodicals related to gerontology; and, personal experiences of more than seven years. The conclusions include that other people do have special needs. These needs must be considered by the preacher when preparing and delivering the sermon.

John E Fureman

The spiritual hunger evident in contemporary life is a major opportunity for the Christian church to reaffirm and reclaim its historic role of spiritual nurturance. The goal of this project was to develop and test an interdisciplinary resource for enabling small groups of persons to assess their spiritual journeys and to plan concrete strategies for spiritual growth. The resource is conceived as a seven-step spiritual growth planning model, implemented in a six-session format for small groups of eight to twelve persons. The resource was developed, then tested in three congregations with three different leaders. The evaluation confirmed the effectiveness of the resources and process in achieving the project's goal.

Bruce P Bouchard

Racism and violence confront the author in his community: specifically, a riot; a hate group march; and other manifestations of hatred. As a minister, he tells the story of a church-community coalition that he helped to organize to combat these problems. The thesis of this project is to show how this group, called Hanover United, made a difference against racism and violence, especially in promoting positive community images of the values of equality, diversity, and nonviolence. The paper shows the group's success in promoting these values through a content analysis of newspaper articles and interviews with community leaders.

Newton W Greiner

Many people today experience inner and interpersonal conflict and are uncertain of its source or resolution. A structured "process conflict resolution" course was developed that combined object relations and family systems theories as the content for identifying conflict. The research involved a college and church group to compare and determine the effect of the course on the two populations. Data for the final evaluation were gathered from a pre- and post-conflict mode test and "describe yourself" paragraph. The results were statistically compiled. The report documented several significant changes and confirmed that the course has value.

Fred W Swartz

The goal of the project was to gain knowledge about the attitudes and expectations of laypersons regarding the integrity of clergy, especially as such attitudes relate to ministers' fitness for congregational leadership. The methodology employed the Factorial Survey Approach among laypersons in congregations of American Baptist, Church of the Brethren, and General Conference Mennonite denominations. The hypothesis that a double standard exists in laypersons' expectations of the integrity of ordained versus non-ordained church leadership was not supported by the data collected. The significant factor for the respondents was the behavior; vocation, avocation, age, gender did not influence judgments.

Ruth M Smith

The goal of this study is to describe and analyze the missional, theological, financial, and legal factors involved in developing a Christian whole person health center. Ten centers were contacted, and after studying all their written material, interviews and on-site visits were conducted. Four significant questions emerged and an analysis of the four factors was done. The recommendations by factor are stated. Problems in operating a whole person health center seem insurmountable. The majority of these centers are presently dealing with these factors. However, any individual or congregation contemplating developing a center should pay very close attention to the information in this study.