Bethel Seminary

Robert J. Phillips D.Min.

This project will address the decline of the millennial generation’s church attendance within the 08033 zip code during the past decade. There are times a church can have the appearance of being a successful church, but the zeal of both the clergy and the respective congregation is slowly diminishing. The older generation continues to do their best to keep the ministry viable and alive to some degree, but at the same time, a younger generation, many times made up by millennials does not see the importance of the communal aspect of church other than what occurs on Sunday morning. It is becoming more obvious that that we are dealing with a generation of believers that are not like our parents or grandparents. Tradition appears not to be the millennials calling card. We will show that millennials love God, not just the church service that has stood for decades. Today’s church must provide opportunities for them to serve based upon their needs for church and commitment. The statistical data was gathered by the author of this thesis through several one-on-one discussions with the clergy of the five surveyed churches and with several millennial residents of the town of Haddonfield, New Jersey. Examples in the ministry of the apostle Paul were gathered from the MacDonald Believer’s Bible Commentary by William MacDonald and A Theology of the New Testament by George E. Ladd.

Jonathan Mark Halverson D.Min.

This project addressed the need for a renewed belief among faith-driven investors that investments in redemptive businesses is central to God’s plan of redemption and biblical human flourishing. The explosive growth of values-aligned investing, such as Socially Responsible Investing and impact investing, has opened the door to introducing values into investment decision-making. There are significant opportunities for Christ followers to align their biblical values with their investment strategies, and to “put to work” (Matt. 25:16) resources apportioned to them by God; however, they have been slow to embrace the opportunities. Research was conducted to understand the underlying biblical-theological beliefs of high-net-worth individuals and wealth management advisors that support or discourage faith-driven impact investing. The parable of the talents was dissected to understand Jesus’ intent when he chose the Greek word talanton to communicate his leadership expectation to his closest follower. The Quakers are highlighted as an example of a group that embraced commerce as a primary strategy for expressing their faith, providing for their families, developing young leaders, and engaging with the world. The research findings were synthesized into a new biblical-theological framework for Kingdom Impact Investing that is offered as a model for the growing faith-driven impact investing movement. A major goal of this project was to contribute to the broader biblical-theological conversation regarding the integration of faith and investing. Values-driven Christ followers should be on the leading edge of impact investing instead of lagging far behind.

Ernest Ronald Krantz D.Min.

The project addressed the problem of an inadequate theology of spiritual formation within the discipleship doctrine of a specific expression of North American Pentecostalism. The problem manifests most acutely at the local church level where ministry leaders are struggling with divorce, mental illness, moral relativism, and poverty. Pentecostalism is failing to measure up to its potential where the human experience intersects with religious life.This project took a multilateral approach to the problem. The first approach used a theological method to survey the biblical description of spiritual formation and the existential need for it with special emphasis on The Book of Acts and the Apostle Peter.The second approach involved a literature review and content analysis. Review and analysis considered contemporary and historic theology along with behavioral science literature related to the nature of the embodied soul, human development, and the effects of religious experience on human development. The primary data was developed through a qualitative case study.Data developed through the multilateral approaches was coalesced to develop recommendations related to improving spiritual formation outcomes that facilitate God’s idea of human flourishing and good community in a local Pentecostal church.Three primary findings were discovered and discussed. Finding 1 related to a lack of commitment to formal education and clergy professionalization. Finding 2 related to critical biblical-theological knowledge gaps experienced by the case study participants. Finding 3 related to the consequences of a lack of diverse and specialized ministries at the local church level.

Karen R Bregman D.Min.

The Researcher observed posts on social media from deaf pastors sharing their experiences of personal and professional struggles with suicide, depression, and mental health challenges with their close circle of pastors, colleagues, and congregation. These are tremendous burdens for both Deaf and hearing pastors. The scriptures cited for this research were 1 Kings 19, Psalm 23, and Mark 7:31-37; these Scriptures provide the theological basis that God provides self-care. The recipients became healthier emotionally, mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually. The recipients were able to recover and minister to their respective congregations and communities. The Researcher conducted a qualitative case study on a small cohort of Deaf pastors. The Researcher created the research instruments, a Pre-Survey, and a Post-Survey, consisting of 30 multiple choice questions presented in English and ASL. Both surveys are fully accessible, linguistically and culturally. An 8-week curriculum moderated the Cohort activities. The Researcher conducted Individual interviews and facilitated two group discussions via Zoom. The Pre-Survey was administered before the Cohort, and the Post-Survey was administered after the Cohort. The first finding is that accessible education on self-care provided the pastors with positive reinforcement and improved overall well-being. The second finding is that consistent self-care and social contact, either in-person and through accessible technology, provides pastors with healthy, supportive, emotional, and social care for their overall well-being.

Jack Donald Jones III D.Min.

The researcher constructed this project to discover best practices for transformational discipleship in the local church. The researcher provided the theological and biblical framework for transformational discipleship from Romans 12, exploring current literature on discipleship models and discipleship practices in the Assemblies of God denomination. The researcher created the project instrument from two sources: literature identifying recommendations of best practices for transformational discipleship in the local church and participants’ views regarding discipleship. The researcher then traveled to the North Dakota Network District Sectional meeting. Questionnaires were distributed and face-to-face interviews were conducted. The data was then analyzed and coded for prevailing discipleship tendencies.The researcher identified two findings for best practices for transformational discipleship in the local church: (a) church leadership’s responsibility for equipping the local church with discipleship small groups, materials, and training, and (b) spiritual discipline as important to transformational discipleship in the local church.

Mingsheng Qin D.Min.

This project established that the love of God is the foundation of mission and evangelism. God loves people and calls Christians to participate in His redemptive mission. God calls Christians to bless them and make them a blessing to others. The church is believers who are gathered to bring nonbelievers to God. The nature of the church is missional. A missional church engages every believer to participate in the Great Commission. The incarnation of God demonstrates God’s love and reveals the model of mission and evangelism. The incarnational approach is entering other people’s worlds as Jesus Christ entered the world to identify with them without compromising biblical convictions, values, or standards. This project introduced a new evangelism approach, the “Happiness Groups” (HG) strategy. HG is a love-based incarnational group evangelism strategy developed to send Christians to their community to demonstrate God’s love to nonbelievers by loving them in their real-life settings and telling the gospel in their understandings. HG is the central ministry of the church to align the rest of the ministries toward fulfilling the Great Commission. It also is an on-the-job training platform that trains ordinary Christians to become effective gospel messengers to accomplish the extraordinary for God. Finally, this project adapted HG to transform the attractional evangelism strategy of a Chinese immigrant church in Southern California to an incarnational, missional strategy. This project conducted three rounds of HG (two rounds in person and one virtually). The data were analyzed, discussed, and evaluated. The result indicated that the HG strategy is effective in the North American Chinese church cultural context both in person and in virtual settings. The conversion, baptism, and coworker’s involvement were all improved significantly. The transformation successfully solved the low-effectiveness and low-involvement problems of the church. Recommendations and suggestions were provided.

Stanley R Patton D.Min.

The purpose of this study was to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the children’s ministry at Victory Church of Melbourne, Florida, a growing multicultural and multigenerational church. Conversations with the children’s ministry team, parents, child participants, and the senior pastor of Victory indicated that changes needed to be implemented in order to grow the ministry. This project used a case study methodology, focusing on a church with similar demographics as Victory, to discover the underlying factors needed to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of Victory’s children’s ministry. To test the working theory that an increase in resources, team leadership, and parental involvement leads to increased effectiveness and efficiency, surveys were sent to three children’s ministry leaders from the case study church. Interviews were then conducted to follow up on survey responses. The resulting quantitative and qualitative data was analyzed using the Qualtrics platform. The findings suggest that there are five components needed to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the children’s ministry at Victory Church: a vision/philosophy of children’s ministry based on the great commission; adequate resources/funding for the children’s ministry; key staff leadership; parental involvement; and strategic planning and the development of organizational systems.

Brian Malvig D.Min.

In the New Testament, there are several passages that illustrate the way in which Christians are to interact with each other. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-26, Romans 12:3-5, and Ephesians 4:4-5 the apostle Paul describes the connection Christians have with one another as being like a body. Through Jesus Christ, Christians are all connected in this body, the body of Christ. Between 1950 and 1960, Murray Bowen began to develop an integrative theory of the family which he called “family systems theory” (FST). FST describes the family as one emotional unit rather than a collection of autonomous people. The theory describes humans as living in relationships with emotional connections. These connections pass the anxiety of family members to each member of the family system along interconnected pathways. This idea was a departure from the linear causation theories espoused at the time Bowen proposed his theory. Bowen described anxiety—defined in this project as a reaction to a threat that is real or imagined—as existing in two foundational forms, chronic and acute. Chronic anxiety can be passed through family generations and often shows up in recurring generational patterns and similarities. Although family systems theory was developed based on the assumption that humans are a product of evolution, this project has shown the connection between FST and biblical doctrines and theology. This project has shown that FST can be a valuable tool for Pastors and parents as they observe their congregation or family’s emotional reactivity. It also shows that through a better understanding of the doctrine of sanctification and the body of Christ, they will improve their own family’s emotional connections and bring about a healthier family system.

Nicholas R Ruport D.Min.

The problem that this project addressed was the impact of ambition and ambitious leaders in relation to team effectiveness. In response to this problem the researcher explored the biblical foundations of ambition and ambitious leadership, with special interest in one’s ambition being aimed at knowing God more fully, fulfilling God’s mission, and glorifying God. He reviewed literature related to CliftonStrengths, team leadership, and the practice of the first-among-equals in teams with attention to the CliftonStrength of Competition and its connection to ambition. He conducted two case studies by way of interviews with four pastors who had Competition as a top five CliftonStrength and six pastors who did not. From the thesis findings the researcher developed a set of eight strategic principles of successful team leadership for the ambitious pastor.Of these eight principles, four of them were shared principles among all team leaders with an additional four principles being uniquely geared for the ambitious pastor to lead teams most effectively. The shared principles of team leadership for all pastors included being aimed at God (knowing God, glorifying God, fulfilling God’s mission), providing stability, relational investment, and growth investment. The four unique principles for the ambitious leader included building trust, promoting unity, setting an example through one’s work ethic, and creating, measuring, and celebrating wins. When applied, these principles would positively impact the team leadership of an ambitious and competitive pastor.

Josiah Hoagland D.Min.

Throughout the United States, many Baptist churches have been following a recent trend of dropping “Baptist” from the church title. Research has shown that with the rise of post-denominationalism, there is a loss of identity in Baptist churches. This study explores the effects of dropping the name Baptist from a church’s title and its perceived impact on the theological identity of the church. This study includes a literature review analyzing the current body of literature on Baptist identity. Six Converge North Central Baptist churches were studied, three with a Baptist name and three without, using church surveys and interviews with church leaders to determine what theological differences exist between the two categories. The results of the study showed theological differences between the two categories; however, further research, including a quantitative analysis of Baptist churches spanning a broader region of the United States, would be helpful in determining catalysts for Baptist churches dropping the Baptist name.