Moving Seventh-day Adventist Churches Beyond the Two Hundred Barrier PDF
Preview Moving Seventh-day Adventist Churches Beyond the Two Hundred Barrier
AAnnddrreewwss UUnniivveerrssiittyy DDiiggiittaall CCoommmmoonnss @@ AAnnddrreewwss UUnniivveerrssiittyy Dissertation Projects DMin Graduate Research 2000 MMoovviinngg SSeevveenntthh--ddaayy AAddvveennttiisstt CChhuurrcchheess BBeeyyoonndd tthhee TTwwoo HHuunnddrreedd BBaarrrriieerr David Ripley Andrews University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dmin RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Ripley, David, "Moving Seventh-day Adventist Churches Beyond the Two Hundred Barrier" (2000). Dissertation Projects DMin. 109. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dmin/109 This Project Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Research at Digital Commons @ Andrews University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertation Projects DMin by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Andrews University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT MOVING SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCHES BEYOND THE TWO HUNDRED BARRIER by David P. Ripley Adviser: Ricardo Norton * HITE LIBRARY ANDREWS UNIVERSITY BERRIEN SPRINGS. MI 49104 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT OF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH Dissertation Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Title: MOVING SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCHES BEYOND THE TWO HUNDRED BARRIER Name of researcher: David P. Ripley Name and degree of faculty adviser: Ricardo Norton. D.Min. Date completed: April 2000 Problem Seventh-day Adventist churches have found themselves largely unable to grow beyond the 200-in-attendance barrier. Book membership may continue to increase, yet attendance plateaus. Outside of the institutional setting, there are very few Anglo Adventist churches that have grown beyond the barrier. Method The pastors of ten churches that were chiefly Anglo, 300-400 in attendance, and not in an institutional setting were surveyed. Ten churches with less than 220 in attendance and having a book membership of at least 350 were also surveyed. These were compared, looking for features that would make a difference. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Results Differences do occur between the two groups. The areas that showed the greatest differences were in visioning, staffing, worship style, evangelism, and small groups. These findings were applied to the Northwest Houston Seventh-day Adventist Church. The results were that it grew through the 200 barrier. Conclusions If an Adventist church wishes to move through the 200 barrier, it must become a different kind of organization. Prayerful pastoral leadership is vital. Clear vision is critical. It must staff itself for growth. Evangelism should be more relational. Worship styles will tend to be more contemporary. The definition of small groups must be widened. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
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