Date
10-2015
Department
School of Divinity
Degree
Doctor of Ministry (DMin)
Chair
Frank J. Schmitt, Sungtaek S. Kim
Keywords
Discipleship, Discipleship framework, Discipleship models, Small church
Disciplines
Christianity | Other Religion | Practical Theology | Religion
Recommended Citation
Bae, Joonhyun, "Joonhyun" (2015). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 1083.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/1083
Abstract
During the last decade, most new church plants in South Korea remained as small churches of less than one hundred members that are not self-sustaining or growing, because their leaders are heavily dependent upon limited discipleship models of few megachurches that rarely reflect the characteristics of small churches. Since newly planted churches rarely grow in the absence of effective discipleship models that suit their given cultures and geographical locations, their leaders need to be equipped with a biblical framework and applications for establishing discipleship models that aptly respond to the needs of their churches. The purpose of this thesis project is to provide a biblical framework that small church leaders can use to design suitable discipleship models for their churches. This will be achieved by examining the biblical, theological, and historical studies on small churches, and by analyzing the reasons for the recent decline of small South Korean churches through a survey from small church leaders and members.
