Date

3-2019

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Chair

Steve Lowe

Keywords

Small Groups, Discipleship, Generosity

Disciplines

Christianity | Religion

Abstract

Since its inception in 1996, First Redeemer Church has been firmly committed to Jesus’ commission to make disciples. While all of the church’s ministries aim to do this, First Redeemer Church relies heavily on its adult small group ministry to facilitate discipleship. One indication of this ministry’s strategic importance is the considerable financial investment the church has made, and plans to make, to provide on-campus spaces for adult education. Such investments have been considered worthy in light of the expected spiritual growth of the ministry’s participants and their involvement in and financial support of the church. This study will evaluate the efforts of First Redeemer’s adult small group ministry to produce disciples and explore opportunities for improvement. Toward this end, it will validate generosity and volunteerism as compelling and legitimate indicators of spiritual growth by examining relevant biblical texts. Quantitative data will be collected via empirical sources to compare the generosity and involvement of the ministry’s participants to non-participants. Qualitative data will be collected via surveys to compare generosity and involvement levels among participants in different small groups; variations will be examined to identify opportunities to hone ministry-wide discipleship strategies. Relevant literature will be examined understand how exemplary small group practices elsewhere might be applied to First Redeemer’s current milieu. The end goal of this study is to discover ways to maximize the disciple-making proficiency of First Redeemer Church’s adult small group ministry.

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