Date
11-2019
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Doctor of Ministry (DMin)
Chair
Andy Gowins
Keywords
Missional, Discipleship, Post-Christian, Identity, Presence, Praxis
Disciplines
Christianity | Religion
Recommended Citation
Wester, Justin Thomas, "Missional Metamorphosis: How Identity, Presence, and Praxis Are Reshaping Disciple Making within Post-Christian Contexts" (2019). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 2251.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/2251
Abstract
The American Church’s current disciple-making paradigm is struggling to engage post-Christian contexts with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Despite American society’s steady trending away from a biblical worldview, dwindling church attendance, and declining religious affiliation, the American Church is still operating under a disciple-making paradigm conducive for the Christendom era. What changes must occur to help churches break away from an antiquated paradigm and embrace a more contextually appropriate expression? This project helps to answer that question by capturing and expressing how changes in ecclesial identity, contextual presence, and corporate praxis are altering disciple-making paradigms within post-Christian contexts. Utilizing quantitative data derived from local churches within the Florida Baptist Association and qualitative data from leading practitioners within the field of the missional church movement, this project offers a way forward and suggests the changes necessary for transitioning toward a new disciple-making paradigm within post-Christian contexts.
