Bob's
Dissertation
Dissertations tend to be written, then lost in the pile of past
research, only a few copies kept in a university library or perhaps in
the office of the accademic department for which it was written. I don't
want that to happen to my dissertation.
The dissertation was completed in 1997 and deals with a subject
that has been close to my heart ever since I entered the ministry.
How can a church better assimilate new members into its unique
community? Since I have spent the majority of my minsitry in small
churches (between 25 and 80 members) my specific interest was directed
to their needs.
Lyle Schaller once wrote: "God must love small churches for he
made so many of them." The observation is true, for in any
denomination or group, churches of up to 50 members seem to be in the
majority. Why do they not grow bigger? What keeps them from
acquiring more interested attendees than they do? What keeps them
alive? What could they do to grow? These and many other
questions have been with me for years.
In working on my project dissertation for the Seminary at Andrews
University, I was able to come to some understanding of the dynamics of
small churches and to develop some theories on what must take place in
such congregations before they can break out of their comfort zones and
truly welcome new people into their ranks, thus sparking growth beyond
that needed to maintain their existance. My dissertation, which
resides in bound form in my library and in the James White Library at
Andrews University, is reproduced here in digital form for anyone who
may desire to download and read it. I hope the research it
represents will be helpful to your ministry as a pastor in whatever
place of the Lord's vineyard you may occupy.
The material on this websit is under my copyright, and is not to be
used for publication elsewhere without my express permission.
Sincerely,
Dr. Bob
Download Information:
The disssertation is written in Rich Text Format (RTF) and also
in Ami Pro (.sam) format for those who still may be using that
program. The RTF should work for either Word Perfect or Word
.Since the file was originally created using Lotis AmiPro, the RTF
version is a conversion and the page numbers for tables and table of
content items may not match, but they should be close. Just click on the
indicated self extracting files to download the document with it's
attendant illustrations.
For the Lotis AmiPro version of the documents click: dminszip.exe
For the RTF (Word for Windows or Word Perfect ) version click: dminwzip.exe