<p>ABSTRACT Title: An Evaluation of a Mentoring and Partnering Program to Mobilize Small Harlem Churches to Intentional Community Engagement Author: Carlton T Brown Degree: Doctor of Ministry Date: 3-1-17 Adviser: Dr. Frank Chan The purpose of writing "An Evaluation of a Mentoring and Partnering Program to Mobilize Small Harlem Churches to Intentional Community Engagement" is to address and evaluate a mentoring and partnering program designed to mobilize small Harlem churches to intentional community engagement. The approach of the project focuses on the modification of ministry views of the pastor and key leader(s) of small, less resourced churches through the intervention of the Pastor of a large 500 or more member church in the area of community engagement and potential partnership opportunities for that purpose. Chapter 1 provides the purpose, goals, context, and rationale of this project. This chapter includes the Researcher?s inspiration for the research, purpose of the study, ministry problem addressed, Bethel Gospel ministry and community context in which research was conducted, research questions and model of research, definition of terms ?Ark Mentality, black liberation theology, great commission, theology of the priestly and prophetic, storefront churches ? and possible limitations and delimitations of the current project. Chapter 2 provides literature review and theological foundations for historical and current state of the ministry of the black church inner-city and its approach to community engagements and partnerships dealing with the prevailing spiritual and social condition in context of the churches mission. Chapter 3 sets forth the research methodology utilized in approaching managing attitude changes of pastors and leaders of small less resourced churches, the instruments used to establish initial position, procedures employed during mentoring session, and data collection procedure. Chapter 4 presents an analysis of the findings including: quantitative and qualitative data of the 5 areas of assessment and intervention including: Discipleship, Mission and Vision, Community Engagement, Great Commission, and Shared Missional Commitment, along with information gleaned from interview and finally post-intervention Church Philosophy Questionnaire. Chapter 5 summarizes the purpose of the project, the findings as regards the attitudes and commitments of the participants. The research questions are restated. The Researcher?s conclusions include challenges of participants? schedules and ministry commitments, and the possibility of conflicts around theological issues.

<p> The author presents that Cuban house churches lack leaders who can evangelize their own people without help from Christians of other countries. This is a problem in ministry for the indigenous house church leaders in Cuba. The project was &ldquo;experimental research,&rdquo; in which an intervention in evangelism training was introduced and then evaluated. He recruited 60 participants and used a 40-item Evangelism-Ready Checklist to measure participants&rsquo; perceived confidence levels in their ability to do evangelism. The researcher interviewed 60 participants and searched for indicators of increased confidence levels in students&rsquo; ability to do evangelism on their own. The true picture of the participants&rsquo; confidence in their evangelism-readiness was to take into account their sense that some topics were not covered sufficiently. Both the quantitative data and their interview data at six months post revealed great confidence and was combined with qualitative interview data to give the full picture. Recommendations were offered on how the evangelism training course could be improved.</p>

<p> This dissertation analyzes and compares the curricula within and across the eight Eastern Orthodox Christian seminaries in the United States of America through the lens of Theological or Pastoral orientation of the seminaries. This dissertation aims to address this deficiency in the literature on religious higher education in the United States of America.</p><p> This comparison of Orthodox seminary curricula is guided by three questions: What are the curricula in use at the eight Orthodox Christian seminaries in the United States of America? What distinctions arise from an analysis of these seminaries&rsquo; course descriptions and curricula? How do these curricula achieve the Assembly of Bishops&rsquo; goals for unity?</p><p> I employed an emergent design methodology to code, analyze, and compare over 400 course descriptions obtained from bulletins and course catalogs of the eight Orthodox Christian seminaries. The course descriptions were compared with other courses of the same institution, other courses offered by comparable institutions, and other courses I designated as similar based upon coding outcomes.</p><p> I found that the seminaries exhibited one of two innate foci: Theological orientation or Pastoral orientation. I compared the seeming orientations with the schools&rsquo; mission statements. I then solicited course syllabi to explore the courses in more depth to determine whether the course descriptions were accurate reflections of what was taught in the courses.</p><p> I surveyed seminary administrators and professors about the Theological or Pastoral orientation of their schools, and the preparedness of their seminary&rsquo;s graduates to fulfill priestly duties. This allowed triangulation of data with the syllabi and course descriptions.</p><p> This dissertation engages the field of comparative and international education, providing a comparative analysis of internationally and ethnically affiliated schools. It aims to explore in more detail the variations in how future religious leaders are educated within one faith group. This dissertation also explores the international and historic diversity of Orthodox Christian groups in the United States of America. These analyses will enrich the field of religious higher education studies by revealing the inner workings of an entire religious community in the United States; a religious community little studied and little understood.</p>