Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 348-362).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-153).

This dissertation examined the relationship between open and closed Sunday school groups and real and perceived measurements of church health in growing Southern Baptist churches. The concern for Sunday school growth was explored through an analysis of the relationships between open and closed Sunday school groups in 1,013 small and medium sized Southern Baptist churches that were experiencing significant positive growth, in the geographic South. According the precedent literature, research, and an expert panel, the growth characteristics leadership, evangelism, fellowship, and ministry were expected to rank among the most significant of the measured growth factors. Data collected, however, demonstrated critical differences in the perceived significance of the identified growth factors. Sunday school members and leaders ranked discipleship, doctrine, prayer, and worship as the most significant growth factors. The research also identified significant differences between the expected measurements and perceived measurements of open and closed Sunday school groups. Fifty-eight percent of all respondents perceived their Sunday school to be an open group; however, 78% of all respondents perceived Sunday school's primary purpose as instruction and discipleship; 5% perceived Sunday school's primary purpose as nurture and fellowship; and 17% perceived Sunday school's primary purpose as evangelism. Based upon the definitions of open and closed groups, both groups were expected to exhibit biases toward specific growth characteristics; however, there was no significant difference between how open groups and closed groups perceived discipleship, doctrine, and prayer. Both open and closed groups ranked doctrine, discipleship, prayer, and worship as the most essential characteristics of a growing Sunday school. Of the eleven identified Sunday school and church growth characteristics, only four growth characteristics produced correlation coefficients ( r ) that demonstrated any level of significance: leadership, evangelism, fellowship, and discipleship. For most churches surveyed, there was a positive correlation between leadership within the Sunday school and an increased number of baptisms. Overall, there was a general decrease in average weekly worship attendance as the degree of significance in evangelism increased. There was a general increase in adult Sunday school enrollment as the perceived significance of fellowship decreased; as well as a negative correlation between fellowship and worship attendance; as the average weekly worship attendance increased as the perceived significance of fellowship decreased. Regarding the growth factor discipleship, there was a negative correlation between discipleship and the average weekly worship attendance as recorded by the research. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

Text in German, German and English summaries / Die vorliegende Arbeit ist eine Forschungsstudie über die Auswirkung einer schriftlich for-mulierten und in die Praxis implementierten Gemeindevision auf das Wachstum ungarischer Baptistengemeinden. Nach einer Einleitung über die Geschichte und Kirchengeschichte Un-garns zum Verständnis der ungarischen Kultur und Gesellschaft, wird der Begriff Vision aus psychologischer, religionswissenschaftlicher und –geschichtlicher Perspektive analysiert. Eine theologische und praktisch-theologische Betrachtung der Vision unter Einbeziehung des evangelikalen Visionsverständnisses und seiner Entwicklung gefolgt von einem Kapitel über Gemeindeaufbau und -wachstum leiten zu der empirisch-qualitativen Teil der For-schungsarbeit über. Der Zusammenhang zwischen einer formulierten, dokumentierten und in die Praxis umgesetzten Vision und dem Gemeindewachstum von Baptistengemeinden wird mit strukturierten Leitfadeninterviews ermittelt, der mittels computerunterstützter Qua-litativer Inhaltsanalyse ausgewertet wird. Zentrale Elemente wie das innere, äußere, gesell-schaftliche und zahlenmäßige Wachstum werden systematisch analysiert und Antworten auf die Forschungsthese gesucht. Den Abschluss bildet ein Ausblick auf eine mögliche thema-tische und methodologische Erweiterung dieser Arbeit. / The following work is a research study about the impact of the vision given in written form, implemented into the practical realisation on the growth of Hungarian Baptist Churches. Following an introduction about Hungarian history and church history and an understanding of the Hungarian culture and society, the term “vision” will be analyzed from a psychological, theological and historical perspective. A theological and practical examination of vision, through the comprehension of an evangelical understanding and development of vision, furthermore a theological study about church development and growth will lead to an empirical qualitative part of the research. The relationship between the formulated/documented and the practice of vision and church growth from the Baptist churches will be determined with methods structured from guided interviews and predefined questions and with the methodology of the computer aided qualitative content analysis. Central elements of the internal, external, social and numerical growth will be sought after from systematic analysis and answers into a constructed research thesis. The conclusion of this work will constitute an over-view of the possible topical and methodical extension of the work. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)