Mission Unfinished : Evaluating the Impact of the Global Outreach Seminar in the Local Church
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ABSTRACT THE UNFINISHED MISSION: EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL OUTREACH SEMINAR IN THE LOCAL CHURCH by Michael Karl Hoppe Initiating the missional change process in the local church requires sparking missional transformation among key leaders and other potential change agents. The Global Outreach Seminar is a catalytic mission event that specializes in initiating missional change among such leaders and provides a theological foundation and practical steps for navigating missional change. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the seminar’s impact regarding Acts 1:8 missional characteristics. Interviews and questionnaires provided data to measure and describe cognitive, affective, and behavioral changes in participants. The study took place in six United Methodist churches in the United States. This grounded theory study concluded with an explanation of how individual attitudinal changes among participants contributed to the missional change process in each church. Also, the findings include key factors present in churches that leveraged the seminar’s impact more successfully than others. Church leaders considering the use of a catalytic mission event, such as the Global Outreach Seminar, might consider the impact of such an event upon its participants within the context of missional change. DISSERTATION APPROVAL This is to certify that the dissertation entitled THE UNFINISHED MISSION: EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL OUTREACH SEMINAR IN THE LOCAL CHURCH presented by Michael Karl Hoppe has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for the DOCTOR OF MINISTRY degree at Asbury Theological Seminary January 11, 2011 Mentor Date January 11, 2011 Internal Reader Date January 11, 2011 Dean of the Beeson Center Date MISSION UNFINISHED: EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL OUTREACH SEMINAR IN THE LOCAL CHURCH A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by Michael Karl Hoppe May 2011 © 2011 Michael Karl Hoppe ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1 PROBLEM ....................................................................................................1 Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 Purpose .....................................................................................................................2 Research Questions ..................................................................................................3 Research Question #1 ..................................................................................3 Research Question #2 ..................................................................................3 Research Question #3 ..................................................................................3 Definition of Terms..................................................................................................3 Acts 1:8 Paradigm ........................................................................................3 Attitude ........................................................................................................4 Global Outreach Seminar .............................................................................4 Missional Characteristics .............................................................................4 Missional Church .........................................................................................5 Ministry Intervention ...............................................................................................5 Context .....................................................................................................................6 Methodology ..........................................................................................................10 Participants .................................................................................................10 Instrumentation ..........................................................................................10 iii Variables ....................................................................................................11 Data Collection ..........................................................................................11 Data Analysis .............................................................................................12 Generalizability ..........................................................................................12 Theological Foundation .........................................................................................13 Overview ................................................................................................................15 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE .............................................................................................16 Introduction ............................................................................................................16 Mission Framework of Scripture ...........................................................................16 Missional Hermeneutics.............................................................................17 Framework for Mission in the Old Testament ...........................................21 Framework for Mission in the New Testament .........................................23 Paradigm for Mission in Acts 1:8 ..........................................................................25 Theological Foundations in Acts 1:8 .........................................................25 Programmatic Mission in Acts 1:8 ............................................................33 Missional Theology ...............................................................................................47 Theological Foundations ............................................................................48 Missional Church in a North American Context .......................................50 Anthropological Considerations ................................................................55 Initiating Missional Change in the Church Organization ..........................59 Summary of Missional Characteristics ......................................................69 Catalytic Mission Seminars ...................................................................................74 Survey of Mission Seminars for the Local Church ....................................74 iv Global Outreach Seminar ...........................................................................77 Research Design.....................................................................................................80 Summary ................................................................................................................84 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................86 Problem and Purpose .............................................................................................86 Research Questions ................................................................................................86 Research Question #1 ................................................................................86 Research Question #2 ................................................................................87 Research Question #3 ................................................................................88 Population and Participants....................................................................................88 Design of the Study ................................................................................................90 Instrumentation ..........................................................................................90 Instrument Development ............................................................................91 Variables ....................................................................................................94 Validity ......................................................................................................94 Data Collection ......................................................................................................96 Data Analysis .......................................................................................................100 Ethical Procedures ...............................................................................................101 CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS .................................................................................................103 Problem and Purpose ...........................................................................................103 Church Profiles ....................................................................................................103 Participants ...........................................................................................................108 Pre-Seminar Missional Attitudes (RQ1) ..............................................................111 v Personal Sense of Missio Dei ...................................................................112