“Developing an Effective Divorce Recovery Ministry”
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Concordia Seminary - Saint Louis Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project Concordia Seminary Scholarship 3-10-2017 “Developing an Effective Divorce Recovery Ministry” Kirk Hille Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.csl.edu/dmin Part of the Practical Theology Commons Recommended Citation Hille, Kirk, "“Developing an Effective Divorce Recovery Ministry”" (2017). Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project. 49. https://scholar.csl.edu/dmin/49 This Major Applied Project is brought to you for free and open access by the Concordia Seminary Scholarship at Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE DIVORCE RECOVERY MINISTRY” A Major Applied Project Presented to the Faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Department of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Ministry By Kirk A. Hille March 10, 2017 Approved by Dr. Richard Marrs Advisor Dr. David Peter Reader Dr. Robert Kolb Reader © 2017 by Kirk A. Hille. All rights reserved. ii To the congregations with whom I have been in ministry, the children with which God has blessed me, my courageous wife René, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the faithful friends who were there to speak life on His behalf. iii CONTENTS TABLES ....................................................................................................................................... ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... x COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................. xi ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. xii CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 THE PROBLEM: WHY DEVELOP A DIVORCE RECOVERY MINISTRY?................. 3 THE PURPOSE: WHAT DID THE PROJECT HOPE TO ACHIEVE? ............................. 5 THE PROCESS: HOW WAS THE PROJECT CARRIED OUT? ...................................... 6 THE PARAMETERS: WHAT ASSUMPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS GUIDED THE PROJECT? ............................................................................................................................ 7 THE PROSPECTUS: WHAT LIES AHEAD? .................................................................... 8 CHAPTER TWO ......................................................................................................................... 11 THE PROJECT IN BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE ............................................................... 11 THE ISSUES OF MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND REMARRIAGE IN SCRIPTURE .... 12 The Permanence of Marriage..................................................................................... 12 The Permissibility of Divorce .................................................................................... 16 The Possibility of Remarriage ................................................................................... 23 The Preeminence of Reconciliation ........................................................................... 25 CHAPTER THREE ..................................................................................................................... 31 THE PROJECT IN MISSIONAL PERSPECTIVE ............................................................ 31 THE MISSIO DEI AND MINISTRY TO THE DIVORCED ............................................ 32 iv Mission as Incarnation ............................................................................................... 33 Mission as Restoration ............................................................................................... 34 Mission as Transformation ........................................................................................ 35 Mission as Conversation ............................................................................................ 38 Mission as Community .............................................................................................. 40 Mission as Confession ............................................................................................... 44 Mission as Communication ....................................................................................... 45 Mission as Reconciliation .......................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................................ 52 THE PROJECT IN THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE ...................................................... 52 THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT: HOW DID DIVORCE RECOVERY DEVELOP? ...... 52 Divorce Adjustment Groups ...................................................................................... 53 Single Adult Ministries .............................................................................................. 54 Fresh Start Seminars .................................................................................................. 55 Video Based Curricula ............................................................................................... 57 Two Recent Trends .................................................................................................... 61 THE LITERATURE REVIEW: WHAT MAKES DIVORCE RECOVERY EFFECTIVE? ............................................................................................................................................ 62 Social Support ............................................................................................................ 65 Emotional Expression ................................................................................................ 66 Insight and Intervention ............................................................................................. 67 Freedom in Forgiveness ............................................................................................. 69 Holistic Hope ............................................................................................................. 70 CHAPTER FIVE ......................................................................................................................... 73 v THE PROJECT DEVELOPED .......................................................................................... 73 THE PROJECT DESIGN: HOW WAS A DIVORCE RECOVERY MINISTRY INITIATED? ....................................................................................................................... 73 Leadership Recruitment ............................................................................................. 73 Curriculum Determination ......................................................................................... 76 Logistics Planning ..................................................................................................... 77 Advertising Campaigns ............................................................................................. 78 Facilitator Training .................................................................................................... 81 RESEARCH TOOLS AND METHODOLOGY: HOW WAS EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATED? .................................................................................................................. 82 The Fisher Divorce Adjustment Scale ....................................................................... 82 The Focus Group Interview ....................................................................................... 84 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION: HOW WAS THE RESEARCH CARRIED OUT? ..... 85 The First Session ....................................................................................................... 85 The Following Sessions ............................................................................................. 87 Mid-Course Adjustments ........................................................................................... 89 The Final Sessions ..................................................................................................... 90 CHAPTER SIX ............................................................................................................................ 93 THE PROJECT EVALUATED ......................................................................................... 93 QUANTITATIVE FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS: WHAT DID THE FDAS INDICATE? ............................................................................................................................................ 93 Adjustment Improvement .......................................................................................... 93 Comparison Scores .................................................................................................... 95 An Anomalous Score ................................................................................................. 98 QUALITATIVE FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS: WHAT DID THE FOCUS GROUP vi INDICATE? 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