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ABSTRACT

SO THE WORLD WILL BELIEVE:

DISCOVERING THE INVITATIONAL NATURE OF GOD

by

Frank Sterling Harris III (Trey)

For over forty years the United Methodist Church has been in decline. In my opinion, one primary reason for decline within the United Methodist Church is the lack of an invitational nature in local churches. This lack of invitational welcome stems in part from the failure of members to experience communion with God, each other, and the communities they are called to serve. In an effort to stem a decades-long decline, the

United Methodist Church has focused much of its resources on planting new churches.

If the United Methodist Church is correct about new church starts, then the worshipers within them would be participating in certain spiritual practices personifying upward, inward, and outward spiritual orientations, which embody the invitational nature of God. The Christian Spiritual Practices Profile survey measures the depth and frequency of ten spiritual practices (prayer, repentance, worship, meditation, examen of conscience, Bible reading and study, evangelism, fellowship, service, and stewardship), which were grouped into the spiritual orientations of upward, inward, and outward.

The purpose of this descriptive nonexperimental quantitative study was to determine how persons within three new church starts in the Baton Rouge District of the

Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church reflect and embody the invitational nature of God as measured by participation in certain spiritual practices. The major findings of this study indicate that all three churches embody the invitational nature of God. The spiritual practices within the upward, inward, and outward spiritual orientations for the entire sample were interpreted as practices occur regularly. No statistically significant difference exists among the responses from each church in the spiritual practices associated with the upward, inward, and outward spiritual orientations. The spiritual practices associated with the upward spiritual orientation are practiced more frequently within the entire sample than are the spiritual practices associated with the inward or outward spiritual orientations. The study results revealed no statistically significant difference among the spiritual practices associated with the inward and outward spiritual orientations of the entire sample. DISSERTATION APPROVAL

This is to certify that the dissertation entitled

SO THE WORLD WILL BELIEVE:

DISCOVERING THE INVITATIONAL NATURE OF GOD

presented by

Frank Sterling Harris III

has been accepted towards fulfillment

of the requirements for the

DOCTOR OF MINISTRY degree at

Asbury Theological Seminary

March 17,2015 Date

March 17,2015 Date

March 17,2015 Date

March 17,2015 Dean of the Beeson Center Date so THE WORLD WILL BELIEVE:

DISCOVERING THE INVITATIONAL NATURE OF GOD

A Dissertation

Presented to the Faculty of

Asbury Theological Seminary

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree

Doctor of Ministry

by

Frank Sterling Harris, III

May 2015 �2015

Frank Sterling Harris, III

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF FIGURES vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS x

CHAPTER 1 PROBLEM 1

Purpose 8

Research Questions 8

Research Question #1 8

Research Question #2 8

Research Question #3 8

Definition of Terms 9

Invitational Nature 9

Perichoresis 9

Ministry Study 10

Context 11

Methodology 13

Participants 14

Instrumentation 14

Data Collection 15

Data Analysis 1 6

Generalizability 16

Theological Foundation 16

m Overview 19

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE 21

Introduction 21

Biblical and Theological Framework 22

The Invitational Nature of God 23

Invitation in the Creation Account 23

Old Testament Covenantal Invitations 30

Invitation in the Psalms 42

The Invitational Nature of Jesus' Earthly Ministry 49

The Invitational Nature of the Early Church 60

Invitation in Wesley's Means of Grace 71

Conceptual Framework 76

Research Design 77

Summary 77

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 78

Problem 78

Purpose 80

Research Questions and/or Hypotheses 80

Research Question #1 80

Research Question #2 81

Research Question #3 81

Population and Participants 81

Design of the Study 81

iv Instrumentation 82

Variables 83

Reliability and Validity 87

Data Collection 89

Data Analysis 93

Ethical Procedures 94

Permission 94

Voluntary Participation 94

Anonymity 94

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS 95

Problem 95

Purpose 95

Participants 95

Population 96

Sample 97

Descriptive Results 98

Research Question #1 98

Research Question #2 101

Research Question #3 1 04

Summary of Descriptive Results 107

Research Question #1 107

Research Question #2 1 07

Research Question #3 1 08

V Inferential Results 109

Inferential Analysis 109

Results 109

Summary of Inferential Analysis 1 1 0

Summary of Major Findings 1 1 0

CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION 1 12

Problem 112

Purpose 1 13

Major Findings 113

Practices within the Spiritual Orientations Occur Regularly 113

Frequency of Practices Among Three Churches Statistically the Same 1 16

Upward Spiritual Orientation Practiced More Frequently 120

No Differences between Inward and Outward Spiritual Orientations.... 124

Implications of the Findings 126

Limitations of the Study 127

Unexpected Observations 128

Recommendations 129

Postscript 137

APPENDIXES

A. Christian Spiritual Practices Profile 1 3 1

B. Comparison of: Learning Mode to Spiritual Orientation 142

C. Thayer Permission Letter to Use CSPP 145

D. Request/Permission Letter from The Well UMC 114

VI E. Request/Permission Letter from Faith Crossing UMC 146

F. Request/Permission Letter from NewSong UMC 148

WORKS CITED 152

WORKS CONSULTED 160

vii LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 2.1. Thematic Progression of Israelite Covenants 32

Table 2.2. Comparison of Ancient Near East Treaties/Mosaic Covenant 36

Table 2.3. Narrative-Law 37

Table 3.1. Range of Scores/Responses/Interpretation 92