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Any duplication, reproduction, or modification of this material without express written consent from Asbury Theological Seminary and/or the original publisher is prohibited. Contact B.L. Fisher Library Asbury Theological Seminary 204 N. Lexington Ave. Wilmore, KY 40390 B.L. Fisher Library’s Digital Content place.asburyseminary.edu Asbury Theological Seminary 205 North Lexington Avenue 800.2ASBURY Wilmore, Kentucky 40390 asburyseminary.edu ABSTRACT A CASE STUDY OF THE CAUSES OF DEPENDENCY AMONG THE CHURCHES OF CHRISTIAN EVANGELISTIC ASSEMBLIES AND POSSIBLE STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING DEPENDENCY by Abraham Kurian The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the factors that make the Christian Evangehstic AssembUes' (CEA) churches dependent, in contrast to self- supporting churches, by interviewing the pastors and congregants of both the dependent and self-supporting churches. CEA is a church-planting ministry with the objective of planting churches among the unreached people groups of Northern India. The persisting dependency of churches on CEA for funds has been a matter of concern for long. As a result of dependency and the consequent fmancial burden on CEA, the organization is not able to plant as many churches as they wish to plant. The literature review sought to examine the literature of the biblical teachings on church finance. It analyzes the Old and the New Testament writings on giving. The literature review also examines various views on dependency. Findings suggest various reasons for dependency. Prominent among them is the low state of income in the dependent churches as a result of the poor giving pattern of the members. The study also examines the strategies of two other indigenous church-planting organizations to see how they are planting self-supporting churches. After considering all these factors, the study suggests certain strategies to overcome the CEA churches' dependency. These strategies would be applicable to other North Indian churches who are also affected by dependency. DISSERTATION APPROVAL This is to certify that the dissertation entitled A CASE STUDY OF THE CAUSES OF DEPENDENCY AMONG THE CHURCHES OF CHRISTIAN EVANGELISTIC ASSEMBLIES AND POSSIBLE STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING DEPENDENCY presented by Abraham Kurian has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for the DOCTOR OF MINISTRY degree at Asbury Theological Seminary April 28,2015 Date April 28,2015 Date April 28, 2015 Date April 28, 2015 Date A CASE STUDY OF THE CAUSES OF DEPENDENCY AMONG THE CHURCHES OF CHRISTIAN EVANGELISTIC ASSEMBLIES AND POSSIBLE STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING DEPENDENCY A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfdlment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by Abraham Kurian May 2015 �2015 Abraham Kurian ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS x CHAPTER 1 PROBLEM 1 Introduction 1 Purpose 3 Research Questions 3 Research Question #1 3 Research Question #2 3 Research Question #3 3 Research Question #4 3 Definition of Terms 4 Self-Supporting or Independent Church 4 Dependent Church 4 Ministry Project 4 Context 5 Methodology 6 Participants 6 Instrumentation 7 Variables 7 Data Collection 7 iii Data Analysis 7 Generalizability 8 Theological Foundation 9 Giving 9 Theology of Work 1 1 Overview 12 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE 13 Christian Evangelistic Assemblies and the Finance of the Local Church 13 Biblical and Theological Foundation 14 Tithe 14 Freewill Offerings 19 Tithing in the New Testament 21 Dependency 24 The Three-Self Principle 25 Colonial Mentality Creating Dependency 37 Various Views on Dependency 42 Healthy Dependency and Unhealthy Dependency 49 Call for Moratorium 51 Sociocultural Background of India 52 Research Design 54 Summary 55 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 57 Problem and Purpose 57 iv Research Questions 58 Research Question #1 58 Research Question #2 58 Research Question #3 59 Research Question #4 59 Participants 59 Design of the Study 60 Instrumentation 60 Expert Review 61 Variables 61 Reliability and Validity 61 Data Collection 62 Data Analysis 62 Ethical Procedures 63 CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS 64 Participants 64 Age Range of Churches 65 Research Question #1 66 First Focus Group Discussion 67 Second Focus Group Interview 68 Research Question #2 70 Semi-Structured Interview of the Pastors of Dependent Churches 70 Biblical Foundation of the Believers in the Dependent Churches 74 V Socioeconomic Stams of the BeUevers 78 Research Question #3 79 Research Question #4 82 Two Case Studies 84 Indian Evangelical Mission 84 Filadelfia Fellowship Church of India 86 Summary of Major Findings 88 CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION 90 Major Findings 90 Improper Giving Pattern in the Church 90 Lack of Teaching on Giving in the Church 92 Lack of Clear Financial Policies of CEA 95 Empowerment of the Believers 97 Right Giving Pattern and Biblical Foundation of the Self-Supporting Churches 98 Case Studies of lEM and FECI 99 Implications of Findings 100 Limitations of the Study 101 Unexpected Observations 101 Recommendations 1 02 Postscript 105 vi APPENDIXES A. Interview Themes for the Dependent Churches 107 B. Interview Themes for the Self-Supporting Churches 108 C. Focus Group Interview Prompts 109 D. Participant Invitation Letter and Consent Form 1 10 E. Interview with the Head of the Department of Church-Planting Ministry, Indian Evangelical Mission 1 12 F. Interview with the National President of Filadelfia Fellowship Church of India 1 15 WORKS CFTED 118 WORKS CONSULTED 125 vii LIST OF TABLES to Which Table 4. 1 . Number of Dependent Churches and the States They Belong 65 Table 4.2. Number of Self-Supporting Churches and the States to Which They Belong 65 Table 4.3 Age Range of Dependent and Self-Supporting Churches 66 Table 4.4. Income of the Dependent Churches 71 Table 4.5. Number of Churches That Do Have/Do Not Have Bank Accounts 74 Table 4.6. Who Keeps Church Money 74 Table 4.7. Education of Pastors of the Dependent Churches 77 Table 4.8. Biblical Foundation of Dependent Churches 77 Table 4.9. People Group and Occupation of Believers in the Dependent Churches 79 Table 4.10. Church Building and Membership in Self-Supporting Churches 80 Table 4.11. Education, Biblical Foundation, and Percentage of Tithing Members in Self-Supporting Churches 81 Table 4.12. People Group and Occupation of Believers in the Self-Supporting Churches 82 Table 4.13. Income of Self-Supporting Churches 83 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.L How Dependent Churches Spend Their Income 72 Figure 4.2 How Self-Supporting Churches Spend Their Income 84 ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank God for choosing me for his ministry and, in in his eternal plan, appointed me to do this research. His grace alone brought me thus far. I thank the leaders of Christian Evangelistic Assemblies, especially Dr. George Chavanikamannil, the founder, who encouraged me to do this research. Dr. Timothy Tennent and Mrs. Julie Tennent deserve great appreciation, for they have always been with me and played a great role in my theological academic career. I am thankful to Drs. Tom Tumblin, Milton Lowe, and Russell West and the entire Beeson Center team for their wholehearted love and guidance during this program. A special word of thanks goes to my mentor. Dr. Arthur McPhee, who guided me throughout this research. Thank you. Dr. Robert Danielson for serving on the committee and reading my work. Thanks to Judy Seitz who spent many hours editing this work. Finally, but most importantly, I am grateful to my wife, Mercy, who stood with me and encouraged me to face the challenges that came our way through this project. Her knowledge in the area of research was an additional blessing for me. I would like to express appreciation to our children, Stanley and Finley, who allowed Dad to be away from home for many weeks for classes and research-related work. X Kurian 1 CHAPTER 1 PROBLEM Introduction I work with Christian Evangehcal AssembUes (CEA), a church-planting ministry in North hidia. One of my major concerns about the north Indian churches is the issue of economic dependency. These churches depend on outside support for their continuance in the ministry of mission. I am constantly concerned about how to make these churches financially self-supporting. The way CEA operates now it will never be able to plant as many churches as it wishes to plant due to limited financial resources. Dependency is one of the major issues that slow down the church growth in North India. This issue needs to be addressed immediately. This research looked at Christian Evangelistic Assemblies as a case study to determine how grave this issue is to seek out any possible solutions and to discover how the local churches in North India can be financially self-supporting. CEA was founded in 1991, with one of its main objectives being "to disseminate the truths and teachings of the Holy Bible" (Memorandum 1) and to plant churches among the unreached people groups in North India.