LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY DEVELOPING A CONTEXTUALIZED RETREAT MANUAL BASED ON THE ‘TRES DIAS’ MOVEMENT FOR THE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES OF RUSSIAN CHURCHES A Thesis Project Submitted to Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF MINISTRY By Sungsoo Hong Lynchburg, Virginia March, 2014 Copyright © 2014 by Sungsoo Hong All rights reserved LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY THESIS PROJECT APPROVAL SHEET ______________________________ GRADE ______________________________ MENTOR Dr. Charles N. Davidson Director, Doctor of Ministry ______________________________ READER Dr. Rodney W. Dempsey Director, Master of Arts in Christian Ministry ABSTRACT DEVELOPING A CONTEXTUALIZED RETREAT MANUAL BASED ON THE ‘TRES DIAS’ MOVEMENT FOR THE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES OF RUSSIAN CHURCHES Sungsoo Hong Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, 2014 Mentor: Dr. Charlie N. Davidson The purpose of this thesis project is to create a practical retreat manual for the spiritual disciplines contextualized to the Russian context based on the ‘Tres Dias’ movement. It is important to develop the spiritual training program with contextualization as an effective mission strategy. While many of the missionaries in Russia have been trying to apply the spiritual disciplines in their mission field, little contextualized practical research exists on them. Tres Dias is one of the spiritual retreat programs compatible with contextualization. This project analyzes and evaluates the value and compatibility of the Tres Dias movement in Russia based on responses to a questionnaire survey from one hundred church leaders involved in the movement in Moscow. This thesis intends to develop a pragmatic retreat manual for the spiritual discipline in current Russian contexts. Abstract length: 133 words. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my hero, Dr. C. Daniel Kim, who has become my role model as a Christian, pastor, and teacher, demonstrating a passion for the gospel through his whole life. It has been a great honor for me to serve him closely as a teaching assistant for the last three years. I would like to thank my spiritual mentors, Rev. Dong Hyun Kang and missionary Anton Cho, who have demonstrated a passion for the Tres Dias movement. In addition, I thank my parents, who have trusted in me and supported me with prayer and materials. I also thank my lovely wife Victoria, who has persevered with me and prayed for me with hope. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................. vi ILLUSTRATIONS ..................................................................................................................... viii ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................................... x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1 The Statement of Problems ................................................................................................ 2 The Statement of Limitations ............................................................................................ 4 The Biblical and Theological Basis ................................................................................... 5 The Statement of Methodology ....................................................................................... 13 The Review of Literature ................................................................................................. 15 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 26 CHAPTER TWO: MISSIONS TO RUSSIA AND THE TWO NEEDS: SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES AND CONTEXTUALIZATION .................................................. 28 The Past and Present of Missions to Russia .................................................................... 29 The Need for Spiritual Disciplines .................................................................................. 37 The Need for a Contextualized Mission Strategy …........................................................ 48 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 52 CHAPTER THREE: THE TRES DIAS MOVEMENT AS AN EFFECTIVE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE PROGRAM FOR RUSSIAN CHURCHES …………………..………………… 54 Understanding the Tres Dias Movement ......................................................................... 55 The Values of the Tres Dias Movement as an Effective Spiritual Discipline Program .. 64 vi The Compatibility of the Tres Dias Movement in the Russian Contexts …...……......... 70 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 86 CHAPTER FOUR: A CONTEXTUALIZED RETREAT MANUAL BASED ON THE TRES DIAS MOVEMENT FOR RUSSIAN CHURCHES .................................................................. 87 The Pre-Weekend Phase .................................................................................................. 88 The Weekend Phase ......................................................................................................... 98 The Post-Weekend Phase: The Fourth Day ................................................................... 120 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 124 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION………………………….................................................... 126 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 126 Suggestions .................................................................................................................... 128 APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY OF TRES DIAS TERMS …………………................................ 132 APPENDIX B: CONSENT FORM (ENGLISH) …….............................................................. 136 APPENDIX C: CONSENT FORM (RUSSIAN) …….............................................................. 138 APPENDIX D: SURVEY QUESTIONS AND RESULTS ……...…....................................... 141 APPENDIX E: SURVEY QUESTIONS (RUSSIAN) …………...…....................................... 150 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................... 156 INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD RESEARCH APPROVAL ………....…….….……… 161 vii ILLUSTRATIONS Figures 3.1 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 1 73 3.2 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 2 73 3.3 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 3 73 3.4 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 4 74 3.5 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 5 74 3.6 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 6 74 3.7 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 7 75 3.8 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 8 76 3.9 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 9 76 3.10 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 10 76 3.11 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 11 77 3.12 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 12 78 3.13 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 13 78 3.14 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 14 78 3.15 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 15 79 3.16 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 16 80 3.17 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 17 80 3.18 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 18 80 3.19 The Summary of Responses about Survey-Question 19 81 3.20 Bar Charts 1 82 viii 3.21 Bar Charts 2 83 4.1 Organizational Configuration of Team Members 90 4.2 The Sample of the Group-Foster and Table-Name Tag 1 104 4.3 The Sample of the Group-Foster and Table-Name Tag 2 104 4.4 The Sample of the Group-Foster and Table-Name Tag 3 104 4.5 A Sample for the Group-Table Setting 108 4.6 A Sample for the Rainbow-Refreshments Setting 115 4.7 A Group Picture with the Rainbow-Refreshments 115 4.8 The Sequential Process of the Tres Dias Movement 120 Tables 4.1 The Composition of the Rollos in the First Day 97 4.2 The Composition of the Rollos in the Second Day 97 4.3 The Composition of the Rollos in the Third Day 98 4.4 The Timetable for the Preparation-Day 100 4.5 The Timetable for the First Day 106 4.6 The Timetable for the Second Day 111 4.7 The Timetable for the Third Day 117 ix ABBREVIATIONS AR Assistant Rector CD Candidate MVTD Moscow Vision Tres Dias SD Spiritual Director TD Tres Dias TM Team Member x CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION While many of the missionaries in Russia since the fall of Communism have overemphasized evangelism and physical church growth, they have neglected the spiritual growth of Russian Christians. Therefore, it is very important for the missionaries to focus on developing the spiritual discipline program as an essential mission strategy for Russia. At the same time, it is necessary for missionaries to consider with a contextualized strategy in order that they successfully launch the spiritual training program for the members of the evangelical local churches in Russia, especially in a large, rapidly changing city like Moscow. To achieve this, this paper proposes that one of the effective strategies in