Andrews University Digital Commons @ Andrews University Dissertation Projects DMin Graduate Research 2010 A Movement of Authentic Christianity: an Embrace and Integration of Biblical Fundamentals in a Seventh-day Adventist Church Plant Among the Echo Boomer Culture of the 21st Century in Keller, Texas Michael R. Cauley Andrews University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dmin Recommended Citation Cauley, Michael R., "A Movement of Authentic Christianity: an Embrace and Integration of Biblical Fundamentals in a Seventh-day Adventist Church Plant Among the Echo Boomer Culture of the 21st Century in Keller, Texas" (2010). Dissertation Projects DMin. 30. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dmin/30 This Project Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Research at Digital Commons @ Andrews University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertation Projects DMin by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Andrews University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your interest in the Andrews University Digital Library of Dissertations and Theses. Please honor the copyright of this document by not duplicating or distributing additional copies in any form without the author’s express written permission. Thanks for your cooperation. ABSTRACT A MOVEMENT OF AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANITY: AN EMBRACE AND INTEGRATION OF BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALS IN A SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH PLANT AMONG THE ECHO BOOMER CULTURE OF THE 21ST CENTURY IN KELLER, TEXAS by Michael R. Cauley Adviser: Bruce L. Bauer ABSTRACT OF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH Dissertation Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Title: A MOVEMENT OF AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANITY: AN EMBRACE AND INTEGRATION OF BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALS IN A SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH PLANT AMONG THE ECHO BOOMER CULTURE OF THE 21ST CENTURY IN KELLER, TEXAS Name of researcher: Michael R. Cauley Name and degree of faculty advisor: Bruce Bauer, D.Miss. Date completed: May 2010 Problem The median age of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America is increasing due, in part, to the small percentage of echo boomers (millenials) who are currently present. Their absence reveals the need to approach North America as a mission field and teach biblical truth grounded in classical spiritual disciplines in the language of the culture of the 21st century. Method The development of the spiritual life as the foundation for mission in the Seventh- day Adventist Church in North America will be explored through an echo boomer church plant in Keller, Texas. Results Currently seventy-four people are involved in the Come and See Seventh-day Adventist Church. Our members are accepting that they are missionaries to a culture different from their own and are actively discipling echo boomers who are involved in and leading ministry. Conclusions The church must first seek to connect to the community through spirituality because religion in the 21st century is suspect. Biblical truths presented through a discovery of classical spiritual disciplines provide an excellent format for this to occur. What follows is the development of primitive godliness as one discovers their belovedness through Jesus Christ. This renewed relationship with Jesus leads the church into mission. Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary A MOVEMENT OF AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANITY: AN EMBRACE AND INTEGRATION OF BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALS IN A SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH PLANT AMONG THE ECHO BOOMER CULTURE OF THE 21ST CENTURY IN KELLER, TEXAS A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by Michael R. Cauley May 2010 A MOVEMENT OF AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANITY: AN EMBRACE AND INTEGRATION OF BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALS IN A SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH PLANT AMONG THE ECHO BOOMER CULTURE OF THE 21ST CENTURY IN KELLER, TEXAS A dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Ministry by Michael R. Cauley APPROVAL BY THE COMMITTEE: ________________________________ _________________________________ Adviser, Director, D.Min. Program Bruce L. Bauer Skip Bell ________________________________ _________________________________ Russell Burrill Dean, SDA Theological Seminary J. H. Denis Fortin ________________________________ _________________________________ Date approved For Ashley, to thank you for everything is still not enough. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . vii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION . 1 Statement of the Problem. 1 Statement of the Task . 2 Justification for the Project . 2 Limitations of the Project . 2 Description of the Project Process . 3 Expectation from This Project . 5 Outline of the Project . 6 II. THEOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF MINISTRY . 8 Introduction . 8 Shema Yisrael as a Calling to Primitive Godliness . 9 Jesus’ Addition to the Shema Yisrael . 15 Commercialism: A Barrier to Primitive Godliness . 21 Actions of the Church Evaluated by Christ . 25 Living a Life of Primitive Godliness . 29 Conclusion . 33 III. LITERATURE REVIEW. 36 Introduction . 36 Recommitment to Jesus Christ as the Center of the Spiritual Life. 37 Missional Focus for the Church . 42 The Birth of the Church as Community . 46 Conclusion . 50 IV. MISSIONS IN NORTH AMERICA: CROSSING THE CULTURAL BOUNDARY BETWEEN CHURCH AND WORLD . 53 Introduction . 53 A New Mission Field . 55 The Echo Boomers . 55 Secular Statistics . 55 iv Spiritual Possibilities . 56 The Church’s Challenge. 59 A Honest Look at Reality. 61 Stuck in the 1950s . 62 The Sickness of Selfishness . 65 A Strategy From Within . 68 Ministry in the Vernacular . 69 The Secret of Selflessness . 71 An Indigenous Church . 73 Summary and Conclusions. 78 V. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE AS THE FOUNDATION FOR MISSION . 81 Introduction . 81 Surrender of the Heart of Local Church Leadership to the Love of God . 83 Pray for a Miracle . 83 Become the Miracle . 86 The Practice of Spiritual Disciplines as Applied in a Seventh-day Adventist Context . 89 Spiritual Thirstiness . 89 The Boundary of Chaos . 91 The Disciplines Are Obedience . 92 Learning to Be the Church versus Doing Church . 96 The Discipline of Community . 96 The Art of Listening. 100 The Discovery of the Heart of God That Compels the Church to Join Christ in His Mission to Seek and to Save the Lost . 102 Spirituality Before Religion . 102 Brokenness as a Foundation for Relevant Ministry . 105 Summary and Conclusions . 107 VI. COMMENTARY ON THE LIFE OF A MISSIONARY TO NORTH AMERICA . 109 My Story . 109 Statistics . 125 Lessons Learned. 126 Recommendations . 128 Evaluation, Conclusions, and Recommendations . 129 Appendix A. DEVELOPMENTAL CHART . 133 v B. PRAYERFUL PLANNING . 135 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 142 VITA . 154 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS NAD North American Division OTKMA Old Town Keller Merchant’s Association vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem The majority of Seventh-day Adventist congregations in North America now exhibit a median age significantly above the national figure.1 Most congregations in North Texas contain few persons under the age of twenty five. This minority of children, youth, and young adults provides a compelling illustration of a congregational climate that has neglected to contextualize the gospel to post 1990s North American culture in North Texas. This lack of contextualization hinders many congregations from providing Christian spiritual growth for those under the age of twenty five, further contributing to increasing the median age in congregations. Spiritual growth has been stifled by a lack of contemporary instruction in Word and life of God’s existence as love through classical spiritual disciplines that substantiate the echo boomer’s2 belovedness, unique identity in Christ, and mission to love others. 1Demographic Survey Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America.” Adventistyouth.org. Center for Youth Evangelism: 10 March 2010. www.adventistyouth.org/cts/download/naddemographicsurveyreport.ppt (accessed March 10, 2010) 2The term echo Boomer refers to a subset of the millennials, also known as Generation Y born between 1982 and 2001 ranging between 6 and 25 years of age. See Steve Kroft, “Echo Boomers,” 60 Minutes, VHS, CBS News, September 4, 2005 and “Ten Generational Facts.” Link2Lead.com. Percept: March 2006. http://www.link2lead.com/L2L/start.asp?w=MYCOMM&p=Intro.asp accessed (4 December 2006). 1 Statement of the Task The task of this project is to vision, plan, gather a core group, and plant an Adventist congregation in Keller, Texas, that recognizes and engages the echo boomer culture as a mission field in which contextualization of the gospel in the North American culture of North Texas in the 21st century takes place. Justification for the Project The increasing margin between the median age of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America when compared with the national figure suggests that Seventh- day Adventist churches are failing to provide persons under the age of twenty five with Christian spiritual growth practices that penetrate and engage the culture of the 21st century. Many churches have exchanged mission opportunities in their communities, which would keep them informed of the current needs of echo boomers, for perceived spiritual security which leads them to maintain the status quo of the church as an institution. My observation is the decrease in the church’s contribution to Christian spiritual growth stems from an understanding of a spiritual life developed through “doing a relationship with God” as a replacement for “being in a relationship with God.” A focus on doing leads to fear of contextualization. Delimitations of the Project This project is limited in study to the population of Keller, Texas, although I am 2 hopeful that my findings here may prove of some benefit to other secular3 communities in North America in which the Seventh-day Adventist Church is not yet present. As this project began I faced limitations consisting of a cold start church plant. Our initial core group consisted of three people, me, my wife, and my seven month old daughter. In addition we are limited by the small amount of financial resources for ministry that have been promised towards this.