Concordia Seminary - Saint Louis Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project Concordia Seminary Scholarship 5-1-2018 Interpreting Short Term Mission for Long Term Discipleship Creating a Standardized Short Term Mission Experience Training Manual for Hales Corners Lutheran Church Chrisitan Wood 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 Wood, Chrisitan, "Interpreting Short Term Mission for Long Term Discipleship Creating a Standardized Short Term Mission Experience Training Manual for Hales Corners Lutheran Church" (2018). Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project. 127. https://scholar.csl.edu/dmin/127 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]. INTERPRETING SHORT TERM MISSION FOR LONG TERM DISCIPLESHIP “CREATING A STANDARDIZED SHORT TERM MISSION EXPERIENCE TRAINING MANUAL FOR HALES CORNERS LUTHERAN CHURCH” A Major Applied Project Presented to the Faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Department of Practical Theology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Ministry By Christian Richard Wood May 2018 Approved by Dr. Victor Raj Advisor Dr. Robert Kolb Reader Dr. David Peter Reader © 2018 by Christian Richard Wood. All rights reserved. ii To by beautiful bride, April, and our sons, Elijah, Ezra, and Caleb. You have blessed me beyond words, and I am honored to be a family on mission for the Lord. iii CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 PROBLEM............................................................................................................................ 1 PURPOSE ............................................................................................................................. 2 Desired Outcomes ........................................................................................................ 4 Process ......................................................................................................................... 4 PRESUPPOSITIONS AND PARAMETERS ...................................................................... 6 Assumptions ................................................................................................................ 6 Limitations ................................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................... 8 THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ....................................................................................... 8 MISSIO DEI .......................................................................................................................... 9 The Missio Dei in the Old Testament ........................................................................ 11 The Missio Dei in the New Testament ...................................................................... 19 Theological Conclusions Based on this Study of the Missio Dei .............................. 27 THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS ..................................................................... 29 Theological Conclusions Based on this Study of the Priesthood of all Believers ..... 40 The Missio Dei and the Priesthood of All Believers: All of God’s People, Sent to Proclaim Him to All Nations. .................................................................................... 42 CHAPTER THREE ..................................................................................................................... 44 RECENT RESEARCH ....................................................................................................... 44 HISTORICAL CONTEXT ................................................................................................. 44 iv LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................... 46 CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................................ 83 PROJECT DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION ............................................................. 83 CHAPTER FIVE ......................................................................................................................... 89 EVALUATION .................................................................................................................. 89 INSIGHTS FROM THE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEWS ............................................... 89 INSIGHTS FROM THE TEAM SURVEYS...................................................................... 91 INSIGHTS FROM THE FINAL TEAM LEADER INTERVIEWS .................................. 94 CHAPTER SIX ............................................................................................................................ 97 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ................................................................................... 97 IMPACT ON THE MINISTRY AT HCLC ....................................................................... 97 POSSIBLE IMPACT OUTSIDE OF HCLC ...................................................................... 98 APPENDIX ONE......................................................................................................................... 99 PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ................................................................... 99 APPENDIX TWO ...................................................................................................................... 100 TEAM TRAINING MANUAL ........................................................................................ 100 APPENDIX THREE .................................................................................................................. 190 INFORMED CONSENT FORM ...................................................................................... 190 APPENDIX FOUR .................................................................................................................... 196 PRE-PROCESS PARTICIPANT SURVEY .................................................................... 196 APPENDIX FIVE ...................................................................................................................... 197 POST-PROCESS PARTICIPANT SURVEY .................................................................. 197 APPENDIX SIX ........................................................................................................................ 198 v FINAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEAM LEADERS ........................................ 198 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................... 199 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Praise be to my Lord, Jesus Christ for giving me the opportunity to serve His church! To April, thank you for both pushing me toward my dreams and following me where they lead us, I love you beyond words. To my boys, Elijah, Ezra, and Caleb, I am proud of the way that you each love Jesus and share His love with others. Thank you for helping when Daddy had “school work” to do. To my parents—thank you for teaching me to work hard, and to trust in the Lord. Thank you for sending me on that first mission trip all those years ago. Look what you started! To my brother pastors at HCL—it is a high honor to serve the Lord alongside each of you. Thank you for your encouragement in this endeavor and for shaping my pastoral and personal formation. Jessica, thank you for your tireless work in equipping and sending missionaries from HCLC to the world, and for helping me throughout this project. I praise God for your partnership in the Gospel. To all past and present STME leaders—Thank you for your commitment to the Lord and His people, and our work together. This project wouldn’t exist if you weren’t a part of this ministry. Dr. Raj, thank you for the time and effort you spent as my advisor through this process. It has been a blessing partnering with you in this endeavor. vii ABBREVIATIONS HCLC Hales Corners Lutheran Church LW Luther’s Works, American ed. 55 vols. Philadelphia: Fortress; St. Louis: Concordia, 1955–1986. STME Short Term Mission Experience viii ABSTRACT Wood, Christian R. “Interpreting Short Term Mission for Long Term Discipleship: Creating a Standardized Short-term Mission Experience Training Manual for Hales Corners Lutheran Church.” Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2018. 201 pp. This project seeks to produce a concise and consistent training manual for participants in Short Term Mission Experiences (STMEs). The manual seeks to foster growth toward living life on mission. This project uses interviews with several exemplars along with literary resources to produce a training manual. The training manual was then “tested” as more than fifty individuals participated in seven STMEs through