The Episcopal Church of Liberia Gravitating Towards Financial Independence: Strategies and the Way Forward

This thesis project sought to solicit and find strategies and the way forward as to how the Episcopal Church of Liberia can be financially independent and sustain itself as a diocese. The Episcopal Church of Liberia, a faith tradition of which I am a member and an ordained clergy, continues to a large extent rely on support from the Episcopal Church in America for the running and operation of the church. This has and continues to be the practice and trend of successive leadership dating as far back as the days of the church under missionary bishops. With the church now under indigenous leadership and bishop and as the Episcopal Church in the United States of America plans to discontinue its annual financial support to the church in Liberia, how can the church in Liberia achieve financial independence and sustainability? This research therefore looked at stewardship, leadership development, and investment as key strategies as to how the Episcopal Church of Liberia can achieve financial independence and sustainability

Vocation of the ELCA: Dismantling White Supremacy

White Supremacy is an embodied belief and culture that must be eradicated in order for us to live into the diverse, mutually flourishing kin-doms that God has called us into. The history of white supremacy and racist theology includes ideas of mission, hierarchy, and compromise. White people and predominantly white institutions are vocationally called to do the specific work of dismantling white supremacy. The Lutheran theological tradition has commitments and practices that can ground and compel people into and through this work. Two ways of understanding white supremacy culture are White Body Supremacy by Resmaa Menakem and Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture by Tema Okun. These two ways of understanding white supremacy can help us to recognize, heal, and dismantle white supremacy, and eventually belong to new, recreated, or resurrected ways of whiteness without supremacy and full belonging in a diverse mutually flourishing kin-dom

Seeking the Wellspring: Exploring Generosity in a Financial Drought

This action research project utilized transformative qualitative methods to explore the concept of generous giving by examining the attitudes of a small non-random sample of participants within a congregation before and after an intervention consisting of a seven-part sermon series. Theoretical lenses included generosity, adaptive change, and emergence theory. Biblical lenses included Isaiah 43:18-21 and Isaiah 58:6-12 (wellspring in the desert), John 4 (the Samaritan woman at the well), and John 7:37-39 (living water). Theological lenses included missional pneumatology and the missio Dei, the Christian steward, and the holy currencies of the Cycle of Blessings. Findings revealed that presentation of a new consideration of generosity and generous giving influenced the study participants’ attitudes and practices of generosity and may foster openness to change and deeper discernment of the missio Dei

Luther Seminary Capstone

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Public Church Framework as Process for Antiracism: Integrating Racial Identity Development Models and Theological Commitments

This paper discusses various models of racial identity development and offers the Public Church Framework as one way that faith communities can engage in antiracism work

Power Perfected in Weakness: The Effectiveness of Spiritual Practices on Personal Power in the Lives of Men

This mixed methods Action Research project studied the effects of spiritual practices in the life of men in a Lutheran congregation. The project was framed by Janet Hagberg and her work on personal power in “Real Power: Stages of Personal Power in Organizations,” Narrative Theory, and masculinity. These frames were integrated with biblical and theological lenses of the theology of the cross, spiritual practices, and Trinitarian theology, including a significant lens from Richard Rohr and his book, “Adam’s Return: The Five Promises of Male Initiation.” The study offered insight into the impact of specific spiritual practices with the intent of shifting awareness in men\u27s lives from an external sense of power to inner meaning. The results showed the effectiveness of engaging in communal spiritual practices to help men understand the importance of personal power

Defying Expectations: One Female Preacher\u27s Exploration of Preaching Performance, Listener Expectations, and Emotion

In this thesis, one female preacher explores preaching performance, listener expectation, and emotion. Using exploratory research methodology, the thesis seeks to answer the following questions in a particular context: What are listener expectations of sermon delivery? Do listeners hold differing sermon delivery expectations for female preachers? How does meeting or straying from these expectations affect receptivity of the message? Data was collected through interviews with pastors, focus group questionnaires, and feedback forms of respondents who responded to sermons preached with different performance choices by both a female preacher and a male preacher. The results revealed a bias around performances related to emotion. On this basis, preachers would benefit from further research in the areas of emotion and preaching performance for the sake of expanding interpretations of Scripture and performances of the Word

Hospitality in the House of God: Deconstructing Habit and Building Missio Dei

This research project addresses neighborliness, change, and hospitality in the life of a mainline church of 1,200 members. It is a congregation that has traditional worship and programming with progressive values. The congregants are not comfortable with change and are coming to terms with the missing Millennial generation. Mixed method Action Research using missional practices of hospitality and neighbor interviews offered new faith formation and relationship growth with neighbors. There were also educational opportunities on change, the missional church movement, and neighborliness. The work relies on the theology of Serene Jones, Kosuke Koyama, and Miroslav Volf

Creating Effective Congregational Heritage Displays – Part 1: Planning the Project

This article discusses purpose and scale of congregational heritage displays