Date of Award

Spring 1-15-2017

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Kelly Brown

Scholarship Domain(s)

Scholarship of Discovery, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Scholarship of Faith Integration

Abstract

The researcher theorized that the long-term health and missional productivity of new Churches of the Nazarene were influenced by the source of developmental supervision they received. The purpose of this study was to inform denominational leaders as they seek the best practices possible in the establishing of new churches. The results of this study were intended to be generalized to all denominations that will be establishing new churches. The study focused on the 360 Churches of the Nazarene that were started between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2004. Archival reports that were mailed to all 73 Nazarene district superintendents in the United States identified half (180) of the 360 churches were from Nazarene developmental sources and the other half (180) were from third-party developmental sources. Data was collected regarding five dependent variables (DV) that produced descriptive statistics then used to conduct a 5 x 5 pairwise comparison to determine relationships. The data was then disaggregated into either Nazarene or third-party. The first three DV that reflected long-term health were examined using a two-way chi-square analysis of independence. The last two DV that reflected missional productivity were examined using an independent samples t-test. The research findings revealed that there was a large correlation between four variables. Furthermore, data revealed sources of developmental supervision from within the denomination were significantly more effective in four out of the five DV, producing stronger and more viable churches than external third-party sources. The research results provide valuable information to church leaders seeking to fulfill the mission of the church.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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