The missional life of congregations of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Free State

[摘要] English: This dissertation examines the missional life of the Seventh-day Adventist Church inthe Free State. It aims to listen to the voices of the people and the leadership toaccess the life and vitality of the Church and to ascertain where the church is mostfully alive.The research problem and research question are stated. The NCLS, an internationalcongregational project endeavouring to understand church vitality is explored andthe research methodology utilized in this study is discussed. Healthy missionalcongregations; missional theology and the evaluation of congregations, is explored.The ecclesiology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is discussed. Underecclesiology, general ecclesiology and Seventh-day Adventist ecclesiology isexplored. This includes the fundamental beliefs; structure of governance; churchmembership of the world wide Seventh-day Adventist Church. An in depth study ofthe Seventh-day Adventist Congregations in the Free State is done.The voice of the people in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Free State isreported by means of the Church Life Study. A detailed review of the vitality of theChurch in the Free State is given. The voice of the leadership of the individualcongregations in the Free State through the initial and focus group interviews werediscussed. Then the voice of the leadership of the SDA Church in the Free State asa whole, through the initial and focus group interviews conducted is explored.The final chapter gives a conclusion of the Missional Life of the Seventh-dayAdventist Church in the Free State in terms of the three core qualities. It is concludedthat the Free State SDA congregations are not healthy, missional congregations inview of their relationships with God, each other and with the community. It ishowever encouraging to note that because of the high standard of the worshipservice and its strong foundation, the Church has the potential to become a fullymissional Church and the leadership is determined to achieve this goal in the FreeState.

[发布机构] University of the Free State