Doctor of Ministry Colloquium
When experience and passion for ministry combine with the depth of academic study and immersion in current thinking, rich resources can emerge for the church to address the needs of its people. The Doctor of Ministry Colloquium organized biannually features the work of selected program graduates and serves as a platform for other ministry leaders to hear and discuss the results of their dissertation findings.
This year’s presentations:
Dr. David Parker: A Gospel that Still Reaches African-American Urban Communities
This research investigates the adverse circumstances engulfing African-American inner-city churches, which is its recent deteriorating impact on urban communities. It examines how African-American preachers preaching in an urban context can configure and create sermons that produce interconnection within urbanized settings.
Dr. Patrick Tharp: Missional Ministry in a Multiethnic Church: A Case Study of Grace Point Alliance Church
Grace Point Alliance Church intentionally began in Buffalo, NY as a multiethnic congregation and embraced missional church principles. Grace Point’s attendees include first- and second-generation immigrants, refugees, and international students. This church embraces the idea that ministry with international students is a missional opportunity to share the love of Christ and advance the Gospel of Christ into other parts of the world. The purpose of this research is to explore the effectiveness of a multiethnic missional church in ministry with international students.
Dr. Alma McKee: Spiritual Coping among Emergency Department Nurses
Coping is a response to stress and types of coping include: personal, social, environmental, and religious. The purpose of this research was to measure different ways of spiritual coping among Emergency Department (ED) nurses; specifically, this research measured what type of coping ED nurses use and if it tends to be positive or negative coping.
Past presenters examined the following questions:
- How can an urban church understand better and combat poverty in the inner city?
- What are the unique needs of cancer patients and how can they be addressed in a spiritually nurturing way?
- What challenges face female pastors in a denomination that approves and encourages their ordination, and how can they be overcome?
- In what ways can one meaningfully support those full-time Christian workers who are undergoing a crisis as a result of termination of their current ministry?
