{"response":{"docs":[{"system_create_dtsi":"2026-05-30T17:20:55Z","system_modified_dtsi":"2026-05-30T17:20:56Z","has_model_ssim":["Etd"],"id":"20509106-6a33-40da-897b-82ffc4254c42","accessControl_ssim":["cfdf6bac-7db2-4e02-b0cc-8dfc9eff6eda"],"depositor_ssim":["dminadmin@tiu.edu"],"depositor_tesim":["dminadmin@tiu.edu"],"title_tesim":["Missional Preaching: Mobilizing Local Church Congregants for Personal Outreach Through Sermons"],"date_uploaded_dtsi":"2026-05-30T17:20:54Z","date_modified_dtsi":"2026-05-30T17:20:54Z","isPartOf_ssim":["admin_set/default"],"hasEmbargo_ssim":["cf8053be-f473-4cde-a7be-f05ef9f4e890"],"hasLease_ssim":["43b860b2-dbd1-4e5e-a08e-d2a84c5800f2"],"show_pdf_viewer_tesim":["1"],"show_pdf_download_button_tesim":["1"],"institution_tesim":["Atla RIM"],"degree_tesim":["Doctor of Ministry"],"degree_granting_institution_tesim":["Trinity International University"],"year_tesim":["2026"],"resource_type_tesim":["D.Min. Project"],"types_tesim":["Text"],"creator_tesim":["James Botts"],"subject_tesim":["Theology, Contextual","Bible--Old Testament--Homiletic Use","Evangelism","Bible--Use","Preaching--Study and Teaching","Discipling (Christianity)","Mission of the Church","Bible--New Testament--Theology","Church (Ecclesiology)","Bible--Theology","Bible--Homiletic Use","Bible--New Testament--Homiletic Use"],"abstract_tesim":["This study argues that congregational preaching, when intentionally designed around simple and repeatable missional practices, can function as a formative and mobilizing catalyst that moves believers from passive participation to active engagement in personal gospel outreach within the rhythms of everyday life.\r\nThe project employed a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design within Vaughn Forest Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where everyday personal outreach had declined despite consistent participation in gathered church life. A six-week sermon series titled You Were Blessed to BLESS served as the central intervention, focusing on five relational outreach practices. Data were collected through pre- and post-series surveys measuring beliefs, motivations, and behaviors, followed by ten semi-structured interviews that explored how\r\nparticipants interpreted and practiced these changes within their everyday relationships. The findings demonstrate that preaching corresponded with measurable motivational shifts and emerging missional activation. Participants reported increased awareness of everyday relationships as opportunities for spiritual influence, a strengthened sense of personal responsibility for outreach, and a notable rise in confidence initiating spiritual conversations. These internal shifts corresponded with observable engagement, particularly in practices of prayer and service, while other practices developed more incrementally. Participants consistently described moving from passive agreement to intentional participation, engaging others through relational, everyday interactions rather than programmatic efforts. The study concludes that sustained, memorable, and practice-oriented preaching can cultivate progressive engagement in God's mission by aligning belief, motivation, and action. Rather than producing immediate or dramatic transformation, missional preaching forms believers over time who increasingly participate in God's redemptive work through the ordinary relationships of daily life."],"rights_statement_tesim":["https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"thumbnail_path_ss":"/assets/work-a3b75da7abded620ab321410c80d102e5e2417b71c54de7ba7d4b0363da904f7.png","suppressed_bsi":false,"actionable_workflow_roles_ssim":["admin_set/default-default-approving","admin_set/default-default-depositing","admin_set/default-default-managing"],"workflow_state_name_ssim":["deposited"],"visibility_ssi":"open","admin_set_tesim":["Default Admin Set"],"account_cname_tesim":["rim.ir.atla.com"],"human_readable_type_tesim":["Etd"],"read_access_group_ssim":["public","work_editor"],"edit_access_group_ssim":["admin"],"edit_access_person_ssim":["dminadmin@tiu.edu"],"_version_":1866634789395628032,"timestamp":"2026-05-30T17:20:56.757Z","score":1.0},{"system_create_dtsi":"2026-05-29T19:48:34Z","system_modified_dtsi":"2026-05-29T19:48:36Z","has_model_ssim":["Etd"],"id":"16b77322-9a43-4cd9-bf13-18cb7835ee68","accessControl_ssim":["fdbed72c-d48a-4601-b662-f48ea1e3d4f9"],"depositor_ssim":["dminadmin@tiu.edu"],"depositor_tesim":["dminadmin@tiu.edu"],"title_tesim":["Where Do We Go From Here? Discovering How Denominational Leaders Understand the Issues and Solutions for Denominational Decline within the Synod of Lincoln Trails in the PC (USA)"],"date_uploaded_dtsi":"2026-05-29T19:48:33Z","date_modified_dtsi":"2026-05-29T19:48:33Z","isPartOf_ssim":["admin_set/default"],"hasEmbargo_ssim":["83e540ac-5f4a-4940-ac74-6cef6be1ab9f"],"hasLease_ssim":["74b01630-b4f2-4f81-a1d1-2a4472b66943"],"show_pdf_viewer_tesim":["1"],"show_pdf_download_button_tesim":["1"],"institution_tesim":["Atla RIM"],"degree_tesim":["Doctor of Ministry"],"degree_granting_institution_tesim":["Trinity International University"],"year_tesim":["2026"],"resource_type_tesim":["D.Min. Project"],"types_tesim":["Text"],"creator_tesim":["David Carlton"],"subject_tesim":["Presbyterian/Reformed Churches","Evangelism - Strategy","Bible - Isaiah","Church (Ecclesiology)","Bible - Luke - Acts","Bible - Matthew","Mission of the Church"],"abstract_tesim":["The Presbyterian Church (USA) has experienced more than five decades of continuous membership decline, falling from approximately 4.25 million members in the early 1960s to fewer than one million in 2024. This convergent mixed-methods study examined how leaders at three levels within the Synod of Lincoln Trails understand and respond to this decline. The researcher conducted thirty-four semi-structured interviews with the Synod Executive, Executive Presbyters, and Teaching Elders across five Presbyteries in Illinois and Indiana, supplemented by a twenty-seven-question survey of seventy-nine Ruling Elders serving on local Sessions.\r\n\r\nThe research was organized around five questions addressing leadership awareness of decline, strategies for reversing it, definitions of congregational viability, approaches to disciple-making, and implementable outputs. Findings revealed that while leaders at all three levels are aware of the decline, the depth of understanding varies significantly, with Ruling Elders demonstrating the least capacity to articulate its causes. A persistent knowing-doing gap emerged as the study’s most significant finding: leaders can describe what a healthy church looks like but lack the practical tools and frameworks to move their congregations toward that vision. The research also documented a denomination-wide evangelism deficit, competing definitions of congregational viability across leadership levels, and significant disconnection between the three tiers of Presbyterian polity.\r\n\r\nTwo practical implementations were developed in response to these findings: a research findings webinar designed to share key insights with leaders across the Synod, and a six-session pastoral coaching curriculum designed to help Teaching Elders translate awareness into congregational action. Together, these outputs address the central finding that the gap between knowledge and praxis is the primary barrier to adaptive change within the PC(USA).\r\n"],"rights_statement_tesim":["https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"thumbnail_path_ss":"/assets/work-a3b75da7abded620ab321410c80d102e5e2417b71c54de7ba7d4b0363da904f7.png","suppressed_bsi":false,"actionable_workflow_roles_ssim":["admin_set/default-default-approving","admin_set/default-default-depositing","admin_set/default-default-managing"],"workflow_state_name_ssim":["deposited"],"visibility_ssi":"open","admin_set_tesim":["Default Admin Set"],"account_cname_tesim":["rim.ir.atla.com"],"human_readable_type_tesim":["Etd"],"read_access_group_ssim":["public","work_editor"],"edit_access_group_ssim":["admin"],"edit_access_person_ssim":["dminadmin@tiu.edu"],"_version_":1866553483384061952,"timestamp":"2026-05-29T19:48:37.302Z","score":1.0}],"facets":[{"name":"resource_type_sim","items":[{"value":"D.Min. 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