2023-2024 Faculty Research Grant
Petr Cincala, Timothy Madding, and Hyveth Williams (World Mission, Practical & Applied Theology).
Evaluation of Church Planting in the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
Data-driven information on church planting processes and results appear lacking within the Seventh-day Adventist Church. As a result, visioning, strategic planning, and resources can become anecdotal or personality-driven rather than data-driven. The NAD Evangelism Institute, along with the Institute for Church Ministry, proposes a two-year research project (2023-2024) concluding with an in-depth report and the creation of a database to be used for church planting across multiple cultural and language groups. By providing an accurate picture of the state of church planting, this research will help shape future initiatives for church planting in the Seventh-day Adventist church, in line with its mission strategies. In addition, this project will fill an existing need in the NAD by assisting with two of the three stated objectives from the 2020 NAD Strategic Report given at Year-End Meetings, 2017:
1) assisting with communication between the division and members and
2) assisting church leaders in improving leadership.
Through the collection, analysis, and codification of data, NAD leadership will have access to data-driven recommendations for local churches, which can result in improvements to leadership and church planting strategies. The purpose of this study is to discover the impact of planting new churches by gathering data about leadership, mission focus, diversity, and growth. The study will identify best practices in church planting with an intentional focus on various language and culture groups.