Date of Award
3-3-2025
Document Type
Major Applied Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Ministry (DMin)
Department
Practical Theology
First Advisor
David Peter
Scripture References in this Resource
1 John 1:1-3; John 20:21-23; 1 Peter 2:9-10; Acts 14:21-23; Luke 10:1-12; John 15:15; 1 Corinthians 4:15-17; 2 Timothy 3:1-17; Acts 18:1-3, 18, 24-26; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9
Abstract
Davis, Jr., John F. “Following the Mission Leader: The Value of Imitational Learning in the Training of Apostolic Church Planting Teams at Memorial Lutheran Church in Katy, TX.” Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2025. pp. 272
Reaching the unchurched and unbaptized in our communities with the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a huge challenge for most of our churches. In The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, the number of adults being baptized in the churches (a measure of our effectiveness in carrying out the Missio Dei) is less than one per year. To reach people who have no church experience and no predisposition to attend church one must go out to reach them with the hope of forming new communities of new disciples, and one must train God’s people to be able to do so. This MAP focuses on that training process, and particularly the imitational learning element of that training. Because relationships and conversations are so important in being able to give witness to Christ among those who don’t know Jesus, imitational learning is essential to be able to prepare God’s people to have spiritual conversations with their neighbors. This imitational learning is part of a model of planting the Church that goes back to the apostles and the early Church. There a mission leader lived and ministered in such a way that was to be imitated by those who followed and learned from him. The project was focused on the effectiveness of this aspect of training in a pilot apostolic church planting team that utilized a called missionary to lead a community of lay people in becoming disciples who make disciples through spiritual conversations. The accompanied research revealed positive impacts and fruit borne in the imitational learning aspect of the training and also offered areas to be refined for future planting teams.
Recommended Citation
Davis, John F. Jr, "Following the Mission Leader: The Value of Imitational Learning in the Training of Apostolic Church Planting Teams at Memorial Lutheran Church in Katy, Texas" (2025). Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project. 242.
https://scholar.csl.edu/dmin/242
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
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