Date of Award

4-2022

Document Type

Project Portfolio

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Department

Seminary

First Advisor

Aaron Friesen, PhD

Second Advisor

H. Colleen Butcher, DMin

Third Advisor

Leonard I. Sweet, PhD

Abstract

The continent of Europe, once a center of spiritual renewal and missionary mobilization, has now become a gospel desert. The need for church planting is acute. The means to address this need is partly through the deployment of church planting teams, yet there is a dearth of both European and expatriate missionary young adults ready to take up this charge. Generation Z entrepreneurs must be successfully engaged and recruited to meet the need for pioneering career church planters among the least reached peoples of Europe. The key insights discovered regarding recruitment of Generation Z to missionary careers come from the field of social psychology, and research related to group identity theory. Analyzing Generation Z group characteristics gives insight into the role of in-group affiliation to reinforce individual identity and self-esteem, which in turn erects barriers against effective recruitment. The challenge for mission-sending organizations will be to improve their ability to adequately address the values, felt needs, and fears of emerging generations that sufficiently helps them mitigate the risk associated with a commitment to engage in full-time missionary work. This project was crafted as a prototype tool to help address this challenge. The 835 Weekend is designed as a highly relational, invitation-only, and reproduceable recruiting weekend for thirty entrepreneurially spirited Generation Z young adults at a time, to interact with key mission agency leaders. It is structured to help orient participants toward a career in European missions through quality time spent in a relationally warm and aesthetically pleasing venue, engaging in mutual and authentic storytelling, while giving space for young adults to explore key questions, address fears, and experience impactful moments of engagement with the Holy Spirit.

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