A consulting approach to assisting Seventh-day Adventist Church Parishes

Abstract

This thesis is an inquiry into how a 'consulting approach' can be used by a church helping organisation in the Seventh-day Adventist Church system to assist local church congregations. This inquiry will focus specially on the service providers known as Conference Departments and how a consulting approach can improve the service they provide. The exploration of the methodology and relationship between department personnel and churches will inform this inquiry. Consultancy within the Australian Seventh-day Adventist church is in its infancy. For the majority of churches the concept of using an external consultant to assist them on an ongoing basis would be a radical thought. The Seventh-day Adventist church system has traditionally provided resources and training to church parishes via their Conference departments youths, Bible school, outreach, health, welfare etc. However, few of these departments have offered a true constructive service where diagnostic assessment and long term problem-solving occurs. This thesis aims to develop a methodology by which consultants can gain entrance into churches and offer ongoing assistance to them. The study attempts to establish a model and identifies the issues that relate to using such an approach.

Date of Award	1997
Original language	English