The missional life of congregations of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Free State

This dissertation examines the missional life of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Free State. It aims to listen to the voices of the people and the leadership to access the life and vitality of the Church and to ascertain where the church is most fully alive. The research problem and research question are stated. The NCLS, an international congregational project endeavouring to understand church vitality is explored and the research methodology utilized in this study is discussed. Healthy missional congregations; missional theology and the evaluation of congregations, is explored. The ecclesiology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is discussed. Under ecclesiology, general ecclesiology and Seventh-day Adventist ecclesiology is explored. This includes the fundamental beliefs; structure of governance; church membership of the world wide Seventh-day Adventist Church. An in depth study of the Seventh-day Adventist Congregations in the Free State is done. The voice of the people in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Free State is reported by means of the Church Life Study. A detailed review of the vitality of the Church in the Free State is given. The voice of the leadership of the individual congregations in the Free State through the initial and focus group interviews were discussed. Then the voice of the leadership of the SDA Church in the Free State as a whole, through the initial and focus group interviews conducted is explored. The final chapter gives a conclusion of the Missional Life of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Free State in terms of the three core qualities. It is concluded that the Free State SDA congregations are not healthy, missional congregations in view of their relationships with God, each other and with the community. It is however encouraging to note that because of the high standard of the worship service and its strong foundation, the Church has the potential to become a fully missional Church and the leadership is determined to achieve this goal in the Free State.