{"response":{"docs":[{"system_create_dtsi":"2025-12-18T15:26:00Z","system_modified_dtsi":"2025-12-18T15:26:03Z","has_model_ssim":["Etd"],"id":"4cb35c29-b8ef-44d5-b9e2-b63dfa7054b5","accessControl_ssim":["da2bb732-a1d0-4067-be7b-28b008b604fc"],"depositor_ssim":["martins02@moravian.edu"],"depositor_tesim":["martins02@moravian.edu"],"title_tesim":["Church growth and decline: a case study of the variable factors effecting membership ingression and egression of four churches"],"date_uploaded_dtsi":"2025-12-18T15:25:58Z","date_modified_dtsi":"2025-12-18T15:25:59Z","isPartOf_ssim":["f6c99b2a-5c91-4444-8946-01a1837f1fd8"],"hasEmbargo_ssim":["4b28e756-c6f9-4248-b891-d46271817d22"],"hasLease_ssim":["4968f9a3-9537-4a03-b620-17755775a593"],"show_pdf_viewer_tesim":["1"],"show_pdf_download_button_tesim":["1"],"institution_tesim":["Atla RIM"],"degree_tesim":["DMin"],"degree_granting_institution_tesim":["Lancaster Theological Seminary"],"year_tesim":["1979"],"video_embed_tesim":[""],"resource_type_tesim":["D.Min. Project"],"creator_tesim":["Rhoads, Robert Irwin"],"subject_tesim":["Ministry","Church growth","Church membership"],"abstract_tesim":["This project is written for church leaders to use to determine those factors at work in their churches that stimulate or hinder growth. A committee of four or five people who are concerned about the mission of the church and who have a deep commitment and an enthusiastic spirit would make the survey, evaluate and act upon the results, and monitor future membership dynamics. In acting upon the results, the committee would evaluate the existing programs in light of their effectiveness and meaning for the membership. If the leadership of a local church follows the suggestions in this report, several important changes may be expected to be the result. First, the research (the actual inquiry, data collection, and analysis) will help a church to discover the reasons why people are joining and/or leaving the church; to identify attracting and repelling factors and activities of the church, areas of specific needs of the people the church is trying to reach and strategies of the church in responding to those needs, the population objective of the church’s outreach, and factors influential in attracting and retaining future members; and to provide some candid data for making policy decisions. Second, policy decisions informed by the research will help to change congregational activities, emphasis, programs, pastoral priorities and activities, the direction and objective of the church’s outreach, and will help to promote attitudinal changes. And, finally, the problem is that some churches will continue to decline no matter what is done. In those cases, almost all that can be promised is that leadership will understand the root causes of the decline."],"rights_statement_tesim":["https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"thumbnail_path_ss":"/assets/work-a3b75da7abded620ab321410c80d102e5e2417b71c54de7ba7d4b0363da904f7.png","suppressed_bsi":false,"actionable_workflow_roles_ssim":["f6c99b2a-5c91-4444-8946-01a1837f1fd8-default-approving","f6c99b2a-5c91-4444-8946-01a1837f1fd8-default-depositing","f6c99b2a-5c91-4444-8946-01a1837f1fd8-default-managing"],"workflow_state_name_ssim":["deposited"],"visibility_ssi":"open","admin_set_tesim":["Metadata Only"],"account_cname_tesim":["rim.ir.atla.com"],"human_readable_type_tesim":["Etd"],"read_access_group_ssim":["public","work_editor"],"edit_access_group_ssim":["admin"],"edit_access_person_ssim":["ckarpinski@atla.com","martins02@moravian.edu"],"_version_":1851860257300545536,"timestamp":"2025-12-18T15:26:04.961Z","score":1.0},{"system_create_dtsi":"2025-12-18T15:25:44Z","system_modified_dtsi":"2025-12-18T15:25:47Z","has_model_ssim":["Etd"],"id":"ff5f1916-961b-46c4-b69d-469efc2e280a","accessControl_ssim":["fd58bfdb-bdab-4b8e-8ee3-ab534725ca88"],"depositor_ssim":["martins02@moravian.edu"],"depositor_tesim":["martins02@moravian.edu"],"title_tesim":["Five center city churches surviving for service"],"date_uploaded_dtsi":"2025-12-18T15:25:43Z","date_modified_dtsi":"2025-12-18T15:25:43Z","isPartOf_ssim":["f6c99b2a-5c91-4444-8946-01a1837f1fd8"],"hasEmbargo_ssim":["189e68bf-e81c-4c31-b8a3-92ce5ca799d7"],"hasLease_ssim":["555ac5f3-3802-491a-a2d3-237767c90ab1"],"show_pdf_viewer_tesim":["1"],"show_pdf_download_button_tesim":["1"],"institution_tesim":["Atla RIM"],"degree_tesim":["DMin"],"degree_granting_institution_tesim":["Lancaster Theological Seminary"],"year_tesim":["1979"],"video_embed_tesim":[""],"resource_type_tesim":["D.Min. Project"],"creator_tesim":["Young, James"],"subject_tesim":["City churches","Church growth","City missions"],"abstract_tesim":["It is the intention of this project to examine five congregations located in the downtown business district of Wilmington, Delaware in order to identify and describe the characteristics of a viable balance of service and survival for these churches, and to respond to the questions: Can these churches survive for service? and Will these churches survive for service? Through case studies of these congregations informed by a review of the reports on service and survival functions from each of the local churches, personal interviews with the key lay leadership, and a series of personal interviews from among the laity selected at random, the characteristics of service and survival in urban congregations will be identified and described, and responses made to the questions can and will these center city churches survive for service?"],"rights_statement_tesim":["https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"thumbnail_path_ss":"/assets/work-a3b75da7abded620ab321410c80d102e5e2417b71c54de7ba7d4b0363da904f7.png","suppressed_bsi":false,"actionable_workflow_roles_ssim":["f6c99b2a-5c91-4444-8946-01a1837f1fd8-default-approving","f6c99b2a-5c91-4444-8946-01a1837f1fd8-default-depositing","f6c99b2a-5c91-4444-8946-01a1837f1fd8-default-managing"],"workflow_state_name_ssim":["deposited"],"visibility_ssi":"open","admin_set_tesim":["Metadata Only"],"account_cname_tesim":["rim.ir.atla.com"],"human_readable_type_tesim":["Etd"],"read_access_group_ssim":["public","work_editor"],"edit_access_group_ssim":["admin"],"edit_access_person_ssim":["ckarpinski@atla.com","martins02@moravian.edu"],"_version_":1851860240319905792,"timestamp":"2025-12-18T15:25:48.767Z","score":1.0}],"facets":[{"name":"resource_type_sim","items":[{"value":"D.Min. Project","hits":2,"label":"D.Min. Project"}],"label":"Resource Type"},{"name":"creator_sim","items":[{"value":"Rhoads, Robert Irwin","hits":1,"label":"Rhoads, Robert Irwin"},{"value":"Young, James","hits":1,"label":"Young, James"}],"label":"Creator Sim"},{"name":"contributor_sim","items":[],"label":"Contributor"},{"name":"keyword_sim","items":[],"label":"Keyword"},{"name":"subject_sim","items":[{"value":"Church growth","hits":2,"label":"Church growth"},{"value":"Church membership","hits":1,"label":"Church membership"},{"value":"City churches","hits":1,"label":"City churches"},{"value":"City missions","hits":1,"label":"City missions"},{"value":"Ministry","hits":1,"label":"Ministry"}],"label":"Subject"},{"name":"location_sim","items":[],"label":"Location"},{"name":"language_sim","items":[],"label":"Language"},{"name":"publisher_sim","items":[],"label":"Publisher"},{"name":"date_created_sim","items":[],"label":"Date Created"},{"name":"types_sim","items":[],"label":"Type"},{"name":"year_sim","items":[{"value":"1979","hits":2,"label":"1979"}],"label":"Year"},{"name":"format_sim","items":[],"label":"Format"},{"name":"member_of_collections_ssim","items":[],"label":"Collections"},{"name":"degree_sim","items":[{"value":"DMin","hits":2,"label":"DMin"}],"label":"Degree"},{"name":"discipline_sim","items":[],"label":"Discipline"},{"name":"degree_granting_institution_sim","items":[{"value":"Lancaster Theological Seminary","hits":2,"label":"Lancaster Theological Seminary"}],"label":"Degree Granting Institution"},{"name":"department_sim","items":[],"label":"Department"},{"name":"funder_name_sim","items":[],"label":"Funder Name"},{"name":"event_title_sim","items":[],"label":"Event Title"},{"name":"event_date_sim","items":[],"label":"Event Date"},{"name":"institution_sim","items":[{"value":"Atla RIM","hits":2,"label":"Atla RIM"}],"label":"Host Institution"}],"pages":{"current_page":1,"next_page":null,"prev_page":null,"total_pages":1,"limit_value":10,"offset_value":0,"total_count":2,"first_page?":true,"last_page?":true}}}