Challenges in Church Planting and Growth Faced by Marshallese Assemblies of God Pastors Among the Diaspora in the United States: Four Case Studies

David Duncan

Etd

Challenges in Church Planting and Growth Faced by Marshallese Assemblies of God Pastors Among the Diaspora in the United States: Four Case Studies

Public Deposited

MLA citation style (9th ed.)

David Duncan. Challenges In Church Planting and Growth Faced by Marshallese Assemblies of God Pastors Among the Diaspora In the United States: Four Case Studies. rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/6cd0e97d-c37b-4793-9874-86e85170f8dc.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

D. Duncan. Challenges in Church Planting and Growth Faced by Marshallese Assemblies of God Pastors Among the Diaspora in the United States: Four Case Studies. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/6cd0e97d-c37b-4793-9874-86e85170f8dc

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

David Duncan. Challenges In Church Planting and Growth Faced by Marshallese Assemblies of God Pastors Among the Diaspora In the United States: Four Case Studies. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/6cd0e97d-c37b-4793-9874-86e85170f8dc.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

Creator

David Duncan

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In Copyright

Abstract

This D.Min major project examines the challenges facing Marshallese Assemblies of God pastors among the diaspora in the United States. As Marshallese people migrate to the United States there are both common and unique challenges facing them, particularly Marshallese pastors as they attempt to plant churches, disciple those who have chosen to follow Jesus, and evangelize their people. The project’s focus is to analyze these challenges from the perspective of multiple disciplines. There was analysis of the biblical, theological, pastoral and ecclesiological responses of the past and possible application for their specific challenges. The need for a multidisciplinary approach is necessary for the qualitative research conducted through four case studies, two new follow-up interviews, and eighteen new pastoral interviews conducted in 2026 with the goal of evaluating what these pastors have experienced and how they are doing now. The focus is on how these pastors interpret their experiences, how they plant new congregations, deal with different cultures, and attribute meaning to their experiences. The grounded theory approach is used to gather qualitative data to build a substantive theory about the phenomenon underlying these pastoral challenges. The conclusion of the project summarizes the long-term denominational results of the current leadership model and practices and examines how Marshallese Assemblies of God pastors in the United States might more effectively and constructively address their ministerial challenges. What options are currently available to them individually and to the churches they pastor? The findings from this project offer insights to all Marshallese pastors called to minister in the United States--regardless of denomination--and provide key perspectives for those called to come alongside the Marshallese people as they migrate and seek to fulfill the Great Commission through equipping and supporting in the midst of their ministries.

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