Browsing Senior Theses by Title
Now showing items 280-299 of 340
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Shut-Ins Who Feel Shut Out: Increasing Ministry to Homebound Congregation Members Through Lay Visitation and In-Home Bible Study
(2018)Is shut-in ministry as strong as it should be? Pastors often do not have enough time to visit members in their homes regularly. Involving lay members of the congregation can be an excellent way to combat this problem. ... -
Silver Screen - Golden Opportunity: The Value of Film in Pastoral Ministry
(2019)The American movie industry is perhaps the premier entertainment industry in the world today. The films that are released every year dominate popular culture in the United States and have a profound impact on meaning-making ... -
A Slave Story: A Historical Survey of American Slavery and Christianity
(Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, 2021-02-19)This thesis is not an exhaustive history of the life of slaves. It does not examine Indian slaves, child labor, or indentured servants. It does not speak on racism in the modern era. While it may make brief excursions, its ... -
Small Groups: Their Importance and What Makes Them Successful
(Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, 2022-02-18)The subject of small groups is an intimidating topic to many pastors. After all, pastors are not trained in how to effectively implement and manage small groups in their churches. Perhaps an even more fundamental concern ... -
"Smells Like Pietism" Comparing Pietistic Conventicles to Modern Lutheran Small Groups
(2024)Pietism has been criticized throughout history and one of the main reasons is its use of conventicles. However, there is a growing trend within the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) where congregations are starting ... -
Speaking Bold Words Carefully to a Society Sensitive to Words
(2016)Freedom of speech is the subject of intense discussion in our society and the world in general. There are many who may come to similar conclusions to where we will be led by Scripture, but we must recognize where they are ... -
Speaking the Truth in Love to Catholics Concerning Their Views on Mary
(2014)The purpose of this thesis is to help Lutheran pastors and lay people better understand why Roman Catholics view Mary in such high regard, and what we can do in order to reach out to them. Most people do not understand why ... -
Spiritual Energy Management: Avoiding Pastoral Burnout by Developing a Healthy Devotional Life
(2017)Experiencing occupational burnout is not uncommon in a society that lives to work, and the pastor is no exception to this. Given the “serve not be served” nature of the ministry, coupled with its specific and wide-ranging ... -
Stacked Against the Odds: Preparing Teens to Stand Firm in the Faith
(2019)What does it mean to make a promise? Every year, there are many young Christians around the world who make their promise to remain faithful to God and to His Word. It would be easy to keep that promise in a perfect world, ... -
Stained-Glass Windows in WELS: Artistic Whimsy or Authentic Witness?
(Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, 2021-02-19)Stained-glass windows have been a practical and useful staple in the buildings of the Christian church for over a thousand years. The WELS is a beneficiary of this rich heritage. Although many WELS congregations have this ... -
The "Storied" Catechism Class
(2016)Everybody loves a good story. It can be a movie that leaves its viewers crying, happy memories of bedtime stories, or a favorite story from the Bible. Good stories do a number of things. They grab a person’s attention, ... -
StrengthsFinder and Its Use Within the WELS
(2020)WELS pastors have a multitude of thoughts about StrengthsFinder. They have a variety of responses along with different opinions on how it should or shouldn’t be used. This thesis explores StrengthsFinder as a whole. ... -
A Study of the Bible's Nautical Terminology in Light of Recent Archaeological Findings with Pastoral Applications
(2015)An understanding of the nautical terms in the Bible will help pastors teach biblical narratives and imagery. Just as sailors gain a new appreciation for God’s gifts on the sea each time they cast off the dock lines, so ... -
A Study of WELS Students and Campus Ministry
(2020)Why don’t WELS college students join WELS campus ministries? This question is one that many people may be asking. Instead of joining our campus ministries many of them end up joining non-WELS heterodox Christian groups. ... -
The Sunday Ticket: Focusing on Christ to Penetrate the Love Affair with Sports
(2016)Our culture celebrates sporting events more than church. America chooses to show more loyalty to teams than God, and this has shaped their lives around games instead of the Word. Sports are not an evil activity. However, ... -
The Target of Paul's Polemic: A Dialogue with the New Perspective
(2012)What attitude was Paul opposing when he said that “a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Romans 3:28)? The traditional view has been that Paul was opposing works righteousness, the idea that says, “I ... -
Teaching the Doctrine of Church Fellowship in a Chinese Context: A Western Perspective
(2018)This paper investigates various methods of teaching church fellowship to a Chinese audience. While appropriation of Christian doctrine properly belongs only to the work of the Holy Spirit, he calls Christians to teach ... -
Texting and Its Use in Pastoral Counseling
(2013)This thesis aims to examine texting as an appropriate and useful tool when counseling an individual. Texting has been a growing trend in communication, especially among teens. Teens prefer to text over any other form of ... -
The Value of Linguistics for Exegesis: A Demonstration of Lexical Semantics and the Hebrew נחם
(2019)Linguistics, the study of how language works, is a field of study closely related to biblical scholarship and exegesis. Advances in linguistics have benefited WELS pastors and their exegesis, but in a largely indirect ... -
Theological and Pastoral Criteria for Worship Forms in the Lutheran Confessions
(2012)Due to “worship wars” in the Lutheran church, the issue of worship forms has been thoroughly examined from Scripture and from historical perspective. Until recently, however, the Lutheran Confessions have not been strongly ...