This research project explores how awareness and participation in Christian spiritual disciplines increased among adults involved in Sunday school revitalization at Temple Baptist Church in Gainesville, Texas. The first two chapters include a biblical and theological basis for the spiritual disciplines and a brief historical sketch of Christian…

The purpose of this project was to create a systematic, spiritual formation plan for Central Christian School that strategically integrates the Bible curriculum into the chapel programming of the school and connects it to the home. The project involved a three-part strategy consisting of statistical testing of surveys, classroom-type observations,…

In 1945, church participation in America started to decline, despite the efforts of many Christian church leaders, the problem continues to escalate (Jones, 2021; Inglehart, 2020). Research reveals that the most dramatic decrease in church participation occurs in Generation Z young adults (born 1995 to 2012; Jones, 2021; Twenge, 2017). This…

The purpose of this project was to develop a training program at Hickory Grove Baptist Church to equip men for leadership. The focus of the training was to help men understand and demonstrate the principles of being a disciple of Christ who can make disciples so they can provide effective leadership within the church and in their homes. Chapter 1…

Literary and linguistic patterns delineate structure and theme in many documents of the ancient Mediterranean world. In this dissertation, I utilize the Aeschylean tragedies of the "Persians" and the "Oresteia", the narratives of Genesis and Judges from the Hebrew Bible, and the New Testament narratives of the Gospel of Mark…

Churches must be able to navigate forced changes like those brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions related to the pandemic impacted churches' abilities to provide needed support services to the African American community, including African American women, who shoulder tremendous challenges. Few studies report the views of African…

In this dissertation, the researcher investigated the level of alignment between the content of required church music courses for the Bachelor of Arts in Church Music (BACM) or its equivalent at institutions of higher education in the conservative holiness movement (CHM) and the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that…

The inclusion of autistic youth within the faith community appears to be a challenge for churches. The problem addresses the lack of inclusion for individuals identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who attend church services, specifically Sunday school. Individuals impacted by this problem are ASD individuals, their parents, and Sunday…

The purpose of this project is to develop a teacher empowering, equipping, and training program for Muslim refugee children. It is essential for teachers to understand the concept of Christian education, realize their calling and identity as a teacher, and know their functional roles, when teaching Muslim refugee children. The project had been…

Within the past ten to fifteen years, there has been a trend among churches to downsize staff and eliminate the role of "Minister of Education." With these changes in staff structure, a need has emerged for assistance in evaluating adult educational programming within the church. For this project, a process was developed called the Adult…

This dissertation is a longitudinal descriptive study of the dynamics of community and discipleship and their relationship to technology adoption among Southern Baptist Hispanic pastors in North Carolina. The perusal of the unique forces of these dynamics and their correlational tensions set the stage for understanding the perceptions and use of…

In this quantitative study, discipleship strategies of churches in the Christian and Missionary Alliance were surveyed, to determine if discipleship strategies were effective at fulfilling the mission of helping people connect with God and grow spiritually. Data were collected from 30 church attenders from Western Pennsylvania churches, 27 of…

There is a lack of published research on adult education programs in religious institutions. While religious institutions encourage their members to attend religious education opportunities, it may often be out of tradition. This study aims to begin the conversation around the tradition of Sunday School, specifically, the learning style…

This research recognized the current perception of preschool ministry and First Sarasota Baptist Church in Sarasota, Florida. In order to motivate and equip members to contribute to the spiritual formation of children ages two to six, an eight-week training course was developed for forty participants. Their progress was determined using a pre-test…

This dissertation explores the transformational paradigm shift in spiritually stagnated leaders of Korean-American immigrant churches. It addresses the issue of spiritual stagnation, which affects 25% of Christians in over 2,500 churches, leading to burnout and emptiness. The Korean-American church's collectivistic, hierarchical, and high-context…