This phenomenological study examines lived experiences and perceptions of Christian parents of young children to investigate their approaches to faith activity and nurture and the extent to which this includes authenticity of welcome for young children in the modern-day church. Online survey data was analysed thematically through the lens of…

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 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…

The purpose of the current project is to explore ways to help older adults grow in their faith and live a life of discipleship. The subjects of the study are members of the Cornerstone Church. To do so, the researcher analyzed the current environment of the church and conducted surveys and interviews. The discipleship project with the elderly took…

The present paper reports findings from interviews with thirty ex-choristers from cathedrals and collegiate chapels in England, aged from eighteen to eighty. These interviews explored choristers' religious commitments before entering choir school and factors for staying with, leaving, or later returning to religious practice. The findings suggest…

Gerald Grace (2002. "Catholic Schools: Mission, Markets and Morality." London: Routledge), borrowing from the sociological constructs of Pierre Bourdieu, speaks of the significance of the spiritual and cultural capital of religious orders in providing a substantial catalyst in the development of Catholic education in England and Wales.…

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…

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…

A growing number of new faith communities in North America are emerging as part of the Wild Church Network. These outdoor church expressions seek to re-acquaint, re-cover, and re-member their faith communities as loving participants of the larger community of Creation. This paper explores theological foundations and spiritual practices grounding…

This article is devoted to studying the musical and educational activities of the Yekaterinoslav Theological Seminary in the context of Russian spiritual education in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Seminary's role in regional culture is considered in detail, with a specific focus on the development of music education and…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how church members describe the influence of pastoral transformational leadership to achieve the church's organizational vision and goals. The theoretical foundation for this study was Bernard Bass' (1985) transformational leadership theory. The research was guided by four questions,…

The purpose of this project was to impact the participants' spiritual formation with an emphasis on cultural identity with a select group of White Christian college students at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan through a three-session small group that focused on spiritual formation, cultural identity development, and practicing spiritual…

The spiritual formation of teachers in Church-based schools is of great importance but doesn't always receive the attention it deserves. In the 1920s and 30s, the British writer in spirituality, Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), gave three Addresses to teachers and one lecture at Oxford University, discussing the teacher's spiritual life, and the…

This two-year ethnographic study examines the motivations for religious knowledge development, or religious literacy, embedded in a Latter-day Saint congregation. Qualitative analyses of observations and 29 interviews with nine youth yielded three characteristics of religious environments that motivated youth for religious literacy. When youth…