Christianity Commons^™

A Virtual Coach Model For Christian Leaders: Addressing Burnout And Other Mental Health Challenges, Hillary Arlene Hinds

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The demands placed on pastoral leaders have increased immensely, and according to Eser (2025), this has caused emotional exhaustion, declining mental health, and feelings of isolation that threaten their well-being and ministry. Data on pastoral leadership burnout and the extent to which a coaching approach is used to assist them in addressing mental health challenges in Canada are limited. This research reported on the use of Whitmore’s (1980) GROW model contextualized within a biblical worldview to mitigate burnout with a group of pastoral leaders (N = 5) in Saskatchewan, Canada. Findings from this research, though from a small population, were …

A Next Generation Ministry Milestone Model For Strategic Discipleship At Warren Grovetown, Brandy L. Behne

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This Dissertation-in-Praxis addressed the need to shift from a siloed ministry model to a cohesive milestone model for the Next Generation ministry at Warren Grovetown in order to build a more parent-equipping driven ministry with a strategic discipleship plan. The rationale for this project stemmed from the exodus of young adults leaving the church following high school graduation and the deficit of parents understanding how to be spiritual leaders in their homes as their children matured from infants through young adulthood. The current siloed model highlighted the need for ministry cohesiveness as children developed through preschool, children, and student ministry, …

Bridging The Generational Gap: Enhancing Unity And Engagement In The Church, Lesley H. Booker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The contemporary church is increasingly characterized by the presence of multiple generations worshiping and serving together, each bringing distinct values, communication styles, expectations, and approaches to faith. While this diversity presents significant opportunities for spiritual growth and community development, it can also create challenges that hinder unity, participation, and effective ministry. This study examines the generational gap within the church and explores strategies for enhancing unity and engagement among members from different age groups. Using a qualitative research approach, the study investigates the perceptions, experiences, and interactions of church members across generations. Data were collected through interviews, focus groups, and …

Is Genuine Redemption Possible Through A Counterfeit Christ?, Tams M. Mullins

Masters Theses

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), commonly referred to as Mormons, consider themselves Christians without equivocation. Evangelical Christianity has, however, challenged this claim since the inception of the Latter-day Saints. The Latter-day Saints purport to be Christian in doctrine and practice and claim a Christian identity centered around their acceptance of the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. While the Latter-day Saints ascribe to a high Christology, confess Jesus as Lord, and regard Him as their Redeemer, the Jesus of the Latter-day Saints’ literature bears little resemblance to the Jesus of evangelical Christianity. …

Promises Fulfilled: 114-Year-Old Alelia Murphy’S Life Of Faith And Resilience, Jacqueline B. Koonce

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Alelia Murphy was the oldest living person in the United States, turning 114 in July 2019 until her death in November 2019. She and her family credit her longevity to her faith in God. This premise is explored through her words as she stated she had not seen everyone she needed to see and compared that statement to Simeon from the Bible who did not die until he saw the Messiah. Alelia Murphy also had not seen everything. She was seeing the relative success of her much admired, former President Barack Obama, and she had just met me, her great …

Reflections: My Personal Journey, Jerry L. Pitts

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reflections: My Personal Journey is the heartfelt and inspiring memoir of Jerry L. Pitts Jr., a man whose life was transformed by faith, perseverance, and God's grace. From a turbulent childhood marked by frequent moves, rebellion, and poor choices, to becoming a devoted husband, father, educator, and servant of God, this powerful testimony reveals how divine purpose can emerge from life's greatest struggles.

Through deeply personal stories, Jerry shares his journey from the "road to destruction" to a life dedicated to serving Christ. Readers will walk beside him through broken relationships, career setbacks, military service, family triumphs, heartbreaking loss, spiritual …

Reflections: The Journey Continues, Jerry L. Pitts

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reflections: The Journey Continues is a deeply moving memoir of faith, loss, love, calling, and the quiet strength that carries a life forward when everything familiar has been shaken. In this powerful continuation of Reflections: My Personal Journey, Dr. Jerry L. Pitts invites readers into the chapters that followed his first book—the ones marked by profound suffering, unexpected grace, and a renewed sense of purpose.

This memoir traces the season when Jerry’s life was transformed by his late wife Janice’s four‑year battle with cervical cancer. With honesty and tenderness, he recounts the surgeries, treatments, setbacks, and moments of courage …

Four Ways Our Daily Conversations Shape Our Children's View Of The World, Abby M. Foreman

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Am I telling the everyday stories of life where God’s love and grace is abundant?"

Posting about modeling healthy communication styles to children from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Four Ways Our Daily Conversations Shape Our Chldren's View of the World

Judaism And Catholicism: Possibilities Of An Inter-Spiritual Dialogue, David Neuhaus

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article examines the possibilities of an inter-spiritual dialogue between Catholics and Jews. Describing the transformation of the Catholic attitude to Jews andJudaism in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, moving from a teaching of contempt to one of respect, it analyses the far-reaching reformulations of Catholic theology that promote an interreligious dialogue. After centuries of traumatic history, Jewish reactions have been hesitant. However, the past decades have led to a burgeoning relationship that can indeed flower into a mutual inter-spiritual dialogue that deepens the faith of both Catholics and Jews.

Jainism And Catholicism – Dialoguing Spiritually, Bryan Lobo

Journal of Global Catholicism

The inter-spiritual dialogue between Jainism and Catholicism lends itself towards discovering similarities and dissimilarities between the two spiritualities. Recognizing this discovery, this paper, without claiming to be exhaustive as regards the spiritual themes, discusses the chosen themes to facilitate greater reflection and potential to re-discover elements that can help the growth of understanding and practicing the preferred spirituality.

Islam And Catholicism: Theology And Practice Of Inter-Spiritual Dialogue, Felix Koerner

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article explores foundations, preconditions, aims, persons, groups, practices, methods, texts, and criteria of Muslim–Christian inter-spiritual dialogue. In-ter-spiritual dialogue thrives within the network of other dialogical forms: dialogue of life and collaboration, of theological and practical understanding. This article argues that the spiritual dimension of dialogical encounter may itself constitute a critical site of moral reflection, enabling participants to perceive injustice more clearly and to respond to it more responsibly. Nevertheless, the integrity of in-ter-spiritual dialogue depends upon the cultivation of trust, candor, and a shared orientation toward mutual enrichment and spiritual purification. Where dialogue is subordinated to extrinsic strategic …

The Dialogue Of Spiritual Experience In Buddhist-Christian Encounter, S Mark Heim

Journal of Global Catholicism

Can one learn more about one’s own religion through the practices of another? My positive answer to this question is illustrated in this paper by reflection on aspects of the Buddhist practice of emptiness, in specific connection with Christian under-standing of our lives as creatures. The Buddhist meditative practices I have in mind have several things in common. They are introspective (activated in one person’s inner consciousness) and premised on the Buddhist understanding of emptiness (specifically “no self ” teachings). Buddhist introspective practice takes at least three broad forms. One of these is a meditative analytical awareness of the contents …

Hindu Poetry And The Project Of An Inter-Spiritual Catholic Theology, Francis X. Clooney

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article engages the work of the Indian south Indian Tamil-language Vaiṣṇava poet saints known as the Alvārs. The article specifically focuses the First HundredHoly Linked verses of Poykai Ālvār to argue for inter-spiritual learning between Catholics and Hindus. The article concludes with personal reflections on this encounter within the context of the global Catholic Church

Overview And Acknowledgments, Mathew Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

An overview and introduction to the present issue on Inter-Spiritual Dialogue.

Review Of Effective Intercultural Evangelism: Good News In A Diverse World, Authored By Moon And Simon, Terri Champion

Witness

No abstract provided.

Review Of Evangelism: Learning From The Past, Authored By Green, Jeffrey Stevenson

Witness

No abstract provided.

Developing Robust Human Formation For Ministerial Training, Mary L. Parks

Obsculta

The Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis recognizes that effective ministerial formation is holistic, attending to all aspects of a minister’s being. The document therefore outlines four pillars of formation: human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral. In Co-Workers In the Vineyard of the Lord, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) extends the same four pillars of formation to the development of lay ecclesial ministers. The USCCB also applies these pillars to diaconal formation in The National Directory for the Formation, Ministry, and Life of Permanent Deacons in the United States of America.

Loose The Bonds Of Injustice: The True Fast Of Lent, Bella Brinkman

Obsculta

This reflection was written for and delivered to the community of the Saint John's School of Theology and Seminary on February 19, 2026. It reflects on Isaiah 58:6–8 and the theme of Lenten fasting, as part of the Midday Prayer Service during the first week of Lent. The reflection was composed and offered in the context of the ongoing immigration enforcement raids carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis. It invites the community into a deeper consideration of the Christian response to injustice during the Lenten season.

Omnipotence And Modesty: The Still, Small Voice Of God In 1 Kings 19, Scott Cooper

Obsculta

This article examines the sovereignty of God’s self-revelation to Ezekiel in a still, small voice on Mount Horeb and considers the difficulty of reconciling competing scholarly assessments of the prophet as faithful priestly servant of YHWH or disobedient free agent. This author considers Ezekiel’s experience as a site of spiritual union with God, inspired by the exegetical work of 14th century German Dominican priest and mystic Johannes Tauler.

Five Scriptural Reflections On Grief, Patrick Russell

Obsculta

This is a piece that looks at grief through a close reading of different texts of the Old Testament. While each reflection is its own, they are one paper that gives the reader a chance to see and reflect on grief by sitting with Genesis 11:1-9, Exodus 8:20-32, Ruth 1:1-22, Job 2:11-13, and Psalm 13.