Digital Commons Network^™

A Resilient Faith: Lessons For The Church From Church Leavers, Carol Mclaughlin

Doctor of Ministry

This dissertation began by seeking to understand why people leave church, particularly baby boomers that no longer attend church. Section One introduces the changing perceptions and dynamics of religious identification and church attendance practices. The question I ask and endeavor to respond to is how the church might live a resilient faith in the liminal space between a church-centric faith and faith apart from church affiliation. Section Two considers three responses to church leaving and perceptions of faith. The first considers the shift taking place in faith development when authority moves from the church to the individual. The second is …

Mixed Messages: Reflections On Multiethnic Identity And Narratives In Youth Ministry Pedagogy, Joel Mayward

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Drawing upon the work of Gloria E. Anzaldúa and Paul Ricoeur, this article presents a personal and scholarly reflection on the author’s multiethnic identity and how such identities may benefit youth ministry pedagogies and perspectives. The author explains Anzaldúa’s notion of nepantla alongside Ricoeur’s concepts of “narrative identity” and “social imaginary,” then demonstrates how these two thinkers’ perspectives can be interwoven and applied by educators and youth ministry practitioners. Ultimately, in sharing about his “mixed” heritage, the author contends that multiethnic individuals can serve as bridge-builders between cultures and generations.

Perfectionism Across Adolescence, W. Justin Dyer

BYU Studies

As a sixteen-year- old on my first date, I had such a nervous tightness in my stomach that, at one point, I ran to the bathroom to throw up. I’d always been somewhat nervous, but it had never bothered me much before. Yet from that time on through my teenage years, any time there was something new happening, I would inevitably have to throw up.

Full Issue

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

Observation, Reason, Faith, And Revelation, Dale G. Renlund

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

While some might believe that observation and reason are at odds with faith, they in fact support our ability to receive revelation. We can be deceived when we draw conclusions based on observation, reason, or faith alone, but when used in harmony, they facilitate revelation and enable the Holy Ghost to be our constant companion. Following this pattern of revelation increases the spiritual momentum in our lives.

More Sick, More Broadly Spiritual: A Comparison Of The Spirituality Of Adolescents With And Without Chronic Illness, Carrie A. Ives

Religious & Theological Studies Student Work

Purpose: This project sought to explore any difference in spirituality between adolescents with and without chronic illness. Assessment tools were reviewed for appropriateness for this population.

Methods: A literature review was conducted, followed by novel research. 10 adolescents were interviewed, using a mixed-methods approach. The quantitative results were analyzed using T-test and MANOVA. The qualitative results were analyzed to find themes and patterns.

Findings: Those with chronic illness and/or mental illness were more likely to have a broader, non-traditional view of religion than their healthy peers. Otherwise, no differences were found between the spirituality of adolescents with and without chronic …

Student Achievement Growth Before And During Covid-19: Comparing In-Person And Remote Learning In Catholic And Public Schools, Stephen Ponisciak, Julie W. Dallavis

Journal of Catholic Education

In response to COVID-19, U.S. students learned remotely from mid-March to June 2020. At the start of academic year 2020-21, many schools remained remote but others—primarily Catholic and other private schools—reopened. We consider Catholic schooling as a proxy for in-person instruction and use national data from Renaissance Star and MAP Growth assessments to compare the achievement of similar students pre-pandemic, during the height of mitigation strategies, and after most schools reopened. In a departure from pre-pandemic growth patterns, students in Catholic schools showed more growth than those in public schools during the height of mitigation strategies, suggesting the importance of …

Where Does The Church Stand In Today’S Mental Health Landscape?, Noah T. Mursu

Schultz-Werth Award Papers

Religious involvement in care for those living with mental illness has been going on for centuries, and perspectives on it have changed throughout the years. This literature review evaluates the place of religious groups, mainly Christian churches, in today's mental health situation by considering past and present involvement. It incorporates sources regarding different eras of mental hospital reform, modern perspectives of mental health clinicians and clergy, and the current gaps in mental health support among a variety of groups, including veterans, African Americans, and people in developing countries. This review then considers potential future involvement, especially considering how these gaps …

Decoding The Self-Tracking Symbols Of Wilford Woodruff’S Journals, Joshua M. Matson

BYU Studies

Wilford Woodruff’s journals have been celebrated as one of the greatest textual records of the Restoration. A prominent, yet almost entirely unexplored, component of Woodruff’s journals is his creating, implementing, and consistently drawing symbols and pictures alongside his near-daily autobiographical record. Within his fifteen-volume journal spanning more than a sixty-year period, Woodruff drew approximately nine thousand images. The first of these symbols appears in an entry dated March 23, 1837, and the final image is drawn on March 19, 1897. These images can be divided into two groups. The first are unique illustrations that appear erratically throughout the journals and …

Conclusion Latter-Day Saints And Perfectionism, W. Justin Dyer

BYU Studies

This special issue on members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and toxic perfectionism seems long overdue. Although there has been some research in the past, many misleading narratives about Latter-day Saints and perfectionism—narratives promoted by professionals and nonprofessionals alike—were pulled into that research vacuum. Prior to the research presented in this issue, there were no studies that revealed how Latter-day Saints compare in perfectionism to those of other religions and those of no religion, and there was no longitudinal research that provided evidence for the sources and consequences of perfectionism over time for Latter-day Saints. Without …

Project Portfolio: Raft: Rise Above The Flood Of Tears A Mental Health Resource, Rebecca Hald

Doctor of Leadership

Struggles with mental health have had a history of being ignored, condemned, or relegated to a lack of faith by the Church. Rather than finding a place of hope, those who struggle have often found a place of condemnation. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a rise globally in mental health struggles. Pastors faced a unique challenge ministering during this season and there has been a great toll on the mental health of pastors. Considering the historic stance of the church on mental health, rise in mental health struggles in pastors post- COVID, and having been …

40-Day Fit, A Journey For Heroes, Michael B. O'Neill

Doctor of Leadership

This project is a collective portfolio of discovery and development that explores the intersection of societal health and the vitality of the church, recognizing a state of decline in both areas. This critical, yet often overlooked issue, is the foundation of this research-driven initiative. It is a practical process of diagnosis and treatment of a problem or an opportunity, in context, leading to application. The portfolio project represents a journey of discovery and reframing, where research methods, strategic objectives, and project milestones guide the identification of needs, problems, and opportunities. These elements serve as the driving forces behind crafting solutions …

The Role Of A Leader: Establishing Psychological Safety In The Church, Gaylen Sheree Pearl Jones

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abuse is an intentional attempt to cause harm to others. Within any environment there is the possibility of abuse; abuse can be physical, sexual, psychological, and more. This project addressed the phenomena of psychological safety in the church to reduce psychological abuse. Psychological abuse, also referred to as emotional abuse, is a form of abuse that induces fear and intentionally affects one’s emotional health. Psychological safety in the church is a phenomenon that needs to be addressed. This project examined biblical and psychological resources to gain a better understanding on how to create psychologically safe environments that will discourage emotional …

Holistic And Holy: An Inward Journey Toward Healing And Wholeness, Chad Mcswain

Doctor of Leadership

There are two ubiquitous challenges to the modern church in North America: declining church attendance and the mental health crisis. This is an opportunity for the modern church to take up the missional imperative by providing access to mental health resources to meet the mental and spiritual needs of those they serve, while creating a positive connection to those who do not currently attend church.

This doctoral project seeks to address both challenges by providing a podcast called, Holistic and Holy, Listener Guide, and website that creates conversations at the intersection of mental health and spirituality. This approach uses traditional …

Paideia: A Mentorship Framework For Training Aspiring Pastors To Lead In Our Changing World, David Beavis

Doctor of Leadership

There is a pastoral leadership crisis in the US. With the convergence of pastors aging out, burning out, moral derailment, or simply choosing another career outside of pastoral work, there is a great need to raise up the next generation of pastors. However, traditional institutions for training pastors (such as seminary or bible college), though important, are not sufficient in and of themselves for producing future pastors. We live in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world with novel pastoral challenges perpetually emerging. But our normative pastoral training assumes a world (Christendom) that no longer exists.

What is required is …

Project Portfolio: Questions Leaders Ask As Modeled By Jesus, Kristy Newport

Doctor of Leadership

For people to be seen, heard, and understood, it is important for a leader to ask good questions. If this does not take place in a small group or within an organization, people do not feel appreciated. Often the result is people leaving a small group or organization. In order to address this need I have wanted to educate organizational leaders in the skill of asking good questions. As a marriage and family therapist I have experienced the power that questions bring. It is my hope to empower organizational leaders with tools for them to connect with those they lead. …

The Bourgeoisie Black Church: An Analysis Of The American Black Church's Aspirations And Imagination, Alexander Robert Booker

Seattle Pacific Seminary Theses

I am a product of the Black church. It is my home, my heart, and it has helped me spiritually, financially, and emotionally in many ways throughout my life. However, the church that I love dearly and has provided me with many opportunities has also provided spaces of harm, exclusion, and the promotion of an imperialistic Christ. This tension is not a unique tension for many institutions born in America, but what I see so clearly is the tension between the Black church’s countercultural and resistant roots that started in the brush harbors of the antebellum south and into what …

Exploring Healing Touches In The Bible, Michée B. Badé

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

Healing touches in the Bible hold significant meaning in both the spiritual and physical contexts. Numerous biblical accounts illustrate how physical healing in connection with touch served as a demonstration of faith, connection, and divine power. These narratives depict important moments in which touch becomes a conduit for divine healing and emphasize the prominent role that touch plays in biblical accounts of healing.

This paper first explores the concept of health and healing as presented in Scripture, followed by an examination of touch and healing in both the Old and New Testaments, while looking at the cultural, theological, and missiological …

Ellen G. White On Pain And Suffering Among Christians, Gary Councell

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

Though “blameless and upright” (Job 1:8), Job’s epic losses and pain exceed our human ability to imagine. The Apostle Paul’s sufferings nearly killed him several times (see II Cor 11:23-28, 12:7-10). Christ’s pain on the cross is incomprehensible. Other biblical notables suffered mentally and/ or emotionally: Jacob, Hannah, Saul, David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and unnamed others whose maladies were healed by Jesus. But those records seem remote—in the distant past, so when you feel pain and your suffering lasts and lasts, blurring days into nights and making routine tasks difficult, what are you to do? Even brief shocks of pain …

Transformative Power Of Healing And Dreams: A Divine Encounter With Jesus, Jony Hajaj

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

Throughout history, countless individuals have reported experiencing miraculous healings and profound encounters with Jesus Christ in their dreams. These encounters have profoundly impacted their lives, instilling them with renewed faith, hope, and purpose. These encounters as spiritual experiences possess transformative power. In this article, I will examine the fascinating realm of healing through God-given dreams where Jesus Christ appears, brings solace, guidance, and restoration to those in need.

A Biblical And Theological Foundation To Disciple And Retain Adventist Yorla, Ako Zimko

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

This article considers literature on interfaith marriages and draws principles especially relevant for Adventist Yorla from the writings of Ellen G. White and the lives and examples of Ruth, Abigail, and Esther. It then, explains the advice for Christians whose spouses were unbelievers from Paul and Peter in 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 and 1 Peter 3:1,2.

Adventist Yorla refers to Adventist women married to non-Adventists in Tangkhul terms. Thus, the term interfaith marriage, which refers to the union of two individuals from different religious or denominational backgrounds, applies in this context. In the context of the Tangkhul tribe, which is a …

Biblical And Theological Basis For A Premarital Counseling Ministry, Daniel Grey

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

Marriage is one of the two institutions God ordained before sin entered this world and is God’s ideal for all people. The history of marriage begins along with the history of creation. The account of the first marriage is found in the Book of Genesis, which also contains the history of several other good and not so good marriages. Over the years, the purpose of marriage has been weakened so that today, many cultures have reinvented and reshaped marriage to suit their need. However, in God’s perspective, marriage is still the unchangeable foundation for human life. The apostle Paul says, …

To Whom Is The Chaplain Beholden? Guest Editor Introduction To Special Issue, Jordan Mason

Funded Scholarship

In this issue of Christian Bioethics, we invite chaplains and theologians to examine the role of the hospital chaplain in the contemporary institutional setting of the hospital. The simplicity of the chaplain’s role is often taken for granted; yet, this role is actually multivalent, with duties and loyalties pulling from many different sides. Chaplains are people of faith, ordained and/or endorsed ministers, and pastoral care professionals; they are at once beholden to God, to their own faith expression, and to their sense of vocation, to the hospital, and to the patient. With various loyalties and responsibilities in mind, we must …

Auden: Body/Mind, Basil Lloyd-Moffett

CMC Senior Theses

On one hand Auden appears the most cerebral of poets. It is said that when he arrived at school, aged eight, he professed himself excited to study the different psychological types, and the cryptic verse that was to emerge over a decade later bears the scars of his reading, psychological or otherwise, as clearly as the relentlessly analytical Dichtung und Wahrheit and other late works.Absorbing and repurposing philosophical, psychological, religious, and scientific works was an essential part of his artistic strategy, and led to credible accusations of plagiarism on a number of occasions.And just as his collaborators and friends mocked …

Support Of The Health Message And Health Practices In A Global Sample Of Seventh-Day Adventists, Duane C. Mcbride, Alina M. Baltazar, Karl G. D. Bailey, Shannon M. Trecartin, Peter Landless, David J. B. Trim, Galina A. Stele

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Transforming Church Culture: Exploring The Extent To Which Servant Leadership Behaviors Influence Organizational Culture In Small African American Baptist Churches In Central Arkansas, Derick Easter

Dissertations

This quantitative correlational study examined the extent to which servant leadership behaviors predict organizational culture in small African American Baptist churches in Central Arkansas. In light of the post-pandemic decline in church membership and participation, the study explored whether enhancing church culture through leadership practices could help stabilize or grow congregational engagement. The primary research question was: To what extent do servant leadership behaviors predict organizational culture in these churches? Five dimensions of servant leadership—altruistic calling, emotional healing, wisdom, persuasive mapping, and organizational stewardship—were evaluated. The study involved 150 participants from churches affiliated with the state’s two major African American …

A New Great Awakening Of Religious Freedom In America, John Witte Jr.

Faculty Articles

While loud criticisms of religion continue to clatter in the media and the law reviews, the U.S. Supreme Court has led a great awakening of American religious freedom. In more than two dozen cases since 2011, the Court has used both the First Amendment and federal statutes to strengthen the rights of religious organizations to make their own internal decisions about employment and employee benefits. The Court has held that some forms of government aid to religion and religious education are not only permissible under the Establishment Clause, but also required under the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses. The …

“Words Of Plainness” Jacob’S Apology, His Addendum, And The Competing Forms Of Nephite Worship, Dan Belnap, Rob Hernandez

Faculty Publications

Jacob’s powerful essay in Jacob chapters 4–6 ends with this statement: “I bid you farewell, until I shall meet you before the pleasing bar of God, which bar striketh the wicked with awful dread and fear. Amen” (Jacob  6:13). The essay represents Jacob’s teachings as a Nephite priest concerning the centrality of Christ in the religious and doctrinal framework of his Nephite congregation. It fits within the greater structure of the book of Jacob, which appears to be governed by Nephi1’s instructions concerning what should be included on the small plates. Recorded by Jacob in Jacob 1, the instruction suggests …

Pastoral Leadership Of Seventh-Day Adventist Pastors In Sub-Saharan Africa And Congregational Giving During 2020-2021: A Grounded Theory Study, Eric Jean-Bruno Aniel Barbe

Dissertations

Problem

The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical model that describes how the behavioral strategies of Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) pastors in Sub-Saharan Africa may have positively influenced congregational giving during the years 2020-2021 of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method

A qualitative grounded theory research design was used (Corbin & Strauss, 2015). In-depth interviews were conducted to collect data from a purposive sample of SDA pastoral leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa. The collected data were analyzed using an iterative process consisting of open, axial, and selective coding, thereby facilitating the construction of subcategories and a core category. This analytical process …

The Missing Blue In Adventism: A Gap In Discipleship And Mission, Petr Cincala

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

This article comes from the perspective of a researcher, a practical theologian, and a missiologist. The title The Missing Blue refers to the idea that light consists of three colors (Green, Red, Blue), and because God is light, the analogy of light is relevant for those who believe in the Triune God. We are called to worship the Creator God (represented by the green color) as Ruler of all the universe, God the consuming fire (Deut 4:24; Heb 12:29). Jesus (represented by the red color) teaches us to come to God as our friend, our daddy (John 15:15; Mark 14:36; …