Christianity Commons^™

Space, Belonging, And Formation In The Intergenerational Church, Tara Lynn Wolf

Doctor of Ministry

This Doctoral Project addresses the following Need, Problem, or Opportunity (NPO): Redeemer Lutheran Church has limited intentionally cultivated spaces for informal, intergenerational connection, leading to reliance on programs to foster relationships, formation, and a sense of belonging. This condition challenges the congregation’s stated commitment to being intentionally intergenerational and affects relational continuity spanning generations.

Research conducted through stakeholder interviews, design workshops, surveys, and prototyping revealed that belonging and spiritual formation are formed not only by ministry programming but by the physical and social environments in which people gather repeatedly over time. Key insights indicated that churches often underestimate the influence …

Renewed: A Journey Toward Resilient And Relational Leadership, Molly Bradley Lacroix

Doctor of Ministry

Adverse religious experiences cause spiritual, emotional, and relational wounds. Research on spiritual harm locates its origins in the misuse of power. High-control religious environments are preoccupied with authority, submission, silencing dissent, and shaming those who question or doubt. Clearly, the nature of leadership is key in addressing and preventing harm. Spiritually safe leaders empower people, lead with humility, seek feedback, and take accountability for mistakes. Research on the role of clergy reveals complex roles, relentless demands, burnout, and the impact of secondary trauma on clergy well-being. Additionally, clergy are often expected to operate beyond their areas of competence and report …

The Sabbath Journey: An Invitation For Pastors And Spiritual Leaders To Find Rest In God, Cody Daniel Ragland

Doctor of Ministry

In the fast-paced ministry of today, non-denominational evangelical pastors in the United States often strive to serve their congregations while neglecting God’s gift of Sabbath rest. Though the Sabbath is deeply rooted in Scripture, it is often misunderstood, minimized, or neglected in the lives of pastors. My NPO seeks to address:

This doctoral project introduces The Sabbath Journey: An invitation for Pastors and Spiritual Leaders to find rest in God. It is a year-long cohort program designed for pastors and ministry leaders to cultivate deep personal relationships and accountability as they develop a weekly Sabbath practice. Through intentional community, …

Raising Not So Little Leaders, Rob M. Burke

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem this research addressed was understanding how parents, supported by local churches, can instill values of love and kindness and cultivate a servant leadership mindset in children from birth through age eighteen within the Orange County context. This study examined how churches can partner with parents to help children live out these values through the relationships, environments, and everyday rhythms that shape them. In response to this problem, the researcher explored the biblical and theological themes of love, kindness, and service in the Gospel of John and the Johannine Epistles. John shares how Jesus demonstrated these values through being …

Telling God’S Story, Growing Families

Books

No abstract provided.

Orthodox–Catholic Relations Between Georgia And Italy: Historical Legacy, Contemporary Dynamics, And Future Prospects, Zaza Tsotniashvili

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines Orthodox–Catholic relations between Georgia and Italy across three temporal registers: the historical legacy of Italian Catholic missionary engagement, the contemporary institutional and legal dynamics binding the two churches, and the prospects and obstacles that will shape ecumenical rapprochement in the years ahead. Building on the seven-century missionary record explored in the author’s preceding study for this journal, the analysis turns its principal attention to the present and future, as recommended by the journal’s editorial guidance. Drawing on Vatican primary documents, Georgian constitutional and statutory texts, the reports of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue, international religious-freedom …

Faith, Formation, And Formalization: Entrepreneurship Development Among Women In Ghana, Patricia Adams-Williams

Doctor of Ministry

The problem addressed in this study is the absence of a unified, faith-centered framework that equips single mothers in Ghana to build sustainable livelihoods while strengthening their spiritual identity. Although Ghanaian women demonstrate remarkable resilience and entrepreneurial drive, many remain confined to informal markets without access to business training, mentorship, or systems that connect their work to their calling. This dissertation argues that integrating spiritual formation with entrepreneurship training creates a pathway for lasting transformation. The thesis of this study is that Kingdom-centered entrepreneurship, rooted in biblical identity and supported by communal mentorship, empowers women to move from survival to …

A Better Way: From Pyramids To Gardens: Recovering God's Design For Leadership, Accountability And Renewal, Tara Naomi Korpi

Doctor of Ministry

This doctoral project emerges from my vocational context as a consultant and pastor working with senior pastors and executive leadership teams within evangelical contexts. Across these settings, I encountered patterns of abuse and unethical and immoral behavior that were not rooted in isolated mistakes but embedded within organizational cultures that normalized pastoral isolation, protected institutional image, and lacked effective structures for accountability. These observations shaped the project’s conviction that, when empowered with appropriate tools for integrity and accountability, leaders can cultivate healthier churches where righteousness is prioritized, harm is prevented, and pastors are supported to finish well for lasting Kingdom …

The Table Between Us: Cultivating Intergenerational Discipleship And Belonging In The Local Church, James Irwin

Doctor of Ministry

Many members of Generation Z, born in the mid-1990s to the early 2010s, have grown up amid digital saturation, social fragmentation, mental health challenges, and institutional distrust. At Holy Savior Lutheran Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, many Gen Z participants seek deeper, more meaningful relationships beyond Sunday worship. This project addresses the concern expressed by these Gen Z members at Holy Savior.

This dissertation asserts that intergenerational ministry provides a theologically grounded, culturally responsive approach for engaging Gen Z in meaningful discipleship at Holy Savior Lutheran Church. By grounding this approach in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Sanctorum Communio and Life Together, and …

Beyond The Heroic Leader: Formation For Collaborative Ministry, Graham English

Doctor of Leadership

I have served as a local church pastor for 28 years. In my current service on a denominational team that supports 500 Licensed Workers and 115 churches within the Western District of The Alliance Canada, I identified the following Need, Problem, or Opportunity (NPO): “Many leaders in The Alliance Canada lack collaborative skills, inhibiting participatory leadership, stifling innovation, and diminishing congregational empowerment to engage in God’s mission.” My research highlighted the limitations of heroic leadership in complex and rapidly evolving ministry contexts. Leadership approaches that were once effective in the church no longer align with current relational, cultural, and organizational …

Sancocho Leadership: Nurturing Leadership And Vocation Of Latinas, Miriam Méndez

Doctor of Leadership

Latinas are vital to the future of the American Baptist Churches of New Jersey (ABCNJ), but the church has failed to properly nurture and develop their pastoral leadership gifts. They contribute significantly to congregational life, pastoral care, community outreach, and theological imagination. However, their presence in formal pastoral leadership roles remains limited. This dissertation examines the structural, cultural, and theological factors that influence Latina pastoral development. The solution for developing Latina women into pastoral leadership positions in the ABCNJ is the introduction of a contextual, culturally rooted model called Sancocho Leadership. Drawing on practical theology, Latina feminist theology, and leadership …

Parental Incarceration As A Root Cause Of Food Insecurity: A Faith-Based Inquiry Into Grandparent-Led Households, Jennifer L. Eckert

Doctor of Leadership

Parental incarceration is often seen solely in terms of crime and punishment, overlooking the profound disruption that can destabilize entire households. Grandparents who step in to raise children are frequently left to bear the burden of the collateral damage with limited or fixed incomes, increasing the risk for food insecurity while facing stigma and emotional strain.

Although incarceration and food insecurity are often treated as separate issues, this project, Standing in the Gap: Exploring Family Stability through Immersive Learning, recognizes their connection, particularly when the circumstances stem from parental incarceration. At the same time, many faith communities remain on …

Journeying Together: A Coaching Framework Empowering Voice And Transforming Teams, Kari Michele Kinard

Doctor of Leadership

To be seen, heard, and to have a voice are deeply human desires, regardless of where one finds oneself in the world. In the culturally and ethnically diverse Saharan nation, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (RIM), the capital, Nouakchott, serves as a central hub shaped by a strong Islamic identity, historical hierarchies, and long-standing foreign involvement in development efforts. These dynamics create both meaningful opportunities and real challenges for leadership practices across sectors.

Development efforts in RIM have long sought to strengthen communities through education, healthcare, and economic initiatives. While these efforts are well-intentioned, sustaining impact has remained a persistent …

Leadaptive: A Leadership Framework That Equips Pastors To Discern Ministry Season And Flex Leadership Styles With Wisdom, And Effectiveness, Glyn Barrett

Doctor of Leadership

This doctoral project, Leadaptive, addresses the following NPO: inflexible leadership style in Pentecostal and Charismatic churches stifles growth, leading to stagnation and reduced gospel impact. The project addresses this challenge within my vocational context as the Senior Pastor of a multisite church in the United Kingdom, a national denominational leader, and the Chair of Global Church Planting for a worldwide Pentecostal fellowship of more than 460,000 churches. In these settings, leaders often face a tension between spiritual conviction and adaptive responsiveness. The project seeks to design and implement a replicable, Christcentered framework to help pastors lead effectively through the diverse …

Las Mujeres Y El Adn Wesleyano, Rachel L. Coleman

Spanish Resources/Recursos en Español

No abstract provided.

Cultural Logics In Agriculture: A Critical Christian Perspective, John Hill Price, Travis Ryan Pickell, Paul Capel, Kyungsoo Yoo, Dominic Christiensen, Marie Culhane, Tyler Dick, John Deen, Erik Watkins

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Imagine a precocious, driven, and empathetic undergraduate student. She has discovered a passion and a talent for biochemistry, and wants to apply to graduate school to pursue agronomy, with the goal of returning to her rural community home after graduation. She loves science and nature; she is also a committed Christian. She has a vague sense that these things are connected, but she isn’t sure how. And to be honest, the people around her in college do not always believe these two parts of her identity are compatible. Nevertheless, she plans to pursue graduate studies and hopes her faith will …

T. F. Torrance's Conversation With The Social Sciences And Political Theologies Of His Era, Roger Newell

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

The essay surveys Torrance’s engagement with the social sciences of his era, noticing various political and economic themes while noting his limited conversation compared to his extensive engagement with the natural sciences. The second half of the essay considers the implications for the future engagement of trinitarian theology with economics, politics, and the ongoing relevance of political theology.

What Church Planters Need : How Community, Training, & Intentional Relationships Fuel Church Growth, Carolina G. Miller

Heritage Material

No abstract provided.

Scholars Called: Ten Years Of Doctorates In Biblical Studies At Asbury Theological Seminary, David B. Schreiner, Jason A. Myers

Academic Books

No abstract provided.

What Church Planters Need : How Community, Training, & Intentional Relationships Fuel Church Growth, Carolina G. Miller

Academic Books

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Christian Worship: Grammar, Theology, & Practice, Stephen D. Bruns

Academic Books

No abstract provided.

Judgement Morning: Studies In Holiness Radicalism, William Kostlevy

Academic Books

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Christian Ethics, Michael Knight, Lizette Knight

Academic Books

No abstract provided.

Analyzing Early Medieval Perspectives Of Fetal Development, Nivedha Srinivasan

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis examines early medieval perspectives of fetal development by analyzing two manuscripts: British Library, Cotton Tiberius A III and Leiden University, Vossianus lat. Q69. This study will investigate how knowledge of pregnancy was shared throughout England before the establishment of universities. Interest in medieval reproductive language has piqued in importance in recent years, especially due to modern legal debates surrounding reproductive rights. By examining descriptions of the nine months of fetal development in these two manuscripts, as well as in widely known earlier medical texts like Pliny’s Natural History and Vindicianus’ Gynaecia, this research explores how monastic writers in …

Master Plan Of Evangelism – Macedonian Version, Robert E. Coleman

GO InterNational Books

No abstract provided.

The Divine Feminine Reframed: Dogma And Doctrine, Icon And Flesh, And The Sacred Embodiment Of Reclamation, Natasha Keckley

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis interrogates Marian iconography and its role in constructing a moral binary that marks female bodies as either sanctified or sinful. Drawing on feminist and postcolonial theory, iconographic analysis, and historical case studies, the research analyzes how Christian symbology established the Marian Mold: a theological aesthetic apparatus that exalts feminine sanctity through ideals of virginity, obedience, and maternal receptivity while constraining feminine expression. This paradigm, propagated through the British Empire’s colonial regimes, shaped the regulation and reinterpretation of embodied traditions. The thesis investigates these dynamics through two case studies: the Devadasi tradition and Bharatanatyam’s reformulation in South India, and …

Sigue Al Sanador, Stephen A. Seamands

Spanish Resources/Recursos en Español

No abstract provided.

Cristo Y El Sufrimiento Humano, E. Stanley Jones

Spanish Resources/Recursos en Español

No abstract provided.

Three Mothers Who Prayed, James M. Taylor

Heritage Material

No abstract provided.

Critical And Exegetical Notes And Discourses On The Gospels. Volume 1, Matthew And Mark, Andrew Carroll

Heritage Material

No abstract provided.