Date
7-21-2026
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Doctor of Ministry (DMin)
Chair
Jonathan Sullivan
Keywords
Biblical Lament, Religious Coping, Emotional Distress, Meaning-Making Coping, Stress, Religious Struggle, Peer Support, Stressors, Coping Skills, Lament Shift
Disciplines
Counseling | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion
Recommended Citation
Wiseheart, Paul, "Lament Shift: Utilizing Biblical Lament as a Reframing Process to Help Church Members of First Baptist Church of Lumberton, Mississippi, Cope with Emotional Distress" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 8702.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/8702
Abstract
The purpose of this DMIN action research project was to address the problem that church members at First Baptist Church of Lumberton, Mississippi (FBCL) were unprepared to use biblical lament as a meaning-making coping practice to manage emotional distress. The thesis statement was that if FBCL church members participated in Lament Shift, they would report greater preparedness to manage emotional distress. Lament Shift is a curriculum-based program designed to equip FBCL church members to use biblical lament as a meaning-making coping practice in the context of a four-week peer support group. The study used a pre-experimental mixed methods design and included thirteen adult participants. Quantitative data included pre-test and post-test surveys, and two-tailed paired t-tests yielded statistically significant results indicating improvement in all items measured from pre-test to post-test. Qualitative data included participants’ weekly journal entries and video recordings of group sessions. An inductive thematic analysis of the qualitative data revealed six dominant themes: barriers to lament, growing understanding of lament, finding help in lament, permission to lament, drawing closer to God, and encouragement from group sharing. A synthesis of the quantitative and qualitative results revealed five overarching categories that arose in the study: preparedness, improved coping, value of peer support, shifting perspectives of lament, and increased communion with God. Results demonstrated that Lament Shift accomplished its purpose of preparing FBCL members to use biblical lament as a meaning-making coping practice to manage emotional distress. Study limitations, applications, and implications for further research are discussed.
