Date

1-2021

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Chair

Steven Davis

Keywords

Rural, Church, Support, Grandparents, Raising, Grandchildren

Disciplines

Christianity | Religion | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

A growing trend in rural communities located in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, as well as across much of the United States, is the significant increase in the number of grandparents that are being forced to accept the responsibility of raising their grandchildren due to a crisis within the family structure. The US Census Bureau cited in 2016 that over 2.5 million grandparents are helping with the responsibility of raising their grandchildren, and that 7.8 million children live in homes owned by their grandparents. This accounts for almost 10% of all children nationally. There is a current ministry need for churches in these remote settings to apply biblical principles to address the spiritual, physical, legal, emotional, and education needs of these unique family situations. This study seeks to show the effectiveness of churches that develop such ministries that seek to target support programming for grandparents raising their grandchildren.

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