Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (EdD)

Chair

Mary Lowe

Keywords

Emotional Competence, Christian Practices, Leadership, Millennials, Spiritual Formation, Growth

Disciplines

Christianity | Leadership Studies | Religion | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

While emotions management is critical to effective leadership, literature describes present and emerging leaders in the millennial generation as not being proficient at managing their emotions. If this is true, how could the Christian community promote leadership development for millennials? Toward determining if a connection exists between emotions management and faith, this non-experimental quantitative correlational study explored the relationship, if any, between millennials’ emotional competence and Christian practices. Survey instrumentation was employed. The survey included two validated instruments, one for emotional competence and the other for spiritual growth. Study invitations were emailed to 395 millennials at a church in VA’s Richmond metro region. The electronic survey was available for four weeks. A sample of 45 millennials participated in the study. Results showed a statistically significant positive correlation between emotional competence and three of four Spiritual Development Modes: (a) growing with God, (b) growing with the Word, and (c) growing with others. There was no statistically significant correlation between emotional competence and critical reflection.

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