Date

11-17-2022

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (EdD)

Chair

Gary Bredfeldt

Keywords

women’s ministry, spiritual formation, discipleship, church, faith, spiritual development, values

Disciplines

Religion

Abstract

While many churches today have moved away from the practice of church-based women’s ministries, other churches still see their value and continue their dedication to providing specifically tailored programs to address the spiritual formation in women. The Bible reminds us in Hebrews 10:25 that we are not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some…” (King James Bible, 1769/2017, Heb. 10:25). However, some churches desire to assemble specific ministries separately, women from men. This study attempted to identify values in the spiritual formation of women and explored whether those values are still helpful in the spiritual formation of women over time. The method of the study used is the email method. The researcher chose this method over other research methods due to COVID restrictions and several military relocations, both within and outside of the United States. In addition, the strengths of the email method allowed access to a broader selection of churches. The study included 32 participants representing 28 different churches within and outside the United States. Five biblically-based Christian values were used in the study to describe the impact on the participants' personal lives and spiritual formation. The outcome was that 20 of 32 participants indicated that they observed all five biblically-based Christian values from their women’s ministry program. All participants stated they today maintained at least one of the five biblically-based values.

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