Date

4-17-2024

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)

Chair

Rodney Phillips

Keywords

Pastors, Phenomenological Study, Changing Lifestyles, Younger Congregants

Disciplines

Psychology

Abstract

Societal norms are changing, and more young adults are cohabitating with partners before marriage, engaging in premarital intercourse, and embarking on second marriages. All these activities are contrary to historical interpretations of pastoral teachings. The problem is that pastors are challenged in adapting to provide family and marriage counseling for younger congregants. With societal changes occurring rapidly, the majority of the young generation feels that there is less relevance in pastoral teachings. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe Covenant Connections International’s mature pastors’ experiences counseling younger congregants in the Northeastern United States. Eight pastors living and working in the Northeast states participated in semi-structured interviews where their responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results showed that the lack of shared belief contributes to a great challenge in pastors’ counseling younger congregants in churches. This study was important because it offers new information regarding the perspectives of pastors on how family and marriage counseling has adapted to serve the needs of younger couples with ever-changing lifestyles. The Word of God, biblical teachings, mentorship, and visiting young congregants by pastors were some of the strategies participants recommended for pastors to use in guiding younger congregants. Pastors and other religious leaders can adopt this study result to counsel younger generation congregants about marriage and marital lifestyle. Further research should be conducted to examine how to use mentorship and biblical teaching to counsel younger congregants on marriage.

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