Date
5-16-2024
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Doctor of Ministry (DMin)
Chair
Alfonse Javed
Keywords
discipleship tools, retention, young adults, leadership
Disciplines
Religion
Recommended Citation
Cox, Frances W., "Developing a Discipleship Training Guide at Greater Love Baptist Church for the Retention of Young Adults" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5587.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5587
Abstract
The problem is that Greater Love Baptist is struggling to sustain young adults' attendance because the leadership lacks the necessary tools and training to disciple them. As a result, there is a mass exodus of young people from the church. Therefore, this research project’s purpose is to develop a Discipleship Training Guide to equip the leadership of Greater Love Church to disciple young adults. The primary theme of the guide is “Knowing Jesus.” The concept of the guide is based on the premise that no one can effectively train, teach or model the life of Christ without having a personal relationship with Him. The membership at Greater Love is multigenerational, which means that the membership is presently young enough to encounter future growth. The makeup consists primarily of young adults, ages eighteen to twenty-nine, and older adults fifty-five and beyond. The ages of the youth at Greater Love range from six to eighteen. Ten individuals participated in the research. They were divided into two groups: an experimental and a control group. Surveys and individual questionnaires were utilized to determine the validity and the authenticity of a Discipleship Training Guide. Outcomes indicate that if the leadership is trained with a discipleship tool tailored to the church’s unique needs, they can disciple the current young adults.
