Date

7-15-2024

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (EdD)

Chair

Melody Smith

Keywords

church growth, church revitalization, Christian leadership

Disciplines

Christianity | Leadership Studies

Abstract

Pastors and ministry leaders share the important responsibilities of church growth and revitalization. This research focused on overcoming decline and moving towards a season of strength and multiplication. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore church growth and revitalization within Southern Baptist churches in coastal North Carolina. The theory guiding this study was Rainer's (2020) central thesis about revived churches, which suggests that churches must adapt to cultural shifts and actively engage with the changing world. The study sought to gain insights into the perspectives and mindsets of full-time pastors and ministry leaders regarding numerical expansion, spiritual awakening, leadership, digital technologies, the Holy Spirit, and their lived experiences regarding church health. This study aimed to enhance the understanding of experiences within the wider community by complementing the existing research conducted on the general population. This research emphasized the significance of maintaining a healthy church by supplementing the current investigations with research on a more local context. A qualitative research design utilizing phenomenological methods was used to achieve this. The research involved interviews with a selected sample of pastors and ministry leaders. Qualitative data analysis was conducted on the collected data to obtain insights into the lived experiences of pastors and ministry leaders regarding how they sustain a healthy and revitalized church.

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