Date
3-21-2025
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (EdD)
Chair
Rich Sironen
Keywords
local church, church leadership, millennials, authentic, transparent, trustworthy
Disciplines
Leadership Studies
Recommended Citation
Tillman, Bria L., "A Quantitative Descriptive Study of Authentic Leadership Practices and Attracting the Millennial Generation" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 6589.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/6589
Abstract
The millennial generation represents the largest group of the American population, but this statistic is not reflected in local church attendance. Barna Group (2022) explains that many millennials have a relationship with God but are absent from church due to certain customs, leadership practices, and lack of belonging. This rationale is the basis of this research, designed to explore church leadership practices and how to create leadership that builds trustworthy, transparent, and authentic relationships. This descriptive study aimed to examine the extent to which Avolio, Gardner, and Walumbwa’s (2018) authentic leadership practices of transparency, trustworthiness, and relevancy attract millennials to attend and join the local church. The findings reflected the opinions that millennial churchgoers in the Milwaukee area found their church leader to be strongly transparent (82%), trustworthy (78%), and relevant (82%), while (85%) believe a combination of these practices attracted them to join the local church.
