Date

4-29-2026

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (EdD)

Chair

William Higley

Keywords

Black Christian Millennials, Faith Development, James Fowler, Faith Development Theory

Disciplines

Christianity | Leadership Studies

Abstract

The researcher explored the faith, ways of living, and ideologies of Black Christian millennials that unite them with others and with God, leading to what James Fowler called the “ultimate environment” (Attfield, 1994). The study employed a qualitative phenomenological research design to examine whether the faith development path of Black Christian millennials had been impacted by church disaffiliation. From their perspective, identifying factors that fuel their beliefs, religious expressions, and views on their religious identity (Thomas, 2017). Faith, in its simplest form, is defined not by creeds or their institutional practices, Fowler acknowledges. However, its foundational truth lies in the correlation of a set of experiences that each person, by their humanity, inevitably embarks upon (Jones, 2022). The study results confirmed that Church disaffiliation significantly influenced the faith development of Black Christian Millennials, functioning less as abandonment of belief and more as a reorientation of spiritual identity. Through Fowler’s (1981) framework, this study revealed that disaffiliation reflected a shift from community-dependent conformity (Stage 3) to critical reflection and personal conviction (Stage 4), and, for some, toward integrative, paradox-embracing expressions of faith (Stage 5). The study revealed that disaffiliation functioned as a developmental pathway that reshaped rather than erased faith identity.

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