To my wife, Michelle, who constantly encourages me to believe in my ideas and challenge my status quo. Thomas Teague who challenged me years ago to believe in my calling and who God made me to be and to never settle for mediocrity. I want to thank my mom for all her strength and prayers and for teaching me to persevere in life, especially when unexpected challenges come.
Finally, I want to thank the staff and faculty at Southern Seminary who exceed the standards of professionalism while tirelessly maintaining a commitment to the word of God and the mission of the church. I would also like to acknowledge and thank Betsy Fredrick for her skillful reading and careful criticism that allowed me to sharpen this work.
INTRODUCTION
There should be no confusion that Jesus' all-encompassing authority is central to the content of the commission he issues. The framework for making disciples in the church based on the instructions of Jesus is not open to interpretation in this respect. In fact, they become the consecrated channel through which divine virtues are transmitted to the younger men in the church.
12 David John Seel, Jr., The New Copernicans: Millennials and the Survival of the Church (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2018), 98. Another aspect of the relational landscape for many young adults is the unprecedented use of relational cohabitation. However, if they fail to form these disciple-making relationships, older believers in the Church are robbed of the joy and enthusiasm that this millennial generation exudes.
Specifically, Chapter 2 of this project made theological arguments about the importance of every believer in the church to embrace a faith.
Develop a Curriculum
This project emphasized the importance of church generations coming together as a means of encouraging Millennials to remain committed to their faith and the mission of the local church. Additionally, an argument was made in Chapter 3 of this project that small group engagement is one of the most effective ways to identify and cultivate intergenerational disciple-making relationships that, when fostered within a larger strategy of discipleship in a local church, can influence both older and younger adults in spiritually positive ways. The following section is a breakdown of each project objective, including a description of the method used to achieve the objective and an analysis of the extent to which each objective was met.
Furthermore, I began several disciple-making relationships with young adults within the Millennial age group who were involved in some capacity in the ministry of Prestonwood Baptist Church (which is a congregation affiliated with the SBTC). Observations of the interactions of these relationships confirmed the findings of the researched Millennial data, specifically regarding the importance of cultural pressure points in the lives of Millennials regarding family, faith and finances.3. Second, to strengthen the credibility of the theological arguments of the project,4 I began teaching two different small groups of older adults at Prestonwood Baptist Church beginning in the summer of 2016, as well as teaching Millennials in different contexts at Prestonwood started that same year.
Teaching the Millennials took place in numerous one-time teaching assignments in various small groups at Prestonwood Baptist Church's singles youth ministry, as a regular speaker for the "Before You Say I Do" premarital class (most of which attended by millennial couples), serving as chairpersons. Third, I appeared as a guest speaker/communicator/lecturer at several public venues to share about the cultural and faith-centered characteristics of Millennials and the importance of intergenerational disciple-making in the church, which required in-depth research. and Preparation.5 Often, these places involved sharing personal stories of my experiences discipling Millennials, as well as answering questions from participants, most of whom were older and wanted to understand better. These cumulative experiences were formative in shaping the framework for the curriculum developed for this project.
Using the above elements, the curriculum for this project was developed and prepared to be shared for SBTC church leaders who would participate in the one day digital environment.6 The curriculum was divided into four sessions that would be shared cumulatively and included content that the Biblical basis for. Prior to presenting the curriculum to participating church leaders in the one day digital environment, the curriculum was presented to an expert panel and appropriately critiqued using a rubric to evaluate the curriculum according to biblical faithfulness, teaching methodology, scope and relevance of the curriculum .7 The expert panel consisted of one ministry staff team member from the SBTC, two discipleship pastors. Using the evaluation rubric provided, the expert panel determined that the curriculum met or exceeded the sufficient level to be shared with the participants in the one-day digital environment with 100 percent agreement.8 For example, to responding to the criteria "the curriculum is clearly relevant to the issue of intergenerational discipleship in a local church," said Lance Crowell, "Jonathan does a great job of looking at so many of the trends and aspects that affect the millennial generation ." In response to the criteria "the curriculum contains points of practical application," Zac Hufty noted, "Great application for local churches, regardless of size or context." Finally, commenting on the criteria, "the points of the curriculum clearly support the thesis," and, "the curriculum contains points of practical application," Scott Maze affirmed, "Yes, it opened my eyes to issues around Millennials and understanding possible discipleship opportunities,” and, “I think the material is not only practical, but it leads to many conversations.” The first objective of this project was successfully achieved.
Assess Current Discipleship Practices
The first category of answers from the preliminary survey focused on the demographic profiles of the participating church leaders with questions analyzing the composition and structure of small groups in the participating churches. Answers to questions 1 to 10 of the pre-survey comprised the responses for this category and were grouped into three. Which of the following best describes the curriculum format used by your groups (check all that apply).
The second category of pre-survey responses centered on questions asking participants to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the small groups in their churches. The third category of responses from the pre-survey centered on questions that asked participants to evaluate the perspective of their church's leadership regarding the importance and effectiveness of small group ministry in their churches. Both of these questions used a five-point Likert scale (strongly agree, agree, somewhat agree, disagree, strongly disagree).11 The maximum leadership score for this category was 10.
The fourth category of responses from the pre-survey focused on questions about participants' personal beliefs about the importance of. The fifth category of responses from the preliminary survey focused on questions about generational differences among young people in the participating churches. This category included questions 17, 24 and 30 to 39 and used a Likert scale consisting of five different response options (strongly agree, agree, somewhat agree, disagree, strongly disagree).
The sixth category of responses from the preliminary survey focused on questions regarding the generational characteristics of older adults in the participating churches. This category included questions 28 and 40 to 46 and 48, which used a Likert scale consisting of five different response options (strongly agree, agree, somewhat agree, disagree, strongly disagree). As a result of the data collected from these six categories derived from the previous DPI survey, the second objective of this project was successfully achieved.
Validate the Curriculum
All twenty-five of the questions in the post-survey used a Likert scale consisting of five different response options (strongly agree, agree, somewhat agree, disagree, disagree ). As a result of the data collected from the post-survey, the third objective of this project was successfully achieved.14. The final chapter of this project will provide an evaluation of the various components and aspects of the project.
This aspect of the apprenticeship framework was crucial in supporting the purpose of this project. Millennials can grow in their faith and in their commitment to the ministry of local churches affiliated with SBTC. The first category focused on the demographic profiles of participating church leaders with questions analyzing the composition and structure of small groups in
The next category focused on participants' perceptions of the effectiveness of their work in small groups. The third goal of the project was to equip participants to validate the curriculum by presenting it in an online, digital environment. Based on the data collected from the follow-up survey, the third objective of this project was successfully achieved.
First, the content of this project provides a robust picture of millennial generational characteristics. Having a ministry partner like the SBTC was extremely helpful in implementing the objectives of this project. A weakness of the project was that the presentation of the curriculum was presented in a one-day, online format on Zoom.
Would Do Differently
The older adults in my church are actively involved in discipleship relationships outside of their small group. Before participating in the curriculum presentation, I felt that my church's small group ministry might be more effective in engaging young adults in disciple-making relationships. Before participating in the curriculum presentation, I wasn't sure if the older adults in my church would be willing to engage younger adults in disciple-making relationships.
As a result of my participation in the curriculum presentation, I am able to more clearly define "intergenerational discipleship" to my church members. Go Make Disciples: A Preaching Use of the Great Commission Imperative.” PhD dissertation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2017.
