Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Sarah Jane Fishback / Educators across the religious spectrum claim that the quest for spirituality and issues related to spiritual fulfillment are important to Americans. Nevertheless, only twenty percent of evangelical churches are growing. The rest are either not growing or are declining in attendance numbers (White, 2003). Many in the field of church growth have come to the conclusion that churches that are growing and meeting the needs of people are those that create within their membership a sense of belonging to a group which is achieved primarily through their Sunday School programs. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore the effect, if any, that developing close personal relationships in an adult Sunday School class has on increasing a person’s desire to attend. The work of Francis (2005), Mims (2001), Taylor (2003), and others indicates this is the case and that there are three basic facets of this development. The first is purposefully organizing adult Sunday School classes as age-graded cohorts. The second is designing lessons that involve student interaction through the use of group projects and group discussion, as is the case with lessons that follow the Experiential Learning Model. The third is to provide social opportunities for class members outside of class time. Data was gathered through semistructured interviews administered to members of a young adult Sunday School class which was created expressly for this study. The interview protocol was designed to allow the participants as much freedom as possible to express their own views. Six major themes emerged from the data: 1) young adults value being a part of a stable group; 2) age-grading Sunday School classes enhances relationship building; 3) young adults appreciate the support they get from the class; 4) extracurricular activities help build relationships; 5) relationships are more important to women than to men; and 6) the Experiential Learning Model facilitates relationship building. These results could help shape the way in which evangelical churches approach their Sunday School program design and development in order to facilitate ministering to people more effectively.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / THE PROBLEM OF THE DISSERTATION: The problem of this dissertation is to discover and evaluate what has been written about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in selected adult church literature of The Methodist Church from 1941-63. THE METHOD OF THE DISSERTATION: A combination of historical, descriptive and analytical methods are used. Consideration is first given to the development of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit from Old Testament times to the present. In the light of this development criteria are formulated and used to discover how the doctrine is treated in the church school literature. Selected curriculum series are analyzed and evaluated [TRUNCATED] / 2031-01-01

Thesis (M.R.E.)--Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary, 1968. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [48]-50).

Project (D. Ed. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2008. / Abstract and vita. Includes final project proposal.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1988. / Abstract lacking from microfiche. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-150).

Thesis (D. Ed.Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / "December 2006" Includes bibliographical references (ℓ. 525-527)

Thesis (D.Min.)--Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Temple Baptist Seminary, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-136).

Thesis (D. Ed. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 525-527).

Project (D. Ed. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2008. / Abstract and vita. Includes final project proposal. Description based on Print version record.