Date of Award

5-2018

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Dr. Bonnie Perry

Second Advisor

Dr. Frank Moore

Scholarship Domain(s)

Scholarship of Discovery

Abstract

The greatest decline in church attendance of any age group has occurred among Millennials born between 1980 and 2000. This decline has created concern about the future of the church. The lack of understanding about Millennials by church leaders has hampered the ability to attract and maintain Millennial church participation. The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, characteristics caused Millennials to be attracted to certain Assembly of God churches in Illinois and not others. Fifty-four Assembly of God churches that fell one standard deviation above and one standard deviation below the Illinois Assemblies of God Millennial attendance mean of 18% were asked to participate in this study. Pastors and Millennials aged 18 to 34 from participating churches were asked to take an online quantitative survey that utilized the U.S. Congregational Life, Faith Communities Today, and Seventh Day Adventist Young Adult surveys. The research questions used in the current study explored the experiences and preferences of the Millennial participants. The researcher found four statistically significant characteristics that were most related to Millennial church attendance in high attraction Assembly of God churches in Illinois: the presence of a strong discipleship ministry, the presence of intentional ministry to Millennials, the presence of technology, and an openness to innovation and change. The current study provides church leaders with a knowledge and understanding of the preferences and characteristics that attracted Millennials to high attraction Assembly of God churches in Illinois.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

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