Etd

Why does God Encounter People? Inviting Teens into an Intergenerational Conversation in Renewalist Spirituality

Public Deposited

MLA citation style (9th ed.)

Nus, Haley. Why Does God Encounter People? Inviting Teens Into an Intergenerational Conversation In Renewalist Spirituality. rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/3f6cc4ac-eaf7-43b5-a16b-fd39e26b6639.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

N. Haley. Why does God Encounter People? Inviting Teens into an Intergenerational Conversation in Renewalist Spirituality. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/3f6cc4ac-eaf7-43b5-a16b-fd39e26b6639

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

Nus, Haley. Why Does God Encounter People? Inviting Teens Into an Intergenerational Conversation In Renewalist Spirituality. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/3f6cc4ac-eaf7-43b5-a16b-fd39e26b6639.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

Creator
Keyword
Rights Statement
Abstract
  • Christian ministries in the United States and the Western Church have yet to put teens in the driver’s seat regarding self-directed spirituality. Despite affirming youth leadership, leaders have more often commodified children, teens, or young adult ministries rather than developing age-appropriate resources to support Gen Z and Alpha’s interest in spirituality. Age-segregation in U.S. Christian ministry contexts has limited teen’s participation in intergenerational conversations about encountering God, navigating cultural pluralism, and Christian spiritual formation. An over-emphasis on performance and hurry within U.S. evangelical and charismatic ministries has limited teens’ discernment, experiential understanding of God’s character, and ability to build healthy rhythms for life and ministry. Without sufficient modeling, support, and protection, teens have lacked opportunities to experience spirituality, form identities based on their experiences, and steward their unique gifts within community. Synthesizing the strengths of Spiritual Direction and Prophetic ministry may best equip teens to enter into the “search-encounter-transformation” process that has come to characterize contemporary Renewalist spirituality. Ultimately, Latino/a/x approaches to community may inform more grounded spiritual practices in renewalist youth ministry contexts like Mosaic Church in Seattle, Washington. During a time of increasing U.S. social transformation and latinization, U.S. Latino/a/x communities’ approaches to belonging and social difference (mestizaje), shared testimony (testimonios), family (familismo), solidarity (solidaridad), life in community (en convivencia), and encountering God in everyday life (lo cotidiano) may support U.S. youth ministries to navigate change. Specifically, Latino/a/x Pentecostal patterns of utilizing testimony as a conduit for shared spiritual direction may influence renewalist ministry contexts like Mosaic Youth Ministry to develop a deeper sense of shared identity. Ultimately, my act of ministry project explored whether using Harvard Project Zero thinking routines in small group discussion could support a focus group of Mosaic teens to engage with elders’ testimonies latinamente. For my act of ministry, I interviewed 4 Mosaic Church adults (18+) about an experience they had with God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. From the interviews, I rewrote 3 case studies to share with Mosaic teens. Next, I designed a pre-test and post-test to measure teens’ vocabulary and background knowledge. I designed discussion questions based on Bloom’s taxonomy, teen’s lexile levels, Harvard Project Zero’s Connect, Extend, Challenge, Creative Questions, and Think, Puzzle, Explore thinking routines. I met with 6 middle and high school students (12-18) who had differing amounts of experience with spiritual encounter to discuss these encounter narratives over 5 weeks in Fall 2023. At the end, teens reflected on what they had received from the project and their remaining questions. The results of this research demonstrate that responding to case studies within small group contexts can be an effective way to support teen’s vocabulary development about spirituality. Responding to case studies may support teens to generate questions about their own spirituality, identify their own interests, and connect with others. Additional research should explore how Latino/a/x Seattlite leaders’ insights and facilitation styles may improve future intergenerational conversations about Christian spirituality within Seattle.
Year
Subject
Location
Language
Resource Type
Type
Degree
Degree Granting Institution
Host Institution
Last modified
  • 02/25/2025

Relations

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details 2._Why_does_God_Encounter_People__Inviting_Teens_into_an_Intergenerational_Conversation_in_Renewalist_Spirituality___EDITED.pdf 2025-02-25 Public Download