Family Discipleship: Forming a Biblical Worldview for Godly Decisions

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

A Thesis Project Report Submitted to

the Faculty of the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity

in Candidacy for the Degree of

Doctor of Ministry

by

Eric S. McCrickard

Lynchburg, Virginia

April 2024

ii

iii

Liberty University John W. Rawlings School of Divinity

Thesis Project Approval Sheet

______________________________

Dr. Robert C. Greer

Faculty Mentor

______________________________

Dr. Jason Epps

Faculty Reader

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THE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY THESIS PROJECT ABSTRACT

Eric S. McCrickard

Liberty University John W. Rawlings School of Divinity, April 8, 2024

Mentor: Dr. Robert C. Greer

This action research project focuses on equipping parents to disciple their children in

home-based worship, Bible study, and developing a biblical worldview. The problem at The

Mission Church is poor decision-making from teens in the student group. The students make

decisions from a malformed biblical worldview, resulting in decisions contrary to God’s Word.

Further analysis of this problem revealed the need for home-based discipleship. Contemporary

literature demonstrates the need for family ministry, specifically family-based discipleship. Thus,

this research is critical to developing parents to teach their families God’s precepts (Deut 6:7-9).

This thesis intervention seeks to instruct the parents about biblical worldviews, equipping them

to teach and develop this worldview in themselves and their families. The developed strategy of

this DMIN action research project will utilize parent group instruction on andragogy and

pedagogy, biblical worldview development, daily Scripture reading, and applying this

knowledge to everyday life. The expectation is that the spiritual maturity of the parents and

children will grow in the knowledge of Christ, building a biblical worldview in both parents and

teens and strengthening the family core centered on Christ. The family is God’s strategy to

disciple all others. Therefore, discipleship must begin there by teaching, equipping, and

encouraging parents to embrace the godly task of raising children in the admonition of the Lord

(Eph 6:4). If parents are better prepared, equipped, and more confident in discipling their

children, then faulty decisions based on a distorted worldview will improve.

Keywords: worldview, worldview development, biblical worldview, parent equipping,

discipleship, family discipleship, family ministry.

v

Acknowledgments

I want to acknowledge my mentor, Dr. Robert Greer, and his support and wise counsel. I

am grateful for your leadership in assisting me in building and implementing this thesis

intervention project. Your presence and contributions have been immeasurable. I also want to

acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Jason Epps as the faculty reader. I want to recognize the

faculty and administration of Liberty University and The Rawlings School of Divinity for their

support and prayers along this journey.

This project was made possible by my faith family at The Mission Church. I greatly

respect Pastor Donovan Stewart and am indebted to him for giving me the time and resources to

complete this endeavor. I want to acknowledge the Pastoral Staff at TMC for their support and

encouragement. I want to thank the TMC congregation for their support and devotion to me and

my family. Lastly, the students at TMC and their families have been a source of joy and family.

We have been together for many years, and many more will come. We have weathered storms

and, through God’s help, learned to rely on each other and, most importantly, to rely on Him. I

love them as if they were my children and their families were my families. It is because of you

and for you that this thesis project was created. May God richly bless each of you.

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Dedication

I dedicate this thesis to my Lord and Savior, Jesus. It is because of your grace that I have

achieved this accomplishment. I am grateful that You gave me the courage to walk through the

doors You opened for me and gave me the humility to know that it was You and always will be

You. I give thanks for the call that You placed on my life and offer all of my being to You in

fulfillment of this call for many years to come. I pray for Your blessing on this thesis, which will

edify the parents at TMC and in the larger context.

This thesis project was created for the parents and students at TMC. I have struggled and

labored alongside you through the years; your pains have been my pains, and your joys are my

joys. I revel in the success of our students and carry responsibility for their failures. I am

thankful to those families that participated in this thesis; your efforts made this possible. I pray

that what we have learned together fosters many years of carrying the mantle of teaching our

families God’s ways and that our efforts to honor His call result in generational godliness.

I want to thank my children, Christian, Calvin, and Allie, for their support, prayers, and

forgiveness for the copious hours spent in my study working on this academic journey. They are

part of this thesis and everything I do for our Lord. I cannot put my love and appreciation for

them into words. They are indeed a gift from God.

Lastly, to my loving wife, April. God brought us together twenty-three years ago for a

purpose we could not yet see but knew was there. Your support, encouragement, and

determination for me pushed me forward when, at times, I wanted to walk away. This

accomplishment is ours together in Christ. Thank you for our godly family and the confidence

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you have given me to lead them in God’s ways. You mean everything to me, and I could not

have done this without you. I look forward to growing old with you as we continue to minister

side by side wherever God calls us.

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Contents

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................1

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................1

Ministry Context ...........................................................................................................................2

History of TMC ...................................................................................................................3

Context within the Context .................................................................................................4

Problem Presented ........................................................................................................................6

Purpose Statement ........................................................................................................................9

Basic Assumptions ......................................................................................................................10

Definitions ....................................................................................................................................11

Limitations ...................................................................................................................................16

Delimitations ................................................................................................................................18

Thesis Statement .........................................................................................................................19

CHAPTER 2: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK .....................................................................21

Literature Review .......................................................................................................................21

Approach ...........................................................................................................................22

Discipleship ...........................................................................................................22

Strategy .................................................................................................................23

Models of Discipleship ..........................................................................................26

Christian Spiritual Formation ..............................................................................32

Curriculum ............................................................................................................34

Psychology ........................................................................................................................38

Identity ..................................................................................................................38

Cognitive Development Theories ..........................................................................40

Schema .............................................................................................................41

Thema ...............................................................................................................44

Christian Apologetics ........................................................................................................45

Culture ..................................................................................................................45

Worldview .............................................................................................................47

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism ..............................................................................49

Theological Foundations ............................................................................................................52

Identity ..............................................................................................................................53

Destiny and Purpose .........................................................................................................55

Morality .............................................................................................................................57

Theoretical Foundations .............................................................................................................59

Three Ministry Models .....................................................................................................60

Theoretical Methodology ..................................................................................................63

Questionnaires and Surveys ..................................................................................63

Group Instruction ..................................................................................................64

Home-based Worship ............................................................................................65

Daily Scripture reading ........................................................................................66

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................66

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................69

Intervention Design .....................................................................................................................69

First Steps ..........................................................................................................................70

The Body ...........................................................................................................................71

Weeks Three and Four ..........................................................................................71

Weeks Five and Six ...............................................................................................80

Weeks Seven and Eight .........................................................................................81

Weeks Nine and Ten ..............................................................................................83

Weeks Eleven and Twelve .....................................................................................85

Implementation of Intervention Design ....................................................................................87

Acquisition ........................................................................................................................88

Fellowship .........................................................................................................................90

Instruction .........................................................................................................................92

Weeks One and Two ...............................................................................................93

Weeks Three and Four ..........................................................................................95

Weeks Five and Six ...............................................................................................96

Weeks Seven and Eight .........................................................................................98

Conclusion ......................................................................................................................101

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS .........................................................................................................102

Collective Results ......................................................................................................................103

Participants ......................................................................................................................103

Data Collection ...............................................................................................................105

Surveys and Questionnaire .................................................................................105

Participant Handbook .........................................................................................107

Focus Groups and Post-Intervention Critiques ..................................................109

Collective Data Summary ...............................................................................................111

Data Analysis .............................................................................................................................112

Spiritual Maturity ............................................................................................................112

Prayer .................................................................................................................113

Bible Study ..........................................................................................................115

Church Attendance ..............................................................................................117

Fellowship ...........................................................................................................118

Parent Equipping .............................................................................................................120

Home-based Worship ..........................................................................................120

Equipped .............................................................................................................122

Biblical Worldview .........................................................................................................124

Identity ................................................................................................................124

Destiny ................................................................................................................125

Purpose ...............................................................................................................126

Morality ...............................................................................................................127

Summary of Results ..................................................................................................................127

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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION .................................................................................................129

Research Implications ..............................................................................................................133

Research Applications ..............................................................................................................137

Research Limitations ................................................................................................................140

Further Research ......................................................................................................................143

Appendix A .................................................................................................................................146

Appendix B .................................................................................................................................148

Appendix C .................................................................................................................................149

Appendix D .................................................................................................................................153

Appendix E .................................................................................................................................157

Appendix F ..................................................................................................................................161

Appendix G .................................................................................................................................166

Appendix H .................................................................................................................................171

Appendix I ..................................................................................................................................172

Appendix J ..................................................................................................................................173

Appendix K .................................................................................................................................221

Appendix L .................................................................................................................................269

Appendix M .................................................................................................................................270

Appendix N ..................................................................................................................................272

Bibliography ...............................................................................................................................273

IRB Approval Letter ....................................................................................................................282

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Tables

1 Thesis Intervention Participants ..........................................................................104

2 Core Competencies of the Christian Faith - Pray ...............................................114

3 t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means - Prayer ..................................................115

4 Core Competencies of the Christian Faith - Bible Study ....................................116

5 t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means - Bible Study ..........................................117

6 Core Competencies of the Christian Faith - Church Attendance ........................117

7 t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means - Church Attendance ..............................118

8 Core Competencies of the Christian Faith - Fellowship .....................................119

9 t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means - Fellowship ...........................................119

10 Christian Culture in the Home - Home-based Worship ......................................121

11 t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means - Home-based Worship ..........................122

12 Christian Culture in the Home - Equipped .........................................................123

13 t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means - Equipped ..............................................124

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Abbreviations

CMM The Commonwealth Mission Movement

CSF Christian Spiritual Formation

DMIN Doctor of Ministry

ESV English Standard Version

MTD Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

NASB New American Standard Bible

TMC The Mission Church

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Introduction

A divinely ordained relationship within the family unit serves as the training ground for

children, adolescents, and young adults. The parents perform this training, with the primary

educator being the father (Deut 6:7).

1

This training teaches citizenship, integrity, ethics, morals,

and relationality with other people. The guided lessons foster careful decision-making through

the development of worldview for the children and the family. Whereas this is a broad

postulation of the function within the family, the more pointed focus is the Christian family and

the development of a biblical worldview.

A worldview is a catalyst in decision-making, and a biblical worldview establishes

decision-making from the premise of Scripture. Some of these decisions are called into question

based on faulty results. More specifically, flawed decisions made by teens who profess faith in

Jesus Christ. The onus here points to a maldeveloped biblical worldview. A biblical worldview

should be taught in the home, supported and furthered by the church, and lived out by the teen

through a God-fearing, obedient lifestyle. This points to the lack of discipleship in the home,

which builds a foundational biblical worldview. The question at this point focuses on the causes

of this lack of home-based discipleship. Is it time, availability, or resources? Is it ignorance, or

do the parents lack a biblical worldview to pass on to their children? Another negative influence

on the family is broken homes, where the child lives with a single parent, grandparents, or a

guardian. In these venues, the child’s worldview is often influenced by what they see and

1

Scripture places the responsibility of teaching the family on the father as observed in Deuteronomy 6:7.

Sadly, modern society and culture have seen an increase in fatherless homes globally, with the United States being

the world leader in this statistic. Therefore, this action research project will seek to educate the leader of each family

selected to participate in this intervention: father, mother, grandparent, or guardian. See the “Definition” section for

additional information.

2

experience outside of the family and, thus, subjected to secular beliefs manifesting in a

maldeveloped biblical worldview.

The maldeveloped biblical worldview is an insight into the problem of Generation Z and

younger millennials falling away from the church. Furthermore, fractured homes leave youth

separated from a unified parental worldview. The significance here is that absent a unified,

modeled worldview, the youth traverse one worldview to another in succession, not settling on a

particular view or synchronizing worldviews, causing continuous inner change and disrupting

normal social engagement, both psychologically and philosophically. Thus leaving the youth

tossed from one ideology to another. Therefore, the need to educate, equip, and support the

family unit as the most crucial vehicle for home-based discipleship is a priority at The Mission

Church of Lexington. It is the family unit that God ordained as this vehicle to strengthen the

church, embody the lived Christian experience, develop a biblical worldview, and grow in the

knowledge of God.

The following pages will engage this premise from the local ministry context of The

Mission Church of Lexington to better prepare and equip parents and guardians in Christian

homes to disciple their children, developing a biblical worldview manifesting in godly decision-

making that honors God, family, and their community.

Ministry Context

The evidence and imagery postulated to this point could be applied to almost any church

in the West; it would be presumptuous to say otherwise. But, what will unfold in the following

pages is the experience and observation of this author in a local context, The Mission Church of

Lexington.

3

The History of TMC

The Mission Church was established in Lexington, Kentucky, on February 4, 2018. Our

congregation was a church plant and began services in the building occupied by the Fraternal

Order of Police, Bluegrass Lodge number 4. A core group of about thirty launch members led by

Pastor Donovan Stewart began following God’s call to plant this church. As the church grew, an

opportunity to purchase a property with an existing building became available, and the church

members came together to muster the downpayment securing the property. In August 2019, the

church moved into the property, which consists of a small building on 3.48 acres. The building

was constructed in the mid-80s and has been the location of various churches. Our present

member enrollment is approximately 165, with an average Sunday attendance of 150 members

and guests.

TMC (The Mission Church) is a contributing member of the Southern Baptist

Convention, the Kentucky Baptist Convention, and our area association, the Central Kentucky

Network of Baptists. TMC uses a biblical polity utilizing the offices of elders and deacons to

lead and serve the congregation following the Pastoral Epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Acts

6. The Senior Pastor, Donovan Stewart, leads the Elder Board, comprised of four additional

pastors: the Associate Pastor (this author), the Worship Pastor, the Executive Pastor, and our

Congregational Care Pastor for our senior saints. The church utilizes three deacons and several

deacon yoke fellows. The church polity includes trustees to guide the elder board on financial

matters and legal governance. In all activities, the actions undertaken by the church leadership

are congregationally affirmed. The mission of TMC is to be a Bible-based, mission-minded

church for God’s glory.

4

The DNA of TMC is discipleship, evangelism, missions, and church planting (Matt

28:19-20). An integral component of this mindset is church planting and the Commonwealth

Mission Movement (CMM). This movement is a church planting strategy for planting churches

in the nine regions of Kentucky. These Mission churches would then send out and plant churches

in their areas, establishing churches all across Kentucky and beyond for God’s glory. This author

joined TMC to be one of these church planters.

The Context within the Context

This author joined the pastoral staff of TMC in January 2020, two months before

COVID-19. The position assumed was for a church planter intern expecting to plant a church in

2023. In 2021, the opportunity arose to become part of the permanent staff as the Associate

Pastor. After prayer, it was clear God was calling me to stay at TMC and assume the role of

Associate to solidify the core leadership at TMC and be foundationally involved in equipping the

planters that will be sent out within the CMM. As associate pastor, this author was tasked with

leading student ministry. This ministry comprises male and female students in middle and high

school. Our average attendance is fifteen students, with the majority being female; a percentage

estimate is seventy/thirty female to male ratio.

Initially, the student ministry did not have a solid footing. COVID restrictions affected

this, but other contributing factors were the lack of space in the new building and other church

ministry needs. The church building is small and only has two additional rooms other than a

seventy-five-seat sanctuary. Therefore, the students could not meet on Wednesdays due to the

congregational Bible study. Additionally, TMC does not run a Sunday School model, so no

specific biblical instruction is given to the students on Sunday mornings. Some aspects of the

5

family-integrated church model are present by environmental design rather than intention.

2

By

this, students join their families during Wednesday evening Bible study and Sunday morning

worship services. This led to a hybrid family ministry platform. Space did not allow age-

segregated ministries to co-occur on the church campus. Initially, our student group met on

Friday evenings for fellowship, worship, and Bible study. Friday evenings presented challenges

that negated widespread, consistent student participation from week to week.

In October 2022, a new strategy was implemented using an outdoor commercial pole

tent. This tent, affectionately referred to as the tabernacle, is where the students began to meet on

Wednesday evenings. The tent also served as a Sunday morning worship overflow for additional

seating. The tabernacle has sides and can be set up with gas heaters to regulate outdoor

temperatures in the winter months. The front of the church was equipped with external TVs that

showed the inside of the sanctuary and outdoor speakers to project the sound from inside. The

TVs and speakers can be turned off if the activities inside the church are to be separated from the

outside. This resulted in the student group being able to have separate gatherings, at least on

Wednesday evenings, while parents and other congregants participated in the adult Bible study.

The noted hybrid family ministry platform resulted in this author spending time with the

students and their families in off-campus visits and activities. The intent to minister to the

families opened avenues to observe gaps or fractures within those families. A few notable

fractures were single-parent homes, homes where grandparents raised their grandchildren, and

low-income families with limited resources. The employed ministry strategy brought closeness

between this pastor, the students, and the families.

2

Paul Renfro, Brandon Shields, and Jay Strother, Perspectives on Family Ministry: 3 Views, 2nd ed., ed. by

Timothy P. Jones (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 63, Kindle.

6

Over the past few years, watching and participating in the spiritual growth and maturity

of the students allowed a vantage point to see the roots of poor decision-making of the students

with identity, friend groups away from church, and a general malaise in purpose and existence.

Student lessons would be crafted from Scripture detailing identity, purpose, teaching holy habits,

and developing a biblical worldview, but the poor decision-making continued. Analyzing what

had been observed, it was clear that the students were not receiving discipleship at home, which

affected their commitment to developing a biblical worldview. This does not mean all students,

nor does every student engage in poor decisions, at least no more so than would be attributed to

any other teenager. But, the need to educate parents and caregivers for home-based discipleship

of the teens became apparent. The tagline of TMC is “Find your why.”

3

This statement is a

mantra for the discipleship efforts of the pastoral staff at TMC and a particular point driven

forward in student ministry. TMC puts excellent effort into discipling adults, male and female,

young adults, and students. Amidst the church’s discipleship programs, there is a gap in

discipling parents to instruct their children in the ways of God (Deut 6:6-9). This need became

the driving force of this research quest.

Problem Presented

There has been a growing trend among Western teens with various issues concerning

worldview.

4

A contributing factor is the political scene of the last few years coupled with the

COVID pandemic, which unwittingly ushered in issues with isolation due to lockdown and non-

in-person education in many of the school systems. However, this is not the focus here. A recent

3

“Find your why,” The Mission Church of Lexington, unknown last update,

https://www.missionchurchlex.org/.

4

This statement is not presumptuous to say that only teens in the West have and experience worldview

issues. It is an assumption to say that this stigma is global, but this is the likely status of worldview issues among

teens globally. As this statement applies here, it is specific to the West, namely North America, and the local context

of this researcher.

7

journal article highlights difficulties that have occurred in the biological sciences that have been

investigating the link between LGBTQ adherents and mental health issues. Pieter H.

Labuschagne, a faculty member of the South African Theological Seminary, Bryanston, South

Africa, draws attention to a 2016 article by two scientists in this field asking for help from the

field of humanities.

5

The issue is that there is no biological basis for the problems within the

LBGTQ ideology. The call for the humanities falls on theology, as espoused by Labuschagne.

6

Though tragic, mental health concerns are not the focus. The focus is on the factors contributing

to distorted worldviews, manifesting relational issues among teens and other generations. This

need brings theology into the conversation and the tenets of a biblical worldview that fosters

discipleship that coheres with reality.

C. Fred Smith says a biblical worldview is comprehensive, including values, ethics,

morals, and a deeper understanding of how the world is and should be, and that a biblical

worldview is not instant but something cultivated over a lifetime.

7

The consideration of a biblical

worldview being developed over long periods demonstrates the need for this endeavor to begin

in the home. A recent journal article reflects the importance of the family structure on teen

development. The study performed on adolescents in Germany of varying family structures

showed an overwhelming health advantage in adolescents who lived in an intact family unit.

8

5

Labuschagne, Pieter H. "Science in Service of Theology: Gender and Sexual Orientation." In Die Skriflig

55, no. 1 (2021): 2, https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-

journals/science-service-theology-gender-sexual/docview/2502111536/se-2.

6

Ibid.

7

C. Fred Smith, Developing a Biblical Worldview: Seeing Things God’s Way (Nashville, TN: B&H

Academic, 2015), 5, Logos.

8

Max Herke, Anja Knöchelmann, and Matthias Richter, “Health and Well-Being of Adolescents in

Different Family Structures in Germany and the Importance of Family Climate,” International Journal of

Environmental Research and Public Health 17 (2020), 2, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7559242/.

8

Adolescents who did not live within a nuclear family demonstrated socialization problems, more

adverse mental health, and less identity positivity.

9

This is a symptom of cultural influence.

The anecdotal evidence conveyed by Generation Z shows the demonstrable effect that

they are being influenced by culture rather than being an influencer of culture.

10

This leads to

poor decision-making resulting from a distorted worldview, negatively affecting confidence,

relatability with peers, and ultimately, identity crises, to name a few. Much of the cause for these

issues is attributed to the need for discipleship, which often falls on the Student Pastor at the

local congregation. As such, at weekly student groups, the Pastor focuses and re-focuses the

students on a christocentric biblical worldview by reinforcing the tenets of biblical discipleship

and core competencies of the Christian faith.

11

Yet, refocusing seems endless; not as much going

backward but never entirely going forward. Analyzing the issue reveals the need for individual

discipleship as a symptom of a more significant underlying concern. This identified concern is

narrowed down to discipleship in the home. There are many reasons for this: single parent home,

the parent spends excessive time away from home working, the parent does not believe they are

equipped to teach theology and doctrine, they may not know where to start; in any case, the

parents need to understand their capacity to biblically influence their children and effect this

change within the home. The problem at The Mission Church is the lack of home-based

discipleship, resulting in a distorted biblical worldview, manifesting in poor decision-making

with teens.

9

Ibid.

10

John Beeson, “Are Christian Teens Influencing or Being Influenced by the World?,” Lifeway Research,

June 14, 2021, https://research.lifeway.com/2021/06/14/are-christian-teens-influencing-or-being-influenced-by-the-

world/. This article published by Lifeway research details a survey conducted in the United States utilizing 410

teens, between the ages of 13-19.

11

Core competencies of the Christian faith would be daily reading and study of Scripture, daily focused or

concentrated prayer time, attending corporate worship, and participation in off-campus church activities being

around and with like-minded followers of Christ.

9

Purpose Statement

The purpose for this DMIN action research project is to develop home-based discipleship

strategies and disciple parents to build a biblical worldview in their children. There is a defined

need to instill confidence in parents and guardians of the teens at TMC and to equip these

caregivers with the discipleship knowledge and tools to lead their families to think biblically and

effectively. The participant group ranges in spiritual maturity, from new followers of Christ to

mature Christians. In both categories, the participants lack the confidence and knowledge to

guide their children to a biblical worldview and instruct them to think biblically. Therefore, the

strategy sought would be a two-fold process involving the individual discipleship of the

parent/guardian, leading to home-based instruction to build a biblical worldview.

This bifurcated approach will seek to advance the discipling abilities of the parents and

guardians by educating them in crucial areas. Those areas pertain to the biblical worldview,

discipleship, and holy habits. Additionally, areas of adolescent learning structures and strategies

and a developed curriculum for adult and adolescent home-based discipleship will facilitate

parental instruction. The decided intent is to help parents understand the biblical mandate to

instruct their children in the ways of God (Deut 6:4-9) to assist them in developing their biblical

worldview so that they are equipped to teach this to others.

The purpose here is not to wage an apologetic for a biblical worldview against a secular

worldview; instead, it is to engage parents in teaching them how to disciple their children,

developing a biblical worldview. The intent of this project will enable parents and guardians to

don the mantle of “biblical teachers” in their homes, instructing their children on God’s precepts

10

and having a relationship with Him. This will be accomplished by integrating the biblical and

theological training received at church with the parents and guardians in the home. The result is a

foundational biblical worldview the teen holds that enables them to navigate many of the secular

issues confronting them daily.

Basic Assumptions

This action research project carries several assumptions that undergird the structure of a

home-based discipleship program designed to equip parents for the instruction of their children

in the ways of the Lord (Eph 6:4). The first assumption lies in the salvation of each participant.

This author assumes that each participant is a born-again believer in Jesus. Salvation is critical

for the illumination of the Holy Spirit as the participants progress through the intervention. Apart

from this illumination, the participants will not be able to grasp the teaching of Scripture; an

unbeliever is spiritually blind (1 Cor 2:14).

The second assumption is that the participants have a high opinion of the authority and

sufficiency of Scripture. Holy Scripture is sufficient in all matters of life and holy living (2 Tim

3:16-17). This proposed intervention relies on the willingness of the participants to receive the

voice of Scripture to shape their lives and conform to the will of God (Rom 12:2). Anything

other than a high view of Scripture will carry resistance to the work of the Holy Spirit through

the Word of God.

The third assumption is that participants see the family as God’s intent for generational

instruction and admonition of the Lord (Gen 2:24; Ps 127:3; Mal 2:15). God commanded man

and woman to “Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:28, NASB). This union of man and woman with

offspring is the structural component of the family. The family was created and ordained from

11

the beginning and holds a high position for pointing the younger generations to God and teaching

His ways.

The fourth assumption of this action research project is the blessings foretold in Scripture

for following God’s command to educate the children about Him. Proverbs gives several

examples of the blessings received from raising a godly son (Prov 10:1, 15:20, 23:24, 29:3). The

assumption is that if done according to the Lord, gladness will accompany the parent. This is

double-sided in that the righteous actions of the parent will bring gladness to the Father.

The last assumption of this author is godly parenthood. God revealed Himself throughout

the pages of Scripture, His attributes (Exod 34:6-7), and the loving way He deals with His

children (2 Sam 7:14; 1 Chr 17:13; Is 43:6; Hos 1:10; 2 Cor 6:19). The assumption, then, is that

an earthly parent will follow God’s example of instructing, caring for, and disciplining his

children; following God’s model will bring “the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (Heb 12:11,

NASB). This is the ordained telos of being a godly parent for their family, instantiating a

righteous relationship with Jesus our Lord.

Definitions

This DMIN action research project focuses on developing a strategy to equip parents and

guardians for home-based discipleship. The context is narrow, being this group of parents and

students within TMC, but incorporating a wide range of subtopics within the research

parameters. Therefore, what will be deduced in the following pages needs clarification and

refinement to fit within this local context. The essence of this action research project is discipling

the disciplers. An effective strategy then requires learning aids encompassing adult education,

knowledge acquisition methodologies, spiritual formation, and family ministry models. The

purpose of this section is explicitly linked to understanding these terms as utilized in this thesis.

12

Biblical Worldview. A worldview is a framework of the beliefs of an individual utilized

to understand themselves, the world, and how they should live.

12

A biblical worldview embodies

beliefs, whereas individuals understand themselves, the world, and how they should live through

the Bible. That is, the measure of existence is understood through a biblical lens. Components of

a biblical worldview are a heart towards God, cognitive assent to God, and behavior pleasing to

God.

13

Another way of understanding a biblical worldview is reading the Bible to read culture.

14

The importance of the biblical worldview is the line of demarcation to good decision-making.

Thus, understanding the term “biblical worldview” is critical.

Cognition. Cognition, in a basic understanding, is a function of processing information in

the mind.

15

Understanding how we process information is essential so that the proper

environment can be achieved to maximize home-based discipleship. The modality of learning is

influenced by the environment in the home. This environment is physical and psychological,

both used to produce meaningful learning experiences. Specifically, the means of successful

Christian education is the emphasis.

Collective Identity. Collective identity represents the individual within a more significant

or larger context. Examples of the larger context are Christendom, the church, and the family, all

intertwined within a collective identity. This pertains to the family on a micro level through the

12

Mikael Stenmark, "Worldview Studies." Religious Studies 58, no. 3 (09, 2022): 565,

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/worldview-

studies/docview/2697527855/se-2.

13

Roger C. S. Erdvig, "A Model for Biblical Worldview Development in Evangelical Christian Emerging

Adults," Journal of Research on Christian Education 29, no. 3 (2020): 286,

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10656219.2020.1816517.

14

David S. Dockery, and Trevin Wax, Christian Worldview Handbook (Philadelphia: B&H Publishing

Group, 2019), 16, ProQuest Ebook Central.

15

Benjamin D. Young, and Carolyn Dicey Jennings, Mind, Cognition, and Neuroscience: A Philosophical

Introduction (New York, NY: Routledge, 2022), 20, Taylor and Francis.

13

response of actions, good and bad, accomplishments, and contributions of good behavior towards

a family identity.

16

This relationality is crucial to identity within a group and is used by God to

form a relationship with individuals and those individuals in the more prominent Christian

family.

17

Collective Memory. Collective memory is and has always been part of culture.

18

Laikhuram states this to be a group representation of history and, presumably, the history of that

group.

19

This term in this thesis applies to the passing of what was then an oral tradition of the

Shema in Deuteronomy 6:3-4 and parents teaching these creeds to their children in verses 7-9.

The onus of this application lies in the collective memory afforded by Scripture. This collective

memory recorded in the pages of the Bible lays the foundation of deep theology, which allows

the instruction and understanding of God and His precepts.

20

Thus, it is a foundational term for

equipping parents to disciple and instruct their children in God's ways, utilizing the biblical

formulation of repetition through creeds.

Culture. Culture comes with an interesting paradigm. The previously defined collective

identity is, in essence, culture and society comprised of people. As it is here, the paradigm offers

objective and subjective position on whether individuals influence and direct culture or whether

culture directs and form the individuals. Despite this functional dichotomy, culture, as applied in

16

Matt Chandler, and Adam Griffin, Family Discipleship: Leading Your Home Through Time, Moments,

and Milestones (Wheaton: Crossway, 2020), 40, Logos.

17

D. T. Everhart, "Communio Dei and the Mind of Christ," Theologica 6, no. 1 (2022): 59,

https://doaj.org/article/f26dac73ce484131a9dc413d9704060d.

18

Premjit Singh Laikhuram, “History Contra Collective Memory: Collective Memory’s Finite Province,”

Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities 13, no. 4 (2021): 2,

https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=8909e6d2-10e1-4464-bd20-

91010205a7d1%40redis.

19

Ibid., 2.

20

Mark J. Boda, The Heartbeat of Old Testament Theology: Three Creedal Expressions, ed. by Craig A.

Evans (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2017), 7, Logos.

14

this thesis, will function from the perspective of culture shaping the individual. Culture defined is

a broad referent to the functional dichotomy mentioned above, in that people construct culture,

which conversely shapes the people, their thoughts, ethics, values, and morality in certain

circumstances.

21

The significance here is the culture within a family, which is formed from

Scripture and taught by the parents to the children.

Discipleship. A disciple is “a student, a learner.”

22

Building on this definition,

discipleship is the act of learning. Despite the simple nature of this definition, the problem

becomes what or whom one is a disciple of. One could imagine levels of discipleship based on

the “learner” paradigm; this would be a lower-level discipleship pairing where the emphasis is

the transfer of knowledge. The highest order, and the one intended here, is being a learner of our

Lord Jesus and, more than learning from Him, to be transformed into His likeness. Vanhoozer

defines discipleship using the backdrop of a military idiom, being “fit for purpose.”

23

The

purpose is to engage in kingdom building.

24

The training ground is in the home.

Family Discipleship. Juxtaposing the previously defined term, family discipleship could

be misconstrued as the whole family being discipled. This is a functional understanding but not

as it pertains to this thesis. This term is more directed at the parents discipling the children in the

home. God ordained the family as His vehicle to teach His ways and expectations (Gen. 2:24).

Dodson sums this up perfectly, “Children become like their parents, apprentices like their

mentors, and players like their coaches. We reflect the character of our models, whether for good

21

Bruce Riley Ashford, Every Square Inch: An Introduction to Cultural Engagement for Christians

(Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 13, Logos.

22

Andrew Hayes, and Cherry, Stephen, eds., The Meanings of Discipleship: Being Disciples Then and Now

(La Vergne: Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd, 2021), 12, ProQuest Ebook Central.

23

Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Hearers and Doers: A Pastor’s Guide to Making Disciples through Scripture and

Doctrine (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), 64, Logos.

24

Ibid., 64.

15

or for ill. But when we behold the beauty of Christ, we become beautiful like Christ."

25

The

home is the proper context for discipleship.

Family Ministry. Family ministry is the equipping model for home-based discipleship

noted in the definition of family discipleship. Family ministry is how the discipling knowledge is

passed from the church to the parents. "Family ministry is the process of coordinating the

practices of a church so that members develop diverse discipling relationships and so that parents

are acknowledged, equipped, and held accountable as primary disciple-makers in their children’s

lives."

26

The context here will be the methodology of equipping parents for family discipleship.

Parent. The biblical decree to teach children falls on the father (Deut 6:7). Sadly, many

families today do not have an active father in the home. A 2019 Pew Research Center study

showed that the United States is the world leader in children raised in single-parent homes. This

study revealed that 23% of the children in the U.S. live in a single-parent home.

27

This

percentage is observed within the families of the students at TMC. The leaders of student

families at TMC are fathers, mothers, and grandparents in the role of primary instructors of their

children. In a perfect world, fathers would be the primary participants in this intervention, but

this is not the case, causing mothers and grandparents to step in and fill the fatherly position.

Therefore, this action research project will engage the adult positioned in the family to oversee

the care and custody of the children placed there regardless of the reason and instruct them in the

role of primary teachers in the family. Those individuals in leadership roles are given this

25

Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship: Revised and Expanded (Wheaton: Crossway, 2022),

43, ProQuest Ebook Central.

26

Jones, T. P. "Family as Church, Church as Family: Toward a More Comprehensive Definition of Family

Ministry." D6 Family Ministry Journal 4, (May 2019): 21.

27

Stephanie Kramer, “U.S. Has World’s Highest Rate of Children Living in Single-parent Households,”

Pew Research Center, (December 23, 2019), https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/12/12/u-s-children-

more-likely-than-children-in-other-countries-to-live-with-just-one-parent/.

16

authority by God (Rom 13:1); these leaders, regardless of gender or familial connection, will be

referred to as parents in the following pages.

Spirituality. This word has gained popularity in recent decades. New Age spirituality took

away the transcendence and infused an amalgamation of varied offerings from other cultures and

places, leaving a feeling of dissatisfaction.

28

Biblical spirituality results from living life with the

Holy Spirit and observing the core beliefs of the Bible.

29

These core beliefs are to be taught in

the home for spiritual formation and developing a biblical worldview.

Spiritual Formation. Spiritual formation is “the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner

world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself.”

30

“Spiritual formation does not take place primarily in small groups and Sunday school classes;

instead, it mostly takes place in the well-lived and everyday events of life.”

31

While shared in

small groups and Sunday school classes, these events are best experienced in the home with the

family. Through the trials of life, parents can guide their children with a biblical perspective,

forming a biblical worldview to best deal with life as it truly is.

Limitations

This action research project contains several identified limitations in the context of TMC.

One limitation is willful participation. Participation will be offered to each parent with a teen

28

Hart, Trevor, Faith Thinking: The Dynamics of Christian Theology, 2nd ed. (Eugene: Wipf and Stock

Publishers, 2020), 196, ProQuest Ebook Central.

29

Adam McClendon, Paul’s Spirituality in Galatians: A Critique of Contemporary Christian Spiritualities

(Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2015), 1, Logos.

30

R. Robert Creech, Family Systems and Congregational Life: A Map for Ministry (Grand Rapids: Baker

Academic, 2019), 80, ProQuest Ebook Central.

31

James C. Wilhoit, Spiritual Formation As If the Church Mattered: Growing in Christ Through

Community (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2022), 34, ProQuest Ebook Central.

17

involved in the student ministry group at TMC; it is their prerogative to participate in this action

research project. Therefore, this limitation must be accounted for.

The second limitation is the availability of the participants. Portions of the program will

require group settings that involve discussion and sharing for accountability and edification of

each participant. The parents of the students at TMC work in various genres, such as

restauranteur, construction, retail merchandise, and retirement. Coordinating a group meeting

day and time may be a challenge with this range of employment and will be a limitation that

needs to be considered.

Third, the life commitments of each participant vary and, at times, are outside of the

biblical mandate to walk with the Spirit (Gal 5:16). There will be a self-examination that needs

to take place so that what is learned will be employed according to God’s plan. As a reflection of

our heavenly Father, the assumption noted earlier is the reflection parents are to exude to their

children.

There is an element of participation on the part of the student. Their participation is

necessary for receiving the instruction taught to the parents to pass on the knowledge of God to

the next generation. Students are often constrained with sporting activities, part-time jobs, and

homework. Participation in this research action project will require re-ordering family matters to

allow time for home-based instruction to build a biblical worldview.

Additionally, a limitation of this action research project is continuous participation.

Individuals and family life are interrupted in the ordinary course of life.

32

A common statement

is that life gets in the way. This may result from childcare, working late, sporting events, and

32

There is a subjective tone in this statement. The intent here with interruptions and the ordinary course of

life are those unexpected events such as working late, sickness, or unexpected events that displace previously

planned activities.

18

other extracurricular activities that occupy family time. There is a commitment that needs to be

made by each participant and then followed through to completion of the program. This will

require a realignment of priorities that cannot be guaranteed for participants.

Lastly, a critical limitation is the willingness of the participants to allow Scripture to

speak into their lives to foster change that is pleasing to God. The parents and teens participating

may have sin in their lives that will work against the project content and inhibit the overall

efficacy of developing a biblical worldview and decision-making. This carries Jesus' command

to follow Him, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross

and follow Me” (Matt 16:24, NASB). This means the parents and teens may need to adjust to

align with God’s Word and conform to His will (Rom 12:1-2). The content of this intervention

requires effort on the part of the participant in group meetings and instruction, interviews,

completing surveys and questionnaires, and journaling. Each area elicits a commitment to

spiritual maturity and the development of a biblical worldview conforming the individual to the

will of God.

Delimitations

One delimitation will include parents at TMC with teenagers in the Mission Students

group. This researcher will only accept participants committed to involving their teenage child in

biblical teaching and other activities within the Mission Students group.

The second delimitation will include the content used to create the intervention strategy.

This action research project is not a polemic against the secular worldview. The intent is to build

a biblical worldview against the background of secular thinking. Thus, the instruction material

will be limited to data of the secular worldview and what the Bible teaches. This intervention

will rely on the Bible’s teaching to develop the believer's mind regarding heavenly thinking (Col

19

3:1-2). The content will focus on biblical decision-making and its application to everyday life in

this cultural context.

Third is the content developed for this action research plan. There are three areas

proposed to develop the participant's biblical worldview. These content areas will be curriculum

developed for group instruction once a week, home-based worship once a week, and daily

Scripture reading. This researcher will intentionally limit the Scripture in all content to address a

mind toward God. The content will seek to answer basic worldview questions from the biblical

perspective: 1) identity, 2) destiny, 3) purpose, and 4) morality. These questions define 1) who I

am? 2) what is my end goal? 3) what is my purpose? and 4) how should I live?

The last delimitation is cost. There will be no cost for participation. The curriculum will

be created using Scripture as the foundation and elements revealed in the literature review to

facilitate the lessons from Scripture. Additionally, a perceived gap in the literature would suggest

the need for a curriculum engineered for this specific engagement of discipleship: the instruction

of parents to be instructors of God's word.

Thesis Statement

God assigned the primary task of training children to fathers (Deut 6:7), and in modern

church history, parents have relegated this responsibility to the churches.

33

The problem here is

that the teen only spends a few hours a week at church with other like-minded teens and the

professional clergy. This does not supplant the noise of the secular world speaking into the

student's life outside their time at church. Outside the biblical mandate, the home is the logical

place where correct thinking can and should be taught. The parents or guardians know their

33

Paul Renfro, Perspectives on Family Ministry, 10.

20

families best and, with equipping and encouragement, can lead their families to the knowledge of

God.

The involvement of the parents of children is essential in equipping teens with the tools

to manage a humanistic and sensate world. Typically, the time allotted to church youth activities

and biblical instruction is approximately two hours per week. There are other times when this

allotment is much more significant, such as summer camps and other church youth retreats, but

these are exceptions and not the norm. Simple math demonstrates the majority of the time for

biblical instruction is in the home. The influences induced into the lives and minds of teens far

exceed the time student pastors need to combat and redirect youth toward cultivating a biblical

worldview. The line of engagement must lie in the home with the parents and guardians.

Many statistics extracted from various surveys of Generation Z speak to a generation

falling into a metaphysical malaise and secular humanism. These cultural influences negatively

affect young Christians, causing conflict between the secular mindset and a biblical worldview.

This created dissonance is the epitome of the “double-minded man” trying to live two different

lives (Jas 1:8, NASB). The solution to this problem cannot rest on the Student Pastor alone or the

church but must include the familial effort needed in home-based discipleship. The need for

parent/guardian discipleship strategies is paramount in combatting this issue at TMC. This

strategy would infuse the biblical tools, knowledge, and confidence parents and guardians need

to assist their children in developing a biblical worldview. If parents are better prepared,

equipped, and more confident in discipling their children, then faulty decisions based on a

distorted worldview will improve.

21

CHAPTER 2: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

This Doctor of Ministry project is founded on the manifestation of poor decision-making

among teens at TMC. A deep reflection on this issue demonstrates a problem with discipleship,

specifically, home-based discipleship to develop a biblical worldview. Therefore, research is

needed to understand the current and past endeavors to engage this issue in a larger context. The

research focuses on understanding the minds of scholars, academics, philosophers, theologians,

and pastors. Analyzing and synthesizing the available literature allows the researcher to see what

areas have received attention and which have yet to or need more research. This is critical to

contributing to this collection of literature and addressing the problem in the local context.

Scripture should and will be the foundational text from which any action proceeds. The section

Theological Foundation focuses on God’s call to parents to educate their families (Deut 6:7).

This section will deduce the biblical foundation supporting this project within the church. Lastly,

the section on Theoretical Foundation will explore the implementation of the existing curriculum

and the philosophy of creating a new curriculum to be employed with families.

Literature Review

Loving God and being obedient to His commands is not an individual endeavor. Instead,

it is a family matter. This is an implication from Deuteronomy 6:4-9. The commands are to be

present with you, “on your heart” (Deut 6:6, NASB). The explicit command in verse seven is

that this teaching begins in the home (Deut 6:7). Thus, the resulting research for home-based

discipleship revealed several areas or themes within family ministry and discipleship. The

research from the following fifty-two relevant, scholarly sources revealed three preeminent areas

of Christian development that will allow parents and guardians to be more confident through

preparation and being equipped to teach the things of God to their children (Deut 6:7). The

22

literature review presented here will engage the fifty-two scholarly works in the areas of

approach, psychology, and Christian apologetics.

Approach

The title of this section denotes an encompassing body of research that exposes several

sub-topics within the larger theme. These topics elucidate the baseline for forming a hierarchal

approach to home-based discipleship: discipleship, strategy, models of discipleship, Christian

spiritual formation, and curriculum.

Discipleship

If home-based discipleship is the focus, a word is necessary on discipleship generally. To

be a disciple is to be a learner.

34

This dynamic instantiates a relationship.

35

We observe this

relational concept in Matthew 11, where Jesus beckons the weary to take His yoke and learn

from Him (Matt 11:29). This denotes another aspect of discipleship that is taking on the

character and persona of the teacher.

36

Discipleship assumes a likeness or mimeograph of the

teacher, modeling what is learned in all aspects of life and action.

37

This acquisition is an aspect

that needs to be included in contemporary Christianity, likely resulting from misunderstanding

what discipleship is.

38

Jonathan Dodson, academic and pastor of City Life Church in Austin,

34

Andrew Hayes, The Meanings of Discipleship, 12.

35

Ibid., 13.

36

Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship: Revised and Expanded (Wheaton: Crossway, 2022),

43, ProQuest Ebook Central.

37

Ibid., 43.

38

Ibid., 22.

23

Texas, asserts that discipleship is maturing as a Christian.

39

More so, being a disciple is

foundational; it is an identity.

40

This identity results from being with the teacher.

The relationship between the teacher and the disciple is proximal. Hayes and Cherry posit

this relationship to be present sense.

41

Peter Scazzero, the founder of New Life Fellowship

Church in New York, says we place our current understanding behind serving or “doing” for

God.

42

Thus, true or intimate discipleship suffers and lags behind the endless “doing,”

culminating in superficial discipleship.

43

The location of discipleship, which is the thrust of this

thesis, is the home. This location centers on the family, ordained by God for discipleship in the

family context.

44

Discipleship is taking on the identity of the one being emulated or learning

from (Matt 11:19; Phil 2:5) and being with this person. God’s institution of the family is His

strategy of disciple formation.

Strategy

Another descriptive word for strategy is “plan,” or having a plan. Despite the simplicity

of this word, finding resources that define and articulate the meaning is sparse but present unless

consulting a tertiary source. Henri Hakala and Tero Vuorinen uphold this statement of seeming

obscurity.

45

The word strategy is better accounted for in the literature referencing something

else, such as a business, military, or education strategy. These descriptors demonstrate that a

39

Jonathan Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship, 43.

40

Ibid., 24.

41

Andrew Hayes, The Meanings of Discipleship, 147.

42

Peter Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Discipleship: Moving from Shallow Christianity to Deep

Transformation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2021), 10, ProQuest Ebook Central.

43

Ibid., 11.

44

Paul Renfro, Perspectives on Family Ministry, 25.

45

Henri Hakala, and Tero Vuorinen, Tools for Strategy: A Starter Kit for Academics and Practitioners,

Elements in Business Strategy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), 1.

24

strategy is an action plan. The intent behind a strategy is to use resources to accomplish a goal,

which will multiply into more incredible things.

46

In the context of this thesis, strategy accounts

for engaging ministry opportunities. Therefore, it has an ecclesiological application. Edward P.

Mermilliod holistically defines strategy as increasing vision, application, and praxis, all to cover

areas for success or eliminate mistakes committed by competitors or other organizations.

47

This

means strategy is deliberate for a desired outcome.

48

Henri Hakala and Tero Vuorinen hold

similar positions in that strategy is a tool used to achieve a desired outcome.

49

This is a focal

point of this and every other thesis: the intentionality and organization of data for an outcome.

The referenced authors demonstrate the flexibility of the word strategy, thus, the viability of

conforming to different settings such as family ministry.

Edward Mermilliod has a penchant for family ministry and demonstrates this proclivity

through his dissertation and journal articles focusing on family discipleship. In a 2020 article in

the Christian Education Journal, he stressed the need for churches to equip parents to disciple

their children. This perspective is based on the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20) and that

honoring the command of Christ begins in the home with the family.

50

As noted earlier,

“strategy” is versatile and malleable to various entities and other disciplines, such as psychology.

46

Scott Downey, "What is Strategy?" Agri Marketing 60, no. 4 (May-June 2022): 38.

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A708626054/GBIB?u=vic_liberty&sid=summon&xid=4c01c229. This short journal

article defines the word strategy but is one page long. It gives a definition that can be formatted to various systems

to coordinate a movement to affect a desired outcome.

47

Edward Paul Mermilliod, "Strategic Church-Based Family Ministry: An Analysis of Family Ministry

Priority and Practice within the Southern Baptist Convention" (PhD diss., Southeastern Baptist Theological

Seminary, 2021): 32-33, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

48

Ibid., 32.

49

Henri Hakala, Tools for Strategy, 1.

50

Edward P. Mermilliod, "A Synthesis of Academic Research related to Church-based Family Ministry,"

Christian Education Journal, vol. 18, no. 3, (2020): 410, accessed August 4, 2023.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0739891320974383.

25

A determined plan is as functional to a church as to a psychologist or cognitive researcher. The

art of observation is a strategy scientists employ in the cognitive science of religion. According

to this field of study, belief in gods is connected to culture, which shapes an individual's belief

structure.

51

The observation strategy is employed to collect data on gods related to cognitive

function and use that data to explain the characteristics of the god or gods in question.

52

This

observation mode is also a method used as a strategy for parents passing on their faith to their

children.

The explicative in Deuteronomy 6:7-9 teaches through action, actions which create

patterns, thus repetition.

53

Parents use this verbal, visual, and physical methodology to pass on

the faith. The biblical command is for parents to teach their children (Deut 6:7). This command

of action through repetition is a strategy used then and now to pass on the belief and faith of the

parents to their children. Religious Parenting: Transmitting Faith and Values in Contemporary

America, a recent offering, suggests that a very effective way to transmit parents' faith to their

children is to practice faith normally in the presence of their children.

54

Additionally, this praxis

augments deficient intellectual knowledge with difficult doctrines by the physical action of

doing.

55

This works in a collective to demonstrate the practical application with the cognitive

ability to observe, process, and record faith beliefs. This method of instruction is strategic

51

Justin L. Barrett, ed. The Oxford Handbook of the Cognitive Science of Religion (Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 2022), 71, ProQuest Ebook Central.

52

Ibid., 72.

53

Lain M. Duguid, et al., Deuteronomy-Ruth, 2 vols., ESV Expository Commentary (Wheaton: Crossway,

2021), 146, ProQuest Ebook Central.

54

Christian Smith, Bridget Ritz, and Michael Rotolo, Religious Parenting: Transmitting Faith and Values

in Contemporary America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020), 179, Pro Quest Ebook Central.

55

Ibid., 179.

26

management intended to ensure success over long periods.

56

Observed in these sources is an

intertwined function of strategy. A strategy that works through praxis and cognition. Although

most thoughts turn to the military or commercial business, strategies are present any time a goal

is to be obtained. Strategy is the driving force behind models of discipleship.

Models of Discipleship

This subsection covers much of the literary landscape and will be foundational to this

chapter. There is an interlacing of practical ministry through models of discipleship, the

onslaught of society and culture against the nuclear family, underpinned psychologically. As has

been deduced thus far, the family is the first and most important ministry and the primary

recipient of discipleship assistance.

57

The most basic functional intent for home-based

discipleship is that the father instructs the wife and children to follow the commands of God.

58

There is no difference between fifteenth-century BC Israel and AD twenty-first-century America

in this regard. God’s strategy is fulfilled by those who love Him with all their being (Deut 6:5).

Hence, the modern church has undertaken family ministry, producing many discipleship models.

Denise Muir Kjesbo, director of children's and family ministry at Bethel University, and Lou

Cha, Assistant Professor of Christian Ministry and Formation at John Brown University, espouse

that the modern church uses many models, an amalgamation of sorts, to fit their essence and

forge family ministry.

59

The authors cover the historical development of curriculum and ministry

56

Henri Hakala, Tools for Strategy, 2.

57

Matt Chandler, and Adam Griffin, Family Discipleship: Leading Your Home Through Time, Moments,

and Milestones (Wheaton: Crossway, 2020), 48. Logos.

58

Ibid.

59

Denise M. Kjesbo, and Lou Y. Cha, "Family Ministry: Past, Present, Future," Christian Education

Journal 17, no 3, (2020): 494, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0739891320943603. This source is an

excellent representation of what has transpired in family ministry from the 1970s through the early 2000s. This

paper covers a quasi-history of curriculum and ministry models adopted and adapted by the church to assist parents

and guardians with home-based discipleship. This piece is recommended for further analysis and use.

27

models in the late twentieth century, which serve as a vessel for some created curricula.

60

They

elucidate six forms of family ministry: educational, caring, parent equipping, family of families,

service as family, and milestones.

61

These forms are a conduit to provide parents and guardians

and empower them through study material that incorporates everyday life in the home with

discipleship. This is a comprehensive treatment that has and will contribute to the research of this

thesis. A comparative text offered through the contributions of several scholars depicts three of

these ministry models as the foundation of family ministry in the church.

The quest to reach families and equip them for home ministry and discipleship is viewed

broadly by Denise Kjesbo and Lou Cha but narrowed in the book Perspectives on Family

Ministry: 3 Views. This collection of practical scholars discusses and refutes the functionality of

three modes of ministry for families.

62

The three ministry models that form the foundation of this

book are family-integrated, family-based, and family-equipping ministries.

63

There is an

interesting contrast between this resource and Kjesbo and Cha in that the six models from the

latter are condensed into the three models in the former. The difference is models versus modes.

The latter is a strategy, and the former is the conduit to implement the strategy. Therefore,

Perspectives on Family Ministry: 3 Views could be better understood as three modes that employ

various models to execute the whole. Thus far in the discourse, much has been covered with the

60

The aspect of the curriculum will be covered more thoroughly in a later section of this chapter. The

reference here shows the encompassing family ministry approach deduced in the paper.

61

Denise M. Kjesbo, "Family Ministry," 494-501.

62

The use of “practical scholars” defines the contributing authors of Perspectives on Family Ministry: 3

Views as scholars active in family ministry, having served and serving in the pastoral position.

63

Paul Renfro, et al., Perspectives on Family Ministry, 49-52.

28

mechanics of family ministry. This book discusses the need as well. A need that focuses on

families under attack.

64

The family was ordained by God and instituted from the beginning of creation (Gen 1:27-

28; 2:22-24). This is a foundational element in the creation, an element from which God will

bless His creation and the conduit through which God passes His goodness and commands for

righteousness (right relationship with Him) to the next generations. The preferred mode is

through the family. Randy Stinson, Provost at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary,

states that family ministry is necessary “because families are under siege.”

65

Timothy Paul Jones,

vice president for doctoral studies at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, reinforces this

notion through the civic and economic reshaping of the family. Although the reshaping of the

family has occurred over eons of time, a predominant catalyst in the demise of the modern

family is the Industrial Revolution, where commerce and economics once took place in the home

(multi-generational); this production traversed to the factories.

66

The results were that the men

(fathers specifically) were removed from the home to provide for their families. This economic

restructuring created a cascading effect that the then church and other parachurch organizations

observed and engaged society.

Timothy P. Jones details the appearance of various church-led and para-church

organizations that instituted programs that mentored and disciplined families, specifically youth.

This approach led to segregating previously intergenerational family ministry into

compartmentalized ministry and culture.

67

This position is related to ministry models and the

64

Paul Renfro, et al., Perspectives on Family Ministry, 1.

65

Ibid., 1.

66

T. P. Jones, “Family as Church, Church as Family: Toward a More Comprehensive Definition of Family

Ministry,” D6 Family Ministry Journal 4, (May 2019): 8.

67

Ibid., 13.

29

propagation of these North American models across the globe.

68

In this view of ministry models,

the idea is to emphasize family-based ministry and discipleship. Edward Mermilliod insists that

the modern church strives to reinstate the home as the primary location of discipleship.

69

This

prompts the question of why the family unit is vital to passing on the knowledge of God and His

precepts. The answer to this question bridges psychology and cognition to the models or modes

of home learning. In an earlier section, key components have been noted with repetition and the

practice of faith in the home.

70

The rationale for this model is also understood in psychology as

schema and thema. Schema is the rational or cognitive area to process knowledge, and thema is

the relational aspect of learning, or interactional, in this case, for discipleship.

71

This

psychological understanding is vital in forming faith in youth in the home.

The notion of schema and thema is epistemology's intellectual and experiential nodes.

Although a slightly older codex, James Riley Estep, vice president of academics at Central

Christian College of the Bible in Moberly, Missouri, attributes these modes to Piaget (schema)

and Vygotsky (thema).

72

In this instance, Piaget pioneered schema and Vygotsky thema.

73

James R. Estepp and Jonathan H. Kim continue to say that both schemes must be incorporated to

develop Christian formation.

74

Understanding the area of emphasis for each, a connection can be

68

T. P. Jones, “Family as Church, 14.

69

Edward Mermilliod, "A Synthesis,” 409.

70

The section on Strategy reflects the components of teaching faith to children through the verbal, physical,

and regular practice of faith as observed and emulated by the children in the home.

71

Mark A. Maddix, Kim, Jonathan H., and James Riley Estep Jr., Understanding Faith Formation:

Theological, Congregational, and Global Dimensions (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020), 30, ProQuest Ebook

Central.

72

James R. Estep, and Jonathan H. Kim, Christian Formation: Integrating Theology and Human

Development (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2010), 64, Kindle.

73

James R. Estep, Christian Formation, chapter three, Kindle.

74

Ibid., 81.

30

made with the practice of Christian daily faith in the presence of the children at home, as

postulated by Christian Smith, Bridget Ritz, and Michael Rotolo in Religious Parenting.

75

An

amalgamation of verbal teaching coupled with religious practice stimulates intellectual and

experiential epistemology, fostering the equipping of the children in the home with the Christian

faith. This draws an interesting connection to the model of discipleship noted in Deuteronomy

6:7-9.

The command of Scripture in Deuteronomy is a call to stimulate the mind through

schema and the body with thema. This passage will be extricated thoroughly in a later section,

but what is understood must be juxtaposed with modern psychology. A literal understanding of,

“You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house

and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up” (Deut 6:7, NASB)

equates to a verbal and physical mode of the teaching, coupled with the experiential or sensate

connection with doing or praxis. Two dimensions are observed here that coordinate teaching the

children in the home; one is strategic, and the other is a natural flow of information through

direct and indirect teaching.

76

Interestingly, what God instituted in the past is considered a

modern discovery of mind and cognition. This verse in Deuteronomy also calls on parents to

teach their children using both modes of cognition, acquiring knowledge of God and faith. The

godly edict also works to strengthen the bonds between parents and children. These relational

bonds connect the children socially and intellectually and are better suited to engage the anxieties

of life and culture.

77

Justin Barrett, an American experimental psychologist, argues in favor of

75

Christian Smith, et al., Religious Parenting, 179.

76

Ibid., 180.

77

Lisa Howard, “Parental Involvement Factors Promoting Adolescent Faith Formation,” D6 Family

Ministry Journal 4, (May 2019): 89.

31

the family from a socio-economic benefit for “reduced crime, reduced sexual and physical abuse,

and increased child investment and economic productivity.”

78

Lisa Howard, Youth Pastor and

thirty-year educator, demonstrates that these benefits from a robust parent-child relationship

work to develop faith and religious conviction.

79

It is clear from these experts that the role of family discipleship is critical to productivity

for families and societies. Matt Chalder and Adam Griffin suggest that family discipleship is

God’s strategy for revival in the church and the revitalization of entire communities.

80

The

family is generally the primary means to transfer religious belief, with religion being linked to

reduced anxiety and personal wellness.

81

Christian Smith and company say the positive results of

religious belief are “citizenship, strengthening society, and upholding morals.”

82

This familial

strategy God instituted far surpasses the narrow scope of the family and is a catalyst for revival

throughout humanity. The family begins with a husband and wife who work together for the

good of society. Matthew Bracey, Vice Provost at Welch College, says marriage works to keep

society from destruction.

83

Matthew Bracey continues by noting marriage’s positive effect on

sexual morality and the restraining element it provides, preventing societal ruin.

84

This ruin is the

current state of Western society as moral degradation rapidly removes the image observed in

society that reveals the current context.

85

Kevin Vanhoozer, theologian and professor of

78

Justin Barrett, The Oxford Handbook, 271.

79

Ibid., 90.

80

Matt Chandler, Family Discipleship, 35.

81

Christian Smith, et al., Religious Parenting, 51.

82

Ibid.

83

Matthew S. Bracey, “The Institutional Good of Marriage, the Family, and Society,” D6 Family Ministry

Journal 4, (May 2019): 31.

84

Ibid., 34.

85

Kevin Vanhoozer, Hearers and Doers, 8.

32

Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, summarizes this as the assumption

of right and wrong.

86

These assumptions are the ontic responsibilities prescribed by God through

the institution of marriage. Kevin Vanhoozer continues to say that this societal destruction, and

arguably the dismantling of the family, resulted from God not being in His rightful place within

society.

87

The family is the preeminent model of discipleship. The Holy Spirit does His work

within this model to produce spiritual formation.

Christian Spiritual Formation

Christian spiritual formation (from here forward CSF) is the powerful work of the Holy

Spirit in the life of the disciple of Christ (2 Cor 3:18). It is a heart matter, a matter the Holy Spirit

moves toward God and conforms the believer into the likeness of Jesus (Rom 8:29). Steve

Porter, Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and editor of the Journal of Spiritual

Formation and Soul Care, asserts CSF is a ubiquitous call to the sanctification of the followers

of Jesus.

88

James C. Wilhoit, Ph.D., emeritus professor of Christian education at Wheaton

College, and Evan B. Howard, adjunct professor of Christian Spirituality at Fuller Theological

Seminary, posit that CSF has been part of Christianity from the beginning.

89

Acts 2:42 is the

explication of CSF through experience and direct teaching and the development of core

competencies of CSF (daily prayer, Bible study, gathering as an assembly, and spending time

with other Christians). James C. Wilhoit, in Spiritual Formation As If the Church Mattered:

86

Kevin Vanhoozer, Hearers and Doers, 8.

87

Ibid., 9.

88

Steve L. Porter, “The Future of Christian Spiritual Formation,” Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul

Care 16, no 1 (2023): 4, www.journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/19397909231173908.

89

James C. Wilhoit, and Evan B Howard, “The Wisdom of Christian Spiritual Formation,” Journal of

Spiritual Formation and Soul Care 13, no 1 (2020): 5,

www.journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/1939790920903841.

33

Growing in Christ Through Community, argues that CSF is the church's primary responsibility.

90

This responsibility is in response to Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations (Matt

28:19-20). It is essential to note the idea of succession in this passage. Jesus’ command was to

make disciples that will make more disciples. The juxtaposition of this and James Wilhoit's

statement regarding the church's primary responsibility demonstrates a dichotomy of the

intentional action of the church. This means the church is mandated to make disciples on the one

hand, and on the other, not all disciples are to be made by the church. Thus, disciples that make

disciples. Here is where the family is inserted, supported by the church.

The argument thus far shows the venue for the work of the Holy Spirit is through the

family. As the Spirit sanctifies the believer, His work engages the family and is pointed to Christ.

This engages parents through the work of the Spirit to instill the responsibility for the CSF of

their children. Matt Chandler and Adam Griffin support the parental responsibility of spiritual

formation in their families.

91

This ordained structure is one of God’s primary means of spiritual

formation, as expressed by Edward Mermilliod in his dissertation work.

92

The godly strategy

through the family uses experiences that change the believer's heart and that individual's inner

world to be like Christ.

93

R. Robert Creech, a professor of Pastoral Leadership and director of

Pastoral Ministries at George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University, in Waco,

Texas, supports the experiential nature of spiritual formation and further adds that while this is

90

James C. Wilhoit, Spiritual Formation As If the Church Mattered: Growing in Christ Through

Community (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2022), 14, ProQuest Ebook Central.

91

Matt Chandler, Family Discipleship, 51.

92

Edward Mermilliod, “Strategic Church-Based Family Ministry,” 16.

93

R. Robert Creech, Family Systems and Congregational Life: A Map for Ministry (Grand Rapids: Baker

Academic, 2019,) 80, ProQuest Ebook Central.

34

solely the work of the Holy Spirit, human involvement is an element used through God’s grace.

94

Steve L. Porter adds to this position of involvement by way of God’s invitation to believers to

collaborate with Him in the process of sanctification.

95

This element is the family structure and

the relational aspect, both theologically and biologically, which forms experiential spiritual

formation.

96

Jeremy Rios, a pastor and theologian, affirms the family structure as a renewed

anthropology for theological and biological spiritual formation, thwarting individualism.

97

More

will be offered with identity in a subsequent section of this chapter, but regarding the individual

juxtaposed to the collective, suffice to say, Rios’ position of the failings of the individualist

places credence on the family as the collective beginning for CSF. This section sought to draw

conclusions about what CSF is and where the responsibility lies for the nurture and growth of

CSF. The heavy lifting is the work of the Holy Spirit in cooperation with the individual and the

collective to foster CSF. The remaining question is how. This lays the foundation for curriculum.

Curriculum

Curriculum is a systematic approach to teaching discipleship (or other subjects).

Discipleship, as understood in a previous section, is the church's primary responsibility. James

Wilhoit defines curriculum as the layout of a race,

98

meaning a determined path to an end or

goal. Individual discipleship curriculum is not difficult to locate. The problem lies with a

curriculum that enables and equips parents to disciple their children. This is not a new issue or

94

R. Robert Creech, Family Systems, 80.

95

Steve L. Porter, “The Future,” 6.

96

Jeremy M. Rios, "Bonhoeffer and Bowen Theory: A Theological Anthropology of the Collective-Person

and its Implications for Spiritual Formation," Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care 13, no. 2 (2020): 184,

https://doi.org/10.1177/1939790920915700.

97

Ibid., 178.

98

James C. Wilhoit, Spiritual Formation, 35.

35

discovery. Denise Kjesbo and Lou Cha note this long-term conundrum with inquisitions of

family-oriented curriculum from the 70s.

99

The focal point of this epiphany was the parents'

connection to the curriculum used to teach their children on Sunday mornings.

100

A supplement

to this strategy is revealed in a hybrid system comprised of family-integrated and family-

equipping ministry modes.

101

Here, the idea of multi-generational influence is coupled with

strategies for equipping parents to disciple their children. In the early 2000s, Youth Minister

Mark DeVries created curricula to connect adults with youth.

102

This and other curricula provide

a means for family-based ministry, teaching the Bible to youth.

103

The proper implementation to

achieve the goal of curriculum creation is to have primary goals.

104

Andrew Burggraff, Vice

president of Enrollment Services at Shepherd’s Theological Seminary, says this goal is to

understand Scripture better individually, enveloping this understanding in the individual, then

incorporating Scripture into a daily walk with Jesus.

105

Initiating this goal is to understand that

two groups of people will be instructed with the curriculum: adults and youth. Each group can be

further separated, creating a taxonomy of learners.

Taxonomically, young adults, middle-aged, seniors, singles, widowed, and divorced

comprise adult education within the church, as espoused by Clair Allen Budd, professor of

99

Denise Kjesbo and Lou Cha, "Family Ministry," Christian Education Journal, 17, (2020): 490.

100

Ibid., 491.

101

This hybrid formulation is discussed in the section Models of Discipleship on page 6.

102

T. P. Jones, “Family as Church,” 16.

103

Edward Mermilliod, “A Synthesis of Academic Research,” 417.

104

James C. Wilhoit, Spiritual Formation, 45.

105

Andrew Burggraff, "Developing Discipleship Curriculum: Applying the Systems Approach Model for

Designing Instruction by Dick, Carey, and Carey to the Construction of Church Discipleship Courses," Christian

Education Journal 12, no. 2 (Fall, 2015): 399,

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/developing-

discipleship-curriculum-applying/docview/1725036343/se-2.

36

Christian Ministries, Asbury University, and Martha S. Bergen, professor of Christian Education

at Hannibal-LaGrange University, Hannibal, Missouri.

106

The youth participants are categorized

by newborns, toddlers, elementary age, middle school, and high school. The curriculum then

needs to conform to the strengths of each and the differences between them. Nataliya

Machynska, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences and professor, and Halyna Boiko, at the Ivan

Franko National University of Lviv, the mistake of treating both groups the same is the negation

of the adult's use of experience and collective learning.

107

There is a delineation between adult

and child learning or andragogy versus pedagogy.

108

Clair Allen Budd and Martha Bergen demonstrate a growing body of adult learning

literature and knowledge gained over the past forty years.

109

This is built upon in this thesis

intervention, focusing on the desired connectivity with the adult for home-based discipleship.

Thus, andragogy is the focus, to prepare parents to teach and disciple their children. There are

many differences between adult and youth education, such as independence, life experience,

teachability (willingness), and availability control.

110

A preeminent feature distinguishing adults

from youth is the need and want to problem-solve.

111

Komail Malik, Pakistan Institute of

Medical Sciences, Islamabad, and Tanwir Khaliq, Department of Medical Education, Shaheed

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Islamabad, assert that knowing is not enough for adults;

106

Clair Allen Budd, and Martha S Bergen, “Adult Ministry in the Church: A Forty-Year Perspective,”

Christian Education Journal 17, no. 3 (2020): 471,

www.journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0739891320951201.

107

Nataliya Machynska, and Halyna Boiko, "Andragogy – The Science of Adult Education: Theoretical

aspects," Journal of Innovation in Psychology, Education and Didactics 24, no. 1 (January 2020): 26,

www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/andragogy-science-adult-education-theoretical/docview/2479494712/se-2.

108

Ibid., 27.

109

Clair Allen Budd, “Adult Ministry in the Church,” 468.

110

Ibid.

111

Komail Malik, and Tanwir Khaliq, "Andragogy (Adult Learning)," Annals of PIMS-Shaheed Zulfiqar

Ali Bhutto Medical University 13, no. 4 (2017): 301, www.apims.net/index.php/apims/article/view/1.

37

adults want to do something with the gained knowledge.

112

This paradigmatic assertion

demonstrates hearing and doing, which points to the biblical mandate for parents to educate their

children in the ways of God (Deut 6:4-9). Jeff Hoppe, a Chaplain and certified educator, co-

wrote a book with his wife, Kathy Hoppe, an Assistant Professor of Community Counseling at

Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma, posits that to induce this paradigm of hearing

and doing, the appropriate environment to propagate internalization and assertion of gained

knowledge, relying on experience to produce solutions.

113

Learning adults want to analyze and

codify information utilizing their life experience, thinking through the taught content; this

modality is constructivist learning.

114

Dorit Alt, Professor of Education, and Yariv Itzkovich, School of Social Sciences and

Humanities, both at Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Jordan Valley, Israel, press the

fortitude of constructivist learning against the traditional authoritarian teaching paradigm as with

constructivism, the student exercises their experience in choosing solutions to problems through

life proximity.

115

This teaching environment fosters a shared authority, freeing the student to

utilize experience sorting out problems and potential solutions.

116

This dialectic teaching

paradigm is the focal point in discovery teaching. The Hoppes propose a dialectic environment,

such as how Jesus taught His disciples. Jesus’ teaching was not bland; instead, He taught through

stories, adding an intriguing element and then posing questions so the disciples could formulate

112

Komail Malik, and Tanwir Khaliq, "Andragogy (Adult Learning)," 301.

113

Kathy Hoppe, and Jeff Hoppe, Discovery Teaching Like Jesus: Engaging Adult Learners (Eugene: Wipf

and Stock Publishers, 2020), 14, Logos.

114

Ibid., 10.

115

Dorit Alt, and Yariv Itzkovich, “The Connection between Perceived Constructivist Learning

Environments and Faculty Uncivil Authoritarian Behaviors,” Higher Education 77, no. 3 (2019): 440,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/45116925.

116

Ibid.

38

an answer.

117

The curriculum should be developed around a dialectic paradigm involving

discussion and experience from the teacher and adult student to foster greater retention and

application of the information being taught and absorbed. The position of this thesis intervention

is that the modality of adult learning is to be gleaned from Scripture, as noted in Deuteronomy

6:7-9. Thus, the theme of psychology and the acquisition of knowledge.

Psychology

The role of psychology in this thesis intervention centers on acquiring information

through direct learning and tactile assimilation of what is perceived from the environment. This

acquisition entails the individual and others who are intertwined, forming a nexus of sharing and

learning from one another. This epistemological landscape is formed from Scripture, specifically,

the passage from Deuteronomy 6:7-9 and Acts 2:42. This section will survey the literature

defining identity and cognition as these elements form the individual and Christian faith.

Identity

This section will elucidate personal identity and collective identity. J. P. Moreland,

distinguished professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, and William Lane Craig, an

analytic philosopher and Christian apologist, assert that identity is a basic idea of existence.

118

C.

Fred Smith, Associate professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Liberty University, posits

that identity is understanding who an individual is, not in a basic sense but in the profound

understanding of being human.

119

This facet of identity is comparatively narrow to Christine

117

Kathy Hoppe, and Jeff Hoppe, Discovery Teaching, 13.

118

J. P. Moreland, and William Lane Craig, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, 2nd ed

(Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2017), 178, Logos.

119

C. Fred Smith, Developing a Biblical Worldview: Seeing Things God’s Way (Nashville, TN: B&H

Academic, 2015), 13, Logos.

39

Selby’s definition of identity as the individual has a role with something else.

120

Christine Selby,

a licensed psychologist, connects identity with what the individual commits themselves to.

121

This definition best correlates to this thesis intervention as identity is a connection to Christ;

Christ is the One believers commit to. Selby further denotes identity as what others see from the

individual.

122

John C. Chatlos, a psychiatrist in Holmdel, New Jersey, argues that the role of

adolescent research is related to the strength of identity commitments and that this allows for

higher psychological adjustment than that of adolescents reeling with identity issues.

123

A way of

understanding this higher psychological adjustment ability is what Creech defines as well-

differentiated.

124

This works to understand collective identity.

Collective identity is being part of a whole, as is in this intervention; the whole is the

family.

125

John C. Chatlos furthers the understanding of collective identity as shared

characteristics of a group, such as language, ethnic origin, and beliefs.

126

R. Robert Creech

connects the collective identity to the many disciples Jesus taught and lived with during His

ministry.

127

D. T. Everheart of the Logos Institute for Analytic and Exegetical Theology,

University of St Andrews, United Kingdom, states that there is an ontological dependency on

relationship with God and other believers.

128

According to D. T. Everheart, the collective

120

Christine L. B. Selby, Who Am I?: Understanding Identity and the Many Ways We Define Ourselves

(New York: Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2021), 4, ProQuest Ebook Central.

121

Ibid., 4.

122

Christine L. B. Selby, Who Am I?, 5.

123

John C. Chatlos, "Adolescent Identity Formation Versus Spiritual Transformation," Zygon 58, no. 1

(2023): 157, www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/zygo.12862.

124

R. Robert Creech, Family Systems, 133.

125

Matt Chandler, Family Discipleship, 40.

126

Ibid., 161.

127

Ibid., 88.

128

D. T. Everhart, "Communio Dei and the Mind of Christ," Theologica 6, no. 1 (2022): 45,

https://doaj.org/article/f26dac73ce484131a9dc413d9704060d.

40

identity is a network of relationships that interconnect others to a whole, specifically believers to

God through Christ.

129

Trevor Hart, theologian, pastor, and former professor of Divinity at St.

Andrews, United Kingdom, gives the analogous relation of a story to that of the collective, the

individuals in community.

130

This communal relationship rests in the church, with origins in the

family. The family was created and ordained by God (Gen 2:24). The family receives instruction

from the parents (Deut 6:7-9) in the admonition of the Lord (Eph 6:4, NKJV). Paul Renfro

describes the church as a family of family, but only in structure, not nature.

131

But, Jeremy Rios

extends the nature of the church through the collective person, bound to each other through

connection with Christ, thus demonstrating this collective to the world.

132

The family is the

foundational teaching element created by God to facilitate passing knowledge of Him to the

generations and the world. The following section will detail this passage related to Deuteronomy

6:4-9 and cognitive development.

Cognitive Development Theories

Faith and reason are problems that have plagued theologians from the onset of the early

church. This dichotomy of theology and intellect is an underlying girder for Christian

development and spiritual formation. The contention in this essay is that the two work together

through schema and thema to understand and act on perceptible data, which develops and forms

spiritual growth and, thus, Christian formation. The two noted theories, schema, and thema,

come from two psychologists, Jean Piaget, and Lev Vygotsky. The contention in this short essay

is that these theories work together to produce the environment in which the Holy Spirit works to

129

D. T. Everhart, "Communio Dei,” 59.

130

Trevor Hart, Faith Thinking: The Dynamics of Christian Theology, 2nd ed. (Eugene: Wipf and Stock

Publishers, 2020), 101, ProQuest Ebook Central.

131

Paul Renfro, Perspectives on Family Ministry, 80.

132

Jeremy M. Rios, “Bonhoeffer and Bowen theory,” 185.

41

develop spiritual growth and formation in every believer in Christ. This will be deduced by

explaining each theory's premise and theological perspectives, identifying the expected spiritual

growth of individual participants in this action research project resulting from these theories, and

finally, the methodology measuring this growth, solidifying the application of these cognitive

theories in Christian formation. If these cognitive development theories are applied correctly, as

Scripture prescribes, then Christian formation will result.

Cognition: acquisition and relation

This section will deduce the theories of schema and thema with the theological

perspective. The book Christian Formation: Integrating Theology and Human Development

explores these cognitive theories and implications for Christian formation.

133

This essay

hypothesizes that the two theories work together; one produces the learning environment, and the

other directs teaching. Together, they work to form cognition and human development. The

theological perspective is that these theories are not theories according to Scripture, as these

cognitive functions have been present in human learning and development from the beginning of

creation.

Schema

The theory of schematic perspective was developed by Jean Piaget (1896-1980). Piaget

idealized a four-stage growth continuum in children up to age thirteen: reflexive thought,

intuitive thought, concrete thought, and abstract thought.

134

These stages of intellectual growth

are born from the human mental need to organize and adapt perceived data through assimilation,

accommodation, and equilibration.

135

An analogy for this theory is a card catalog. Each card

133

James R. Estep, Christian Formation, 63, Kindle.

134

Ibid., 68.

135

Ibid., 66.

42

represents an item or data stored in a card drawer. When an object is perceived, a card is

produced with basic identifiers, and a taxonomy of the article is scribed onto the card and stored.

This cognitive action is assimilation and accommodation. This is also the building block of

organization or systematizing the data collected through sensory perception in the mind for

future recall.

The cards are schemes or new data and act by existing data by being able to further

define an object already in the card catalog or adding an object (scheme) to the catalog. The

intellect grows as the catalog grows, but the antithesis to the existing catalog are new schemes

that create disequilibration. The human mind requires harmony or balance. When everything

perceived agrees with the card catalog, all is well. This issue then comes with a disagreement.

An example of this is the taxonomy of four-legged animals that have fur. If the child equates

every furry four-legged animal to a dog, disequilibration occurs when they are told that the

animal is not a dog but a cat; cats are different.

136

Establishing a balance requires a new card and

further descriptors noted on the existing cards, adding characteristics to each card about the

object they represent. Balance is then restored, and intellect grows. The four stages stated earlier

are now able to be instantiated.

The card catalog that has been built allows the four stages to become operational

(reflexive, intuitive, concrete, and abstract thought). Although Piaget lists these stages

chronologically, they are not contingent on time; the individual will use the smallest data to

begin relational associations with the items recorded in the catalog.

137

Reflexive thought is the

beginning of association with other objects. This mental space is self-centered and basic in

136

James R. Estep, Christian Formation, 67.

137

Ibid.

43

forming initial tactile experiences (developing the cards in the catalog).

138

The intuitive stage

focuses on the unsupported knowledge gained in the reflexive stage and seeks to create ideas and

psychologies about the environment apart from the individual.

139

This researcher believes biases

begin at this stage due to intuitive thought that is unsupported or lacks inferential solidity. Next

is the concrete stage. This stage induces inductive reasoning, concluding perceived data to a

general understanding of what is observed.

140

This stage expands cognitive ability, bringing logic

to bear with systematizing and establishing relational congruity with objects (i.e., concepts of

things). This researcher likens this stage of intellectual development to mental hyperlinks for the

cards in the catalog to form generalizations and connectivity through object taxonomy. Lastly,

abstract thought is the stage where the card catalog comes into full use. This does not mean the

catalog is vast in content; it does mean that the individual can begin to use the catalog to draw

conclusions from information and develop hypotheses and theories to solve problems.

141

This

stage of development ushers in the ability to reason to conclusions and make determinations and

comparisons of abstract thoughts, such as understanding red or any color. From here forward, the

card catalog is expanded and hyperlinked for intellectual and cognitive growth. This excursion of

Piaget’s theory is simplistic but gives the theory's basic premise as it postulates cognitive and

intellectual growth. The second theory is thema. This essay hypothesizes that the two theories

work together to form intellect and cognition. This formation results from the individual's

contextual placement, the family.

138

James R. Estep, Christian Formation, 69.

139

Ibid., 70.

140

Ibid.

141

Ibid., 71.

44

Thema

The developmental theory of thema was initiated by Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934). The

basic premise of this theory is the social and cultural context as it bears on the intellectual

development of children.

142

Vygotsky placed a high yield on language and teaching, a dialogic

approach to intellectual growth.

143

This is a form of Socratic induction or the relational passing

of information or knowledge.

144

This is strikingly similar to the Old Testament creeds passed

from generation to generation. This will be treated in more detail in the theological perspectives

section, but suffice it to say God has used this intellectual strategy from the beginning.

Vygotsky’s theory is zoned development based on two levels of thought. The zones of

development are actual, potential, and proximal development.

145

The last zone, proximal, is the

defining element of Vygotsky’s theory: what a child can do through the assistance of another

(relational).

146

This is the contextual component that defines thema. The concept of culture and

society inputting knowledge into children is better placed into the family where parents have a

direct track to share and impart knowledge to their children. This contextual setting is the most

intimate zone for proximal growth. Children progress through the zones of development by two

levels of thinking, lower (schema) and higher (thema).

147

The lower level is theoretical

knowledge, and the higher is relative or praxis knowledge.

148

Another way of looking at these

two levels is with the card catalog. The lower level is the catalog, and the higher level takes the

142

James R. Estep, Christian Formation, 72.

143

Ibid., 76.

144

Ibid., 85.

145

Ibid., 73.

146

Ibid., 74.

147

Ibid.

148

Ibid., 75.

45

cards from the catalog and does something with them. The praxis aspect of the proximal zone is

doing something with the cards in conjunction with someone else's assistance.

149

As noted, the

striking similarity to learning strategies in Scripture resembles what has been espoused by these

two psychologists and their contributions to cognitive development. Given the establishment of

knowledge acquisition, Christian apologetics is the venue of the family teaching paradigm to

engage the current culture.

Christian Apologetics

Three areas of Christian apologetics are addressed in this section: culture, worldview, and

moralistic therapeutic deism (from here forward, MTD). The first area is culture. The intent of

the previous section is that culture is an environment where learning takes place through praxis

and direct teaching. Being a Christian means a believer models a biblical culture, but the culture

sometimes negatively influences the believer. Understanding culture is a means to further the

gospel and the kingdom of God.

Culture

Defining culture is not a simple task. Bruce R. Ashford, Dean of Faculty at Southeastern

Baptist Theological Seminary, defines culture as the interaction of people and the products they

create and use.

150

Joash Chatraw, Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism and Cultural Engagement

Beeson Divinity School draws a curious implication of culture in that culture promises a way of

life; therefore, culture determines how we live.

151

Cecilia Heyes, a Professor of Psychology at

the University of Oxford, defines culture as a characteristic of how a particular group thinks and

149

James R. Estep, Christian Formation, 75.

150

Bruce Riley Ashford, Every Square Inch: An Introduction to Cultural Engagement for Christians

(Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 13, Logos.

151

Joshua D. Chatraw, Telling a Better Story: How to Talk about God in a Skeptical Age (Grand Rapids,

MI: Zondervan, 2020), 6, Logos.

46

acts.

152

Kenneth Mercer, Editor in Chief of the American Water Works Association Water

Science, implies culture has subcultures, meaning water supply companies have a way (culture)

of doing business.

153

The reality of subcultures gives meaning to cross-cultural relationships.

David Livermore, President of the Cultural Intelligence Center in Bingham Farms,

Michigan, says cross-cultural engagement is a relatability factor some people have that allows

for better communication and other cultural sensitivity.

154

David Livermore adds a caveat:

having the ability to maintain an individual culture while relating to different cultures.

155

Jonathan Dodson, Pastor of City Life Church in Austin, Texas, gives an example of a congregant

evangelizing a neighbor of a Near Eastern religion and the need to communicate across belief

boundaries while maintaining the Christian belief.

156

The issue of cross-cultural communication

and interaction is a problem for many in the church. R. Robert Creech notes that with a culture

regressing rather than advancing, many church leaders become intertwined with the regression

and culture rather than inform the culture and maintain a biblical worldview.

157

Maintaining a

biblical worldview is crucial to affecting the culture with the truthfulness of Christian belief.

152

Cecilia Heyes, “Culture,” Current Biology 30, no. 20 (2020): R1246, www.cell.com/current-

biology/fulltext/S0960982220312768

153

Kenneth L. Mercer, “Culture,” Journal of the American Water Works Association 110, no. 12 (2018): 1,

www.web.s.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=d2916114-f33c-4dda-bf41-

bc8216596984%40redis.

154

David Livermore, Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The Real Secret to Success, 2nd ed. (New York:

American Management Association, 2015), 26, Logos.

155

Ibid.

156

Jonathan K. Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship, 30.

157

R. Robert Creech, Family Systems, 50.

47

Worldview

C. Fred Smith acknowledges a worldview is something everyone has.

158

Roger Erdvig,

Senior Director of Worldview Education at Summit Ministries, reports that a worldview results

from personal orientation, intellectual, and communitive or through contact.

159

Erdvig further

defines a worldview as how an individual sees the world.

160

Mark Ward, Ph.D. from Bob Jones

University and editor of Bible Study Magazine, posits a trifurcated foundation for worldviews:

presuppositions, a story, and doing.

161

These presuppositions are commitments that individuals

abide by as they interact with the world.

162

Denise Kjesbo and Lou Cha assert that in this

modality (communitive), culture exerts great pressure on the church steeped in secular values

and worldviews.

163

As Paul Renfro et al. observed, this pressure and humanistic worldview is

being realized in the public school system.

164

The current secular mindset tends to levy morality

and other foundational worldview elements on individualism, says Justin Barret.

165

According to

the evidence, Justin Barrett also states that it is apparent in areas of society where biblical

morality is strong, eliciting formidable rejoinders from anti-religious adherents in response to

religious morality, the fight intensifies.

166

This secular pressure is being applied to the youth of

America in an ever-growing secular culture. Therefore, as Matt Chandler and Adam Griffin note,

158

C. Fred Smith, Developing a Biblical Worldview, 2.

159

Roger C. S. Erdvig, "A Model for Biblical Worldview Development in Evangelical Christian Emerging

Adults," Journal of Research on Christian Education 29, no. 3 (2020): 285-306.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10656219.2020.1816517.

160

Ibid., 287.

161

Mark Ward, Biblical Worldview: Creation, Fall, Redemption, ed. by Mark L. Ward Jr. and Dennis Cone

(Greenville, SC: BJU Press, 2016), 6, Logos.

162

Ibid., 1.

163

Denise Kjesbo, "Family Ministry," 503.

164

Renfro, et al., Perspectives on Family Ministry, 82.

165

Justin L. Barrett, The Oxford Handbook, 313.

166

Ibid, 314.

48

family discipleship unapologetically teaches the family about God amidst the growing secular

cause to remove God from the culture.

167

This aesthetic is best suited in the home and with a

well-rounded understanding of what families are confronted with in the culture.

Another platform to understand this familial position from a worldview perspective is

cultural apologetics. Paul Gould, a professor and Christian Apologist at Palm Beach Atlantic

University in West Palm Beach, Florida, asserts the need for cultural apologetics, engaging the

culture with attention paid to the type and use of evidence in offering the case for Christianity.

168

Josh Chatraw equates a worldview as a story that answers the questions of life told through a

series of smaller narratives.

169

Interaction through narration is an avenue to engage the culture.

Josh Chatraw and Karen Swallow Prior, Ph.D., English professor, and author, profess that

cultural engagement involves understanding the longings of the culture individuals are immersed

in for a more empathetic engagement.

170

Josh Chatraw and Karen Prior continue in this idiom

that understanding the culture safeguards the Christian witness from being encapsulated in the

culture.

171

Jesus understood this idiom and advised His disciples to be weary of the culture, wise,

yet gentle (Matt 10:16). This is a matter of paying attention to people and what they say. Josh

Chatraw and Mark D. Allen, Ph.D. and professor at Liberty University, show that the Apostle

Paul was, in some ways, a cultural apologist as Paul engaged the unbelievers and culture of the

167

Matt Chandler, Family Discipleship, 31.

168

Paul M. Gould, Cultural Apologetics: Renewing the Christian Voice, Conscience, and Imagination in a

Disenchanted World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019), 20, Logos.

169

Josh Chatraw, Telling a Better Story, 5.

170

Joshua D. Chatraw, and Karen Swallow Prior, Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary

Issues (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2019), 21, Logos.

171

Ibid., 22.

49

first century.

172

Paul’s use of cultural engagement in Acts 17 is the template for how Christian

families should engage the culture of the twenty-first century. The Apostle Paul’s travels in

Athens demonstrated cultural engagement and Paul’s cultural intelligence. The Apostle Paul

surveyed the city and engaged people in the Synagogues and the marketplace (Acts 17:16-17).

Paul, the Apostle, used his senses to see, hear, and experience the culture of Athens, then

engaged the culture (Acts 17:17-34). Paul Copan, Christian theologian, analytic philosopher,

apologist, and author, points out the congruency of the twenty-first century to the first century

and that, like Paul, Christians need to engage the culture with the better story of Christianity.

173

The need for Christians to engage the current culture is as apparent now as it was in Paul’s day.

Though not an entirely pagan worldview, the distorted worldview of the youth culture in the

twenty-first century swirls around a trichotomy of paradigms, moralistic-therapeutic-deism.

Moralistic-Therapeutic-Deism (MTD)

The trichotomy of moralistic-therapeutic-deism emerged as a prevailing life paradigm for

teenagers in the early 2000s. This discovery was made by Christian Smith, a sociologist and

professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame, and Melinda Lundquist Denton, a

professor of sociology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. These sociologists collaborated

on the book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, published

in 2005.

174

This is an older volume, but a watershed excurses of the survey results of the

National Study of Youth and Religion (from here forward, NSYR) conducted in the early 2000s.

172

Joshua D. Chatraw, and Mark D. Allen, Apologetics at the Cross: An Introduction for Christian Witness

(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 28, Logos.

173

Paul Copan, and Kenneth D. Litwak, The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas: Paul’s Mars Hill

Experience for Our Pluralistic World (Westmont: IVP, 2018), 12, Logos.

174

Christian Smith, and Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of

American Teenagers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), Kindle.

50

The treatment here will be brief, as a more detailed engagement will occur in a later chapter. The

premise explored by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton was teenagers' spiritual and

religious lives, which, according to the authors, is an overlooked aspect of teenage life.

175

As noted in the previous section, the unfolding narrative results from being held captive

in the current culture.

176

This captivity infuses various religious beliefs, spirituality, and

assumptions of the world as an amalgamation of beliefs.

177

There is societal stress placed on

teens through school, work, media, and friend groups, which often push religion and spirituality

to the side.

178

In the early 2000s, the rise of “spiritual seekers” prompted the NYSR survey to

establish empirical data to determine a generational effect.

179

This data was Christian Smith and

Melinda Denton's source pool to determine teens' religious adherence and spirituality and the

potential for changing religious culture in America.

180

An initial finding is that many surveyed

teenagers found truth in other religious beliefs.

181

A further position the teens hold is that their

beliefs are individualized and do not need to be gathered in a formal church setting.

182

This

position varies from religious system to system; some, such as Mormons, hold strictly exclusive

and non-individualistic religious beliefs; they are part of the Mormon collective.

183

An

interesting statistic uncovered in the study was why teens raised in a religious setting stopped

175

Christian Smith, and Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching, 4.

176

Josh Chatraw, Cultural Engagement, 22.

177

Christian Smith, Soul searching, 26.

178

Ibid., 28.

179

Ibid., 73.

180

Ibid.

181

Ibid.

182

Ibid., 76.

183

Ibid.

51

being religious; the answer was doubt and disbelief.

184

This is an area of this intervention where

this doubt can be engaged in the home to dissuade disbelief. The crux of the findings led to what

the authors termed MTD.

Moralistic-Therapeutic-Deism is characterized by five elements, as explained by the

authors. Those elements are 1) God exists, 2) people should be nice to each other, 3) happiness

and good feelings of self are a life goal, 4) God is involved in life only when there is a problem,

and 5) going to heaven is based on being good.

185

Albert Mohler, president of the Southeastern

Theological Seminary, engaged the authors in a 2005 article from his website.

186

Albert Mohler

concludes a striking summation of the meaning of God and MTD: this belief system is safe.

187

Mohler also infers the onus of this belief amalgamation is the fault of churches and parents.

188

There is a defined need for Christian parents to be engaged in their children's lives, to

communicate theological truths of Christianity so that their children can speak more articulately

about their faith. Mohler concludes with a stinging indictment of parents and the church, as each

embraces individualism and does not demonstrate a biblical faith, which is observed throughout

the children's lives.

189

Michael W. Cunningham, Liberty University alumni, engages the teens of

this study, who are now adults, in a 2003 article. Michael Cunningham envisions these now-adult

adherents of MTD as Nomads.

190

Cunningham notes that MTD avoids the authority of Scripture,

184

Christian Smith, and Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching, 89.

185

Ibid., 162.

186

Albert Mohler, “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism—the New American Religion,” Albert Mohler, (April;

11, 2005), www.albertmohler.com/2005/04/11/moralistic-therapeutic-deism-the-new-american-religion-2.

187

Ibid.

188

Ibid.

189

Ibid.

190

Michael W. Cunningham, “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism: A Classical Critique, “ Eleutheria 7, no. 1

(June 2023): 31, www.digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1226&context=eleu.

52

which is evident in the original NYSR study.

191

Michael Cunningham’s explication of MTD

follows a trifurcated examination of each main tenet of this belief system: 1) Moralistic =

Humanism,

192

2) Therapeutic = Individualism, the most prominent of the three,

193

3) Deism =

Individualism and Relativism in that the degree that God involves himself in the affairs of

humankind differs from person to person and the situation.

194

Theological Foundations

The intended result of this DMIN action research project is a rightly developed biblical

worldview producing good decisions from teenagers at TMC. This is accomplished through

home-based discipleship, teaching the parents to disciple their children, and developing a biblical

worldview based on Scripture. The thrust of this action research project will equip parents to

assist their teenagers in answering four fundamental worldview questions: 1) who am I? 2) what

is my destiny? 3) what is my purpose? and 4) how should I live? These questions can be summed

up with identity, destiny, purpose, and morality. The foundation of this endeavor is Scripture.

Scripture guides the participants to understand the aspects of these four questions through the

lens of the Bible. These questions are fundamental to answering key areas of life, and Scripture

will be the guiding framework. Cunningham’s conclusion is that this generation can and should

be reached with the truth of Scripture, but from a relational aspect.

195

Bulldozer tactics will

induce pushback from this generation.

196

It is clear from this literary review that adherents of

MTD can and should be reached by the church, instructing these individuals and families about

191

Michael W. Cunningham, “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism,” 33.

192

Ibid.

193

Ibid.

194

Ibid., 42.

195

Ibid.

196

Ibid.

53

the truth of the Christian faith, teaching them to instruct their children in the goodness of God for

the generations (Deut 6:4-9).

Identity

The Bible says that all people are created in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27). Being made

in God’s image is the jewel in the crown of all God created.

197

The implication here is that when

God created man, all men and women from there on would be image bearers of the same creative

intent (Gen 5:3). The creation events in verses 1-25 imply that the order God created was for

man who was created last. Gordon Wenham, Old Testament scholar, says that the creation order

leading up to man was to provide for man’s basic needs: a place to live, the ability to know time

cycles by the stars, and food.

198

If this implication is correct, there is inherent worth in humanity

and more in being God’s image bearers.

Derek Kidner, Old Testament scholar (deceased), highlights the difference between

man’s creation and all other created things. The noted difference is between the phrases bring

forth and let Us.

199

God created everything by His word, but these two phrases distinguish

between man (let Us) and the created order (bring forth). Additionally, God seated man over all

the creation (Gen 1:28), understood as a place of honor. The image humanity bears does not

come without scrutiny or perplexity. The notion of the imago Dei has been the source of great

consternation. The image of God has been postulated as spiritual and physical.

200

The apparent

197

K. A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11:26, vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman &

Holman Publishers, 1996), 160, Logos.

198

Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1–15, vol. 1, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated,

1987), 27, Logos.

199

Derek Kidner, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 1, Tyndale Old Testament

Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1967), 55. Logos.

200

K. A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11:26, 164.

54

physical aspect is being a vice-regent over the creation.

201

The spiritual correlation to the imago

Dei is a connective thread that allows man to be in a relationship with God.

202

This researcher's position is that both are correct and agree with Scripture. In various

respects, the imago Dei are shared characteristics with God, such as intelligence, compassion,

self-reflection, emotion, will, and the ability to form relationships. This is not a replete list of the

shared attributes given through the imago Dei; they are a glimpse of understanding “who I am.”

This was the scene in the beginning, and God pronounced it “very good” (Gen 1:31, NASB).

This is man in the perfect sense of creation, but this would not remain permanent as sin came

into the world through disobedience. This side of perfection is brokenness. Another way to

understand brokenness is sin. Sin is that which is contrary to the will of God. This is where man

(humanity) ended up through disobedience and pride. Part of the identity confusion in

individuals today is based on the broken image.

Sin is any action contrary to the will and Word of God. Sin’s appearance comes in

Genesis chapter 3 (Gen 3:1-7). The disobedience of the woman and man was met with a

consequence suffered by every subsequent generation. K. A. Matthews notes this inherited sin as

an indelible mark passed to all humans.

203

This mark left the stain of sin on all people. The

Apostle Paul states that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23, NASB).

Through sin, the imago Dei is broken. A New Testament scholar, Douglas Moo, equates the loss

of God’s glory with this brokenness.

204

Therefore, glory was an original element in the imago

Dei. James Dunn, a New Testament scholar (deceased), furthers this statement, saying the glory

201

Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 32.

202

Ibid., 31.

203

K. A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11:26, 227.

204

Douglas J. Moo, Romans, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing

House, 2000), 127, Logos.

55

lost is also continued to the present, a continual absence of the glory of God in man.

205

The

personal relationship with the Creator had been severed. Considering the image is spiritual and

relational, this leaves a chasm, a gap, or a hole in our hearts. Humanity seeks to fill this gap with

anything other than God, which leads to more brokenness.

Scripture states that humanity is dead in sin (Eph 2:1). Darrel Bock, New Testament

scholar and professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, says that despite being alive, unsaved

humanity “are spiritually dead, useless, detached from a functioning relationship with God.”

206

This broken status can be viewed in the world through the actions of humanity. The individual

speaks lies and generates abhorrent thoughts, displaying this sinful nature. What Scripture

testifies to the basic nature of humanity is visible. Despite the sinful nature possessed by all

people, the biblical understanding of origin is having the image of the Creator with value,

dignity, and equality among people.

Destiny and Purpose

Destiny and purpose are intertwined yet separate. As these two worldview questions are

closely aligned, they will be treated together in this section. The Bible says that for believers in

Christ they have been destined to become the likeness of God’s son, Jesus (Rom 8:29). This

passage speaks to destiny and purpose. Douglas Moo states that God entered into a relationship

with humanity, initially with Israel and ultimately with all people.

207

James Dunn furthers this

understanding as “a relationship experienced and acknowledged.”

208

The sense of destiny and

205

James D. G. Dunn, Romans 1–8, vol. 38A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated,

1988), 168, Logos.

206

Darrell L. Bock, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 10, Tyndale New Testament

Commentaries, ed. by Eckhard J. Schnabel (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2019), 60, Logos.

207

Douglas Moo, Romans, 270.

208

Ibid., 482.

56

purpose surmised by these theologians is that each falls within a proper relationship with God,

thus becoming like Christ.

This is a return to the original imago Dei and a restored relationship with the Creator. To

live life apart from God is vanity, as King Solomon stated (Eccl 1:2). Solomon concludes

Ecclesiastes with a statement that succinctly sums destiny and purpose, “The end of the matter;

all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man”

(Eccl 12:13, English Standard Version). Michael Eaton, former pastor and author, notes

Solomon’s juxtaposition between two spheres of life: with God and apart from God, and in the

end, it is better to be with God.

209

Keeping God’s commandments is a key to purpose and destiny

and harkens to Deuteronomy 6:7-9 as the instruction to be given to the generations. This, then,

determines that our purpose is to grow in the knowledge and fear of God (Prov 1:7, 9:10) and to

become like Christ (1 John 3:2).

The Apostle Paul, in Philippians, uses vivid language to describe a life apart from Christ,

that it is “rubbish” in comparison (Phil 3:8, NASB). George Guthrie, a New Testament professor

at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, relates the “rubbish” (v. 8) stated by Paul as

a total loss of Paul’s former life in comparison to a relationship to Christ.

210

Paul says in

Galatians 2, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in

me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and

gave Himself up for me” (Gal 2:20, NASB). This passage implies Paul’s obedience to God and

209

Michael A. Eaton, Ecclesiastes: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 18, Tyndale Old Testament

Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1983), 176, Logos.

210

George H. Guthrie, Philippians, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, ed. by

Clinton E. Arnold (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2023), 239, Logos.

57

spiritual growth.

211

It also denotes Paul’s radical new life as a believer in Christ; thus, Christ

lives in him.

212

This is spiritual formation, an element of salvation critical to conform to the

likeness of Christ (Rom 8:29). This spiritual formation is counted toward purpose and destiny

and is a key to thinking biblically or developing a biblical worldview. Spiritual maturity also

speaks to morality.

Morality

The question of morality is a question of living. The proposed worldview question, how

should I live? is answered in a culmination of the previous three worldview questions. Morality

is a result of the imago Dei. Conscience is part of this image, and free will to choose good or

bad. Understanding who an individual is is the beginning of living a moral life. Romans 2:15

tells us that God placed His commandments on the hearts of people (Rom 2:15). This denotes

conscience and moral living. Paul shows that the Law governs the Jews, but Gentiles also follow

the Law not written but stamped on their hearts, “laws of humanity and decency.”

213

This

understanding of right and wrong results from the imago Dei and points people to a moral

existence. Specifically, followers of Jesus live moral lives in obedience to Him. Jesus said, “If

you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15, NASB). Jesus' commandments

were simple: love God and your neighbor (Matt 22:37-40). Jesus’ statement points back to the

Decalogue.

211

Adam McClendon, Paul’s Spirituality in Galatians: A Critique of Contemporary Christian Spiritualities

(Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2015), 8, Logos.

212

Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman

Publishers, 1994), 200, Logos.

213

Kenneth Boa, and William Kruidenier, Romans, vol. 6, Holman New Testament Commentary

(Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 80, Logos.

58

A fundamental passage in Scripture, thus this thesis, is Deuteronomy 6:4-9. This pericope

is also known as the Shema. The beginning verses, vs. 4-6, are essential to verses 7-9, as they set

the reason to teach and what must be taught. The Shema testifies to the oneness of God and His

position over Israel.

214

The word “Shema” is a translation of the Hebrew word “hear,” meaning

listen and obey.

215

Additionally, the initial command is to love God with every faculty possessed

by the individual (v. 6). To love God is to obey His commands; Jesus made this clear (John

14:15). The New Testament connection is denoted by the answer Jesus gave when asked which

of the commandments was the greatest (Matt 22:36). Jesus’ response is the culmination of the

law and the prophets, that is to love God with all you are and to love others as yourself (Matt

22:37-40). Loving God is more than a sensation; it means giving the entirety of oneself to Him in

obedience and love.

216

Craig Bloomberg, Professor Emeritus of the New Testament at Denver

Seminary in Colorado, notes this stance as a “wholehearted devotion to God with every aspect of

one’s being.”

217

The question then becomes what needs to be taught by the parents to their

children to live a moral life. The answer to this question is God’s laws and commandments,

specifically, the Decalogue.

The Decalogue is the word for the Ten Commandments. These commandments are

reiterated in Deuteronomy 5. Therefore, the command to parents to teach their children about

God and His requirements falls on the heels of the reiteration of these commandments.

214

Michael Grisanti, Tremper Longman III, and David E. Garland, Deuteronomy, The Expositor’s Bible

Commentary (Grand Rapids: Harper Collins, 2017), 146, ProQuest Ebook Central.

215

Edward J. Woods, Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary, Vol. 5, Tyndale Old Testament

Commentaries, ed. David G. Firth (Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2011), 133, Logos.

216

Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004),

725, Logos.

217

Craig Blomberg, Matthew, vol. 22, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman

Publishers, 1992), 335, Logos.

59

Deuteronomy 5 is framed with chapters four and six, like “an envelope around the

Decalogue.”

218

Chapter four begins with God’s command to obey His law (Deut 4:1). This is

like a preparatory command, preparing Israel for the reception of the Decalogue. Chapter five is

the restatement of that law (Deut 5:7-21). Chapter six, then, is the requirement to teach these

laws to the children. Teaching these laws is the pathway to living a moral life, a life pleasing to

God and growing in the knowledge of Him (Col 1:10). Living given the Decalogue is thinking

biblically, answering the worldview question of how should I live.

The Theological Foundation expressed in these pages lays the framework to answer the

four life questions of origin, destiny, purpose, and morality. The answers are biblical, thus

fostering a biblical worldview. This worldview is the proposed telos of this action research

project and the abatement of poor decision-making of the teens at TMC.

Theoretical Foundations

God's provision for equipping generations is the biblical imperative for parents to disciple

their children (Deut 6:4-9). The knowledge of God passed through the generations is a

theological position executed through home-based discipleship (theoretical foundation), which

fosters a biblical worldview. This worldview is necessary for navigating life and truth and is a

determining factor in decision-making. Therefore, this action research project intends to develop

a twelve-week program with three content areas. The program aims to engage biblical

discipleship for personal spiritual growth and to build on this base to teach parents how to shape

and develop a biblical worldview in their children. Additionally, the psychology of schema and

thema will facilitate the foundational acquisition and application of newly learned material for

218

Edward J. Woods, Deuteronomy, 133.

60

home-based discipleship.

219

A functional framework is a hybrid model of family ministry,

family-integrated, family-based, and family-equipping ministries.

220

Coupled with these ministry

models will be instruction on understanding a biblical worldview and building that worldview

for the parent and their children. The three areas of content incorporated into this action research

project will be group instruction, home-based worship, and daily Scripture reading. Reading

Scripture is a critical step in developing a biblical worldview; knowing what God says through

His Word is imperative to begin to think like Christ (Phil 2:5). This research action project will

also use questionnaires and surveys to make pre- and post-intervention assessments to determine

efficacy. It is proposed that questionnaires and surveys are viable means to measure the intended

change of home-based discipleship. The program, as offered, would narrow a gap in the

literature and instantiate a program that will instruct parents to educate their children in the ways

of God (Eph 6:4) and, through rational and tactile learning, foster the development of a biblical

worldview in their children.

Three Ministry Models

Three popular ministry models engage parents with instruction for discipling their

children; these models are the focus of Perspectives on Family Ministry: 3 Views, 2nd Edition.

221

Reaching families with the tools for discipleship is the driving force behind the three models, but

a church service schematic seems to be the more prevalent function of each model. This author

concludes that no one model meets every needed criterion for family discipleship for building a

biblical worldview. There are countless discipleship materials for singular individuals and small

groups, but little or no material to address the issue of home-based discipleship, with a

219

Christian Smith, et al., Religious Parenting, 179.

220

Paul Renfro, Perspectives on Family Ministry, 49-51.

221

Ibid.

61

specificity of this platform used to develop a biblical worldview. The noted hybrid ministry

model at TMC is not an intentional result. The hybrid model exists due to the available space in

the church building and various daily ministries offered at the church. Although not intended, the

hybrid model at TMC works well for the home-based content of this intervention. A brief

excursion of each ministry model follows.

Paul Renfro, the Pastor of Discipleship at Grace Family Baptist Church, writes this

chapter on family-integrated ministry. His rationale for this model lies in the “de-age

segregation” of the church.

222

This need to eliminate age-segregated ministry was brought about

by the increasing mechanization of the organizational side of the church.

223

Paul Renfro

reiterates that this platform intends to deconstruct age-segregated programs in the church and

place accountability for family discipleship on the father (parent for this thesis).

224

This

accountability is made through small groups. The family-integrated church focuses on families

doing everything together, sitting together in church service, and attending weekly small

groups.

225

The family-based model keeps age segregation but offers family-based event

programming.

226

Brandon Shields is the author of this chapter and the lead Pastor at Soma

Church in Indianapolis. An area of concern for Shields is the dropout rate of teens and church.

227

This means that Christian teens are not influencing the culture but being influenced by culture.

222

Paul Renfro, Perspectives on Family Ministry, 63.

223

Ibid. 62.

224

Ibid., 63.

225

Ibid., 67.

226

Ibid., 115.

227

Ibid., 117.

62

Family-based ministry involves limiting activity-driven youth programming.

228

Instead, families

are situated in activities for growth and intergenerational relationships with other families.

Jay Strothers, Campus and Teaching Pastor at Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood,

Tennessee, says, "the family-equipping model is in reality the younger brother of the family-

based model [sic].”

229

Of the ministry models explored, this model represents the focus of this

thesis in the best possible area, the parents as primary disciplers of their children. Strothers is a

proponent of leading and equipping parents to teach their children to love God and obey His

commands. Jay Strothers speaks to the willful abandonment of the biblical call to teach their

children to the youth and student ministers in the local church.

230

This model seeks to put

discipleship back into the homes (Deut 6:4-9) and work with and for parents to increase their

spiritual formation to facilitate this growth in their kids.

These ministry models have positive aspects that can and should be utilized to instruct

parents about discipleship methods to cultivate a solid biblical worldview in their children. Of

the three, the family-equipping model embodies the most significant impact for this action

research project. Some areas of the other two will be incorporated, such as families sitting

together during Sunday morning services (family-integrated) and various family-focused

activities (family-based) throughout the calendar year to promote family-to-family interaction

and relationships. This amalgamation is the proposal church model through this action research

project.

228

Paul Renfro, Perspectives on Family Ministry, 124.

229

Ibid., 143.

230

Ibid., 164.

63

Theoretical Methodology

Various models of ministry focus on parents as the primary disciple-makers of their

children. This teaching modality is not a church leaders' consensus but a Scripture call for

parents to disciple their children (Deut 6:7-9). This action research project seeks to induce a

discipleship program using questionnaires, group instruction, home-based worship, and daily

Scripture reading. This plan relies on intentionality from the involved parents and teens and the

pastoral staff at TMC. The program is a holistic approach to discipleship and worldview

development, resulting in biblically based decision-making that reflects a life lived for Christ. A

key Bible passage for this application is Acts 2:42. This passage functions as a template for the

praxis of Deuteronomy 6:7-9. This passage also embodies the schema and thema integration

through teaching (intellectual) and physical participation (action).

Questionnaires and Surveys

Questionnaires and surveys are measured to determine an individual's spiritual maturity

and personal practice of basic Christian competencies. These measures allow the collection of

data that will be analyzed and used to create a content curriculum. Additionally, the data

captured before the program is initialized and after completion will be used to measure the

effectiveness and results.

Open-ended questions and a Likert scale of measure will be deployed to understand each

participant's spiritual terrain. These data collection methods are critical, containing project

boundaries and the general direction of the project research questions.

231

The use of these

231

Tim Sensing, Qualitative Research: A Multi-Methods Approach to Projects for Doctor of Ministry

Theses (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011), 90, Logos.

64

collection tools will also increase anonymity.

232

These data collection methods will foster better

participation among the parents and teens and allow qualitative and quantitative analysis of the

results to measure success.

Group Instruction

The primary Scripture passage is Deuteronomy 6:4-9. This is the command to disciple

children, and the passage in Acts 2:42 will serve as the methodology for home-based instruction.

Viewing this passage reveals four key aspects of spiritual formation, which are vital to forming a

biblical worldview: learning, fellowship, eating together, and prayer. These are the base elements

within the home. Thus, the home is the primary venue for discipleship. Being a disciple is being

a learner.

233

The home is the place where parents educate their kids formally and informally. The

group instruction will engage everyday life as teaching moments for discipleship. This is where

the methodology of cognition and learning bears on the equipping of parents to disciple their

children.

The group instruction will incorporate a curriculum developed to answer the afore-noted

worldview questions and engage the cognitive structures and physical mnemonic cues that

enable data retention and function as recurring memory for decision-making. Like a catechism,

this is an intellectual and physical interaction foundational to instructing children.

234

The basis

for this is the schema and thema, which will be induced to show learning methods. This

intervention proposes that group instruction will provide a platform for interactive learning. Each

participant will express successes and failures from the previous week during group time. This

232

Nancy Jean Vyhmeister, and Terry Dwain Robertson, Your Guide to Writing Quality Research Papers:

For Students of Religion and Theology, Third Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 40, Logos.

233

Bruce Riley Ashford, Every Square Inch, 13.

234

Randy Stinson, and Timothy Paul Jones, Trained in the Fear of God: Family Ministry in Theological,

Historical, and Practical Perspective (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic & Professional, 2011), 185, Logos.

65

portion of the program will rely heavily on the fundamentals of Christian education. In her 2020

dissertation, Melody Smith explores what she terms classical Christian education, using the

Socratic method to seek truth, think, and form a biblical worldview.

235

The theories and

methodologies associated with Christian education will be tweaked to fit a home-based

discipleship model and taught to the parents during group instruction. Lastly, this time of group

instruction will cover the remaining content of home-based worship and daily Scripture reading.

Home-based Worship

Home-based worship will center on the shared experiences during Sunday morning

church service. The family-integrated church model will highlight this aspect of the project.

Although not intentional, the lack of Sunday school classes and no student instruction on Sunday

morning at TMC facilitates family integration during Sunday morning worship services. The

family will sit together to hear the same message. The content of this message can then be

meditated on and discussed during family worship time.

This time, directed once weekly, will serve as the platform to discuss and learn deeper

truths about the preached sermon. The deductions will apply to daily life and work towards the

spiritual formation of the children in the home. The shared experience will help the parents teach

their children as it is a topic covered in the sermon, which should lessen the teaching anxiety of

the parent. Elements of the developed curriculum will assist the parent with questions designed

to foster biblical thinking as the Sunday sermon is applied to everyday life.

235

Melody K. Smith, “Classical Christian Education and Student’s Christian Formation” (PhD diss.,

Liberty University School of Divinity, 2020), 27, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

66

Daily Scripture Reading

Scripture is the prime ingredient for an individual’s spiritual diet. A robust intake of

God’s word is the priority to grow spiritually. This statement is equally true for the parents, even

more so as they are guiding and teaching their children from God’s word and should be able to

dissect and interpret the meaning in basic yet edifying appliable ways. This action research

project proposes the development of a daily Bible reading plan to guide parents and youth in

Scripture that seeks to give answers to basic worldview questions and disciplines to induce

spiritual formation and foster biblical thinking. This discipline will provide direction, avoiding

drudgery.

236

The Bible reading plan will establish a daily Bible reading habit and seek to build

spiritual discipline. Spiritual discipline will guide the parents and youth in daily Bible intake,

prayer, and worship. Developing spiritual practices is pursuing holiness.

237

This pursuit results in

spiritual maturity and reshapes the thinking of the parents and youth, conforming the mind and

thought to a biblical framework.

Conclusion

Discipleship is a relationship, an intimate relationship. Being a disciple goes beyond mere

learning to experiencing life's teachings. The example in Acts chapter two shows this relational

matrix between the Apostles and the disciples who learned from their teaching (Acts 2:42). The

earliest church did many things together: learning, eating, fellowship, and praying. This is the

model of discipleship that involves the family. The family then acts in relation to Acts 2:42, with

the parents teaching the children, the family eating together, learning from each other in

236

Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for Christian Life (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2014), 1,

Logos.

237

Ibid., 2.

67

fellowship, and praying together. In this segregated era, the family, even though under attack, is

the setting best able to mimic this model of discipleship demonstrated by the early church. It is

the setting instituted and ordained by God to teach about Him and His precepts (Deut 6:4-9). In

this context, we put on the mind of Christ (Phil 2:5), developing a biblical worldview and

thinking biblically about the decisions made from a correct relational alignment with God. The

Literature review section highlighted past and present efforts to empower parents to disciple their

children. The various models and modes of family ministry help develop the strategy to equip

parents for home-based discipleship. The literature review also demonstrated a gap in the

literature on a practical instruction strategy for parents or what should be taught to parents to

equip them for leading their church at home. This action research project attempts to add

substance to this gap in the literature. The substance of this thesis intervention project is the

foundational structure for education and discipleship in the home to equip parents to teach their

children how to answer questions about identity, destiny, purpose, and morality.

The problem presented at TMC is the lack of home-based discipleship, resulting in a

distorted biblical worldview, manifesting in poor decision-making with teens. The literature

review reveals a contiguous problem in many churches of a similar nature. A problem that many

have endeavored to remedy. The remedy is discipleship, specifically, parents discipling their

children (Deut 6:7-9). The problem for many is that parents do not have time and do not believe

they are equipped to do this spiritual forming task.

238

The purpose for this DMIN action research

project is to develop home-based discipleship strategies and disciple parents to build a biblical

worldview in their children.

238

Paul Renfro, Perspectives on Family Ministry, 10.

68

The strategy to develop parents to disciple their children covers three content areas:

group instruction, home-based worship, and daily Scripture reading. The underlying structure is

a hybrid model of the three ministry modalities from Perspectives on Family Ministry: 3 Views.

This equipping strategy will focus on traditional teaching methods to instill discipline to develop

holiness. Parents will receive instruction on how adults and children learn and retain information,

including basic cognition, the importance of repetition, and home habits that exemplify

godliness. The group training will also incorporate group discussions where parents can share

everyday experiences and learn from each other (Gal 6:2). This element is connected to the

family-equipping and family-based ministry models. Home-based worship will place the parents

and children together, discussing the previous Sunday morning service. This will promote a

better understanding for the children and allow a communal learning environment for the family.

This aspect of content is linked to the family-integrated ministry model. Lastly, a plan will be

introduced to bring the family together to engage in daily Scripture reading. This will refine and

develop spiritual discipline for progressive holiness and a biblical worldview.

The proposal of the listed strategy is spiritual formation which will transform the minds

of the teens at TMC and, through this transformation, propel them to be an influence on culture

(Rom, 12:1-2). The vehicle for the proposed strategy is the home and parents engaging their

children in discipleship. The aim of the parents will be the cultivation of a biblical worldview to

produce biblical thinking and problem-solving to engage the culture and society of the current

time. If parents are better prepared, equipped, and more confident in discipling their children,

then faulty decisions based on a distorted worldview will improve.

69

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter will explain the methodology for developing the strategy and materials to

prepare parents for in-home Bible study and worldview development. The determined root issue

is the lack of home-based discipleship, as parents are ill-equipped to disciple their children. This

DMIN action research project intends to develop a strategy to address this equipping issue and

encourage parents to engage their children in home-based discipleship to develop a biblical

worldview that promotes biblical thinking and decision-making. The designed intervention

covers a twelve-week program. The first two weeks cover recruitment, implied consent, and a

group meeting to disclose the parameters and expectations of the participants and the

intervention plan and receive and answer the participant’s questions. Participants will also

complete questionnaires and surveys to gauge participant worldview, Christian culture in the

home, and spiritual maturity to measure the efficacy of the designed intervention. The following

eight weeks will consist of weekly group meetings, once-weekly home-based worship, and daily

Scripture reading. The participants will maintain a home discipleship journal, noting each

activity within the week.

Intervention Design

The proposed intervention will use questionnaires and surveys combined with project

journals kept by each participant. These triangulated data collection methods will provide the

needed data to test the thesis and confirm efficacy. The developed strategy for home-based

discipleship will function in three areas of content. The content areas are participant group

gatherings, home-based worship, and daily Scripture reading. Post-intervention questionnaires

and surveys will follow this instruction period to gauge participant progression. The final step

70

will be analyzing and synthesizing the gathered data. The following pages will detail each aspect

of this DMIN action research project.

First Steps

This intervention will begin with gaining the required church permission and participant

recruitment. Upon receiving approval from the Liberty University Institutional Review Board

and the thesis project mentor, the permission request letter will be sent to the Senior Pastor at

TMC (see Appendix A), and the recruitment letters will be sent to the prospective participants

(see Appendix B). The participant pool at TMC will be restricted to parents with teens active in

Mission Students. A further delimitation could be imposed on parents who are covenant

members of TMC, but this would lessen the total number of participants in the intervention.

Therefore, participation will be limited to parents with teens active in the student program at

TMC. The first step will occupy the first two weeks of the intervention.

The first week of the intervention will gather the program permission and participants'

informed consent documents. The applicable group of participants will meet in the second week

to discuss the parameters of the intervention, administer the first set of questionnaires and

surveys, and answer questions from the participants. The results of the questionnaires and

surveys will be analyzed and graphed as a pre-intervention starting point. The graphs will be

compiled to show individual and group starting points to determine spiritual maturity and

existing conformity to a biblical worldview. Participants will be given project handbooks, which

include their participant journals. There are two handbooks, one for the parents (see Appendix J)

and the other for the students (see Appendix K). The questionnaires and surveys combined with

the journals will be the methodology used to triangulate participant progress and the efficacy of

71

the proposed intervention. This methodology will provide balance to this research project and

give validation to the collected data.

239

There are two implied consent forms: one for the adults and one for the students (see

Appendices C and D). Questionnaires will gather qualitative data with answers to open-ended

questions to determine worldview (see Appendix E). Participants will be able to answer the

questions in their own words. This self-reflection is a means to understand the problem on an

individual level.

240

On the other hand, surveys will be used to gauge spiritual maturity and

Christian culture in the home. Based on their survey responses, this will act as a growth scale and

determine if any non-believers are in the group. The Christian culture in the home survey will

explain what measures of biblical instruction are being attempted at home and what elements, if

any, of Christian culture are being modeled in the home (see Appendix G). The Christian culture

in the home survey will only be given to the adults in each participating household. The first

survey will be given during this initial participant gathering (see Appendix F). As the

participants engage in home-based discipleship and grow in spiritual maturity, the expected

outcome is the instantiation of biblical thinking through the foundations of a biblical worldview.

The biblical worldview strategy is detailed in the body of the intervention.

The Body

Weeks Three and Four

The third week of this DMIN action research project is the start of the weekly parent

gathering, home-based discipleship, and daily Scripture reading. The three content areas will run

239

Tim Sensing, Qualitative Research, 72.

240

Ernest T. Stringer, and Alfredo Ortiz Aragón, Action Research, 5th ed. (Los Angeles: Sage Publications,

2021), 138, Kindle.

72

congruent each week. The first parent gathering will cover several topics and serve as a “teach

on the go” methodology. This means the weekly topics covered in the participant handbooks will

be discussed with the parents in the weekly gathering so they are equipped to teach their

children. The pedagogy and andragogy teaching methodologies will be addressed and integrated

into the home-based family worship and daily Scripture reading times. Additionally, a more

formal psychology of Christian formation will be taught to the parent group, explaining the

rationale of schema and thema, both learning modes. This researcher believes that the differing

needs of adult and youth learning are directly related to schema and thema and, thus, critical to

this intervention. Lastly, for this starting week of parental instruction, the notion of worldview

will be introduced and explained as this is the telos for the intervention.

It is paramount that the parents understand how individuals at differing ages learn best for

comprehension and retention. For adult learners, two benefits of adulthood are autonomy and

experience. Both of which focus the adult on action rather than receiving. This means adults

want to use their experience to solve problems rather than learn about those problems.

241

An

additional striking difference with adult learners is their understanding of self-concept. This, in

effect, is identity, at least from the standpoint of being a self-starting adult with boundaries and

capabilities based on life experience.

242

This aspect of adult learning is encapsulated in the adult

gathering and will be utilized in the first portion of the meeting. This portion will be a group

discussion to engage the parameters of that week's topics, the successes and failures of the

participant's home-based discipleship, and allow the parental group to coach each other and share

241

Komail Malik, and Tanwir Khaliq, "Andragogy (adult learning)," Annals of PIMS-Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali

Bhutto Medical University 13, no. 4 (2017): 300, https://apims.net/index.php/apims/article/view/1.

242

Nataliya Machynska, and Halyna Boiko, “Andragogy – The Science of Ault Education: Theoretical

Aspects,” Journal of Innovation in Psychology, Education, and Didactics 24, no 1, (January 2020): 26,

https://www.proquest.com/docview/2479494712?accountid=12085&forcedol=true&pq-origsite=summon.

73

similar issues with their home discipleship time. This provides a psychological space for the

adults to be problem solvers and share strategies they use at home. This learning strategy will

also function similarly to youth. Although youth do not have the same measure of experience,

group discussion and hands-on learning activities will be beneficial. This applies to two areas of

cognition for both adults and youth. These cognitive areas are schema and thema.

These areas of cognition, schema, and thema are critical to Christian formation, thus,

developing a biblical worldview. These modes of cognitive development work together in this

intervention to form spheres of knowledge acquisition. The adult and student workbooks are

created based on the direct transfer of knowledge (schema, rational acquisition of knowledge)

and through activity interaction from person to person, forming a relation transfer of knowledge

(thema); both areas of learning derived from the parent instructing their family and then

engaging in activities that enable learning through action and interaction. Examples of each are

reading Scripture and explaining the meaning of the prescribed passage; another example is

doing an activity that mimics direct knowledge through hands-on learning, such as sharing a

meal, going on a family walk or hike, or creating something together as a family. These spheres

are embedded into the intervention plan to grow base knowledge and application through activity

to build Christian formation. First, schema is the acquisition of knowledge.

243

This modality of forming knowledge through perception, organization, and connection is

the product of Jean Piaget, a Swiss Psychologist (1896-1980). His system, Schematic

Perspective, is a form of growing knowledge and intellect by acquiring data through perception

and the senses, then taxonomically storing this data to form a knowledge base.

244

This creates a

243

James R. Estep, and Jonathan H. Kim, Christian Formation: Integrating Theology and Human

Development (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2010), 66, Kindle.

244

Ibid.

74

knowledge base from which higher forms of thinking and processing occur. A portion of the

importance of this as it pertains to adult and youth learning is the acquired knowledge of an adult

to a youth. An adult's higher experience allows for more abstract thinking, which factors into

their need to be problem solvers.

245

The students involved in this action research project have

limited experience and thus require more intellectual reception to be able to engage in abstract

thinking on a higher level. However, the level of experience in youth does provide some

semblance of abstract thinking, so students also engage in problem-solving at an abstract level,

although at a lesser functional level than adults. Thema, on the other hand, is relational-based. A

simple word to expand the understanding of this theory is influence. The theory of thema,

Thematic Perspective, comes from a Russian Psychologist, Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934), who

postulated that knowledge and development were advanced through influence or societal and

relational connections between people.

246

This translates to two levels of learning: schema, as the

lower, possibly foundational, cognitive epistemic function, and thema, as the higher form, where

the lower and higher together form development. This is the schematic of knowledge orthodoxy

and praxis. Pivotal biblical examples of this scheme are Deuteronomy 5:7-9 and Acts 2:42.

The biblical platform that demonstrates schema and thema is Deuteronomy 6:7-9 and

Acts 2:42. These are not the only examples; Jesus engaged these modes of acquiring and

synthesizing knowledge. Jesus used parables and thought-provoking questions toward His

hearers. Parables are a way to convey truth through a story that elicits thought, deep thought at

times. This teaching style encapsulates the adult's need to use their experience to solve problems.

Jesus lived, slept, and ate with His disciples (Luke 6:1-2). In spending this kind of time with

245

James Estep, Christian Formation, 71.

246

Ibid.

75

them, He instructed them in ways to provoke and influence their thoughts with action. This

embodies schema and thema. The key Scripture of this intervention is Deuteronomy 6:7-9 and

Acts 2:42. Schema and thema are observed in these passages through the family and a closely

knit relational community. This is the environment from which Jesus taught and should be best

suited for teaching the next generation, the family in the home. This environment is ripe for

developing a biblical worldview through parental instruction and familial praxis of this

instruction.

A worldview can be complex, with many subtopics and various types of worldviews. The

adult participants will be given a brief overview of a worldview, a few different types of

worldviews, and how they answer these four basic questions. This will be juxtaposed against the

biblical answers to these questions and how each worldview correlates to reality. A worldview is

“foundational beliefs concerning the nature and purpose of reality, often shared by persons

within a culture, that either constitute or determine the way human experience is interpreted.”

247

A worldview is a way for an individual to see the world and how they fit into the world. Douglas

Groothuis, a highly respected Christian philosopher and apologist, says a worldview is a

“complex of concepts that explains and gives meaning to reality from where they stand.”

248

The

prevailing worldview of modern culture is a hodgepodge or amalgamation of various non-

biblical worldviews. A recent Barna poll depicts people with this hodgepodge worldview as

“World Citizens.”

249

This means that a growing portion of the population adopts or adapts to a

247

Michael Anthony, et al., Evangelical Dictionary of Christian Education (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker

Academic. 2001), 140-41, Logos.

248

Douglas Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (Downers Grove,

IL; IVP Academic, 2011), 19, Logos.

249

George Barna, “American Worldview Inventory 2023 - Release #1: Incidence of Biblical Worldview

Shows Significant Change Since the Start of the Pandemic,” George Barna, February 2023, accessed September 22,

2023, https://www.georgebarna.com/research/90_american-worldview-inventory-2023---release-#1:-incidence-of-

biblical-worldview-shows-significant-change-since-the-start-of-the-pandemic.

76

secular worldview. A secular worldview is anything apart from God or the Bible. A formal

explanation of secularism is “a word that means simply ‘belonging to this age,’ or ‘worldly.’”

250

Barna’s research showed that Christians with a fully developed biblical worldview make up 4%

of the 2,000 people in the research poll, and 82% of this group polled as “World Citizens” (see

Appendix G).

251

These are startling numbers, and the secular influence is being pressed against

the teens at TMC. The fight to instill a biblical worldview has never been more prevalent or

needed. This is the intent of this action research project and the intervention. The four worldview

questions taught to the adult participants will be divided over the weekly adult gatherings of the

intervention (e.g., weeks three and four will cover Who am I? and weeks five and six will answer

What is my destiny?).

An additional topic discussed in this first gathering will be the culmination of four

worldview questions noted in the Theological Foundations section: 1) who am I? 2) what is my

destiny? 3) what is my purpose? and 4) how should I live? There are other worldview questions,

but these are chosen for this intervention for their connection to the Bible and human existence.

The instruction of these four questions will reveal a dependency on God in every aspect of each

question. A memory phrase was created to help connect the questions to this dependency on God

(see Appendix I). As stated, the worldview question for this first parent group meeting is who am

I? This question will be posed to the group with minimal explanation to elicit thought on the part

of the learner. The explanation will denote the complexity but simplicity of the question. Identity

is not a superficial aspect of being but what it is to be; identity is what it is that makes

250

Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms

(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 106, Logos.

251

George Barna, “American Worldview Inventory 2023.” Barna reveals that his research has a 95%

confidence with a + or – of 2%.

77

humanity.

252

Scripture says that man and woman are made in the image of God (Gen 1:26) and

placed over creation to subdue, rule, and care for what God created (vs. 27-28). God placed man

in a specific role over the creation. This stresses the importance of humanity, dignity, respect,

value, and many other markers that define being a human. The teaching is furthered in the Adult

Handbook and structured to guide the parents as they instruct their children in home-based

worship (see an example adult handbook in Appendix J).

The Adult Handbook is structured to develop the worldview question for that week. Each

section of the handbook has a guide for the parents. Hence, they are clear on the instruction and

why it is important for forming a biblical worldview and spiritual maturity in Jesus. Each home

session will begin with prayer. The primary Scripture that answers the worldview question is

listed and then explained with helpers so the parents can understand the direction of the lesson.

The lessons are formatted to elicit thought and reflection on the part of the parents and the

students. Reflective thoughts coincide with each section, accompanied by discovery

conversations to solidify what has been learned. The home-based worship then engages the

previous Sunday morning church sermon. This family engagement of the sermon fosters better

understanding and a collaborative discussion on the sermon’s merits and life application and how

or if the sermon answered the worldview question. The simplest and most profound aspect of this

area of family worship is growing in spiritual maturity together, sharing life experiences, and

learning from each other. After this discovery time, the parents will engage their students with an

activity, which is a tactile learning method for meaning and memory retention. The worship

session will end in prayer, and then each participant will make a journal entry for self-reflection

on what has been learned and how it applies to the posed worldview question. The home-based

252

C. Fred Smith, Developing a Biblical Worldview, 13,

78

worship time will be set for one hour once each week. Applying the worldview questions to the

weekly church sermon is open-ended. This is necessary if this intervention is to be replicable and

reproducible in other ministry contexts. The daily Scripture reading accompanies the home-based

worship section in the adult handbook.

The daily Scripture reading is based on a five-day schedule. The family worship time will

be on the first day, with each successive day having a specific Scripture passage that answers the

worldview question. Like the home worship section, each daily Scripture reading begins with

prayer. Each prescribed day contains two primary focuses of the reading time: the main Scripture

and the main thought. The Scripture reference is explained with guides to assist the parent with

this instruction time. The Scripture for each day is chosen based on the worldview question, what

the Scripture says about this question, and how this verse or passage speaks in the Bible, a

biblical theology. The onus of the daily Scripture reading builds spiritual formation and places

biblical teaching in direct contrast to the secular worldview. This enables the participants to

observe where the secular worldview does not cohere with biblical teaching and what is observed

in reality. The daily Scripture reading is intended for the parents and students to read together.

After reading and explaining the passage, each main thought is accompanied by a discussion

question. After the discussion question, each participant will make a journal entry reflecting on

the daily Scripture. This action should be thirty minutes or less. The students will also have a

handbook similar to the adult version but without teaching guidance (see the example student

handbook in Appendix K). This will end the first whole week of this project intervention. The

following week, week four, will focus on the believer's identity in Christ.

The fourth week’s parent gathering will focus on the believer’s identity in Christ. All of

humanity bears the image of God, but only those who receive Christ can be counted as children

79

of God (John 1:12-13). As explained in week three, the parent meeting format will continue;

therefore, no further explanation is needed as this week and every other successive week will

follow the same parent meeting format. The exception will be the parent meeting topic, focusing

on one of the four worldview questions and what the Bible says to each. Identity in Christ

defines self-centeredness to outwardness. The secular mindset is turned inward.

253

This is a

centripetal effect as opposed to centrifugal. The secular mindset pushes identity inward, placing

the focus on the self. Meanwhile, the believer’s identity pushes outward, embracing the identity

of Christ. The Apostle Paul makes note of this in several places. Born-again believers are new

creatures; the old self has passed away (2 Cor 5:17). Additionally, those in Christ live a life from

Him; it is no longer their life but His from which they live (Gal 2:20). This is centrifugal action

going outward to Christ. The ideas of centripetal and centrifugal are prevalent in the Scripture.

The Old Testament was God’s use of centripetal action through the nation of Israel to all nations,

and the New Testament is the centrifugal action directly to all nations through the church.

254

Michael Gorman, theologian and professor at St. Mary’s Seminary, draws this conclusion with

the action of Jesus. Jesus’ primary mission was centripetal with the Jews and centrifugal to the

Gentiles.

255

A biblical example of Jesus teaching these lessons on physics is with the

Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7. Here, Jesus spoke in a parable to the woman about not taking

the food from the children (Mark 7:27). The parable used an analogous reference of Jews as the

children being fed and dogs as the Gentile referent, not getting scraps (Mark 7:27). The woman

responded that even dogs get droppings (Mark 7:28). Here Jesus Himself goes to the Jew first

253

C. Fred Smith, Developing a Biblical Worldview, 65.

254

John Goldingay, Old Testament Theology: Israel’s Faith, vol. 2 (Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 2006),

203, Logos.

255

Michael J. Gorman, Becoming the Gospel: Paul, Participation, and Mission, The Gospel and Our

Culture Series, ed. by John R. Franke (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015), 37, Logos.

80

them the Gentile, thus, centripetal versus centrifugal. The intent here is to demonstrate a

Scripture pattern with an inward and outward focus. This is also visible in identity. The secular

world looks inward, while the believer’s identity in Christ looks outward to Christ. The

following weekly lesson will focus on destiny.

Weeks Five and Six

This week will introduce the worldview question of destiny. There are two paths this

question can take based on the understanding of destiny. As is observed in this intervention,

destiny is synonymous with telos or the end goal of humanity, specifically the individual. As this

and the remaining worldview questions have been explored elsewhere, the treatment here will be

brief. The end goal for humans is relational, a relationship with the Creator. This begins with

identity and progresses to a deeper relationship with God through Christ. The Bible says that

because of sin, people are separated from God, but through the sacrifice of Christ, believers are

reconciled back to God (Rom 5:10-11). Reconciliation is the repairing of the relationship with

God. James Dunn notes that the understanding of reconciliation amongst Jews was personal

rather than formal, such as royalty to their subjects.

256

God made man in the beginning and

determined that he should not be alone (Gen 2:18). Thus, the woman was created as a helper for

the man (Gen 2:21-22). This relational value is featured in the family and the relationship with

the Trinity. The secular counter-position to this biblical worldview answer is self-centeredness,

the opposite of relational. This has been described as the “buffered self.”

257

This is a separation

256

D. G. Dunn, Romans 1-8, 259.

257

Benjamin K. Forrest, Joshua D. Chatraw, and Alister E. McGrath, The History of Apologetics (Grand

Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 680, Logos.

81

from religion and living in the moment; this is the modern mindset with a centripetal intent of the

self.

258

The second path of viewing the telos of the believer is becoming like Christ.

Week six will introduce conforming to the likeness of Christ. The Holy Spirit works

daily, transforming believers into the likeness of Christ (2 Cor 3:18). Colin Kruse, a Bible

lecturer at the Melbourne School of Theology, equates conforming to the likeness of Christ as a

progressive transformation.

259

This progression is stated in Philippians 1:6, “For I am confident

of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ

Jesus” (Phil 1:6, NASB). This verse speaks to the progressive transformation of the believer in

Jesus. Guthrie clarifies that God is the subject in this verse as the One who started the work.

260

The destiny of believers in Jesus is to be like Him. As Paul shared his confidence with the church

in Philippi, those in Christ today have the same assurance. The next worldview question asks

about purpose.

Weeks Seven and Eight

The seventh week of the intervention introduces the worldview question of purpose. The

answer to this question is two-fold centered on the Decalogue. The seventh week will cover the

first four commandments, and week eight will cover the remaining six. Therefore, the two-fold

purpose is serving God and people. A recurring theme in this thesis is that of a vice-regent over

creation. Followers of Jesus are to be good stewards of what God created (Gen 1:28; 2:15,19-20).

This demonstrates serving God and honoring Him. The first four commandments place God first

in the lives of believers and serve Him only. Joshua is an Old Testament example of serving God

258

Benjamin K. Forrest, The History of Apologetics, 681.

259

Colin G. Kruse, 2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary. vol. 8, Tyndale New Testament

Commentaries, ed. by Eckhard J. Schnabel (Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2015), 136, Logos.

260

George Guthrie, Philippians, 69.

82

(Josh 24:15). Richard Hess, Old Testament scholar and professor of Semitic languages at Denver

Seminary, illuminates Joshua as “a model of bearing witness to one’s faith.”

261

This places God

above all other things. Jesus reinforced this idea when He stated that following Him required

everyone else to be forsaken, including the individual (Luke 14:26). According to Robert Stein,

this does not mean hating literally but loving others less, family, spouse, and self.

262

This biblical

mandate of serving God first clashes with the secular worldview. The secularist places the

individual at the center of existence.

263

Peter Jones, an Adjunct Professor at Westminster

Seminary, California, furthers the argument against secularism through humanity's misdeeds in

the last 100 years: wars, genocide, and totalitarianism.

264

The Advancement, by L. Russ Bush,

details and argues the rise and development of technology has done nothing to improve the

goodness of humanity.

265

Putting the individual at the center of existence places a premium on

the goodness and fullness of the individual. This does not cohere with what is viewed with

humanity; it is contrary to reality. The anecdote to individuality is putting others first, which is

the topic for week eight.

The main topic for week eight is serving others, which is summed up in the later six

commandments. The adult gathering for this week will begin with the group discussion of the

home-based worship and daily Scripture reading. A review of commandments five through ten

will demonstrate service to others, and by serving others, believers serve Christ. This is captured

261

Richard S. Hess, Joshua: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 6, Tyndale Old Testament

Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 336, Logos.

262

Robert H. Stein, Luke, vol. 24, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman

Publishers, 1992), 396, Logos.

263

Peter Jones, The Other Worldview: Exposing Christianity’s Greatest Threat (Bellingham, WA: Kirkdale

Press, 2015), 22, Logos.

264

Ibid., 23.

265

L. Russ Bush, The Advancement: Keeping the Faith in an Evolutionary Age. Nashville, TN: Broadman

& Holman Publishers, 2003.

83

in Jesus’ statement in Matthew 22 about loving God and loving others as yourself (Matt 22:37-

40). Michael Wilkens places great weight on Jesus’ message about loving your neighbors as this

is a “concrete responsibility.”

266

Galatians chapter six details the service responsibility for

Christians (Gal 6:1-10). Service should be sacrificial for the Christian, directed to other

Christians, teachers of the faith, and all persons.

267

This service is a crucible for morality, the

topic for weeks nine and ten.

Weeks Nine and Ten

The structural integrity of a biblical worldview is morality. The previous two weeks of

adult instruction and home-based discipleship covered the Decalogue and loving God and others.

These last two weeks of instruction for the intervention participants will seek to answer the

question, “How should I live?.” James R. Estep Jr. is a professor of Christian Education at

Lincoln Christian College and Seminary in Lincoln, Illinois, and notes the impossibility for

Christians to ignore moral engagement with the world.

268

Moral conduct is a hallmark of being a

follower of Christ. This last worldview question is intertwined with the previous three worldview

questions. The image humanity bears, the imago Dei, comes with cognition, rationality, self-

reflection, and an intuitive notion of right and wrong (Gen 1:26; Rom 2:15). C. Stephen Evans, a

Christian philosopher, while arguing for the existence of God, says God is the basis of morality

and that if He does exist, this moral claim is true.

269

While this DMIN action research project

does not propose the need for arguments for the existence of God, the notion of morality is an

intuitive understanding based on the image that humanity was created. The remaining worldview

266

Michael J. Wilkens, Matthew, 725.

267

John F. Walvoord, and Roy B. Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the

Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 609, Logos.

268

James R. Estep, Christian Formation, 124.

269

C. Stephen Evans, God and Moral Obligation (Oxford University Press, 2014), 1, Logos.

84

questions of destiny and purpose align with morality by being transformed into the likeness of

Christ (Rom 8:29) and altruistically serving others (Gal 6:1-10). The week nine class will

introduce morality and right living. Morality is opaque in modern society. Francis Schaeffer

draws a connection with the statement “be a good girl” and that this statement would induce a

pause in the contemporary female.

270

Schaeffer, an American philosopher, theologian, and pastor

(deceased), argues that this lack of modern morality explains the separation of generations on the

reconceptualization of truth, an aspect of morality. The secular individual or “World Citizen”

places a subjectivity or relative understanding of truth.

The slow rise to secularism today is traced by Douglas Groothuis back to the Renaissance

and the development of philosophies that concluded life and reality from sources other than the

Bible.

271

Steve Wilkens, professor of philosophy and ethics at Azusa Pacific University, notes

eight different hidden worldviews, with moral relativism counted among them. Using Barna’s

reclassification of a “World Citizen,” moral relativism is one of many worldviews in the

amalgamation of modern thought, thus secularization. Steve Wilkens states the prevailing

position on moral truth is that this truth does not exist any longer, and if it did, it would not be

knowable.

272

Young adults and youth in this secularized society are sensate; hence, feelings are

ideal to a specific person or individual. Defining the prevailing societal mindset and its effects on

Christian youth is a key to pointing them back to Jesus and moral living.

Week ten will parse out living a life pleasing to God and morally grounded. As followers

of Jesus, believers must walk in Him, be supported in Him, and be constructed in Him (Col 2:6-

270

Francis A. Schaeffer, The God Who Is There (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1998), 22, Kindle.

271

Douglas Groothuis, Truth Decay: Defending Christianity Against The Challenges Of Postmodernism

(Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2000), loc 279, Kindle.

272

Steve Wilkens and Mark L. Sanford, Hidden Worldview: Eight Cultural Stories That Shape Our Lives

(Downers Grove: IVO Academics, 2009), 79, Kindle.

85

7). This statement is a preparatory clause from the Apostle Paul leading up to a warning about

worldly thought. “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty

deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world,

rather than according to Christ” (Col 2:8, NASB). Every aspect and thought in this thesis

intervention has led to this point. Understanding the four worldview questions and the believer's

dependency on God comes to the precipice of living a moral life that is pleasing to God. The

Apostle Paul wrote Colossians to the church in Colossae to refute false teachings.

273

Douglas

Moo states that this is obvious, given Paul’s admonition not to be seduced by influential opinions

(Col 2:4).

274

How do the students live morally? Colossians speaks volumes to this question. The

student participants and adults need to look above to heavenly things (Col 3:1), do everything,

said and in action, for Christ (Col 3:17), and do these things from the heart for Christ and not for

man (Col 3:23). We live for God; this is the first four Commandments and the key to a moral

life. Every thought and action needs to be held accountable. The sensate motivation of the

“World Citizen” creates a dissonance between man’s way and God’s way. This is the example of

the “doubled minded” man in James 1 (Jas 1:8, NASB). Stability in living a moral life requires

believers to take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor 10:5, NASB). The

remaining weeks of the study are a combined adult and student group meeting, debriefing, and

final data gathering.

Weeks Eleven and Twelve

Week eleven will be a combined adult and student gathering to discuss the intervention

and complete the final worldview questionnaire and spiritual growth survey. An adapted SWOT

273

Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon, The Pillar New Testament Commentary

(Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2008), 46, Logos.

274

Ibid.

86

analysis will be given to garner data about how the participants viewed this intervention. The

SWOT analysis has been a strategy tool for organizations for many years. Strengths,

Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats were created for organizational long-term planning.

275

This intervention will use an adapted version of this analytical tool known as the good, the bad,

and the ugly.

The participants will be asked to rate the intervention in these three areas: good, bad, and

ugly (see Appendix L). The Good is self-explanatory and focuses on areas of the intervention

that were helpful and productive. The Bad requires the areas of the intervention that the

participants believed to be unnecessary or cumbersome. The Ugly examines the areas that were

functional but should be improved for overall efficacy. Lastly, the participants must complete a

worldview questionnaire and a spiritual growth survey to measure progress in developing a

biblical worldview, spiritual health, and maturity. These are the last elements in the participant

portion of the action research project. The next step for this researcher is compiling the data.

Week twelve will be data gathering, analysis, and synthesis. This researcher will qualify

the questionnaires and quantify the surveys to measure the change in worldview, spiritual

maturity, and Christian culture developed in the home. The survey numbers will be graphed and

displayed in a chart showing the starting points of each participant and the modifications induced

through the intervention (see Appendix N). This will be a quantitative measure of success or

non-success. The intervention journal kept by this researcher will be evaluated, analyzed, and

compared to the determined progression numbers to look for consistency as reported by the

275

Richard W. Puyt, Finn Birger Lie, and Celeste P. M. Wilderom, "The Origins of SWOT Analysis," Long

Range Planning 56, no. 3 (2023): 2,

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024630123000110?via%3Dihub.

87

adults in the weekly gatherings. The research intervention will close, and the final observations

and results will be recorded.

Implementation of the Intervention Design

This section will detail the practical application of the thesis intervention design. One

task for this researcher was identifying an intervention taxonomy. This means the intervention

components are organized into larger areas to give a meaningful understanding of the

intervention and the participants. The four areas representing the thesis intervention best are

acquisition, fellowship, instruction, and data collection. An idea that became prevalent during the

implementation of this intervention was that the program needed to look like the desired

outcome. In other words, if the intent is to strengthen and equip parents to teach their families

about God and His ways (Deut 6:7), the intervention must function from this same premise: the

premise of home-based discipleship.

The four areas detailing the various components of the intervention implementation can

be assumed in the home-based discipleship setting: acquisition, fellowship, instruction, and data

collection. The following represents these four areas and the thesis intervention's impact on the

program and the families. Acquisition in this thesis intervention is acquiring the needed

permissions from the church to engage in the study, the oversight of the Institutional Review

Board at Liberty University, and the participants' willingness to participate in the intervention.

Fellowship is of immense importance and is equivalent to the ministry of presence. Instruction is

the action of the fellowship when raising children in the ways of God (Eph 6:4). Data collection

is a term that seems sterile when juxtaposed against the preceding areas. Still, for the family, it is

the measure of spiritual maturity individually and as a family. As for this thesis intervention, data

collection is more mechanical but also carries the essence of relational learning. This thesis

88

intervention embodied the cognitive elements of schema and thema.

276

Although continuously in

the background, the idea of these two areas of cognition being the practical application of this

thesis intervention had not occurred to this researcher during the planning phase. Only after the

intervention began was it glaringly apparent that the elements of schema and thema were also

present in the thesis intervention program. This implemented layers of instruction within the

instruction. The results of the layers will be explained in a later chapter. Still, for this section, the

intervention not only instructed what needs to be done but was an example of how to engage in

home-based worship and discipleship with each group gathering.

Acquisition

This section will detail the actions taken to gain permission to implement the thesis

intervention program at TMC. This includes the Liberty University IRB approval, approval from

the Senior Pastor at TMC, and the recruitment process for the intervention participants gaining

their implied consent.

The IRB gave permission for the study on November 28, 2023 (see Appendix O). The

next step was securing the permission of the Senior Pastor of TMC to conduct the intervention

using church members. The permission letter was sent to Pastor Donovan Stewart on December

4, 2023, gaining the needed permission to utilize the church and members within the church for

the intervention (see Appendix A). The recruitment process began on December 5, 2023. A letter

was sent to nineteen potential participants with basic information about the thesis intervention

and a digital copy of the implied consent (see Appendices B, C, and D). The letter also served as

the announcement for the first focus group meeting, which took place on December 10, 2023, at

276

For further information on schema and thema, see page 41.

89

6:30 PM at the church. All nineteen potential participants attended the meeting, with eleven

agreeing to participate in the intervention. Their implied consent forms were collected and

retained in a secure location. The eight that declined participation cited time constraints as the

biggest obstacle to participation. This first focus group intended to introduce the thesis

intervention formally.

The focus group began with a prayer and a welcome, followed by a brief introduction to

the thesis intervention. The problem, purpose, and thesis statements were then read to the group

to include the basic tenets of the intervention. Beginning with the biblical foundation, the

potential participants were given the theological basis for the study. Key texts from the OT (Deut

6:4-9) and the NT (Acts 2:42; Eph 6:4) were shared, providing the bedrock for this thesis

intervention. Key concepts of the intervention were also explored. These concepts, andragogy vs.

pedagogy, worldview determination, and the cognitive science of schema and thema, form the

foundational elements of the intervention. The criteria required for each participant were

explained, including completing pre and post-surveys and a worldview questionnaire, keeping a

weekly journal for each home-based session, and a post-intervention critique. Additionally, the

potential participants were made aware that each gathering would be recorded for the sanctity of

the meeting and proper representation of each discussion. The main question of the group

concerned time.

Several parents asked when they should conduct the family worship time and daily

Scripture readings. The eight-week home study has a rigid format, with the family worship being

the first day as the remaining Scripture reading days build on the worship time. Therefore, family

worship time must come first for the continuity of the week's lessons. The time of day is left to

the parent. This question and the reason for this question should give pause to all Christian

90

families.

277

That pause is a life too busy for God and His expectations of parents teaching their

families. The meeting was concluded, and those who had their implied consent forms ready

turned them in to be held in a secure location. The following week, the remaining forms were

submitted to this researcher, who finalized the participant roster of eleven: five adults and six

teens. The next step was to disseminate the surveys and worldview questionnaire.

Part of the triangulation of data is surveys and a questionnaire. Two surveys and one

worldview questionnaire were created and sent to the thesis intervention participants (see

Appendices E, F, and G). The collection documents were sent to the participants on December

29, 2023. To facilitate ease of use, the documents were recreated in Survey Monkey so the data

tools could be completed online. The two surveys measure spiritual maturity and the level of

Christian culture in the home. The worldview questionnaire measures the scope of the individual

participant's worldview. Together, these documents form a baseline in each area to measure

positive increases based on the completion of the thesis intervention. Using these documents as a

baseline determinant also provides reliability and substance to this DMIN thesis project.

278

The

participants completed the surveys and questionnaires, and the group held the first parent focus

group on January 7, 2024.

Fellowship

Fellowship is a key component of discipleship, as evidenced by the early church and

taught in Acts 2:42; the earliest disciples learned from the Apostles, engaged in fellowship, ate

277

This statement was the first realization of the “business problem” families encounter in modern life.

Amid the myriad reasons Christian parents do not instruct their children on the ways of God, scheduling has

squeezed God out of families. It is a contributing reason for the degradation of the family, as noted throughout the

intervention process. This thesis intervention has brought light to this problem that was not fully grasped in the early

planning stages of the intervention. More will be discussed in chapters four and five.

278

Tim Sensing, Qualitative Research, 71.

91

meals together, and prayed together. As interpreted by this researcher, Fellowship is spending

time together in life, sharing ideas and problems sprinkled with joys and God’s love. This

fellowship prompts intimacy throughout the group. This biblical concept became a cornerstone

for this thesis intervention program.

The thesis intervention was initially planned to be carried out at TMC on Sunday

evenings from 6:30-8:00 PM. During the initial planning phase, the church was open during this

time frame, which made it the best location. This changed when church programming changed in

January 2024, closing the opportunity to utilize the church building for the parent focus group on

Sunday evenings. Facing this dilemma, through prayer, it was determined that the parent focus

group be held at the home of this researcher. The most agreeable day and time was Sunday at

1:00 PM. The participants would attend the second Sunday morning service and then come to

this researcher's home for lunch and group time. This setting also included the teens in the lunch

and fellowship. The previous model did not include the teens during the adult focus groups. The

idea was that the adults would be taught so they would teach their teens. The new model proved

better. All participants gathered in one room to share a meal and conversation, building

togetherness through fellowship. The conversations varied from the church message, work

issues, and life and family aspects. The conversations were not steered or guided but organic, as

friends joined together, and natural conversations ensued. After the meal, the teens would go to

another location in the home and spend time together playing Xbox and hanging out while the

parents engaged in the intervention group time and instruction. Both environments were healthy

and fostered a Christian environment, building bonds through fellowship.

The parent focus group time always began with prayer and covered five questions about

the previous week’s home-based worship to spawn group discussion: 1) a. What went well?, 2)

92

What did not go well?, 3) What questions were asked?, 4) Were the experienced issues the same

or similar in each home?, and 5) How did you address the questions? This questioning allowed

the adults to see the inside of the other family worship times and to share how they approached

and solved issues as they each gave instructions to their families throughout the week. This also

allowed this researcher to see how each family progressed through the study and how the

intervention program worked as anticipated. There is a fellowship aspect of this portion, as

hearing what was happening in our homes codifies the reality that problems of the same and

similar nature exist in all homes. This draws the parents and families closer together in solidarity

(the body of Christ 1 Cor 12:12-13) and bearing each other's burdens (Gal 6:2). Each gathering

was audio recorded so proper respect could be given to the conversations and the parents

engaged in them.

Instruction

The mechanics of this thesis intervention is the instruction portion of each week’s parent

focus group. The Intervention Design section of this chapter focuses on how the intervention was

built; this section looks at the implementation or how it worked. The kitchen table in this

researcher's home was an impactful setting for each week’s group time. The group affectionately

referred to the instruction time as “table talk.” After the meal and cleanup, the parents would

gather at the kitchen table to cover the week's lesson. This brought intimacy to the gathering and

was a model for what this would look like in their homes. Working from this format provided a

healthy environment in which to begin each week’s group time.

93

Weeks One and Two

These two weeks engage the worldview question of identity. The first week concerns the

identity of all humanity as image bearers of God, and the second week narrows the focus to the

individual believer in Christ and his or her identity based on Him. This week’s first intervention

focus group began with prayer and a meal with fellowship time. As this was the first week of

instruction, additional guidance was needed to set the foundational blocks of a worldview,

secular and biblical, andragogy, the theories of schema and thema, and how these relate to the

family and home-based discipleship. Initially, as posited elsewhere in this paper, the theory of

schema and thema is well-versed in Scripture (Deut 6:4-9 and Eph 6:4). The family is God’s

vessel for instruction about Him and His expectations of those who call Him Lord. The parents

were given basic information about these cognitive theories and the family structure being a

“built-in” reflection of all facets of cognitive influx. The assembly of the focus group exudes

these cognitive learning and acquisition faculties. This helped them better understand the

importance of a Christian culture in the home, as learning is more than the direct transfer of

knowledge; it is also relational or transference in how people learn. The family provides both

structures and, thus, the perfect venue for instruction. This led to the discussion of worldviews.

The intent behind this element and the others was not to regurgitate a massive amount of

information in one sitting. Each week, the focus group engaged in one of the four worldview

questions, providing an opportunity to expand the participants' knowledge of worldviews

generally and specifically as they applied or answered the worldview question. The biblical

position of identity focuses on Gen 1:26-27 and each person alive bearing God’s image. In this,

certain intrinsic rights, such as dignity, worth, and purpose, come to bear. The secular identity is

mired in individualism, which breeds pride, and is undergirded through scientism by way of

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evolution. This can be a touchy subject even in Christian circles, but this focus group looked at

each position and discussed their differences. The idea is also to make people think about what

they know or believe they know and how that belief corresponds with reality. The innate values

that are intuitively known (the biblical worldview) match reality. One difference noted between

the two worldviews is that the biblical position espouses these values intuitively, juxtaposed

against the scientism position of values through evolution as being inherited. The value of every

person is ingrained in their being and existence rather than being granted by a lesser authority,

and the second week explored individual identity in Christ.

Week two focused on the believer's identity in Christ. The focus group began with a

review of the previous week’s home discipleship. The subject matter had no direct issues, but

specific positives came from the family gatherings. All four families reported having an open

dialog with their children, conversations they have not had before. Parents can see how their

teenagers think and see the world. They were also able to share ideas so that they could

objectively look at Scripture and the biblical worldview and come under God’s authority of

identity. The remainder of the group time entailed instruction on the believer’s identity in Christ.

A crucial understanding in this week’s lesson is the outward turn of the inward self towards

Jesus. The parents were instructed on how this role reversal differs from the secular worldview.

The world communicates the need for everything else to come to the individual, making life

about the person. The reality is that this does not work, and additionally, if the self is pointed

outward to others and not connected to Christ, the joy that comes from putting others first is

benign. The group had no specific questions on this topic, so the group ended. It is important to

note that time was a recurring issue with all participating families. This was a consideration

made initially but from the parental perspective. A contributing issue was time on the part of the

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teen. The object is consistency with family discipleship, but when teens have work or a school

function, the parents are given latitude to employ the program when it is advantageous for their

family. This session completed the first two weeks of the intervention and the first worldview

question of identity.

Weeks Three and Four

These two weeks engage the question of destiny. As with the previous week, the

questions about functionality were given to start the group time. It was determined that the time

concern was balancing out for each family as they adjusted to each other's varying schedules and

made time to come together for prayer, worship, and Scripture reading. As each week progresses,

the families see more and deeper insight and participation from their teens. This is a win as these

conversations bring individual and family growth. This week's topic of destiny focused on

reconciliation with God (Rom 5:10-11). The instruction for the week drew comparisons between

the self-centered world and being brought into a right relationship with God through Jesus.

Everything revolves around the individual, from relationships and acquiring material things to

self-love (pride). This internal preservation leads to the individual creating a personal zone that

denies contrary opinions and ideas to preserve the sanctity of the self. The biblical worldview

removes the buffer zone, removes the self, and adds God as the focal point. The need to reunite

with God overshadows the self and, thus, the things acquired by and for the self. The following

week covered reconciliation with others.

The fourth week explores the believer’s destiny to become like Jesus (2 Cor 3:18). The

thrust of these two weeks is replacing the self with Christ. Rather than doing things for self-

gratification, what is done is for God and a righteous connection with Him. The key Bible

passages that address this are John 1:12-13 and Romans 8:29. It was explained to the parents the

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importance of walking with the Holy Spirit (Col 1:10) as He works within the believer to

transform them into the likeness of Christ. The importance of developing a biblical worldview

results in thinking like Christ. The mind of Christ is what every believer should strive to attain

(Phil 2:1-5). The Holy Spirit uses trials and tribulations to build our character (Rom 5:3-5) and

the mind of Christ in the believer. The adults were encouraged to look at their own lives, their

trials and tribulations, and determine how God used those moments to transform them into the

likeness of Christ. One parent remarked about conversations they have had with unbelievers they

know and that in the trials the unbelievers have faced, they do not learn and change habits; their

character never changes due to the things they endure. This was an example everyone in the

group could relate to. It is also a difference between the biblical worldview and the secular

worldview. When individuals rely on themselves, the character never changes; it only adapts to

situations the individual tries to manipulate for their advantage. Therefore, the change is not in

the person but in how they engage the problem, bringing it to the unchanged character. The next

two weeks

Week’s Five and Six

The worldview questions addressed during these two weeks focus on the purpose of

followers of Jesus and how the secular world understands purpose. In a supportive tone for the

parents in the study, an unanticipated breakthrough with each household is that the parents are

asking their teens questions that are not incorporated in this study. Questions such as How did

you glorify God today, and how did you demonstrate Jesus through your actions? This shows a

positive bent towards developing a biblical worldview and a Christian culture in the home. The

teens also continue to reflect deeper on the week’s lessons and have a more substantial stake in

the family's progression with spiritual maturity.

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With each group gathering, the first thirty minutes detailed answering the questions

regarding successes and failures of the previous week’s home-based worship. The parents were

never given a time limit for this portion of the group gathering. Time constraints were not

imposed as this time was a great learning experience for each parent; they could learn from the

other parents and adapt their home approaches to a favorable outcome. Week five concentrated

on serving God as the believer’s primary purpose. The Scripture used for this meeting was

Joshua 24:15. This means putting God first, no matter the circumstance. The counter position is

putting the individual first. Rather than pleasing God, the secular worldview encourages the

individual to fulfill personal wants and gratifications; that satisfaction comes from pleasing the

self. This is a sharp departure from the biblical worldview and is an example of an individual's

lack of satisfaction in accomplishment apart from a righteous relationship with God.

Week six observed the purpose of serving others. The biblical worldview is a continuous

denial of the self. That is, putting God first, then others. The self is always last, thus

relinquishing claim on personal satisfaction at the expense of others. The main Scripture passage

for this question is Matthew 22:37-40. This passage is Jesus’ encapsulation of the law, putting

God first, followed by others. The latter half of this passage implies how others should treat the

individual. Jesus said to love others as you love yourself (Matt 22:39, NASB); therefore, the

expectation is that others will observe this in their service. If this mantra were carried out, no

individual would rely on themselves as others would meet their needs. Of course, humanity lives

in a broken world; thus, loving your neighbor as yourself means receiving rather than giving.

This is a selfish love, as opposed to a selfless love. This researcher was delighted with the

growth of each family, not just for this thesis but for Kingdom purposes.

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Weeks Seven and Eight

These two weeks are the last in this thesis intervention's instruction portion. The focus of

these two weeks is also the portion that met the most pushback from the teens in each household.

One household observed doubts about being saved due to poor life choices, and another had

questions about God’s goodness because of friends' questionable actions and life choices. The

LGBT problem facing the world came to bear in these two weeks of instruction. There are some

in this study who have family members who profess homosexuality, bi-sexuality, and gender

confusion, to name a few alternate lifestyle choices. The adult participants were encouraged to

persevere through love and truth (God’s truth) and continue to instruct their teens on what is

correct behavior through the biblical worldview juxtaposed to the secular worldview. The

inevitable question of how was uttered? The answer is through what this researcher understands

as triad leadership: love, presence, and godliness. Love, as Jesus says, with every part of

yourself. Presence is not merely availability but being there, giving an encouraging word, or a

meaningful gesture. Presence is being in the trenches with your teen as they navigate the murky

waters of life in a broken world. Godliness is living what the parent teaches. Words that are not

lived are just words; they are meaningless. Teens are excellent detectors of meaningless behavior

and instruction. Parents who embody the triad of leadership will impute meaning in their teens'

lives, adding meaning to their relationship with Jesus and with the life He gives to believers

(John 10:10). This style of leadership is not short-term but a long-term investment in their

families, their communities, and the Kingdom of God; it takes time and intentionality.

Week seven marks the culminating peak of the first three questions. Morality comprises

these questions and is based on God's goodness and the intuitive understanding of right and

wrong (Rom 2:15). The crux of morality is knowing who the individual is, what the result is that

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they are working toward (destiny), and their purpose. These are building blocks for the believer

to live a life pleasing to God, a life of morality (2 Pet 1:5-8). The main focus of instruction for

these weeks was truth. The foundation of moral living is truth, God’s truth. Truth is not a social

construct or a contract between people agreeing on specific matters. Truth is not manufactured or

deduced on a whim by the individual (subjective). Truth is objective, absolute, and applicable to

all people. This is what is meant by God’s truth. God’s truth was weaved into the creation; truth

is the cornerstone of reality. This truth was easy for the intervention participants to see as they

lived lives apart from Jesus, and their decisions were not congruent with God’s truth early in

their lives. The veridical nature of reality starkly contrasted with the manufactured reality they

attempted to live. Their truth was contrary to God’s truth and reality, and they paid a price for

their mistakes. It is a question of following God’s plan or the individual's plan. This portion of

the study had major implications for all participants and measured how far God has brought each

family, drawing them closer to Himself (Jas 4:8).

Data Collection

The last element to be explored is the data collection methodology. The triangulation

ethos used surveys, a worldview questionnaire, participant journals, and focus groups.

Additionally, this researcher kept a weekly thesis journal and an audio recording of every

participant gathering.

The surveys and questionnaire were sent out on December 29, 2023. The collection

method used was Survey Monkey, as this platform would facilitate analyzing the data to render it

reader-friendly. It would also serve as a mechanism to measure growth in spiritual maturity and

forming a Christian culture in the home. Developing a biblical worldview is contingent on the

maturation process of the participants, thus making it a long-term investment. There are two sets

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of the same surveys and questionnaire. The first was completed before the study began as a

baseline marker. The second was completed after the intervention instruction was completed.

One additional data collection document was sent to each participant. This document was a post-

intervention critique (see Appendices L and M). This critique asked four questions: 1) The Good,

2) The Bad, 3) The Ugly, and 4) What positive aspects came from this study for you and your

family?

Participant workbooks were given to each participant at the first meeting on January 7,

2024 (see Appendices J and K). The participants were instructed to use the journals to answer the

weekly worship questions and record reflections from each lesson. They were also encouraged to

write any issues or concerns they had with a specific aspect of each lesson. This written feedback

is an attempt to garner real-time reflection on the general effectiveness of the intervention. The

participant workbooks were collected at the last group focus meeting on March 8, 2024.

The focus groups were instrumental data gathering elements and a part of each week’s

gathering on Sunday afternoon. The weekly focus groups allowed this researcher to see how

each week’s lessons affected the families and individuals. They also allowed for expeditious

attention to be given when a problem arose for a more immediate remedy. The focus groups also

allowed adults to hear about issues in other families and provide insight to each other for

solutions to those problems. The focus groups also measured the growth in the metrics

established for this thesis intervention, and each week brought new challenges and successes.

The focus group was a time to encourage the other families and a venue to pray for the continued

efforts of the parents. The last focus group, on March 8, 2024, consisted of a fellowship meal and

two separate but conjoined meetings. The first was with the teens; the second was with the teens

and their parents. This researcher wanted to hear from the teens absent any parental pressure.

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The wife of this researcher sat in on the teen focus group to ensure multiple adult presence with

the juveniles. The results of these meetings will be parsed out in the next chapter. Still, for now,

it was noted that each teen admitted resistance to participation when the study first began but

grew to immensely enjoy the family time and spiritual growth from spending time in Scripture

and prayer as a family. When the two groups were brought back together for the final focus time,

the comments were positive regarding the thesis intervention and the strength that each family

experienced during the study.

Conclusion

This final focus group brought the action research portion of this thesis intervention to a

close. This chapter covered the journey of the proposed thesis intervention and the actual

intervention received by the participants from one week to the next, covering eight total weeks of

instruction. Specific areas of the intervention needed to be altered or amended, such as the

location, time, and providing a meal for the group each Sunday afternoon. These changes were

not harmful but were outside the original intent. Additionally, unanticipated occurrences resulted

from these changes. One example was mimicking the home-based worship at each group

gathering to what could and should be in each of the participants' homes. This comparison would

not have been so apparent if the group had met at church as initially proposed. Another example

is the three-pronged leadership approach of love, presence, and godliness. The preliminary

findings based on the focus groups show that the intervention equipped the parents to engage the

culture their teens are living in and combat this culture with biblical truth. It is clear that growth

was achieved, and the basis of a biblical worldview is underway in each participant.

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CHAPTER 4: RESULTS

The results of this DMIN action research implementation are anticipated to be

incremental. The process of forming a biblical worldview is a lifelong endeavor. Each element of

this intervention has been cultivated to produce confidence in the parents, equipping them to

teach God’s precepts and develop a biblical worldview in their children and themselves. The

expected results are better-equipped parents and students with a base formation of a biblical

worldview and a strengthened family.

The first expected result will be increased spiritual maturity in the parents. The parents

will have received detailed instruction on worldview, precisely a biblical worldview, and what

the Bible states about these life paradigms. The format of this intervention also implements holy

habits with prayer, daily Scripture reading, attendance during corporate worship, and fellowship.

These areas will develop the parent and their children to have a heart and mind turned to God.

These elements should produce higher spiritual maturity scores for both groups, which will be

compared through pre- and post-questionnaires and surveys. The participant's handbooks give a

schematic that can be utilized in other areas of home-based teaching for the betterment of

children and the family. The students at TMC face a crisis with identity and fitting into a world

hostile to God and antithetical to a biblical worldview. The students are expected to show a

marked improvement in the worldview questionnaire and the spiritual maturity survey. Ideally,

the litmus test of success is better decisions based on godly precepts.

The measure of success is a detectable increase, even if minor, in spiritual maturity and

forming a biblical worldview, measured through questionnaires, surveys, and focus group

discussions. Since measuring a mature Christian takes a lifetime, the expectation of a specific

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percentage increase is unreasonable. Thus, an increase in spiritual maturity will not be gauged in

this manner.

Collective Results

The initial observation of the collected data points to a successful thesis intervention

project. The implementation was smooth, with a few ripples in getting the surveys and

questionnaires in on time. There were no program participant dropouts; all eleven participants

completed the thesis intervention program. As a result, the two surveys, the questionnaire and

participant handbooks, were completed, and focus group gatherings were attended, with

substantial feedback given for the intervention through the critiques. This section will deduce the

participant group demographics, the initial results of the data collection documents, the focus

group results, and the end of the intervention critiques.

Participants

The participants of this action research project are all members of TMC and active in the

student ministry per the boundaries set in the Limitation Section of Chapter One.

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The

participants vary in age, life experience, employment, and ethnicity. The latter two descriptors

did not determine who would be recruited for the project, so these demographic areas are not

accounted for.

The participants were five males and six females. Two of the males are adults, and three

are teen students. The females were balanced, with three being adults and the remaining three

being teen students. The ages were also varied but grouped. This grouping was not intentional or

anticipated in the initial forming of the participant pool. It stands to reason that if all nineteen

recruited participants had engaged in the thesis intervention, there would have been a greater

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See pages 16-17 for the limitations placed in this thesis action research project.

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diversity in the ages. Nevertheless, the teens were split between 13-15 and 16-17. The younger

range contained two, and the older teens numbered four. The adult age structure was similar,

with 3 participants in the 36-45 age group and 2 in the 46-55 age group.

The last demographic accounted for is the time each participant has been a follower of

Christ. An interesting correlation exists between time as a Christian and spiritual maturity and

establishing a Christian culture in the home. The insight of this researcher to the group of

participants yields insights as to which of the participants are in each range of time as a

Christian. The correlation is that the home with the lowest scores in spiritual maturity and

establishing a Christian culture in the home are the participants with less time as a Christian.

This is expected, thus not a negative to the intervention; it is merely an interesting observation.

The integral aspect of this is that establishing a Christian culture in the home is essential to the

spiritual growth of a new Christian and their development of a biblical worldview. See table 1

for a snapshot of this data.

Table 1. Thesis Intervention Participants

Gender

Percent of Participants

Participants

Male

45.45 %

5

Female

54.55 %

6

Age Range

13-15

18.18 %

2

16-17

36.36 %

4

36-45

27.27 %

3

46-55

18.18 %

2

Time as a Christian

One year or less

9.09 %

1

2-5 years

9.09 %

1

5-10 years

27.27 %

3

10-20 years

18.18 %

2

20 or more years

36.36 %

4

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Data Collection Documents

The data collection documents consist of two surveys (spiritual maturity and Christian

culture in the home), the worldview questionnaire, the participant handbooks, and the post-

intervention critique. Each document was completed promptly, giving this researcher time to

analyze the data to form the matrix for deducing the increase in spiritual maturity, the

development of Christian culture in the home, and the formation of a biblical worldview. The

analysis proved a few anomalies but marked increases in the core Christian competencies

cultivated in a more robust Christian culture within the families and the home. The worldview

assessment showed changes in the mindset of the teens and several of the adults. This

immediately indicates that their worldview began to shift throughout the intervention. The

intervention critique also demonstrated that building a Christian culture in the home facilitated

deeper conversations about life and how the Bible teaches us to engage in matters of life and

faith in a secular world. The focus groups were also encouraging but will be further parsed out in

the Data Analysis section of this chapter.

Surveys and Questionnaire

The two surveys (see Appendices F and G) asked about the homes' spiritual maturity and

Christian culture. The spiritual maturity survey contained twenty-three questions, and the

Christian culture in the home held twenty-two questions. These questions were formatted to

conform to a Likert scale and an evaluative measure for increases or decreases in these broader

areas.

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The scale varied by one point depending on the possible answers to each question. The

maximum score is a five, and the minimum score is a one. It is important to note that a score of

one on a question meant that the object of the question was not present in the home or the

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Tim Sensing, Qualitative research, 114.

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spiritual maturity inventory. The maximum score reflects a continuous effort to build on or carry

out an action related to the question. The survey questions were designed to determine if aspects

of the Christian life are present in the participants. Specifically, the four areas that build the core

Christian competencies.

The spiritual maturity survey contained twenty-three questions, which yielded four

primary questions. Those questions relate to prayer life, Bible study/Scripture reading, church

attendance, and fellowship or spending time with other Christians outside the usual church

activities. These four areas form the foundation of spiritual maturity and are used to determine an

increase in this area. The specific analysis will be undertaken in the next section. Suffice it to say

that the data shows an increase in almost every participant in the four core competencies. The

Christian culture in the home survey also marked measured increases. This survey asked twenty-

two questions, many connected to the core Christian competencies. It was determined that only

two questions should be used to expand and detail the analysis for this thesis. Those questions

concern conducting home-based worship and whether the parent was better equipped to train and

teach their family. These areas are part of the problem, purpose, and thesis statement, which

lends them a specific place in the analysis.

A counterargument to these findings is akin to a circular argument. The increase in the

four core competencies is due to participation in the intervention. This could be true if no other

means were used to gauge progression. This thesis intervention program was designed to initiate

the engagement of these core competencies five days a week in the home to educate the parents,

who would then teach their families. It stands to reason that completing the program would yield

a positive result in daily prayer, Scripture reading, attending church, and fellowship, a significant

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component of this action research project. The proofing method used to remove the circularity is

the worldview questionnaire.

The worldview questionnaire (see Appendix E) contains thirty-five questions. These

questions engage the participant's understanding of the Godhead, the Bible, identity, human

origins, the universe's origin, morality, the current culture's effects on race, ethnicity, other social

ideologies, and other cultural and Christian-based areas. There were changes in how several

participants viewed the Godhead, the Bible, social interaction, different religions, and salvation,

drawing them closer to a biblical worldview. This change of mind and heart shows the

effectiveness of this thesis intervention beyond the circular argument and as a result of parents

teaching their families the precepts of God in contrast to what society espouses in these areas.

All but eight questions in the questionnaire were open-ended. The open-ended nature of the

question negates applying a scale to define the amount of change. An example of this is the

question about the truthfulness and accuracy of the Bible, question seven. A few participants

answered that the Bible could be more accurate but did not give examples of what was

inaccurate. The post-intervention questionnaire showed a change with this answer to say that the

Bibel is truthful and accurate. The handbooks engaged the biblical worldview in contrast to the

secular worldview, which served as a change agent in forming the new worldview from a biblical

perspective.

Participant Handbook

There are two handbooks, one for adults (see Appendix J) and one for students (see

Appendix K). Each handbook is forty-eight pages long and spans eight weeks of home

instruction. The design focused on the four worldview questions noted previously in this thesis.

The structure of the instruction week begins with home worship and the introduction of the

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week’s worldview question. A pivotal element of home worship is the connectivity with the

Sunday morning message. During the design phase, it was unclear if the worldview question for

the week could be answered from the Sunday morning sermon. However, this element was

crucial for the future adaptation of this study to other churches and younger ages of family

members. Not having a preset instructional element allowed the families to hear the same sermon

and then expand on that message to answer the worldview question. This researcher was pleased

to see that the Sunday morning sermon always played a role in answering all four worldview

questions, including the sub-questions. It is important to note that the sermon series at TMC

during this intervention was in the Book of Romans. Based on this functionality, it is believed

that this thesis intervention program can be used with any sermon series to answer the questions

of identity, destiny, purpose, and morality, thus increasing the versatility of the designed

structure.

Each participant kept the handbook, answered the questions inside, and maintained the

handbook as a journal. What was gleaned from their writings was not groundbreaking but

demonstrated a depth of family discussion that fostered growth in ways each family had not

previously experienced. The handbooks also functioned to give the parents and students structure

to their conversations to facilitate these more profound experiences. Many participants wrote

notes in the margin for areas of possible improvement or needed clarity for future use. It is

difficult to determine or measure the growth of each participant through the handbook notations.

The functional measurability is that the surveys and questionnaire increases resulted from the

intervention. The juxtaposition of the handbooks to the surveys and questionnaire is akin to

writing out the math problem versus only giving the answer to the equation. In other words, the

adult and student handbooks served as the written equation of a math problem, and the surveys

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and questionnaire were the answer. Another catalyst for the worldview changes was the focus

group gatherings and the post-intervention critiques.

Focus Group and Post-Intervention Critiques

The focus groups were a foundational portion of the weekly gatherings. As noted

elsewhere, the importance of the focus groups was underestimated during the design phase in

scope and effectiveness to the overall implementation of this thesis intervention through schema

and thema. The focus groups served as a time for celebration and correction. The participants

would share the problems they had been having with the weekly lesson as well as the

receptiveness of their families. It was indeed a sharing of life experience. During this time, this

researcher was not the principal teacher but more of a conversation participant. The

conversations focused on various topics, from spiritual maturity to what each parent did in their

home beyond what was called for through the intervention. The observed growth in the group

was palpable. Several of the week’s conversations centered on what each family would do after

the thesis intervention was completed; they lined up their next steps to continue what had been

started in their homes. This is also a measure of the success obtained in each family. The final

focus group was the most encouraging.

The final focus group took place in the same location (this researcher's home) but at two

times and with separate groups. The participants were gathered for a fellowship meal that

transitioned into the final focus groups. The teens were interviewed separately from the parents

by this researcher and this researcher’s wife, so two adults were present. Every teen talked about

how the intervention was a blessing to them as they could engage their parents(s) in meaningful

conversation. They exchanged ideas about the worldview questions and understood the

differences between the biblical worldview and the secular worldview and how the biblical

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worldview better suits what is observed in reality; it made sense. A point levied by several of the

students was that the home-based worship and the daily Scripture readings proved beneficial as

they were able to dialog with their parent(s) when opinions conflicted but collectively learn what

the Bible teaches regarding the worldview questions prompting a change in mindset about the

particular problem. Overall, each student stated they and their families benefitted from this thesis

intervention and that they wanted to continue with home-based worship as it brought their

families closer together and closer to God. Students who did not show increases in all four core

competencies still remarked about the benefit. After the teen interview, the group was brought

back together and interviewed. The parents were the focus here.

The parents also held similar views on the effectiveness of the thesis intervention in their

homes. They felt equipped and empowered to engage their families in honoring God’s command

to teach their children (Deut 6:7). The intervention critiques yielded similar results. The parents

were more critical of the intervention, focusing on the handbooks. The fellowship meal before

each week's focus group meeting and instruction time was a blessing. It allowed the parents to

bond with other families and catalyzed the teen's growth. The overwhelming critical element

waged was time. This was a limitation noted in Chapter One that the families and this researcher

realized in its fullness once the intervention passed week two. An element not considered in the

planning stages was teens who hold after-school jobs in addition to other school and church

activities. Time each week was a pressing issue for every family. The families were free to

acclimate the study into their daily lives; however, it worked best so that each week’s lessons

were given attention. This took time management and juggling, but they completed each week’s

work. For one family, sickness played a significant role in a two-week period beginning in week

six. As a result, one family member did not make consistent notations in the adult handbook but

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continued reading each lesson. There were recommendations that the family activities planned

for each home-based worship could have been more relevant and that some examples to explain

the worldview question for the specific week could have been more explicit. It was also

suggested that the questions in the handbook that accompanied each day's lesson be segregated

so that they can be addressed separately. It was posited that this would garner greater clarity in

understanding and answering the questions. These were also recommendations noted in the post-

intervention critiques.

The intervention critiques held little more information than the final focus groups. It was

unanimous that this thesis action research project was effective in each family. It was influential

in helping the parents verbalize and understand what their teens face daily in school and when

they are away from a positive Christian influence. Each family member expressed a blessing

from being involved in this research study. Several of the parents noted that they did not feel

equipped to teach their teens and engage in home-based worship and discipleship and that this

intervention gave them the tools and confidence to be obedient to God’s command to teach their

children and His ways (Deut 6:7: Eph 6:4). The parents noted in their critiques that they were

contemplating starting book studies offered by well-known pastors, and some simply keeping

with the sermon review and how the four worldview questions are answered and can be applied

to their lives.

Collective Data Summary

The collective data demonstrates an increase in spiritual maturity for each family, a need

to instantiate a more robust Christian culture in the home, and building the foundation of a

biblical worldview. This is a success and a positive step in discipleship and the wholeness of the

parents to teach and instruct their families. But, as noted earlier, there were a few problems. One

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teen, in particular, did not show a measurable increase in spiritual maturity across all four

Christian competencies. This was also observed in several of the parents. Given the robust

affirmation from each participant about the positive impact this thesis intervention had on their

lives and their families, it is a curious position. The data analysis section will attempt to shed

light on these anomalies.

Data Analysis

This section will analyze the specifics of each survey and the worldview questionnaire.

The adult and student handbooks were necessary tools that brought instruction and structure to

the home-based worship environment. However, they were insufficient to gauge spiritual growth

other than demonstrating the work each participant added to the study. Thus, they will not be

featured here. The core Christian competencies will be the analytical focus of the spiritual

maturity survey. The Christian culture in the home survey will be used to demonstrate the

increase in the ability of the parent to teach and conduct home-based worship. The answers to the

questions were given a numeric value consistent with a Likert scale so that increases and

decreases could be more easily tracked.

Spiritual Maturity

Spiritual maturity is the foundation for spiritual growth and living a life pleasing to God

(Col 1:10). These traits have been narrowed to four tenets of spiritual growth: prayer, Bible

study/Scripture reading, church attendance, and fellowship with like-minded people. These four

basics are also extracted as a model for Christian living patterned from the early church in Acts

2:42. The results of the spiritual maturity survey demonstrated growth for several participants, a

decline in one, and no change for several. The four areas will be discussed individually as

subsections.

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Prayer

Prayer is a direct line of communication with God and a means to convey the world's

pressures to our Creator. Prayer is at the top of the list for spiritual disciplines and is something

many Christians do not do or do not do in a manner that allows time to commune with God and

then listen for His response.

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This understanding of prayer exceeds the scope of this thesis

action research project in that the importance and frequency of prayer were more the loci for

growth. This does not diminish the importance of prolonged time in prayer; this is an essential

step toward godliness. But, for many Christians, time is needed to build this spiritual discipline

and develop a prayer muscle. The pre- and post-intervention survey results demonstrated growth

in this area, with a few teens and adults.

Table 2 shows the pre- and post-intervention survey on prayer. Three participants

increased their prayer frequency, five showed no change, and three decreased their prayer

frequency. The chart participant numbers begin with the students. They occupy the first six

places, with the adults holding the remaining five (1-6 teens and 7-11 adults). The increase

shows the effectiveness of the thesis intervention program. Two had the highest score for those

who remained the same, meaning they prayed more than thrice daily. The scoring range is below

for clarification.

• None = 1

• Once a day = 2

• Twice a day = 3

• Three times a day = 4

• More than three times a day = 5

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Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 80.

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Table 2. Core Competencies of the Christian Faith – Pray

The anomaly noted earlier is the one participant who listed none for prayer on both

surveys: Participant Three. This participant participated fully in the thesis intervention and

completed his student handbook. Therefore, he should have chosen prayer once daily and noted

an increase, at least due to the intervention program. During the final focus group interviews, he

commented on how the program helped him grow spiritually and indicated his enjoyment in

learning more about following Jesus. It is important to note that this participant has only been a

Christian for over a year. It is possible that he misapplied his answer in the survey or possibly

did not understand the question, but his response in the interview overrides it. Participants four

and eight also showed a decrease in their daily prayer. There is no answer to this other than to

attribute this to an anomaly in the pre- and post-survey. A t-test was also completed on the

survey results, demonstrating increased prayer across the group. The difference to the positive

was 0.088, or an 11% increase. See table 3 for more details.

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Table 3. t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means - Prayer

Bible Study

Bible study or Scripture reading is arguably the most important spiritual discipline.

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Meaningful spiritual maturity depends on reading God’s word daily. The issues of poor decision-

making, identity confusion, lack of understanding of destiny and purpose, and lack of knowledge

of how to live a moral life begin with knowing what God says about each area. The only way to

know this is to read God’s word, speaking His words after Him. The below chart, table 4, details

this core competency. The Likert score for this table is as follows:

• Never = 1

• Once a year = 2

• Once a month =3

• Once a week = 4

• Daily = 5

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Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 22.

Pre- Post-

Mean 3.27 3.36

Variance 2.02 1.65

Observations 11 11

Pearson Correlation 0.76

Hypothesized Mean Difference 0

df 10

t Stat -0.32

P(T<=t) one-tail 0.38

t Critical one-tail 1.81

P(T<=t) two-tail 0.76

t Critical two-tail 2.23

t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means - Prayer

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Table 4. Core Competencies of the Christian Faith – Bible Study

Eight of the participants showed no change in their daily intake of Scripture. Participant

ten increased, and participants one and three decreased. Of the participants who did not measure

an increase, four read every day, two read weekly, and one once a month. Participant Ten is an

adult and increased from weekly reading to daily reading. As for the participants who scored

lower than reading weekly, this is contrary to the thesis intervention program that engaged

Scripture reading five days a week. Be it that this would not constitute daily reading; it would, at

a minimum, fall into the weekly category. Participants fully participated in the intervention,

completing their handbooks and engaging the questions. Scripture reading was part of each day's

activities. It is possible that reading the Scripture from the handbook rather than the Bible may

cause reductions in the two participants. A t-test was also conducted, with these results showing

a decrease from 4.27 mean to 4. This is a drop of .27 or 6.32%. This reduction is consistent as

most participants did not increase their pre-intervention rating. It is not considered a negative as

several participants read their Bibles weekly, if not daily. See table 5 for more details.

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Table 5. t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means - Bible Study

Church Attendance

This category did not demonstrate change in any of the participants. Each family

regularly attends church services unless hindered by health concerns or providential

interruptions. Participants Six and Eight miss from time to time due to health concerns but are

regular attendees when not experiencing any health conditions. Table 6 shows the results of this

core competency.

Table 6. Core Competencies of the Christian Faith – Church Attendance

Pre- Post-

M

ean 4.27 4

Variance 0.42 1.6

Observations 11 11

Pearson Correlation 0.61

Hypothesized Mean Difference 0

df 10

t Stat 0.9

P(T<=t) one-tail 0.2

t Critical one-tail 1.81

P(T<=t) two-tail 0.39

t Critical two-tail 2.23

t-Te s t: Paired Two Sample for Me ans - Bible Study

0

1

2

3

4

5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Likert Scale, Maximum of 5

Student (1-6) and Parent (7-11) Participants

Spiritual Maturity, Core Christian

Competencies, Pre- and Post-Intervention -

Church Attendance

Pre Post

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A t-test was also completed on this table of figures, yielding the same result and

confirming no change. See table 7.

Table 7. t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means - Church Attendance

Fellowship

The last core competency is fellowship. The early church spent copious time together

where they could encourage one another and learn together. This togetherness promotes strength

and accountability and gathers members of the body of Christ together to share life. The area

observed the largest increases in the core competencies. Five participants increased in this area:

one teen and four adults. Five participants observed no change: four teens and one adult. One

participant registered a decrease, Participant Three. The scoring for table 8 is as follows:

• Never = 1

• Rarely = 2

• Sometimes = 3

• Usually = 4

• Always = 5

Pre- Post-

Mean 4.82 4.82

Variance 0.16 0.16

Observations 11 11

Pearson Correlation 1

Hypothesized Mean Difference 0

df 10

t Stat #DIV/0!

P(T<=t) one-tail #DIV/0!

t Critical one-tail #DIV/0!

P(T<=t) two-tail #DIV/0!

t Critical two-tail #DIV/0!

t-Te s t: Paired Two Sample for Me ans - Church Atte ndance

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Table 8. Core Competencies of the Christian Faith – Fellowship

Notably, several of the participants increased their scores by several points. This is

suggestive of a healthier relationship with other adults engaging the same paradigm of learning

together to better serve their families. One teen, participant Six, was placed in an environment

that is good for socialization. This core competency received the biggest measurable growth: an

increase of .64 or 12.15%. The t-test table, table 9, shows this increase.

Table 9. t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means – Fellowship

Pre- Post-

Mean 3.18 3.81

Variance 0.76 1.16

Observations 11 11

Pearson Correlation 0.46

Hypothesized Mean Difference 0

df 10

t Stat -2.06

P(T<=t) one-tail 0.033

t Critical one-tail 1.81

P(T<=t) two-tail 0.067

t Critical two-tail 2.23

t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means - Fe llowship

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Parent Equipping

One specific survey was given to just the adult participants. This survey measured the

Christian culture in the home and how well the parents believed they were prepared or able to

teach their families about God and His commands (Deut 6:7). The survey asked questions

ranging from time as a Christian, family prayer, and Bible reading to the actions of the parent

while at home. Essentially, how you present at home versus church. The questions deemed most

relevant to data analysis were question fifteen, which enquired about the frequency of home-

based worship, and question twenty, about how well the parent is equipped to teach their

families. The results in both areas increased in most of the homes represented in this thesis

intervention.

Home-based Worship

The area of worship is easily modified or understood to mean discipleship. This is the

parent teaching their children about God and helping them to build a biblical worldview. This

requires the parent to teach and participate with their children in the core Christian competencies.

This can be done by reviewing the previous Sunday morning sermon or simply reading a book of

the Bible with their kids and discussing what was read. Some of the adults were timid about

cultural engagement with Scripture. This was more of knowing but not understanding how to

engage. This is where the focus group meetings and instruction played a vital role in the parents

developing a better understanding of biblical application to modern culture. First, they should

point out the differences and how they correlate with reality, and second, they should have some

semblance of explaining and expressing this to their teens so that they understand and come into

alignment with God’s word. The resulting data collection demonstrates parents' growth in home-

based worship and their ability to teach their teens.

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The results from home-based worship increased dramatically for participants One, Three,

and Five, while there was no change for participants Two and Four. Participants Three (male)

and Five (female) are single parents, which places additional stress on their ability to conduct

home-based worship. This study allowed them to partake without having to do the research,

which is nearly impossible, being the sole provider of their homes. Based on their final focus

group interview and intervention critique, this study is what they needed and had been hoping for

to help their teens deal with the secular culture. Table 10 depicts the differences from the

beginning to the end of the intervention. The scoring for this question is as follows:

• Never = 1

• Rarely = 2

• Sometimes = 3

• Usually = 4

• Always = 5

Table 10. Christian Culture in the Home – Home-based Worship

Notably, participants who had an increase increased by two points or more. This dramatic

difference shows their ability to engage culturally with their teens. The mean before the

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intervention was 1.6, and 3 at the end of the intervention. This is an 87.5% increase. The t-test

confirms this result, as does the feedback from the parents. See table 11. The results of this study

demonstrate an increase in home-based worship. Additionally, as previously stated, these parents

have secured their next home-based study material to continue educating their teens in the ways

of God. This means they have also increased their ability to carry out this task.

Table 11. t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means - Home-based Worship

Equipped

Among the many encouragements, this researcher observed during the intervention was

the increase in the confidence of the adults through the progression of the study. As noted, the

parents were excited to learn how to instruct their children. This is also part of andragogy in that

adults will continue to want to learn but learn differently through experience. The adult

participants were eager to engage in the study material when provided with the tools to complete

a task. Often, it was knowledge they had but lacked the vocabulary to identify it. Table 12

identifies the increase in knowledge and being better equipped for the Christian faith at home.

The scoring for this area is as follows:

Pre- Post-

Mean 1.6 3

Variance 0.8 2.5

Observations 5 5

Pearson Correlation 0.53

Hypothesized Mean Difference 0

df 4

t Stat -2.33

P(T<=t) one-tail 0.04

t Critical one-tail 2.13

P(T<=t) two-tail 0.08

t Critical two-tail 2.78

t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means - Home-based Worship

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• Never = 1

• Rarely = 2

• Sometimes = 3

• Usually = 4

• Always = 5

Table 12. Christian Culture in the Home – Equipped

Three of the five participants reported being better equipped to teach their teens.

Participant Five showed the highest increase, while Participants Two and Three had moderate

increases. In either case, the study subjects increased in knowledge and ability, thus increasing

preparedness. The mean in the pre-intervention survey was 3.6, with an increase of 4.4. This is

an increase of 22.22%. Analyzing the post-intervention critiques and final focus group

interviews, all participants remarked about being better prepared and equipped to conduct home

worship and discipleship with their teens and younger children. As with all the previous analysis

t-tests, the results are confirmed and consistent with the focus groups (see table 13)

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Table 13. t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means – Equipped

Biblical Worldview

A great deal about worldviews and the differences between a biblical worldview and a

secular mindset has been covered. The worldview questionnaire sought to determine each

participant's worldview (see Appendix E). The questionnaire asked a variety of questions about

how people live, what they think about identity, salvation, the difference between heaven and

hell, human origins, and the origin of the universe. Additionally, questions about race, critical

race theory, diversity, equity, and inclusion were asked. The four worldview questions of this

thesis action research project looked at identity, destiny, purpose, and morality. As these are the

primary questions, they will be featured in this section. Overall, the difference between pre- and

post-questionnaires showed changes in many participants in each primary question. The changes

demonstrate a shift in worldview, a more biblical worldview.

Identity

This first question engaging identity was number seventeen in the questionnaire. It was

posed as, “To what or who do you base your identity?” The answer to this question is critical to

living a fulfilling life that is stable and not changing with the whims of society or groups of

Pre- Post-

Mean 3.6 4.4

Variance 0.8 0.3

Observations 5 5

Pearson Correlation 0.41

Hypothesized Mean Difference 0

df 4

t Stat -2.14

P(T<=t) one-tail 0.05

t Critical one-tail 2.13

P(T<=t) two-tail 0.1

t Critical two-tail 2.78

t-Te s t: Paired Two Sample for Me ans - Equippe d

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people. The adult participants did not waver in answering this question, stating that they based

their identity on Christ. Participant Nine answered both the pre- and post-questionnaires in the

affirmative. Still, she added a caveat that she once based her identity on the self but has come to

realize that life can only be lived to the fullest when Jesus is the basis for our identities. The

students were solid in their pre- and post-answers, with a few exceptions.

Half of the students had no change from the pre-questionnaire; they based their identity

on Jesus. Participant Three was unsure about his identity before the thesis intervention started or

after completion. Participant One did not answer this question in the pre-survey but answered in

the affirmative for Jesus in the post-survey. It is unclear why she did not answer the question the

first time but did answer the question in the end. Participant Five did not answer negatively in the

first questionnaire but stated that her identity was based on what Jesus said rather than Christ

Himself. This is not, in effect, wrong but seemingly only a partial answer or partial identity

association. Her post-intervention answer was an affirmative in Jesus. Participant Six first stated

his identity was based on the Bible and what he learned in school. His post-intervention answer

was Jesus and biblical teachings. The questionnaire showed a positive change in the worldview

of these three participants with their identity and the influence the Bible has in this area. The

trends in identity are similar in the remaining worldview questions, the next being destiny.

Destiny

The connection between destiny and purpose has been noted, and the answers to the

questionnaire solidify the closeness of these two states through the answers given by the

participants. The destiny question was posed as, “What is your destiny?” There were only two

changes in the participants from the beginning to the end of the thesis intervention; both were

students. The two students were Participants One and Three. Participant One did not answer the

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first questionnaire. Her response in the final questionnaire was to be with God or have the right

relationship with Him. This is a positive change.

Participant Three first answered that he was not sure; his response in the final was living

through God. Even though he did not express being in the right relationship with the Lord, the

implication suggests that this is what Three had in mind. The remainder of the group gave

satisfying answers to the question of their destiny, that being in the right relationship with God.

Purpose

The idea of purpose, as portrayed in this action research project, is not to be with God but

to serve Him and serve others. This foundational mindset of the biblical worldview should be in

every follower of Jesus. This state is also often confused with destiny, which is being in a right

relationship with God and conformed to the likeness of Jesus. This question was presented as,

“What is your purpose in life?” The answers to this question were mostly correct, as the

participants' purpose is to serve God and others. Three students marked changes in their initial

answers.

Participants One, Two, and Three gave changed answers to this question. Participant One

again did not answer the question in the first questionnaire. Her response in the pos-

questionnaire was to help others know Jesus. This is believed to be an affirmation of serving

others and pointing them to Christ. Participant Two initially answered by being a better person.

His second response was to share his faith in Jesus. Participant Three did not know his purpose

in the first questionnaire but stated in the second that his purpose was to help guide people to

Jesus and the Bible. Each participant gave answers that could have been more precise but clearly

showed an increase toward a biblical worldview. The adults all understood their purpose was to

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serve God and serve others. Therefore, they had no changes. The question about morality fell in

the same vein as the previous questions; there were a few changes, but it was biblically stable.

Morality

As with the previous worldview questions, the adults did not have any changes to their

answers, each yielding to God’s rule and law for correct conduct and interaction with others. The

students had changes in three participants. This question was written as, “Explain morality or

living a moral life.” Two of the three students' initial answers seemed to be based solely on the

rule of law or governmental requirements and those rules set forth by groups of people. This is

not to be confused with the post-modern mindset of subjective morality but moral contracts

between governments and people and people to people. The third student had no idea what the

answer was. The more profound answer is that God established morals; through Him, people

know right from wrong and act accordingly (Rom 2:14-15).

Participants One and Six attributed moral living generically by obeying laws and not

sinning. Participant Three did not know the answer. The post-questionnaire revealed very

different answers than the first. Participant One was particular about following God’s rules on

conduct and how believers should live. Participant Three gave a partially correct response,

attributing morality to God’s presence in the individual's life and immorality to the absence of

God. There is work to do here, but this student is on the right track. Participant Six shifted his

response from a sterile contractual style of morality to a God-based morality, living a life

pleasing to God through obedience to Him.

Summary of Results

This chapter analyzed the data collected from two surveys and the worldview

questionnaire. Less emphasis was placed on the handbooks, the focus group interviews, and the

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post-intervention critiques. These areas were not less but accounted for as test documents and

interviews confirming the participants' spiritual growth and a developing biblical worldview. The

participants did not have unorthodox answers to the questions about who God, Jesus, and the

Holy Spirit are. They did not waver on what salvation is or through whom salvation is attained.

There were some answers about the uncertainty of heaven at death and to what degree they had a

personal relationship with Jesus. Still, the post-worldview questionnaire eliminated these issues

and proved solid because they were saved and had a personal relationship with Christ. The data

analysis results show a positive increase in the four areas of developing a biblical worldview.

These areas, expressed with questions of identity, destiny, purpose, and moral living,

were increased throughout the thesis intervention. All of the participants showed some diversity

in their answers to these questions. Still, the post-intervention data collection documents showed

positive changes for all participants in the four worldview questions. The students better

understand who they are, what they should be doing, and for whom they should serve. The

parents reported being better equipped to teach their families to honor God’s command in

Deuteronomy 6:7 and have begun the search for a curriculum they can adapt to teach their

families. The focus groups and the post-intervention critiques bear this as true and accurate. The

statements speak to the parents' confidence in teaching their families and areas of the

intervention that could be improved for clarity and functionality. It should be noted that success

in this data analysis only points to the development of a biblical worldview and the parents'

increased confidence and newfound ability to teach their families God’s precepts. Still, based on

this assessment, better decision-making for teens and adults should be improved.

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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

The state of the world dictates an ire toward religion, specifically God and Christianity.

The noted Barna poll demonstrates this change and points to a “World Citizen” classified as an

individual with a synchronistic worldview.

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This is an alarming change that requires a response

from followers of Christ. The literature review is replete with church models turned toward

families and intended to assist in discipleship,

284

and there are many models from the modern

church to choose from.

285

This DMIN action research project confirms the need for family

discipleship and implements a strategy to equip parents for home-based discipleship to build a

biblical worldview.

The results of this intervention have confirmed a strategy to equip parents intellectually

and practically and fortify the church models adduced in contemporary literature. Current church

models cater to families by bringing them together in worship, activities, and multi-generational

learning. However, few train parents to develop a biblical worldview that fosters spiritual

maturity and godly decision-making. This intervention has created a reproducible strategy to

plug into existing ministry models for family development and to engage the secular worldview

with the truth of the Gospel. Therefore, the next steps are refinement and expandability.

The results of this action research project reveal that this intervention strategy produced a

budding biblical worldview and increased spiritual maturity. The intent was to foster this result

in a specific age group (teens), so additional study remains to broaden this strategy to incorporate

varying age groups for repeatable implementation. It is paramount to understand this success is

for Kingdom expansion, combatting a secularized world, and for God’s glory.

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George Barna, “American Worldview.”

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Paul Renfro, Perspectives on Family Ministry, 49-51.

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Demise Kjesbo, "Family Ministry,” 494-501.

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The problem explored in this thesis intervention at TMC is the lack of home-based

discipleship, resulting in a distorted biblical worldview, manifesting in poor decision-making

with teens. The literature review and anecdotal evidence suggest this to be a broader issue.

Closer scrutiny reveals several problems on the familial level. First, the current society no longer

operates from the nuclear family. Families are often divided through divorce or parents who

work multiple jobs, keeping them away from their children throughout the week. In the wake of

this deformity of the family, children, teens specifically, are nurtured by society. When society or

peer-to-peer education replaces parental instruction, the teen is left to the whims of changing

social fads. This results in problems with identity, destiny, purpose, and morality. This DMIN

action research project did not deduce this aspect of the psychology of society or succumbing to

suggestive ideologies, but this is undoubtedly a conditional aspect of parents abandoning their

responsibilities to be the primary instructors of their families. Second, many families attend

church but place the onus of spiritual maturation on youth ministers and Student Pastors. The

coherence of this mentality to daily life leaves a chasm that the church alone cannot bridge. God

placed the family's instruction on the parents (Gen 2:24; Deut 6:7; Eph 6:4). Churches have a

definitive influence on teens and children but cannot make up for the lack of home-based

training. A third issue is the on-the-go families. These families are hyper-involved in activities

that dominate time, such as sports, after-school activities, and working teens. These activities

alone are not the problem; they usually form social skills like teamwork, problem-solving,

leadership, and responsibility. These are all excellent traits, but in hyper form, they distract from

what is most important: the sanctity of the family pointed toward God. The practical

functionality of spiritual maturity rests on the parents. It is clear from the literature review that

many parents do not believe they are equipped and have the confidence to teach their families

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God’s precepts for life and faith. Thus, a strategy is needed to instruct parents to teach and guide

their children toward God.

The purpose for this DMIN action research project is to develop home-based discipleship

strategies and disciple parents to build a biblical worldview in their children. The task of

developing a strategy to engage the lack of home-based discipleship resulted in the need to

educate parents on how to do this. Considering the parent's position of being ill-equipped, the

loci of this thesis intervention focused on teaching the parents how to answer four worldview

questions: 1) Who am I? 2) What is my destiny? 3) What is my purpose? And 4) How should I

live? These are the areas that the teens at TMC struggle with the most. On these tides, the teens

eb and flow not having an anchor point from which to navigate life (Eph 4:14). These are

essential questions that undergird a worldview. Apart from Scripture, the answers to these

questions are left to society, which is ever-changing. The Bible is God’s word (2 Tim 3:16-17); it

is foundational (Ps 118:89) and is sufficient for life and faith. God is unchanging (Ps 102:27;

Heb 13:8); thus, He is the anchor point to answer these four essential life questions. These four

questions form the basis for instruction for this thesis intervention.

The developed program centered on two cognitive functions, schema and thema. This

researcher proposes that these areas of cognition are implied in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. The

practical and relational instruction methodology of these cognitive functions is present in this

biblical passage and across Scripture. This teaching and learning methodology is also observed

in Acts 2:42. Using the biblical platform, an eight-week instruction paradigm was created. The

participants met weekly for a meal and fellowship and were instructed about how to answer the

worldview questions. The program was organized into four sections, each being two weeks. Each

section answered one worldview question. A basic understanding of what a worldview is began

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the study. The cognitive theories of schema and thema were also introduced, along with lessons

in andragogy. These aspects are essential to the program due to the learning differences between

adults and youth and how people take in and assimilate information. Ideally, the program taught

the parents so they, in turn, could teach their children. Coherence to reality was an aspect of the

worldview instruction for each week. Douglas Groothuis posits the absolute necessity of

coherence of a belief system to reality.

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Each week juxtaposed what the Bible teaches about

that week’s question, what society or the world teaches, and which one coheres with reality. The

success of the intervention was predicated on changes in spiritual maturity, the advent of a more

robust Christian culture in the home, and shifts toward a biblical worldview. These areas were

measured through surveys, a worldview questionnaire, participant handbooks, focus groups, and

a post-intervention critique.

The main methodology of triangulation is the two surveys and the worldview

questionnaire. The focus groups, handbooks, and post-intervention critiques were used to

confirm what the data collection documents revealed. The surveys measured starting points and

changes to questions that helped determine spiritual maturity and the level of Christian culture in

the home. Four specific measures were taken from the spiritual maturity survey completed by all

participants: prayer, Bible reading, church attendance, and fellowship or gathering with like-

minded Christians outside of the usual church attendance for worship services.

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The worldview

questionnaire focused on determining the participant's worldview or if an amalgamation or

syncretized worldview was present. The questions most relevant to this study were those that

enquired about identity, destiny, purpose, and morality. There were increases in these four areas

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Douglas Groothuis, Christian Apologetics, 50.

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These four areas represent the core Christian competencies, each areas being essential to spiritual

growth.

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toward a biblical worldview in several of the subjects. This was also confirmed through focus

groups, the handbooks, and the post-intervention critiques.

The focus groups accompanied the weekly meetings after the fellowship time. The shared

meal was a time for general conversation to build friendship and togetherness. All participants

shared in the meal; the teens and adults ate in the same room and shared conversations about life.

This proved to be an essential element in the intervention. The handbooks were not a means to

measure other than seeing each participant's effort in their family's weekly studies. The post-

intervention critiques uniformly stated that this study positively impacted their families, their

spiritual maturity, and increased Christian attitudes and culture in their homes. The thesis

statement of this DMIN action research project finds support in the data analysis. If parents are

better prepared, equipped, and more confident in discipling their children, then faulty decisions

based on a distorted worldview will improve.

Research Implications

The results of this thesis intervention have implications for several aspects of home-based

discipleship. The problem espoused in chapter one was the faulty decision-making of the

teenagers at TMC. The problem was a symptom of the lack of home-based discipleship,

including a diminished Christian culture in the home. When looking closer at this issue, it was

clear that the parents needed to engage their teens in biblical discussions regarding the core

Christian competencies and how culture combats Christianity. Building these competencies

increased the spiritual maturity of all participants and formed the basis for developing a biblical

worldview. This was a top-down investment beginning with the parents as stakeholders in their

homes and obedience to God’s command to teach His precepts to families. Two areas of interest

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with the parents are conducting home-based worship and having confidence in their ability to

teach their teens and conduct home-based worship.

The first area is the practical application of discipling families through home-based

worship. This area received the highest increase at 87.5%. There were two participants (families)

that stayed the same in this area. A possible explanation for this anomaly is that they did not

understand this thesis intervention's question or chronology. Completing the eight-week thesis

intervention would have netted an increase in these families. This increase in participation is

noted in their participant handbooks and the weekly focus group meetings. Participation in this

intervention would have precipitated an increase in this scoring rubric. In some ways, this

statistic is not misleading, but it is uplifting for the results gained in other homes. The thesis

intervention brought the other homes to a two or three-point increase. The results suggest that

these parents are better equipped to engage their families with biblical teaching and cultural

engagement.

Parents being better equipped to teach their families is the second area of interest

regarding the adult side of this thesis intervention. Three of the five parents marked an increase

in their ability to be home teachers for their families. The two adults that did not increase in the

chart showed evidence of increase based on focus group discussions and how the intervention

better prepared them for cultural conversations about the difference between a secular and

biblical worldview. Therefore, their scores would have increased in this area, too. Despite this

difference, that area of equipping increased by 22.22%. The parents were more comfortable and

confident in teaching their teens what the Bible says, addressing the four worldview questions.

The parents also increased their spiritual maturity with their teens.

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The increase in spiritual maturity is present in the thesis intervention data collection.

Prayer increased by 11% among the participants. This demonstrates a continuing conversation

with God. Bible reading/study is an anomaly, registering a 6.32% drop in frequency. Table 4

shows a good intake of Bible reading from most of the participants. Two participants decreased,

both of which are teens. This is perplexing as the intervention required Bible reading five out of

seven days each week. This should have been a demonstrable statistic, but it shows a regression.

Looking at their student handbooks, they participated in each day's Bible and worldview lessons.

The weight of success in this competency is solidified through the focus groups and the

handbooks to show spiritual maturity. Church attendance was never an issue for any of the

participants. There was no change for the participants pre- or post-intervention. Fellowship, the

last competency, did see an increase. This area observed a 12.15% increase in spending time

with other Christians. Five of the eleven participants registered higher post-intervention scores in

this area. This yields a 55% increase across the participants. This thesis intervention held

implications for the foundation of a biblical worldview.

The base infrastructure of this thesis intervention is exploring four basic worldview

questions that focus on identity, destiny, purpose, and morality. Each question affirmed a change

in worldview adopting the biblical standard. Identity observed three teens change a worldview

position from the self or an organization to Jesus. One parent held the biblical identity but

clarified her position of once self-affirming but now solely in Jesus. The understanding of

destiny changed toward the biblical worldview for two participants; the remaining participants

had already begun developing this area pre-intervention. Purpose also observed changes toward a

biblical worldview. The purpose of all Christians is to serve God and serve others, pointing them

to Jesus and the Gospel message. Three participants gave changed pre-intervention answers,

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directing their service towards God and others by evangelism. Lastly, morality also registered

changes toward a biblical worldview. The adults in these four areas demonstrated a biblical

worldview, or at a minimum, an excellent foundation to build on. The students had three

changes, from a more secular attitude about morality being contractual to a God-seeded

understanding of morality from the imago Dei (Gen 1:26-27) and the Decalogue (Exod 20:1-17).

The post-intervention answers reflect a more profound understanding that civil governments or

social constructs do not grant morality; this is from God and imbued in each person through His

image.

There were positive results in every aspect of this thesis intervention. One such element

was the reflection of what home-based worship looked like from the weekly gatherings of the

participants. As stated in Chapter Three, this modality was not intended during this thesis

intervention's planning and discovery phase.

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Additionally, a leadership revelation unfolded

during this thesis intervention is a trifurcated platform of love, presence, and godliness. Each

prong yields aspects of schema, thema, and the four worldview questions. In reverse order,

godliness embodies looking up, inward, and outward to others. The participant handbooks taught

about vertical and horizontal relationships in Week One, Day One (See Appendices J and K).

These two axis are also present in the Decalogue: serving God (commandments 1-4, vertical) and

serving others (commandments 6-10, horizontal). This pertains to leadership and godliness

through service to God first, recommitting ourselves to Him, and service to others. Presence

embodies being there to lead and be an example of godliness. It means giving time to others,

specifically the family. Family discipleship will suffer if the parent is at work or leisure time

more often than at home. This means rearranging priorities and aligning with God’s plan for

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For the initial reference to this layer of instruction, please see Chapter Three, pg 88.

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parents to minister to and disciple their children. Love is the culmination of the previous two

prongs. Love conquers all (1 Cor 13:7). Love generates compassion to obey God’s call. Through

love, believers “hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matt 5:6, NASB). Love gives strength to

model godliness and be present for parents called to teach. Love, presence, and godliness are the

leadership methodology that fuels family and home-based discipleship.

Research Applications

The problem, as stated, is the need for home-based discipleship. The purpose was to

develop a curriculum to help prepare parents to disciple their teens and engage the culture

through home-based worship. The participant handbooks for this thesis intervention were

designed for parents and teenagers to bring about increased Christian culture in the home,

spiritual maturity, and develop a biblical worldview. This application is directed at those teens

and parents at TMC. This thesis intervention is myopic in this constrained context but is

expandable. This expansion at TMC can serve Christian parents with younger children, married

couples planning to have children, newly married couples, and even grandparents as they spend

time and are engaged with their grandchildren. Teaching the younger generations is not

delineated to only immediate family; it is a biblical call for the older generations to teach the

younger (Titus 2:1-10). This thesis intervention is a version of a small group. The study should

be offered during the calendar year once or twice to accommodate varying parental schedules

and the increasing ministry approaches of TMC.

The handbook is adaptable to any educational circumstance or familial arrangement. As it

is, the wording is too advanced for younger children. This would also ring true for adults with a

primary school education or K-12

th

grades. This was also a negative response in the post-

intervention critiques as several believed it could have been more readable for the teens with

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more straightforward vocabulary; the adults and the teens stated this. A remodeled handbook

would focus on biblical marriage and worldview paradigms or be established to educate Student

Pastors and Children’s Ministry leaders to better communicate with those they are called to

teach. In short, the handbooks should be adapted to any teaching situation. Additionally, the four

worldview questions in the handbook are only four of many questions that can be the focus of

education to engage the coherence of a belief system.

Douglas Groothuis offers several criteria to establish a worldview test. Some of these

areas are: Does the worldview offer coherent explanations about existence? Is the worldview

logically coherent within itself? Does the worldview cohere with itself? Is the worldview factual

(can it be tested)?

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These are merely four additional questions that should be levied against a

worldview as a test of veridicality. The questions in the study are interchangeable to engage

different aspects of a worldview juxtaposed to Scripture and reality. This flexibility allows

adjustments to fit participants, age ranges, and education. The handbook and focus questions are

malleable to the changing tides of society. This adaptability is helpful for many situations, such

as families with young children.

The study parameters were for the teens at TMC. Still, given that a worldview is

solidified by age thirteen, families with young children (elementary school) need to engage their

children with the basic worldview questions of identity, destiny, purpose, and morality.

Statistical analysis has shown that an individual's worldview is set by the age of thirteen.

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Thus, parents engaging their young children with the tenets of a biblical worldview is paramount.

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Douglas Groothuis, Christian Apologetics, 52-55.

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Joseph S. Kidder, and Katelyn Campbell, "Molding Your Child’s Development, Part 1: The Forces that

Shape the Worldview of Your Child," Andrews University Digital Commons Faculty Publications (2020): 80,

https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/pubs/1410

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The benefit is establishing a biblical worldview rather than correcting a non-biblical one. This

places the family in front of the crises many millennials and Generation Z suffer. Additionally,

married couples will benefit from this course of study.

The expectation of adapting this thesis intervention to serve married couples is that the

couple aligns with Christian beliefs. Additionally, couples planning to have children will be

versed in their worldview before the first child arrives. The marriage between a man and a

woman creates a synergy; they become one (Gen 2:24). The husband is the spiritual head of the

family (1 Cor 11:3) and should be engaging his wife in learning and teaching the precepts of

God. This will align the couple and their biblical worldview under Christ's headship. This is a

time to understand better the aspects of teaching and godly leadership that Deuteronomy 6:7 calls

for establishing schema and thema for a Christian culture in the home. This is multigenerational.

The frequency of grandparents raising their children’s children is increasing

exponentially. One of the families in this thesis intervention is in this setting. Understanding the

culture is invaluable for grandparents who spend copious time with their grandchildren.

Engaging the culture with sound doctrine about cultural issues ensures a Christian culture in the

home and other venues to which youth are exposed. This embodies the older generations

teaching the younger (Titus 2:1-10). There is an increased interest in cultural apologetics,

specifically Christian apologetics, and all generations benefit from this understanding, even on a

basic level. This entails how to engage youth with the truthfulness of Christianity.

Lastly, this thesis intervention should be placed in a regular teaching rotation at TMC.

The structure is similar, if not precisely like a Mission Group (small group at TMC). Mission

groups meet weekly and cover the Sunday sermon for clarity. The onus of the sermon review is

not apologetic or necessitated toward cultural engagement but, instead, for doctrinal clarity,

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discipleship, and evangelism. This thesis intervention functions in the same manner but answers

worldview questions through the Sunday morning sermon in addition to doctrinal clarity.

Mission groups begin with a potluck meal and conversation. It is a time of fellowship and

Christian community. This thesis intervention should be offered as a Mission group once or

twice a year to facilitate the above applications within TMC. This course of study would be open

to congregants and the Pastoral staff. This builds stronger biblical worldviews in the

congregation members and fosters better learning engagement for the Pastors in their ministries.

Research Limitations

The limitations introduced in Chapter One will be expanded here and include a few new

ones developed during this thesis intervention. No application will work for everyone in all

circumstances. Therefore, this thesis accounts for the research limitations to assist other

researchers in breaking ground in family discipleship and worship. This thesis intervention

includes elements of radical change. These elements are critical for parents and their teens to

develop spiritual maturity, create a Christian culture in the home, and develop a biblical

worldview. This change is extreme in various areas, mostly in time allocation and priorities. The

hyperactive family sidelines godliness for sports, school events, and work, which is believed to

be an investment in their children’s lives. The paradox is that despite the believed investment,

what families need most is godliness. This godliness results from parents creating a Christian

culture in the home.

The number one limiter of this thesis intervention was time. In each weekly focus group,

parents railed about having to force time each week for family worship and daily Scripture

reading. This position was not a negative critique; it was simply the demand of time to create a

Christian culture in the home. The lesson within the lesson dictates that God should not be

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spliced into the family schedule, but what areas of the family schedule need to be examined so

that God comes first. This lesson did not receive as much traction as was necessary. The

limitation will be an issue for most Christian families. The suggestion here is not that

extracurricular activities are harmful; instead, how many activities are too many and take away

time from leading your family in godliness through family discipleship. The changes needed here

are radical, but the biblical worldview questions elicit a radical personal and intellectual change.

A second limitation is availability, which is tied to time. Several of the potential

participants were unavailable for this thesis intervention. The reasons varied, but the underlying

question is, what is more important than learning to engage in family discipleship, helping your

children better understand the biblical worldview, and preparing them to combat secular culture

for improved decision-making? It is not the position of this researcher to answer this question for

those parents who declined participation; self-examination is necessary so that future

opportunities can be utilized for God’s glory and the spiritual strength of the families.

A third limitation of this DMIN thesis project is the group size. The number of

participants was sufficient to administer the study, but the data pool was limited. Full

participation would have yielded nearly twice the data for a larger sample size. The limitation

was intentional and restricted to parents and teens active in Mission Students at TMC. There are

additional families at TMC with teenagers who are not involved in the student ministry and

would have undoubtedly benefitted from participating in this study. It is clear that all teenagers

need assistance in spiritual growth, and parents need tools to facilitate this through home-based

discipleship.

A fourth limitation is evident in the types of questions and family activities in the

participant handbooks, the questions in the surveys, and the worldview questionnaire. One

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participant stated in their post-intervention critique that the family activities and worldview

question scenarios were antiquated. A few others noted that the family activities regarding what

they should be doing were unclear. Reviewing these areas showed places for improvement.

Some activities called for building with sticks or other materials. This may be an activity better

suited for parents with younger children, not teens. Hindsight suggests using a pre-intervention

focus group to determine beneficial activities to create a practical learning environment and a

more meaningful setting to better understand the lesson's point. The types of questions in the

surveys and worldview questionnaire could have been better focused or narrowed to clarify what

each question was asking. Additionally, the answers to specific questions could have been better

formed. An example would be question sixteen in the spiritual maturity survey. The possible

answers were never, rarely, sometimes, usually, and always. These options are qualitative and

would better serve the spirit of the question as a numeric value for a quantitative response. This

example is repeated throughout both of the surveys. This would have narrowed the scoring for

each of these areas and given a more concise measure of growth.

Lastly, long-term maturation is an undeterminable goal within the scope of this thesis

intervention. This action research program has demonstrated short-term growth over the eight-

week intervention but cannot ascertain the long-term commitment. As noted previously, this is

tantamount to a circular argument. The rejoinder to this argument is the positive feedback from

the focus group meetings and the participants' worldview change. Still, this is a mandate for

continued home-based worship and discipleship for the parents. This is a continuing problem,

but it is not isolated to this intervention or context, nor is it a marker of failure. It is a matter of

the parent utilizing the learning and teaching tools they have been equipped with to work in

tandem with the Holy Spirit’s transforming work for the benefit of their children and families.

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This is the work of the body of Christ with the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the participants with

accountability measures of the church as each other’s burdens are carried together (Gal 6:2) and

encouragement in the faith (1 Thess 5:11).

Further Research

The concluding remarks of this DMIN action research project focus on a collision of

worldviews and teens who often struggle with the surety of personal faith through Christian

discipleship. This struggle is an issue of poorly developed core Christian competencies and,

through these competencies, answering foundational questions of identity, destiny, purpose, and

morality. Several participants in this thesis intervention showed diminished spiritual maturity,

including the parents. This deficiency proved to be a catalyst in the lack of home-based worship

and discipleship, contributing to poor decision-making in the teens. This DMIN action research

project is one way to instill and improve the ability of parents to equip their children and families

to follow God’s precepts. It is also a means to show that the biblical worldview coheres with

reality and is self-supporting in contrast to the ever-shifting secular mentalities of world citizens.

The following areas are points of future research to build on the groundwork laid here.

An exciting area of potential research is the contrast between Generation Z and young

millennials regarding MTD: Generation Z in the TMC context is not as focused on a

philosophical projection of who God is and His purpose in the lives of believers and humanity. A

robust discourse about MTD and the effects of that generation was given in Chapter Two. Still,

two decades after the advent of MTD, there seems to be a shift from the dial-a-need mentality of

MTD to a more doctrinal-based Christian faith for Generation Z at TMC and at large. In other

words, adherents of MTD posited a more sensate or emotional feelings-based interaction with

God on an as-needed basis. The teens at TMC are more fundamentally grounded in the doctrines

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of God, whom they believe is active in humanity and reality, rather than a distant grandfather

who answers when called. Is this a result of an increasing interest in Christian apologetics? Is it a

result of science and other fields of inquiry revealing more data about the truthfulness of

Christianity and the accuracy of the historicity of the Bible? Could this be due to the significance

of doctrinal teaching to the teens at TMC in contrast to less doctrinal teaching in other church

settings? These are areas of research to be undertaken that could assist in determining the shift in

the MTD worldview to a doctrinally bible-based worldview.

Another area of future research is a continuation of one of this thesis’ limitations:

exploring other worldview questions and how different religious beliefs answer these same

questions. One area specifically is pluralism. This was not an issue at TMC but has roots in the

growing acceptance of other belief systems as converging paths to God. This is a caveat of

Generation Z in that this generation accepts and tolerates beliefs outside of their own but does

not as much synchronize these beliefs into their Christian foundation. But, because of this

tolerance, the need for evangelism is not as strong. There are myriad reasons for this: ridicule

and increasing hostility toward Christians, wanting to be accepted, and so forth. This generation

needs to carry on the mantle of Christian evangelism, which hangs on the truth that Jesus alone is

the way to God (Acts 4:12). This will also solidify the need for Generation Z to pass on their

faith through their future families. This also entails thinking logically and critically about the

Christian faith and other belief systems.

Lastly, an additional area of future research is the advancement of technology through

social media and the apparent reduction in primary school education efficiency. This researcher's

experience is that youth do not need to earn knowledge because information technology is

available at a touch. No discipline is required to gain this knowledge; therefore, there is no

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supporting structure to uphold what is held to be true. It is akin to hollow knowledge. The

application of this research to faith and core Christian competencies is the doctrinal

understanding that supports belief and faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Unbelievers are not

reasoned to faith in Christ, but logic and apologetics help clear obstacles to belief. Does teaching

Christian apologetics to teens positively build core Christian competencies, thus improving

decision-making through forming a biblical worldview? This research could yield evidence of

the need for this type of Christian teaching to teens and adults alike, specifically in the home, to

strengthen vertical and horizontal relationships.

The problem and purpose of this DMIN action research project defined a need and

methodology to equip parents for home-based worship and discipleship. The methodology gave

structure and supported parents' knowledge to fulfill their biblical mandate to teach their children

about God’s precepts. Many church models are built to form churches around families, but this

ends when church is over. Parents needed a program to teach them how to conduct home-based

worship and discipleship, as well as a church with the tools and knowledge to guide parents in

this endeavor and support them in an ever-changing society that continually seeks the destruction

of the nuclear family. It is the position here, demonstrated through the participant's increased

spiritual maturity and biblical worldview formation, that parents, better prepared, equipped, and

more confident in discipling their children, will observe improved decisions based on a well-

formed biblical worldview.

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APPENDIX A

TMC PERMISSION LETTER

Date 12-04-2023

Pastor Donovan Stewart,

In accordance with the institutional guidelines of the Liberty University Institutional Review

Board and the Rawlings School of Divinity at Liberty University, I am requesting permission to

conduct research pertinent to the completion of the degree of Doctor of Ministry. The need for

research will be in implementing a developed plan to equip parents to engage their children in

home-based discipleship. This research aims to foster good decision-making in teens active in

Mission Students by developing a biblical worldview, thus thinking biblically.

The permission requested is for contacting applicable participants of The Mission Church and

their teen students who are active in Mission Students. I will also need access to the sanctuary

one evening a week for twelve weeks to conduct the research plan. Additionally, the once-a-

week group gathering will be video and audio recorded, necessitating access to the Mevo

recording system.

The content of the research action project will consist of a twelve-week strategy. The first two

weeks will be for participant recruitment and reception of implied consent forms acknowledging

participation and an initial group meeting to discuss the intervention strategy and answer any

questions the participants may have.

This will be followed by eight weeks of course instruction and implementation. Each week, the

participants will meet as a group at the church for one and a half hours. The parent participants

will also conduct home-based worship covering areas of that week's Sunday sermon. The last

intervention content is daily Scripture reading that the parents will conduct with their children.

The remaining two weeks will be for post-intervention questionnaires and surveys and for

analyzing and synthesizing the gained data.

The participant's identities will remain hidden and accessible to me alone. No names or

demographic information will be released. The collected data will be from participant journals,

pre and post-questionnaires, and surveys and used in the intervention to show the progress and

overall efficacy of the proposed action research intervention.

The goal, as stated, is to equip and encourage parents to conduct home-based worship to develop

a biblical worldview in the teens of The Mission Church. I have included a permission response

document, which my institution's IRB requires. Please let me know if you have any questions or

need additional information.

Thank you.

In Christ,

Eric S. McCrickard

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Associate Pastor

The Mission Church of Lexington

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APPENDIX B

RECRUITMENT LETTER

Dear Parent

As a Doctoral Candidate in the Rawlings School of Divinity at Liberty University, I am

conducting research as part of the requirements for a Doctor of Ministry degree. The purpose of

my research is to implement a program designed to equip parents for home-based discipleship of

their children to develop a biblical worldview to foster biblical decision-making, and I am

writing to invite you and your student to join my study.

Participants must be parents and teens active in the Mission Students group at The Mission

Church. Participants will be asked to participate in questionnaires, surveys, group instruction,

home-based worship, and daily Scripture reading. Additionally, the group instruction will be

video and audio recorded, and each participant will be required to keep a daily journal congruent

with the study. It should take approximately twenty minutes to complete each questionnaire and

survey, one and a half hours per week for group instruction, one hour each week for home-based

worship, and thirty minutes each day allotted for Scripture reading to complete the procedures

listed. Names and other identifying information will be requested as part of this study, but

participant identities will not be disclosed.

To participate, please contact me at . A consent

document will be emailed to you if you meet the study criteria. The consent document contains

additional information about my research. If you choose to participate, you will need to sign the

consent document and return it to me at the time of the first group gathering or before. If your

child chooses to participate, he/she will need to sign the same consent form that you will sign.

Sincerely,

Eric S. McCrickard

Associate Pastor

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APPENDIX C

IMPLIED CONSENT

Consent

Title of the Project: Family Discipleship: Forming a Biblical Worldview for Godly

Decisions

Principal Investigator: Pastor Eric S. McCrickard, Doctoral Candidate, Rawlings School of

Divinity, Liberty University

Invitation to be Part of a Research Study

You are invited to participate in a research study. To participate, you must be a parent of an

active student in Mission Students at The Mission Church. Taking part in this research project is

voluntary.

Please take time to read this entire form and ask questions before deciding whether to take part in

this research.

What is the study about and why is it being done?

The purpose of the study is to develop a home discipleship strategy to teach parents how to

disciple their children for the development of a biblical worldview.

What will happen if you take part in this study?

If you agree to be in this study, I will ask you to do the following:

1. First task is to complete a worldview questionnaire and a spiritual maturity survey that

will take no more than one and a half hours. This first task will be completed while

attending the first group meeting, which will include the parents of the participating

students. This meeting will be videotaped with an audio recording.

2. Second task is to attend a weekly parent-group gathering at the church for the purpose of

instruction in home-based discipleship to develop a biblical worldview and spiritual

maturity. This gathering will be video and audio recorded. The weekly gathering will last

one and a half hours.

3. Third task is participation/leading a home-based worship time (one hour per week). The

home-based activities will not be audio or video recorded.

4. Fourth task is participating in/leading daily Scripture reading at home with your

student(s) (thirty minutes per activity).

5. Fifth task is your participation in the post-intervention parent/student gathering at the

church to complete final questionnaires and surveys.

6. Sixth and concurrent with the aforementioned tasks, is to maintain a home-based

discipleship journal. You are required to make activity entries for the weekly parent

meetings, home-based worship, and daily Scripture reading. The notations should record

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successes, failures, questions, and any issues encountered through the activities or

intervention (each entry should not take more than twenty minutes).

How could you or others benefit from this study?

The direct benefits participants should expect to receive from taking part in this study include

growing spiritually toward Christ, honoring the biblical mandate to train your children in the

ways of the Lord (Eph 6:4), increasing family bonds, and biblical thinking to foster good

decision making on the part of yourself and your student.

Benefits to society include better citizenship as the participant forms a biblical worldview and

grows in spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity furthers obedience to authorities and service to

others in their community.

What risks might you experience from being in this study?

The expected risks from participating in this study are minimal, which means they are equal to

the risks you would encounter in everyday life.

How will personal information be protected?

The records of this study will be kept private. Published reports will not include any information

that will make it possible to identify a subject. Research records will be stored securely, and only

the researcher will have access to the records.

• Participant responses will be kept confidential by replacing names with pseudonyms.

• Confidentiality cannot be guaranteed in focus group settings. While discouraged, other

members of the focus group may share what was discussed with persons outside of the

group.

• Data will be stored on a password-locked computer and, if hard copy, in a locked safe.

After seven years, all electronic records will be deleted, and all hardcopy records will be

shredded.

• Recordings will be stored on a password locked computer for seven years and then

deleted. The researcher will have access to these recordings.

How will you be compensated for being part of the study?

Participants will not be compensated for participating in this study.

Is study participation voluntary?

Participation in this study is voluntary. Your decision whether to participate will not affect your

current or future relations with Liberty University or The Mission Church. If you decide to allow

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your student to participate, she or he is free to not answer any question or withdraw at any time

without affecting those relationships.

What should you do if you decide to withdraw from the study?

If you choose to withdraw from the study, please contact the researcher at the email

address/phone number included in the next paragraph. Should you choose to withdraw, data

collected from you, apart from focus group data, will be destroyed immediately and will not be

included in this study. Focus group data will not be destroyed, but your contributions to the focus

group will not be included in the study if you choose to withdraw.

Whom do you contact if you have questions or concerns about the study?

The researcher conducting this study is Pastor Eric S. McCrickard. You may ask any questions

you have now. If you have questions later, you are encouraged to contact him at

You may also contact the researcher’s faculty sponsor, TBD,

at TBD.

Whom do you contact if you have questions about your rights as a research participant?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this study and would like to talk to someone

other than the researcher, you are encouraged to contact the IRB. Our physical address is

Institutional Review Board, 1971 University Blvd., Green Hall Ste. 2845, Lynchburg, VA,

24515; our phone number is 434-592-5530, and our email address is [email protected].

Disclaimer: The Institutional Review Board (IRB) is tasked with ensuring that human subjects research

will be conducted in an ethical manner as defined and required by federal regulations. The topics covered

and viewpoints expressed or alluded to by student and faculty researchers are those of the researchers

and do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of Liberty University.

Your Consent

By signing this document, you are agreeing to be in this study. Make sure you understand what

the study is about before you sign. You will be given a copy of this document for your records.

The researcher will keep a copy with the study records. If you have any questions about the study

after you sign this document, you can contact the study team using the information provided

above.

I have read and understood the above information. I have asked questions and have received

answers. I consent to participate in the study.

The researcher has my permission to audio-record/video-record me as part of my

participation in this study.

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____________________________________

Printed Subject Name

____________________________________

Signature & Date

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APPENDIX D

PARENTAL AND STUDENT CONSENT

Combined Parental Consent and Student Assent

Title of the Project: Family Discipleship: Forming a Biblical Worldview for Godly

Decisions

Principal Investigator: Pastor Eric S. McCrickard, Doctoral Candidate, Rawlings School of

Divinity, Liberty University

Invitation to be Part of a Research Study

Your student is invited to participate in a research study. To participate, he or she must be an

active participant in the Mission Student ministry at The Mission Church. Taking part in this

research project is voluntary.

Please take time to read this entire form and ask questions before deciding whether to allow your

student to take part in this research project.

What is the study about and why are we doing it?

The purpose of the study is to develop a home discipleship strategy to teach parents how to

disciple their children for the development of a biblical worldview.

What will participants be asked to do in this study?

If you agree to allow your student to be in this study, I will ask her or him to do the following:

7. First task is to complete a worldview questionnaire and a spiritual maturity survey that

will take no more than one and a half hours. This first task will be completed while

attending the first group meeting, which will include the parents of the participating

students. This meeting will be videotaped with an audio recording.

8. Second task is participation in home-based worship (one hour per week). The home-

based tasks will not be recorded in any way.

9. Third task is daily Scripture reading (thirty minutes each prescribed day).

10. Fourth task is your student’s participation in the post-intervention parent/student

gathering at the church to complete final worldview questionnaires and spiritual maturity

surveys.

11. Additional tasks will be keeping a participant journal of the home-based discipleship

events. The notations should record successes, failures, questions, and any issues

encountered through the activities or intervention (each entry should not take more than

twenty minutes).

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How could participants or others benefit from this study?

The direct benefits participants should expect to receive from taking part in this study are a more

developed biblical worldview fostering spiritual maturity and biblically based decision-making.

Benefits to society include better citizenship as the students form a biblical worldview and grow

in spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity furthers obedience to authorities and service to others in

their community.

What risks might participants experience from being in this study?

The expected risks from participating in this study are minimal, which means they are equal to

the risks your student would encounter in everyday life.

How will personal information be protected?

The records of this study will be kept private. Published reports will not include any information

that will make it possible to identify a subject. Research records will be stored securely, and only

the researcher will have access to the records.

• Participant responses will be kept confidential by replacing names with pseudonyms.

• Confidentiality cannot be guaranteed in focus group settings. While discouraged, other

members of the focus group may share what was discussed with persons outside of the

group.

• Data will be stored on a password-locked computer and, if hard copy, in a locked safe.

After seven years, all electronic records will be deleted, and all hardcopy records will be

shredded.

• Recordings will be stored on a password locked computer for seven years and then

deleted. The researcher will have access to these recordings.

How will participants be compensated for being part of the study?

Participants will not be compensated for participating in this study.

Is study participation voluntary?

Participation in this study is voluntary. Your decision whether to allow your student to

participate will not affect your or his or her current or future relations with Liberty University or

The Mission Church. If you decide to allow your student to participate, she or he is free to not

answer any question or withdraw at any time without affecting those relationships.

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What should be done if a participant wishes to withdraw from the study?

If you choose to withdraw your student from the study or your student chooses to withdraw,

please contact the researcher at the email address/phone number included in the next paragraph.

Should you choose to withdraw her or him or should your student choose to withdraw, data

collected from your student, apart from focus group data, will be destroyed immediately and will

not be included in this study. Focus group data will not be destroyed, but your student’s

contributions to the focus group will not be included in the study if you choose to withdraw him

or her/your student chooses to withdraw.

Whom do you contact if you have questions or concerns about the study?

The researcher conducting this study is Pastor Eric S. McCrickard. You may ask any questions

you have now. If you have questions later, you are encouraged to contact him at

. You may also contact the researcher’s faculty sponsor, TBD,

at TBD.

Whom do you contact if you have questions about rights as a research participant?