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Spiritual Formation for Southern Baptist Clergy and Laity

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Spiritual Formation for Southern Baptist Clergy and Laity ABSTRACT SPIRITUAL FORMATION AND SOUTHERN BAPTIST CLERGY by Candace Kay Hardin In the Southern Baptist denomination, the term “spiritual formation” can be suspect at worst and unknown at best. Baptist clergy generally deem spiritual formation secondary compared to 1) the importance of promoting evangelism and missions in their lives and ministries and 2) the urgency of meeting the emergencies and immediacies of each day. This ministry intervention utilized a sample group of Baptist clergy— pastors/church staff/evangelist, chaplains, denominational leaders, and Baptist campus ministers—in order to define and assess their knowledge, attitudes, and practices of spiritual formation. Therefore, the purpose of this delimitative, qualitative, quasi-experimental study identified the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of spiritual formation in the lives and ministries of Southern Baptist clergy in central Arkansas utilizing a four-step spiritual formational design including, (1) formational reading and prayer, (2) formational rest, (3) formational friendship, and (4) formational limits. DISSERTATION APPROVAL This is to certify that the dissertation entitled SPIRITUAL FORMATION AND SOUTHERN BAPTIST CLERGY presented by Candace Kay Hardin has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for the DOCTOR OF MINISTRY degree at Asbury Theological Seminary April 27, 2009 Mentor Date April 27, 2009 Internal Reader Date April 27, 2009 Representative, Doctor of Ministry Program Date April 27, 2009 Executive Director Date SPIRITUAL FORMATION AND SOUTHERN BAPTIST CLERGY A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by Candace Kay Hardin May 2009 © 2009 Candace Kay Hardin ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES...............................................................................................................x LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................. xii CHAPTER 1 PROBLEM ....................................................................................................1 Beginning Scenario—A Showdown at Seminary....................................................1 The Fallen Righteous ...............................................................................................4 Blessed Out and Stressed Out..................................................................................7 Purpose...................................................................................................................10 Research Questions................................................................................................10 Research Question #1 ................................................................................10 Research Question #2 ................................................................................10 Research Question #3 ................................................................................11 Definition of Terms................................................................................................11 Southern Baptist Clergy.............................................................................11 Spiritual Formation ....................................................................................11 Formational Reading and Prayer ...............................................................12 Formational Rest........................................................................................13 Formational Friendship..............................................................................14 Formational Limits.....................................................................................15 Knowledge..………………………………………………………………16 Attitude …………………………………………………………………..16 iii Practice………………………………………………………………….16 Ministry Intervention.............................................................................................16 Researcher-Designed Clergy Demographic Questions..............................18 Focus Group...............................................................................................18 Semiformal Interview ................................................................................19 Context...................................................................................................................19 Methodology .........................................................................................................22 Participants.................................................................................................22 Instrumentation ..........................................................................................23 Variables ....................................................................................................23 Data Collection..........................................................................................23 Data Analysis.............................................................................................23 Generalizability..........................................................................................24 Biblical and Theological Foundation.....................................................................24 Overview of the Study ...........................................................................................27 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE.............................................................................................29 Introduction............................................................................................................29 A Crisis in Christianity ..........................................................................................29 Crusty Clergy.........................................................................................................34 Clergy Stumbling on the Straight and Narrow ......................................................36 A Crisis in Southern Baptist Clergy.......................................................................40 Addressing the Clergy Crisis: Personal Spiritual Formation.................................42 Spirituality/Spiritual Formation for Southern Baptists: A Potential Problem .......43 iv Jesus Modeled Formational Prayer and Reading...................................................50 Jesus Modeled Formational Rest ...........................................................................53 Jesus Modeled Formational Friendship .................................................................53 Jesus Modeled Formational Limits........................................................................56 Summary................................................................................................................57 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................58 Problem and Purpose .............................................................................................58 Research Questions................................................................................................58 Research Question #1 ................................................................................58 Research Question #2 ................................................................................59 Research Question #3 ................................................................................59 Participants.............................................................................................................60 Design of the Study................................................................................................61 An Afternoon Class on Spiritual Formation ..............................................61 Six-Week Trial Time .................................................................................61 Reconvene for Concluding Focus Group...................................................61 Semiformal Interviews...............................................................................62 Instrumentation ..........................................................................................62 Researcher-Designed Clergy Demographic Questions..............................62 Focus Group...............................................................................................63 Semiformal Interviews...............................................................................63 Variables... .................................................................................................64 Validity and Reliability..............................................................................65 v Data Collection .....................................................................................................66 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………….67 Ethics......................................................................................................................68 Data Confidentiality and Security...........................................................68 Privacy of Participants ............................................................................69 Permission to Interview ..........................................................................69 CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS...................................................................................................70
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