Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Project Portfolio

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Department

Seminary

First Advisor

Jacqueline Bland, DMin

Second Advisor

Ekaputra Tupamahu, Phd

Third Advisor

Kenneth Van Vliet, DMin

Abstract

The project within this portfolio seeks to help Christian Gen Z undergraduates at Biola University navigate setbacks in a way that fortifies their faith. Both anecdotal evidence at Biola and survey data demonstrate that Gen Z required increased support and intervention when they reached college campuses in the mid 2010’s. The American College Health Association has surveyed hundreds of thousands of Gen Z college students over the past seven years and found as far back as 2016 that 87.1 percent of the 27,787 undergraduate respondents to their Fall 2016 survey said they felt “overwhelmed by all they had to do'' within the previous 12 months. Fast-forward to 2023, and the Spring 2023 survey of over 55,000 undergraduates reported that three of every four participants were noticeably nervous to some degree over the previous year, while about 45 percent of undergraduates reported having a moderately to highly stressful academic problem over the prior year. In this larger context, undergraduates at Biola indicated they were unwilling to participate in a new, unknown activity that did not promise to be highly entertaining. Consequently, the best way to help undergrads navigate the inevitable setbacks of their college experience was to leverage the avenues students already turned to for support. Luckily, hundreds of undergraduates meet with a spiritual director at Biola every semester for spiritual support. So this project was shaped as a course that equips spiritual directors to support their undergraduate directees through life setbacks.

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