Assessing pathways and challenges to growth in discipleship: a study among members of the Student Christian Movement in the UK

Francis, L.J., Lankshear, D.W., McKenna, U., Jones, I, and Eccles, E.L. (2025) Assessing pathways and challenges to growth in discipleship: a study among members of the Student Christian Movement in the UK. Journal of Religious Education. ISSN 1442-6200

Text Francis_assesing pathways and challenges_2025.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (437kB)

Abstract

Drawing on data provided by 197 members of the Student Christian Movement under the age of thirty, this study examines the effect on two measures of growth in discipleship (depth of discipleship and strength of vocation) of four discipleship pathways (group activities, individual experience, church worship, and public engagement) and two contextual factors (church support and challenges to faith) after controlling for sex, age, and psychological type. The data highlighted the importance of the discipleship pathway styled individual experience in enhancing both depth of discipleship and strength of vocation. Personal experience focuses on ways of nurturing discipleship within the ecclesia domestica, involving personal prayer, bible study, quiet time, and reflection on life. Congregational activity alone is not adequate to nurture discipleship for this group of young people.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Published by Springer in 2025. This is an author accepted manuscript of a published open access article available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s40839-025-00280-5. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.
Keywords:	Christian formation discipleship learning empirical theology student ministry ecclesia domestica
Depositing User:	Ursula Mckenna
Date Deposited:	09 Jan 2026 09:54
Last Modified:	09 Jan 2026 09:54
URI:	https://lbro.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/1291

Actions (login required)

Edit Item