Subject Area
Religion
Abstract
It is my belief that the Church universal, and the United Methodist Church in particular, are both living within a very vulnerable period. Increasingly, reports suggest that there are more people who consider themselves non-religiously affiliated than there are members of religious groups. More specifically, the United Methodist Church has been experiencing a slow decline in membership since its creation. And perhaps worse than church members losing their religion, some younger clergy are leaving the ministry, while other younger church members are resisting a potential call to ministry in the first place. Meanwhile, the average age of United Methodist clergy is at an all-time high according to statistics from the Lewis Center of Church Leadership.
Degree Date
Spring 2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
D.Min.
Department
Perkins School of Theology
Advisor
Dr. D. Stephen Long
Second Advisor
Dr. Elias Lopez
Number of Pages
140
Format
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Zehner, Maximilian, "Courage in Context: An Ethic of Leadership in a Changing Church" (2025). Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses. 45.
https://scholar.smu.edu/theology_ministry_etds/45
