Fostering Spiritual Formation of Millennials in Christian Schools

Christian education seeks to foster millennials’ spiritual formation to equip them for future challenges and to benefit society. Using nonexperimental mixed methods, 504 secondary educators revealed what spiritual formation programs their schools implement and their perceptions about millennial spiritual formation. Descriptive analysis showed that programs Christian schools typically implement to address spiritual formation (e.g., chapel, Bible classes, community service) are not what study respondents perceive works best to bolster the spiritual formation of millennials enrolled at their schools. Qualitative data, instead, revealed relationally based programs are perceived most effective in fostering spiritual formation but are infrequently implemented primarily due to insufficient professional development. Study findings reveal that relationally based programs such as one-on-one mentoring and associated professional development are initiatives schools should consider to cultivate spiritually mature teenagers.