Date of Award
8-26-2010
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Communication Studies, MA
First Advisor
Matthew Thatcher
Committee Members
Marcilene Thompson-Hayes; Thomas Baglan
Call Number
LD 251 .A566t 2010 L62
Abstract
The transition to a religion is a pivotal life event that is happening frequently on college campuses. More than 210,000 students are involved in evangelical campus ministries (Schmalzbauer, 2007). The current study is an analysis of the conversion experience of new Christian converts on a university campus. Twenty-two new converts completed a onetime journaling session during which each identified their spiritual development. New converts described the transitional period as well as answered questions specific to multiple models of evangelism. Participants described 139 evangelical interactions in their spiritual development. Interviews analyzed inductively resulting in 62 turning points broken down into three specific categories. Multiple themes were also identified in the participants' interaction with various evangelism models. This study has identified a small portion of the vast and largely unknown knowledge associated with communication in evangelism, but has opened the door on researching salient turning points in the evangelical process and has laid groundwork for more in-depth, quantifiable analyses of this phenomenon.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Lott, Russell, "Students' Conversion to Christianity: Turning Points, Framing, and Models of Evangelism" (2010). Student Theses and Dissertations. 952.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/952
