Date of Award

5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Primary Advisor

Dr. Tim Sensing

Secondary Advisor

Dr. John H. Boyles

Committee Reader

Dr. Myles P. Werntz

Abstract

This project was designed to address a lack of policies and procedures at Southwestern Assemblies of God University that support its restorative accountability approach in addressing student conduct violations. The student handbook provides rights and responsibilities afforded each student as well as the procedures that appointed staff members are to follow in the event that campus policies are violated; however, the language used in the student handbook did not address modern student culture, nor did it procedurally assist staff members in helping students to develop spiritually. The project intervention involved staff members who address student violations with grace as well as students who have been involved in restoring students to good standing to God, the institution, and one to another. Questions originally arose from focus group data collected among student leaders during the Fall 2018 semester. The students admitted that they were not aware of how they could receive restoration through accountability because the current student handbook policies do not provide that information to them. This led to not only a redesign of the student handbook to make the language relevant to college students, but to also help them understand that following a restorative process involves discipleship for them as a person and member of a community built on a foundation of love and grace. The core of this process is found in the Apostle Paul’s theology in 2 Cor 5:11-21 as well as practices found in restorative justice.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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