Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
2-2026
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3372-4405
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
B. J. McMichael
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Bill Hunt
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Faith Ngunjiri
Abstract
Abstract
The problem of ministry attrition caused by burnout is well documented. Research attributes the impact of burnout on the resilience, longevity, and thriving of ministry workers to role-related stress and adversity. High attrition rates throughout religious organizations and a lag in longevity and resilience contribute to a shortage of ministry workers. Some ministry workers leave the vocation because of stress and burnout, yet others persevere. Despite the possible adverse effects, many men and women find a sense of well-being and joy in ministry work. This qualitative distributive case study focused on those who stayed in ministry and the strategies they used to persevere by exploring individual stories and experiences of a group of women in ministry to better understand how the participants persevered and achieved longevity, how they perceived the benefits and challenges that contributed to resiliency, and what factors they perceived as markers of thriving. Methods included in-depth semistructured interviews, observation, a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis program, and the consensus of a focus group. I explored the lived experiences of seven women in ministry through the collection of subjective data. Findings included 11 major categories and 1,376 codes that describe strategies used by study participants in answer to the central research question: What strategies do women use to develop resiliency, thrive, and achieve longevity in ministry? Of the 11 major categories, this study reveals the top four and the three most referenced codes under each. Urie Bronfenbrenner’s theory of human development over time theoretically drives this research. Bronfenbrenner’s theory involves the impact of interactive relationships between an individual’s personal characteristics and proximal processes on human development within a specific context over an extended time frame. Thus, timely interaction with the people, symbols, and objects closest to an individual may promote human development.
v Keywords: attrition, burnout, coping, divine call, ministry, longevity, resilience, thriving
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Little, Eunice Cheryl Feltus, "Longevity, Resilience, and Thriving of Women in Ministry: A Case Study of Women in Ministry From a United Pentecostal Holiness Church" (2026). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 988.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/988
Included in
Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, Christianity Commons, Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, Other Religion Commons, Practical Theology Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons
Comments
Longevity in the ministry not only suggests time spent in the profession but also time dealing with the needs of others. In one study, ministry workers’ long-term attention to the needs of others contributed to burnout and attrition (Malcolm et al., 2022); for others, it contributed to longevity.
Researchers have well documented the adverse effects of burnout and stress. Despite the possible adverse effects, many people have found a sense of well-being and joy in ministry work.