The Perceived Need for Spiritual Development among Female Church of Christ Students at Harding University

This work explores how female students perceive their need for personal spiritual development. In a male-dominant structure, women may question their need to develop spiritually. Three areas of college life were investigated to see how they influenced female students’ perception of their own need for spiritual development: pre-college experiences, classroom experiences, and co-curricular religious activities. The research questions focused on these three areas in an effort to identify what was most effective in achieving spiritual growth among female students from a Church of Christ background. A survey was conducted among a sample of 610 sophomore female and male students.Results show the importance of having spiritual examples, mentors, and people to provide encouragement to grow spiritually. This work also explores the effectiveness of classroom discussions, co-curricular activities, church, and chapel. Pedagogical suggestions are included that pertain to female students. This study presents implications for curriculum development, teaching, mentoring, internships, co-curricular activities, youth group activities, leadership opportunities, and it shows the importance of both family and non-familial females on female spiritual development.