{"id":51346,"date":"2022-02-15T08:06:47","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T13:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=51346"},"modified":"2022-05-26T11:04:35","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T15:04:35","slug":"social-work-instructors-research-suggests-millennials-are-creating-new-spiritual-paths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2022\/social-work-instructors-research-suggests-millennials-are-creating-new-spiritual-paths\/","title":{"rendered":"Social work instructor’s research suggests millennials are creating new spiritual paths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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In spring 2020, as churches began to reopen after months of pandemic closure, Eastern Mennonite University social work instructor Debbi DiGennaro<\/strong>, heard a statement that made her curious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA Mennonite pastor said to me, \u2018If people don\u2019t go back to church after COVID, it\u2019s probably because their priorities weren\u2019t right in the first place.\u2019 It can\u2019t be that simple, I thought. What else is going on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DiGennaro, who has researched social behavior<\/a> in the context of faith communities, designed a project to explore pandemic-era changes in religious practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Debbi DiGennaro<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

She interviewed 20 millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) from a Mennonite background in the Harrisonburg, Va., area, about what spiritual practices they had started or stopped during the pandemic. The results highlight that millennials find spiritually meaningful practices outside of the church setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A synopsis of her findings was published in Anabaptist World. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the article here.<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

DiGennaro says she\u2019s noticed considerable interest in her research. \u201cSince the article was published, I\u2019ve had a number of in-person conversations and am actively seeking a broader audience with the Virginia Mennonite Conference and Mennonite Church USA. I’m also considering making it a longer-term project by tracking with the participants over the course of several years to watch how their practices and perspectives evolve post-Covid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DiGennaro is a consultant and trainer for successful cross-cultural adaptation.  She published a book called Acclimated to Africa: Cultural Competence for Westerners <\/em>(2017), drawing on 11 years of living in east Africa, and has published a number of other articles. She is an alumna of EMU and holds an master\u2019s degree in social work from Ohio State University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In spring 2020, as churches began to reopen after months of pandemic closure, Eastern Mennonite University social work instructor Debbi DiGennaro, heard a statement that made her curious. \u201cA Mennonite ... read more about Social work instructor’s research suggests millennials are creating new spiritual paths<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,5589,17562,8845,5642,356,5597,265,6287],"tags":[],"feature":[17427,17241],"class_list":["post-51346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-bible-and-religion","category-digest","category-emu-at-lancaster","category-faculty-and-staff","category-language-and-literature","category-liberal-arts","category-seminary","category-social-work","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nSocial work instructor's research suggests millennials are creating new spiritual paths - 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