Adventist Youth and the Church: An Overview of Research Related to Roger Dudley’s Seminal Contributions

Abstract Beginning with his doctoral dissertation in 1977, Roger Dudley initiated a research agenda for the Seventh-day Adventist Church that explored the connection between church practices and youth spiritual outcomes. An analysis of this entire body of research on Adventist youth over the four decades ending in 2020 gives rise to the following generalizations: (1) overall church engagement is related to quality of relationships; (2) doctrinal loyalty is a function of the quality of experiences; (3) lifestyle choices reflect ambiguity of youth toward church standards; (4) Adventist education's effects are positively related to church engagement although the causitive connection is yet unknown; and (5) the effectiveness of church programming seems related to the extent of youth involvement. A new research agenda is needed in the wake of the Roger Dudley era of research into youth/church engagement that attempts to identify church practices which result in positive youth outcomes and the causative reasons for them.