13.1 Dissertation Notices

Anderson, G. (2017). Leadership traits of long-tenured youth ministers in Churches of Christ. Ed.D., Pepperdine University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. 10607328.

Although typically not responsible for leadership decision-making that impacts the spiritual growth of the entire organization, youth ministers play a vital leadership role in congregational health as leaders of smaller communities within greater communities of faith. This leadership role is threatened by numerous challenges facing youth ministers today. Specific to this study, the vital role of youth ministry in Churches of Christ is threatened by high turnover rates of those within the profession. The purpose of this study was to determine leadership practices and strategies that are employed by long-tenured youth ministers in Churches of Christ, identify the challenges those ministers have faced in implementing leadership practices, discover how they measure successful youth ministry leadership strategies and practices, and ascertain their recommendations for implementing leadership strategies and practices.

Key study findings identified 70 themes that answered four research questions. Specifically, self-awareness was the top trait study participants used to describe themselves as leaders. Additionally, participants identified creating an others-focused environment as the top strategy as a contributor to a long tenure at the same church. The findings of this study have substantive implications for men and women considering youth ministry as a career or calling and for institutions of learning that train those preparing for the youth ministry profession.

Garza, O. (2018). The relationship between leadership style and conflict management style of Christian pastors. Ed.D., Grand Canyon University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. 10793453.

The focus of this quantitative, correlational study was to determine if, and to what extent, a relationship exists between leadership style and conflict management style of Christian pastors. The sample consisted of 84 participants from denominational and non-denominational churches affiliated with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, El Paso Youth Ministry Network, and Youth for Christ organizations in El Paso, Texas. The data for the study were gathered through the Leadership Grid Questionnaire and the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument to identify leadership style and conflict management style. Four research questions guided the study, and the data were analyzed through Pearson’s correlation for questions one and three and simple linear regression for questions two and four.

The results of the study indicated that there is no relationship between the independent variable of peopleoriented leadership style and the dependent variables of competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating conflict management styles. The study also showed that no relationship exists between the independent variable of production-oriented leadership style and any of the five conflict management styles. Simple linear regression analysis indicated that the independent variables (leadership style) did not predict the dependent variables (conflict management styles) in the study.

Jessie, K. A. S. (2017). Contextual model for local congregational leadership development in the Bridge Network of Churches in Virginia. D.Min., Regent University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. 10745768.

Churches in the Bridge Network of Churches (BNoC) are using church members to lead ministries. These individuals have passion, skills, and potential for leadership, but lack a leadership training process in their local church setting. Most pastors do not have the additional time to create a leadership training process to develop the full potential of these ministry leaders. Therefore, the BNoC developed a plan to train ministry leaders in basic leadership skills.

A collaborative, four-phase leadership development process was created. In the first phase, the pastor assesses his leadership team’s needs with a BNoC staff member. In the second phase, ministry leaders participate in a one-day self-discovery retreat led by BNoC staff. The third phase contains two parts: six monthly classroom experiences and six monthly coaching sessions. The fourth phase is spiritual growth through daily prayer and Bible readings, journaling three times a week, and planning and delivering a leadership devotional.

Each individual training experience had most of the ministry leaders without competence in an area gaining knowledge and skills important for effective ministry. With these results, the author believes the project provided the knowledge and skills necessary for the participants to become effective in ministry leadership.

Posey, S. (2017). Principles for Christian leaders training in the Mongolian context. D.Min., Trinity International University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. 13424370.

This project was designed to discover key leadership principles to serve as the basis for leadership training curriculum for emerging Christian leaders in the Mongolian cultural setting. Furthermore, it sought to discover effective pedagogical principals and methods to be employed in teaching the material to the anticipated participants, adult Mongolian learners.

The methodological research was based on a qualitative methods strategy. Eleven information-rich Mongolian Christian leaders were interviewed.

Two Mongolian university professors, representatives of the sociological and anthropological sciences, and two expatriate missionaries resident in the country for over ten years and involved in developing leaders were also interviewed using the instrument.

Research also included a study of contemporary scholarly leadership literature, both secular and Christian. A biblical study of representative, Godly leaders in search of the leadership principles that characterize their lives and ministry was undertaken in conjunction with qualitative and literary research.

The key conclusion of the project research was that in spite of a cultural preponderance of dictatorial leadership, ethnographic respondents, literature, and biblical study  indicated that a leadership curriculum for Mongolian Christian leaders should focus on the dynamics of servant leadership, as espoused in the Bible, and its practical application in Mongolian society. Pedagogically an adult learner strategy needs to be used in teaching the training curriculum comprised of leadership principles.

Satyaputra, A. G. (2017). The relationship between the transformational leadership style of Indonesian Evangelical pastors and their followers’ commitment to change in church ministry in Indonesia. Ph.D., Biola University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. 10748401.

This quantitative study used the theory of Transformational Leadership (Bass & Avolio, 1995), the theory of Commitment to Change (Herscovitch & Meyer, 2002), and the theological-biblical concept of transformational leadership and commitment to study the relationship between Indonesian Evangelical pastors’ transformational leadership and their followers’ commitment to change.

The purposive sample was Indonesian Evangelical pastors who were members of the Communion of Chinese Churches (COCCI) and served in top-level church leadership.

The result of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire showed that Indonesian Evangelical pastors expressed higher transformational scores in all sub-scales than other leadership styles. The result from the Commitment to Change Scale showed that the pastors’ followers expressed higher normative commitment to change scores than other types of commitment to change. In general, followers had a relatively strong commitment to change.

In conclusion, this exploratory study showed some significant relationships between pastors’ leadership styles and followers’ commitment to change. Further examination may lead to a better understanding of Indonesian Evangelical pastors’ transformational leadership and their followers’ commitment to change.

Williams, D. R., (2019). Phenomenological study of encouragement as a protective factor for new Christian pastors. Ed.D., Grand Canyon University, ProQuest   Dissertations Publishing. 13903419.

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of encouragement as a protective factor for newly appointed Christian pastors in the United States during the first year of their pastoral appointment, using indepth interviews. The overarching research question that guided this study asked, “What are the lived experiences of encouragement as a protective factor for newly appointed Christian pastors during their first year of pastoral appointment?”

Eight themes emerged. Those themes found that new Christian pastors acknowledge their calling from God as a major source of encouragement, need encouragement to ameliorate emotional vulnerability, need encouragement to persevere when confronting problems, credit encouragement for instilling confidence to pursue potential, describe components of successful encouragement messages, rely on their encouragement networks, deem self-encouragement vital for thriving in their new roles, and value encouragement when combined with organizational support. The findings in this research affirmed that for new Christian pastors, the foci, effectiveness, and atmosphere of encouragement could be described by three encouraging elements: who encourages, what is said in the encouragement messages, and when the encouragement encounters occur.