Impact of pastoral leadership on local church growth - online project (2023)

Resume:The study examined the effect of pastoral leadership on local church growth. The researcher intended to provide pastors with information on leadership practices that would help them grow in their churches. Using two instruments, Personal Pastoral Interviews (PIP) and the Leadership Practice Questionnaire (LPQ), the researcher gathered information that revealed the state of leadership practices in local churches. The data analysis yielded several findings that benefit the local church experiencing a leadership shortage. The findings suggest that, among various pastoral leadership practices, serving and loving, visiting, and receiving hospitality are related to church growth in growing local churches. The results also indicated that there is an essential link between effective pastoral leadership practices and church growth.

Churches whose ministers engaged in more effective practices related to church growth, such as serving and loving, visiting and receiving visitors, and hospitality, saw their churches grow, while ministers who did not engage in these practices experienced decline. Another finding indicated that ministers who truly served their members and communities with genuine love grew their churches, while those who did not serve their members and communities with genuine love had churches that declined. These findings contribute to a better understanding of current realities and inform practices for stronger pastoral leadership practices in more churches in the future.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1Background of the study

Leadership is a very important aspect of any organization. They are the motivators, inspirers, influencers, decision makers, implementers, organizers, directors and, in fact, a motor or cornerstone on which groups, organizations or associations stand. Ward (2020) describes it as “the art of motivating a group of people to act towards a common goal. In a business environment, that means leading workers and peers with a strategy to meet the needs of the business.” For any organization, association or institution to function effectively, leaders are needed to direct or guide them towards achieving the desired goals or objectives. Leaders often adopt whatever leadership style suits or is built into them to achieve their goals easily or without any problems.

Some of these leadership styles listed by Wikipedia (2021) and Martinuzi (2021) are autocratic style, authoritarian style, transformational, charismatic, flashy style, democratic style, coaching style, affiliative style, and laissez style. For Tamunomiebi, Omosioni & Odunayo (2018), "a leader is characterized by the leadership style he adopts. This means that every leader has a leadership style and this implies the efficiency of a leader in carrying out her duties as a leader. There are different types of leadership styles adopted by different types of leaders and there is no one leadership style that is better than another; each one is used depending on the situation.”

The leadership of any organization goes by whatever name or title suits them. Some see them as leaders, administrators, directors, and others. In Christianity, some denominations see them as pastors, evangelists, leaders, reverends, among others. However, pastoral leadership seemed to be the more generally accepted term in the discussion of church leadership.

Pastoral leaders are seen as spiritual leadership and the foundation behind the rapid growth of churches (Kim, 2019). Kim emphasizes that "in addition to providing spiritual leadership, pastors also play managerial leadership roles in the development of their churches, a role they themselves often do not recognize within their respective spiritual organizations."

In support of this, Shin (2004) notes that pastoral leadership “was given to us on the foundation of Our Lord. As Christians, we begin to realize that pastoral leadership is good in the eyes of our Lord, and because it is based on the Bible, it is better than security.UEair handling.” This implies that pastoral leaders are divinely ordained or chosen to lead the church. Other roles of these pastoral leaders, as captured by Feela (2021), are “not just to be a disciple; is to call parishioners to the discipleship of the gospelUEship. The fraternity of disciples is at the heart of parish life, but the evangelical notion of fraternity is radically different from other types of associations. Discipleship of Christ comes as a result of being gathered together by God.

The role of pastoral leadership is to help the community discover its true community.Udsunion in Christ.” In view of this, Oloyede (2020) says that pastoral leaders must be principled if they want to be successful in conducting church affairs. According to him, these principles are the principle of service (Luke 22:24-27), the principle of sacrifice, the principle of suffering (Philippians 2:9), and the principle of submission (Mark 14:36). Perhaps this led Coutts (2008) to advocatevicreate pastoral leaders to emulate the following biblical heroes; Moses, David, Paul and Jesus. He explains that “Moses was wise to listen to Jethro's advice to delegate tasks to the trustworthy and empower his assistants (Exodus 18:24). David was courageous in the face of overwhelming obstacles (1 Sam. 17) and inspired others to follow him (2 Sam. 23).

Paul directed all his ambition and ability toward the mission (Acts 20:34, 35) and was familiar with all cultures (Acts 17; 18). Jesus carefully trained a team of successors (Matthew 10; Luke 10), was apparently very friendly at parties (Matthew 11:19), and could draw a crowd (Luke 9:10–12). The Christian Reformed Church notes that what drives good leadership in the church includes "Charaleader authority (which builds trust among followers), leader conviction (which helps the congregation discern its purpose and vision), and leader competencies (which help the congregation function as a healthy system, that is, deal with with normal anxieties and conflicts of healthy and moral life). productive community life). Others are the confluence of leader, congregation, time, place, ministry opportunity, and resources (gifts of God's Spirit that enable a leader and congregation to work together joyfully in accomplishing God's purposes).

1.2Problem Statement

The Great Commission mandates that the Church experience qualitative and quantitative growth. Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20). ) . Christ expected his disciples to lead the church to experience dynamic growth. Unfortunately, despite the fact that churches apply the best techniques and organize many church programs with their flocks, they do not experience dynamic growth.

Ministries fail, not often because we fail to understand or even apply the best techniques and programmatic advances with the flock. We often fail because we have foYou may or may not be aware that the key to any ministry is the quality of the leading pastor. The lack of effective leadership practice in today's churches has caused all sorts of problems that have impeded healthy church growth. This study looks in that direction at the effects of practicing pastoral leadership on church growth in churches in the study area.

Effect of pastoral leadership on local church growth

1.3Purpose of the study

The primary objective of this study was to examine the effect of pastoral leadership on local church growth. Specifically, the study aimed to investigate:

1. Common leadership practices in local churches in the study area.
2. Leadership practices in churches that relate to the growth of the local church.
3. Leadership practices that pastors identify as having a positive impact on the growth of the local church.

1.4meaning of the study

The findings of this study will bring immense benefits to countless churches, pastors, and society. Effective leadership can be positive for the growth and effectiveness of any organization. The Church is no different and relies on its leaders to provide strategy, vision, and direction.din the daily operation of their ministries. One of the important dimensions of being an effective pastor is leading the church to make disciples. The Lord has chosen the church as a means to spread the message of salvation to the whole world. To fulfill this mission, the pastor must be committed to nurturing, organizing, and leading a well-trained group of God's people to do his will. Without strong pastoral leadership in local churches, ministries and people will suffer.

The findings of this research could be a basis for the development of strong church leaders for effective church growth. The researcher also believes that this study helps pastors learn about best leadership practices that enhance church growth in local churches. He highlights leadership pitfalls that don't promote church growth and how to avoid them.

1.5 Research questions

In an attempt to answer the research problem, this doctoral thesis addressed the following questions:

1. What are common pastoral leadership practices in local churches?
2. What pastoral leadership practices in churches relate to local church growth?
3. What pastoral leadership practices are identified as having a positive impact on local church growth?

1.6 Delimitation of the Study

This study focused on the effect of pastoral leadership on local church growth. It is delimited in its scope to all the pastors of the study area who must have served the church for at least 2 years in the Vineyard of God.

1.7 Research methodology

Research methodology is a systematic plan for conducting research. Therefore, this part of the study discusses the systematic processes used to collect information and data for the study. The methodology discussed includes the following: type of research design, participants, instrumentation, data collection, data analysis, and generalization.