D.Litt. et Phil. / The whole world, including Africa and South-Africa, is moving in transitional phases between premodern, modern and post modernistic tendencies. In Southern-Africa we see the coexistence of at least these three worldviews. On the one hand we witness signs of Pre-modernism, as well as an increase in Modernistic tendencies. On the other hand we experience a strong growth and emphasis on the so called Postmodernism (Compare Gibbs 2001:30, Hendriks 2004:16; Niemandt 2007:25-28). Post modernism, also called Post colonialism in the African context, is basically an attempt to make sense of what is happening in the current period (Powell 1998:17). It endeavours to reconceptualize the way the world is experienced and explained (Boje 1996:2). Post modernism can also be summarized as an increasing awareness that the last say has not been said on anything. That there will always be yet another perspective about life and about God (Niemandt 2007:47-48). The world-wide realities of cultural shifts coupled with the transitions between the traditional-, modern- and post modern worldviews, have implications for leadership in general. In various institutions, including commercial, educational, medical and religious circles, leaders are facing growing challenges of ever changing ways of living, thinking and doing. The collective impact of all these changes in thought and culture, information tegnology, the advent of globalization, as well as the plurality of race and religion, has displaced the historical role of the church and its leaders (Gibbs 2001:19). It also contributes to the marginalization of the church as an institution (Regele 1995: 182). One of the consequences of this, is that the nature of leadership in the church also has to change. Congregational leaders experience a disintegration of culture and traditional values in the daily operation of their congregations and many do not know how to adress the resulting changing demands on their leadership (McLaren 2003:141). The point of departure in this study is that in order to develop a better notion of the demands that the current time frame places upon congregational leaders and to support them as leaders, it would be valuable to listen in an explorative way to their practical experiences. From their experience, it should be possible to observe certian phenomena and tendencies and to develop potential strategies to support them in addressing the demands placed upon them as leaders in the local assemblies. Consequently this study followed a qualitative, explorative, descriptive, contextual and phenomenological research design (Compare Brink 1996:11; Maxwell 1996:59). The research was done by conducting seven semi structured focus groups in which fifty congregational leaders participated. The research took place in two phases: In phase one congregational leaders’ experience of the demands of the current time frame were explored and described. Phase two was conducted in two steps: In step one a conceptual framework was derived from the results of phase one. In step two, strategies based on this conceptual framework were described. The researcher made use of Tesch’s method of data analyses (Creswell 1994:155-156). Word for word transcriptions of the focus group interviews were used for the data analyses, which was verified by an independent coder. As this is a phenomenological investigation, it was not directed by literature. A literature study to confirm the results of the research and the experience of congregational leaders about the demands of current times, was done later in the study. The data analyses exposed a main theme and six sub-themes relating to the experience of congregational leaders about the demands of current times on them as leaders. Their main experience was that fast changes over a broad spectrum of society, places great pressure on the internal and external capacities of congregational leaders. Many of these leaders experience ever increasing emotional exhaustion and distress, because of present-day demands. This leads to them experiencing dejection, loneliness and guilt.

In the last decades interest in the field of leadership grew immensely. John Maxwell gives 350 working definitions for the word “leadership” (Van Eck 2005:13). The term “leadership” has become an integrated word in both the secular and church world. It is in the latter that we are looking further into the aspects of leadership with specific focus on leadership style influence. Leadership style is the behaviour patterns that are influenced by our thinking, emotions and actions. It seems that in church leadership we are not only confronted with a range of different personalities but also with different skills and styles and as Malphurs (2003:93) wrote, “Every leader has a style of influence that has impact on people, so it’s important that leaders correctly perceive how they influence their followers”. The problem seems that leaders do not have adequate knowledge about their own and other leader’s styles to either understand style-dynamics or measure style efficiency. The purpose of this research is to investigate and describe how co-leaders, personnel and elders of the Mosaïek Church experience the different styles of the different senior leaders. Semi-structured, phenomenological interviews were held with Mosaïek co-leaders, personnel and elders. The introduction question for the interviews was: How do you experience the different styles of the different senior leaders at Mosaïek Church? The research has revealed various themes and sub-themes and is as follows: The senior leadership of Mosaïek Church functions as a team: • The senior leadership are seen as a dynamic team, that is balanced and supportive toward each other: General leadership styles are identified, but also experienced and described as contrasting (adversative) Task-orientated leaders (driven and directive) vs. people-orientated leaders (serving, accommodating and gentle) Autocratic leaders (top-down, control) vs. democratic leaders (accommodating, pastoral and “caring”) Involved and visible leaders vs. un-involved and distant leaders. The effect of different leadership styles on an co-leaders, personnel and elders of Mosaïek Church: • Feelings of personal failure, an unsafe environment, distrust and frustration are experienced within the leadership climate: Lack of mentoring and guidance Lack of clear vision, goals and policies Ineffective communication Autocratic “uncaring” leadership style Leadership inconsistencies Lack of taking responsibility. • Feelings of empowerment, safety, motivation, acceptance and inspiration are created within the context of leadership: Lead with vision Demonstrates self-trust Supportive leadership Accommodating and friendly Passionate and inspired. The ideal leader (leadership team) creates a context of safety and ease through a combination of leadership traits • An effective leader (leadership team) provides structure where co-leaders can function in a safe environment • An effective leader (leadership team) creates the necessary atmosphere where co-leaders can function at ease • An effective leader (leadership team) demonstrates adequate people skills in mentoring, guidance (is supportive, compassionate and serving) • An effective leader (leadership team) is involved with its leaders Based on the above, guidelines are offered for more effective individual leadership style and team leadership styles that can enhance the quality outcome of team work within the church setup. / Dr. L.P. Mare Prof. H. Viviers

No description available.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2008. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 352-371).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2008. / Abstract and vita. Date on title page, April 17, 2008. Date on copyright page, 2007. Description based on Microfiche version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 352-371).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Acadia University, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Acadia University, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 315-340).

No description available.

This research was a descriptive mixed method study of pastoral leadership effectiveness of Southern Baptist pastors in the first ten years after graduating with the Master of Divinity degree from accredited seminaries. The research was limited to lead pastors of Southern Baptist churches and sought to identify any relationship in pastoral leadership effectiveness during the first ten years after seminary training between pastors with pastoral experience prior to or concurrent with seminary training and pastors with no prior or concurrent pastoral leadership experience during seminary training. Only Southern Baptist pastors graduating with a Master of Divinity from Association of Theological Schools accrediting seminaries with less than ten years post graduation pastoral experience were included in the sample population. The Lewis Pastoral Leadership Instrument assessment was utilized to ascertain pastoral leadership effectiveness. The inventory evaluated a pastor’s leadership effectiveness in three key areas: character, competency, and contribution. The inventory was developed by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Seminary, Washington, DC.