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by Simon Si-hung Li. / Thesis (M.Div.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1984 / Bibliography: leaves [148]-[158]

This dissertation examines the social ecological factors in shaping the attitudes and responses of ministers' children (PKs) toward full-time Christian ministry. Data emerging from the descriptive qualitative research methodology of this study broaden Christian leaders' understanding of PKs, and inform clergy parents who seek to raise PKs with a positive attitude and response toward full-time Christian ministry. The research consisted of thirty-four semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. Each provided rich descriptive data for analysis. The targeted population for this study was ministers' children who are adults in full-time Christian ministry or those preparing for full-time Christian ministry in North America. In this study, the sample included adult PKs who are students, staff, and faculty at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The findings have shown that the minister's family and its interactions with the church play an important role in shaping the attitudes and responses of the ministers' children toward full-time Christian ministry. The predominant positive factors identified were the following: parents/family, youth ministers/other mentors, Christian college experience, sheltered from church conflicts, ministerial exposure and involvement, positive church experience, and missions experience. The number one positive factor is from the family microsystem, especially the parents. The father's role in setting a proper boundary between family and church, such as shielding the church conflicts from the PKs, is important. The predominant negative factors identified were the following: negative church experience, church conflicts, expectations from church members, forced termination, financial stress, and lack of spiritual nourishment at home. A predominant theme mentioned across the cases, although not strictly social ecological, was the calling for full-time Christian ministry and the transforming power of God. Many PKs expressed that these had overridden the negative factors they had experienced. Further research is encouraged to examine the specific ways in which each pattern/theme influences the attitudes and responses of ministers' children toward full-time Christian ministry. It is the present researcher's goal that the findings will inform the clergy parents as well as the church in their effort of raising the next generation of men and women who would support the Christian ministry. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

Background . Sense of humor has been shown to affect the personal dynamics of leadership in many ways: it opens channels of communication, improves social relations, enhances performance, and provides a coping mechanism for stress. In leadership research, humor has been linked with improving morale, enhancing group cohesiveness, increasing creativity and motivation, and stimulating higher levels of productivity. Though humor contains the potential to greatly enhance personal and leadership dynamics in the realm of pastoral leadership, very little research has been conducted with this goal in mind. Method . This study examined the relationship between the pastor's predominant sense of humor style using the Humor Styles Questionnaire, predominant configuration of Leader-Follower Distance, and the pastor's tenure characteristics. The instrument was offered to 2,500 Southern Baptist pastors and was completed on-line by 530 pastoral leaders. Over half of the survey participants also responded affirmatively as being willing to participate in an extensive follow-up telephone interview. These qualitative interviews were conducted with a representative subsample of 13 of these pastors. Sense of humor was studied from the perspective of its ability to equip the leader to cope effectively with the stressful realities of pastoral ministry, its ability to gain a balanced perspective on reality, and its capacity to create and manage effective leader-follower relationships. Results . The adaptive humor styles (affiliative humor and self-enhancing humor) were predominant among pastors as was the proximal Leader-Follower Distance configuration. The self-enhancing humor style was shown to be significantly related to career ministry tenure (at p=.05) and also to Leader Follower Distance configuration (also at p=.05). Likewise, Leader Follower Distance configuration was shown to be significantly correlated to career ministry tenure (at p=.001). Additional significant relationships were also found between HSQ styles and certain church demographics. These data were further explored in the qualitative telephone interviews. Conclusion . The study is intended to aid pastors in dealing with the unique stressors of pastoral leadership, to help churches assess their own expectations of pastoral leadership, and to understand better how certain humor styles and LFD configurations will match with those expectations. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

This dissertation is a comparative analysis of the leadership perceptions of older and younger pastors. The research concern is introduced in chapter one with a question raised by critics of the evangelical church within the Emerging Church movement concerning the substitution of a CEO model of pastoral ministry. This question caused the researcher to examine a literature base to establish the credibility of the criticism. Pertinent literature was examined regarding the use of metaphor to describe leadership, biblical and exegetical foundations for leadership, secular leadership and managerial studies, and philosophical and socio-cultural issues that impact current church leaders. The research involved the use of a questionnaire on issues related to polity, power, control, authority, and leadership assumptions. Once the questionnaires were received, appropriate statistical measures were used, including the Chi Square Test for Independence and Chi Square Goodness of Fit, correlational analysis, and t-tests. Analysis of the data revealed significant relationships between the concepts of metaphor, polity, and age. The most significant findings were related to the interrelationship of generation, ideal polity and metaphor. Research on polity indicated a revival of interest in the plural elder polity model. Regarding the concept of metaphor, a significant relationship was discovered between the concept of elder polity and the arts metaphor. Both of these results were significant trans-generationally. These findings were reported in detail and displayed according to each of the pertinent research questions. Keywords: Emerging church, metaphor, polity, philosophy of leadership, philosophy of ministry, older pastor, younger pastor, ministry, power, control, authority. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

The purpose of this research was to examine the nature of the relationship among the four major emotional intelligence realms--that is, Identify, Use, Understand, and Manage--of pastoral team leaders to the level of effectiveness of the team he leads. This relationship was evaluated by the lead pastors themselves and the members of their pastoral leadership teams. Three instruments were used in the research process: (1) the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale--a self-report instrument completed by the lead pastors, (2) the short version of the Team Effectiveness Questionnaire--completed by all participants, and (3) the Leader Emotional Intelligence Strength Rater--a qualitative instrument created by this researcher to be completed by team members to help assess the emotional intelligence of their pastoral team leader and how it influenced the effectiveness of their teams. From this research, four primary discoveries about the nature and strength of these relationships were discerned, one for each emotional intelligence (EI) realm. In the Identify EI realm, it was discovered that a pastoral leader's Identify EI skill of being able to "recognize his own feeling" related strongly to the team effectiveness realm of Principled Leadership. In the Use EI realm, the research revealed that the ability to "inspire others" demonstrated the strongest relationship of the pastoral team leaders' Use EI skills to their teams' effectiveness. Specifically, this skill related to the team effectiveness realm of creating team Collaboration. In the EI Understand realm, the skill of "makes correct assumptions about people" correlated strongly to the team effectiveness realm of Principled Leadership. And in the emotional competency Manage realm, the EI skill of "connects with other people" demonstrated the strongest relationship to the team effectiveness. This Manage EI skill correlated strongly to the team effectiveness area of creating team Collaboration. In sum, this research has demonstrated that within the pastoral team leaders and the teams that were the subjects of this research, specific EI abilities of the pastoral team leader relate to and influence particular realms team effectiveness. Moreover, these relationships can be evaluated by their strength of correlation and influence. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

A LEADERSHIP PROFILE OF THE SUCCESSFUL TRANSITIONAL PASTOR: A DELPHI STUDY Michael Austin Kramer, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2018 Chair: Dr. Michael S. Wilder Over the last fifteen years denominational decline coinciding with megachurches led by iconic pastoral personalities has changed the playing field of pastoral transition. The current pastoral succession conversation has addressed the pastor’s responsibility in succession and provided snapshots of functional transitional plans. The question that now needs addressed is, “What does it take to be a transitional leader?” or “What is the leadership profile of a successful transitional pastor?” While the current literature contains hints at what the traits of a successful transitioning leader should be, these characteristics have yet to be statistically identified. Once systematically studied these traits would allow an individual to measure and improve areas of perceived growth. The purpose of this qualitative analysis of the characteristics of successfully transitioning pastors is to statistically identify the traits of a successful transitional pastor to prepare pastors to become transitional leaders. To accomplish this a qualitative study was prepared. Chapter 1 provides the need for the study—pointing to a void in the literature surrounding pastoral transition, specifically the identification of characteristics of successfully transitioning pastors. Chapter 2 reviews the current literature and distills 27 characteristics identified in pastoral, secular, and academic writings. Chapter 3 outlines the research design, which utilizes a Delphi study engaging an expert panel. Chapter 4 provides analysis of the Delphi panel results including a successful transitional pastoral profile and a transitional pastor competency model. Chapter 5 offers research applications noting the statistical prominence given to followership and confusion surrounding disciple-making, the statistical importance of the characteristics of willingness to let go of authority, concern for the church, and emotional maturity, as well as statistical implications for the use of a successful transitional profile and competency model for self-assessment, church leadership, and academic training.

Purpose. This study was designed to explore possible relationships between the levels of job satisfaction, the stages of adult development, especially as defined by Levinson, and the type and extent of formal educational preparation for pastoral ministry. The primary assumption was that higher levels of education enable the pastor to move through the progressive stages of adult development with a higher level of career satisfaction. Procedure.The data were obtained through a survey of the pastors of the western judicatories of the seven denominations which are in trustee relationship with Western Evangelical Seminary. A three-part questionnaire was developed, including the Ministerial Job Satisfaction Scale developed by J. Conrad Glass (1976), and the Assessment of Developmental Issues developed by J. Ta1ifero Brown (1985). Questionnaires were mailed, and 279 were analyzed. Summary of Findings and Conclusions. Analysis of Part I of the questionnaire provided a profile of this clergy sample, including data on age, sex, educational levels, involvement in continuing education, pastoral experience before and after completion of formal education, growth patterns of church and community, ordination status, worship attendances, pastoral position, career changes, desired retirement age, and career satisfaction. Data from Parts II and III were combined with the Part I profile to answer six research questions. The following findings and conclusions were identified: (a) the Master of Divinity was the degree of preference and resulted in higher levels of satisfaction than the M.A. from a seminary; (b) adult development is related to chronological age but not education; (c) chronological age, divided into Levinson's stages worked equally well as the ADIS scale in identifying the adult life cycle stage. Three concerns were expressed: (a) there is a need for adequate staffing, especially in smaller churches, both volunteer and professional; (b) good work was recognized by denominational supervisors, but it was not accompanied by adequate assurance of career advancement; (c) nearly one-fourth of the clergy felt their wives would rather not be married to a minister.

This dissertation investigates the influence of western missionaries upon African Christians in general and more specifically, Baptists in Kenya. Of particular concern to this study is western influence on the concept and practice of Christian ministry in Kenya Baptist churches. It is asserted that western missionary influence has been negative upon Kenya Baptist churches in the concept of Christian ministry. Missionaries introduced a distinction between clergy and laity, emphasizing a ministry model of paid clergymen who dominate and drive their respective congregations. This contradicts clear New Testament teaching that every believer is a minister and is spiritually gifted to do Christian ministry in the context of the local church. Pastors are needed to equip and free church members to minister. Thus, it is concluded that Baptists in Kenya need to change from following missionary introduced patterns of Christian ministry to that which is spiritual gifts-based and lay dependent. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Practical Theology)

This dissertation provides a historical and theological examination of Baptist views of the gospel ministry from English Separatists of the late sixteenth century to the Southern Baptist Convention of the mid-1920s. Chapter 1 provides the thesis of the dissertation, background material to its being written, and the methodology by which its conclusions are reached. Chapters 2 through 4 provide overviews for the ministry among English Separatists, British Baptists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and American Baptists of the mid-seventeenth through the mid-nineteenth centuries, respectively. Each chapter focuses upon primary writings revealing each group's understanding of such issues as the office of the minister, the divine call to the ministry, ordination, preparation, the call by a congregation to a local church, and mutual responsibilities of ministers and church members. Chapters 5 through 7 examine the ministry among Southern Baptists from about 1865 to 1925. While the fifth chapter follows the same pattern as the previous three, Chapter 6 examines the beginning of a shift in the focus of the work of the minister from 1865 to 1900 with the introduction of organizational efficiency. Chapter 7 demonstrates that this shift became denominationally accepted during the early twentieth century. This work maintains that the heritage of Southern Baptists expressed consistent views concerning the office of the minister into the latter decades of the nineteenth century. The minister's call to the ministry, preparation, ordination, call to a congregation, and mutual responsibilities with church members were derived from clear biblical statements and principles. The end of the nineteenth century, however, witnessed a shift in the Southern Baptist view of the work of the ministry regarding the ability to produce quantifiable outcomes-a shift which became firmly established during the first two and a half decades of the twentieth century. This shift fueled a Baptist concern for organizational efficiency, a concern which viewed successful churches as those which were optimally organized to produce quantifiable results. Because pastors were seen as the key to organizational efficiency, they were judged according to the success of their churches' achieving those results. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.