<p> With the many challenges that Chinese American churches are facing, together with the ever-changing needs of their members, Chinese American churches need to look for ways to nurture their members and to develop them into mature leaders. This thesis project is designed to explore the leadership development strategies of selected Chinese churches in North America that have demonstrated certain effectiveness and success in developing leaders, in hopes of discovering some common effective leadership development strategies. This author has interviewed eleven large Chinese American churches, with Sunday attendance ranging from 500 to 2600, regarding the strategies they use and the challenges they face in developing leaders. Using qualitative analysis, this author has discovered some common principles that have been used by these churches to develop leaders and has formulated some practical pointers that may be applicable to other Chinese American churches and beyond. </p><p> The findings reveal that faith and character development precedes skill training. Likewise, Christ-like character, spiritual maturity, and a willingness to serve are more important than a person's natural abilities and talents. In addition, the pastoral staff should be highly involved in designing and executing the leadership development programs. Moreover, the church should create a learning atmosphere by publicizing and offering life-relevant and need-based trainings through classrooms, small groups, or other venues. Outside resources such as guest speakers, seminars and conferences should also be utilized. Furthermore, opportunities should be provided for lay people to participate in service with the help of on-the-job training and ongoing support.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3557238 |
| Date | 27 April 2013 |
| Creators | Lau, Walter C. |
| Publisher | Biola University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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