Christian Leadership Research Articles

Value-driven training of leaders in the service of Hungarian denominational (Reformed) public education

AbstractOur paper focuses on a specific subsystem of the Hungarian public education system, the Reformed educational network. After a theoretical foundation, the study will review the characteristics and legislative environment of Reformed public education management and leadership training, and then examine the concept, reception, results and further development potentials of the accredited training in Value-Driven Leadership, a relatively new element of the range of trainings. The training was developed in collaboration between Dutch and Hungarian specialists, taking into account the international context of Christian education. Our study uses a variety of research methods, such as document analysis, statistical analysis and analysis of a questionnaire survey on further needs. Some basic conclusions can be drawn from the survey as: (1) The target group is highly interested in modern knowledge about Christian leadership, which is considered a priority area, which also coincides with the needs of the maintenance. (2) The management powers of headmasters of ecclesiastical institutions are much broader than those of headmasters of public institutions, but their knowledge and interest in these areas are insufficient. (3) More than ever before, the organisation of training should aim at modularity and a variety of organisational methods. The tools of combined training organisation, which have already proved their worth in higher education, should also be applied to 30-h continuing training, possibly with the addition of distance learning elements.

TRANSFIGURED LEADERSHIP: KEPEMIMPINAN ALKITABIAH SEBAGAI FONDASI MITIGASI RISIKO DIGITAL

In an increasingly digital era, Christian leaders face new challenges in managing digital risks. To face these challenges, Christian leadership needs to be based on the spiritual values ​​contained in the event of Christ's transfiguration. This article explores the meaning of Christ's transfiguration and its implications for contemporary Christian leadership. The concept of "Transfigured Leadership" can be a valuable approach for Christian leaders to face these challenges from the perspective of Christian spirituality. The method used is a descriptive qualitative analysis of the Bible and literature with related themes. The research results show that the transfiguration of Christ reveals the character of Christ as a sanctified Messiah, a leader whose life is pleasing to the Father, and a role model for His followers. Christian leadership values ​​that originate from the transfiguration of Christ require leaders who live in holiness, have a close relationship with God, humility, willingness to make sacrifices, obedience to their calling, and continuous self-transformation. By focusing on the example of Christ's leadership, Christian leaders are expected to implement leadership that is oriented toward spiritual transformation.

The Heart of Christian Leadership: Embracing Radical Hospitality as Christ's Love in Action

The Heart of Christian Leadership: Embracing Radical Hospitality as Christ's Love in Action

Relevansi Pemikiran John C. Maxwell Untuk Kepemimpinan Kristen Yang Efektif Masa Kini

Leadership helps organizations, institutions, or institutions to achieve their goals optimally and effectively. Without the leadership function being implemented or applied consistently, an organization will not run as expected, including Christian leadership (churches or Christian service institutions). This research seeks to emphasize the importance of implementing leadership in Christian organizations and therefore this research aims to describe John C. Maxwell's thoughts on leadership for effective Christian leadership. The research method used is descriptive, namely describing thoughts that contribute to answering existing research problems. It was found that Maxwell's leadership model, especially the characteristics of effective leadership, has contributed to effective Christian leadership today.

The perceived influence of Christian leadership competencies during COVID-19

Purpose: Surviving the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic required much of leaders. It highlighted the complexities of faith in the workplace. Christian business leaders drew on their faith to influence employees’ work intentions and behaviours through specific leadership competencies. This study aimed to gain insights into the leadership competencies of Christian leaders during COVID-19 and its perceived influence on colleagues’ values and workplace behaviour through the leaders’ integration of faith and work.Design/methodology/approach: The study used a qualitative, grounded theory approach with semi-structured interviews to collect data. Participants (N = 14) were full-time Christian leaders selected through purposeful, convenient, and snowball sampling.Findings/results: The findings indicated that Christian business leaders exhibited distinctive leadership competencies attributed to their faith. These competencies allowed them to express their beliefs to co-workers in ways that surpassed verbal communication.Practical implications: Organisations should consider implementing leadership development programmes focusing on integrating faith and values into leadership practices. Providing Christian leaders with tools and resources to align their leadership approach with their spiritual beliefs can enhance their ability to create a positive and ethical workplace culture.Contribution/value-add: Although no study has directly explored religion’s role in dealing with pandemics, understanding the impact of beliefs such as Christian religiosity on work can complement management and organisational practices. The findings contribute to leadership studies by laying the groundwork for future investigation into the role of faith integration in leadership behaviours and outcomes.

Shalom-Based Christian Leadership Development

This article discusses the concept of shalom-based Christian leadership, a holistic paradigm that integrates spiritual, social, and economic aspects to build sustainable and positively impactful leadership. In a complex and dynamic world, shalom-based leadership offers a unique approach to creating harmony, peace, and well-being for communities. This article outlines the definition of Christian leadership, the meaning of shalom, and how shalom-based Christian leadership can be developed through the servant, shepherd, and stewardship leadership model. This approach emphasizes the importance of the leader's character, a deep understanding of the harmonious relationship between individuals and groups, and prioritizes the common interest over personal or group interests. The writing method used is qualitative descriptive. The data collection technique used is literature research, which involves searching for and determining books, journals, or other literature relevant to the discussion topic. This approach allows the author to comprehensively understand and explain shalom-based leadership development, producing writing that benefits both the reader and the author.

Enabling abilities in disabilities: Developing differently abled Christian leadership in Africa

It is heartening to realise that Christianity is inclusively membered by differently abled people. Paradoxically, although the Church has cared for, and engaged with persons living with disabilities (PWDs) throughout history, African Church leadership has been exclusively made up of predominantly identically abled persons. Researchers report that ecclesial, infrastructural, leadership, and ministerial structures do not accommodate PWDs, mainly because of misunderstandings about disabilities, discriminatory traditions, hermeneutics and theologies. Disabilities are often generalised as repercussions of disobedience, sin, curses or defeat by evil spirits and witchcraft. Consequently, PWDs are misjudged as lacking abilities to be effective ecclesial leaders. While calls for inclusivity are loud globally, little research has been done to reconcile disabilities and abilities in ecclesiology and Christian leadership. If the Church merely proclaims but neglects demonstrating inclusivity, the gospel can be mistaken as paying hypocritical lip service in this regard, and rendering the Church exclusive, insensitive and imprisoning when it should be inclusive, sensitive and liberating for everyone, regardless of their impairments and (dis)abilities. Drawing from the inclusivity of Jesus Christ, missionary demands of the Church to minister to, with all creation as well as eschatological reflections, under grounded theory and reviewing related literature, this article unpacks the significance of inclusivity, identifies (dis)abilities and argues that Church authorities should consider, appreciate, accommodate, empower, develop, and enable PWDs to be part of ecclesial leadership for inclusionary transformation in and beyond Church walls.Contribution: This article advances transformational inclusivity in ecclesiology and Christian leadership.

Melayani dengan Hati: Esensi Kepemimpinan Kristen yang Sejati

Leadership is a great responsibility in which you must have integrity, empathy and wisdom. In the scope of Christianity, the definition of leadership does not only include supervising or directing but also about how to serve with sincerity and wholeheartedness. The essence of true Christian leadership is also to show how to serve with a high degree of totality and love in accordance with the character of Jesus Christ. A true leader is also seen from how he shows humility when serving and in his personal life as a social society

Building Christian Leadership According to the Book of Esther Based on Mordecai's Inspirational Mentor Model in Esther

Abstract: The implementation of secular leadership values ​​in church ministry can give rise to various problems that impact its integrity and effectiveness. The tendency to pursue quantitative growth and financial success as primary indicators of success can shift the focus away from essential Christian values. In addition, leadership that is not rooted in Christian principles can cause conflict and division within the church body. This research aims to explore the dynamics of Christian leadership that radiate from the story of Mordecai and Esther. This research uses the library research method by analyzing sources relevant to the topics of mentoring, Christian leadership, and the story of Mordecai and Esther. Data were analyzed qualitatively with a focus on Mordecai's role as a mentor, Esther's leadership, and the implications for contemporary Christian leadership. This research produces a 5P mentoring model, based on Mordecai's mentor role to Esther through five main aspects: adoption, care, protection, enlightenment, and strengthening. This is proven to form Esther's leadership character who is brave, wise, faithful and obedient. It is hoped that the findings of this research will help build a Christian leadership model that is effective and relevant to various organizational and community contexts today. Keywords: Esther, Leadership, Mentor, Mordecai

A Christian Leadership Review on Youth Self-Leadership and Self-Efficacy Relations:

Abstract: Youth have self-leadership in their leadership spirit. They have efficacy regarding their belief in themselves as leaders to work. If leadership indicates a role model, then Timothy and Titus were two role models who represent the position and role of youth from the perspective of the Christian faith. In this regard, the aim of this research was to analyze the relationship between self-leadership and self-efficacy in youth by learning from Timothy and Titus from a Christian leadership perspective. This research used a literature review approach as part of a qualitative method. Researchers found that self-leadership and self-efficacy in young people were related to reflecting the qualities of leaders and their leadership, as in Timothy and Titus. Charismatic leaders are those who exercise their leadership by focusing on God. Leadership means the ability to be selfless but to have an interest in implementing goodness. In principle, the effort to lead essentially contains Christian values, which include an emphasis on God's grace for humans. Keywords: Christian leadership, self-efficacy, self-leadership, youth

Penerapan Kepemimpinan Yesus Kristus dan Transformasi Sosial di Gereja

This paper aims to delve deeper into the concept of the leadership of Jesus Christ and analyze it is implications in the contemporary context, particularly within the church environment. From the research findings, it is found that the leadership of Jesus not only served as a model for His followers in His time but is also relevant and crucial to be applied in the context of Christian leadership today. This study highlights several key aspects of Jesus leadership, including His character, spirituality, and service. Jesus character in leadership inspires exemplary traits of love, devotion, humility, and integrity, forming the foundation for effective and positively impactful leadership. Furthermore, spirituality of Jesus in leading is reflected in His steadfastness in prayer and in His understanding and teaching of Scripture. Jesus service as a leader demonstrates His commitment to selflessly serve with love and prioritize the needs of others over His own. Through a qualitative approach, this research takes the Evangelical Fellowship Church of Eliezer in a specific region as a case study to illustrate how the application of Jesus leadership principles can yield positive social transformation in a church context. The findings of this research provide significant implications for contemporary church leaders to emulate Jesus leadership in serving the people with love, leading by example, and preparing the next generation grounded in spiritual values and integrity.

Developing African Christian Leaders for Global Transformation

Christianity is growing massively in the Global South, while it is declining in the rest of the world. This has changed the trajectory of missionary work. Africans used to be recipients, but are now benefactors who promote the gospel and lead mega-churches beyond their motherlands. Correspondingly, African Christian leaders ought to develop their capacities. While some of them appreciate the importance of leadership development, as confirmed by publicized leadership seminars and conferences, few African churches have contextualized Christian leadership development frameworks.Most problematically, countless Christian leaders have been the subjects of disturbing controversies, and they age and die without having prepared people to succeed them. By failing to do so, they betray the mission of God and the Church. Although having a call is invaluable for ministry and leadership, continuous leadership development is highly necessary for effectiveness, as ministerial needs grow daily while the capacities of Church leaders are limited. Applying grounded research as theory and engaging with contemporary literature, this paper reviewed African Christian leadership, and drew on leadership development models from the Old and New Testaments, in view of Malphurs and Mancini’s (2004) leadership development framework. This paper identified the necessity of contextualizing leadership development, appraising incumbent leaders, and addressing their situational challenges and needs, and recommends consistent holistic capacity enhancement in correspondence with changing times, contexts, people and places. Keywords: Christian Leadership, Mission, Leadership Development, Sustainability, Transformation

The influence of a leadership model based on the book of Yoshua on the performance of Christian executive and legislative employees in Gurung Mas District, Central Kalimantan

One thing the world at this time needs is leadership. As a Christian, the bible contains countless figures who exhibit biblical leadership. In this day and age, Christian leadership is an uncommon and significant quality. Mrs. White even mentioned the traits of those who can stand up for what is right in the midst of chaos. Numerous individuals with this quality of leadership are mentioned in the Bible, including Joseph, Daniel, Paul, and even Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior; however, the focus of this essay is Joshua, the man who succeeded. This paper is based on the identification results above, the researcher defines the problems that are considered to greatly influence the leadership model based on the book of Joshua on the performance of executive and legislative employees. This resultresultstesting of the hypothesis shows thatTransactional leadership based on the book of Joshuahas a positive and significant influenceOn the Performance of Christian executive and legislative employees in Gunung Mas Regency, Central Kalimantan Province.This is in accordance with the proposed hypothesis. Thus the hypothesis is declared accepted. Based on the T test, it is known that the t-count is 14.682 > t-table (14.682 > 1.654) and sig < 0.01 (0.000 < 0.01), this means that H0 is rejected and H6 is accepted. Or in other words shows thatTransactional leadership based on the book of Joshuahas a significant influence on the performance of Christian executive and legislative employees in Gunung Mas Regency, Central Kalimantan Province. From the Pearson correlation value on sub variablePerformance of Christian executive and legislative employees in Gunung Mas Regency, Central Kalimantan Province.

Beyond conflict: an exploration of the way UK church leaders view the relationship between science and religion

ABSTRACT There has been a growing body of academic literature over the last ten years that has attempted to challenge the notion that science and religion are in conflict with each other (otherwise known as the ‘conflict thesis’). One prominent voice on this topic has been the theologian Ian Barbour and his four-fold typology of the way science and religion relate to each other: ‘conflict’, ‘dialogue’, ‘integration’, ‘independence’. In this article, I reflect on Barbour’s contribution to the field as well as my inclusion of his framework in a survey carried out on clergy attitudes to science. The fieldwork comprised a survey of over 1,000 UK church leaders and interviews with 20 senior church leaders. This article explores church leaders’ views on science, their engagement with the subject, and the extent to which their views on science and religion reflect or challenge Barbour’s typology. The research included in this article (carried out during the period 2015–2018) was commissioned by the project “Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science”.

Clergy Vestment: An Analysis of the Ecclesiological and Theological Journey of African Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches in South Africa

Historically, African Classical Pentecostal Churches (the African sections of the Apostolic Faith Mission, the Full Gospel Church, the International Assemblies of God, and the Back to God-Assemblies of God) did not used clergy vestment. The use of clergy vestment emerged among African Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches when Gladstone Botwana, the founder, and head of Zoé Bible Church in Soweto, was elevated to the office bishop in 1996. Currently, the use of clergy vestment has become a norm among African Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches in South Africa. This article uses desktop research method to analyse the ecclesiological and theological journey of clergy vestment among African Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches in South Africa between 1996 and 2022. It shows that association with African Pentecostals from the United States of America and the Commonwealth Dominican influenced this trend and provided them with a Christian leadership accountability platform accompanied with a new ecclesiastical and theological identity.

크리스천부모의 리더십코칭 역량계발을 위한 사례연구: ‘캐롤리더선생님’ 프로그램 활용

The purpose of this study was to develop the leadership coaching competence of Christian parents and analyse the effectiveness of the <Carol Leader Teacher> programme developed for Christian teachers based on CAROL (2009), a Christian leadership model, and GOD 4N (2019), a Christian leadership coaching model. To do this, 11 Christian parents (3 fathers and 8 mothers) were interviewed to see how the Caring Teacher programme was restructured and how the biblical texts used in the Caring Teacher programme were adapted to suit parents. For this purpose, we conducted a validation process with three people, including one master coach and two PhDs in the field of child welfare and a professional coach of the Korean Coach Association (KPC), and confirmed that a total of 52 messages on 'holiness' and 'education' could be composed. The research methodology included recording and transcribing everything that happened during the coaching process and analysing the data using the word cloud analysis method. In addition, to understand the pre- and post-study differences, the participants were asked to check their faith scores using the 153 Coaching Pepper and compare them with the results of the study. The results showed that the pre-test score was 150 out of 950, while the post-test score was 120 out of 150, showing a significant difference. This suggests that the 'Received Word Coaching' method of the Caring Teacher programme could be applied to all Christians, not just Christian parents, in the future.

Breastfeeding Attitudes and Social Support Among Christian African Americans.

Purpose: To describe the breastfeeding attitudes and subjective norms of breastfeeding among African American Christians from the New England region. Study Design and Methods: A study was conducted using an online survey. Participants were recruited from four Christian churches in the New England region during the summer of 2021. Responses from direct questions about exclusive breastfeeding histories were tabulated. Open-ended question responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. Two results were merged to make the conclusions. Results: Participants (n = 101) aged 18-44 years (62.3%), college graduates (72.3%), and Catholics (71.4%) responded. Participants were willing to recommend six months of exclusive breastfeeding practice to relatives (89.9%) and friends/peers (87.9%) and support relatives (94.0%) and friends/peers (94.8%) to practice exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months. Breastfeeding attitude themes included beneficial and natural and receiving breastfeeding support. Subjective norms of breastfeeding themes included receiving support for breastfeeding; Christian leadership, teachings, and communal engagements; and gaps in Christian influence. Conclusion: The African American Christian community may be an emergent agent of breastfeeding social support for African American Christian women who chose to breastfeed. Health professionals should collaborate with African American Christian leadership to initiate programs to promote breastfeeding among African American Christian women in the United States.

Laudato Si, Environmental Theology and the Leadership of Pope Francis

This article explores the interaction between environmental theology and leadership in the context of Pope Francis' "Laudato Si'", with a particular focus on the role of Christian leaders in addressing environmental issues. Using descriptive qualitative methods, the study analyses the encyclical "Laudato Si'" and related Catholic Church documents. The article finds that theological concepts such as "Salvation and Liberation,""Obedience to God the Creator," and "Social and Ecological Justice" play an important role in shaping Christian leaders' attitudes and actions towards the environment. This article provides insights into how Christian leadership can inspire and mobilise environmentally responsible action, showing that this responsibility is not only a moral imperative, but also an expression of deep Christian faith.

S-E-R-V-E a theoretical framework for Christian leadership

This article introduces a new perspective on Christian leadership. The theoretical framework critically integrates and transforms Gary Yukl’s theory of four meta-categories of leadership. It is argued that spiritual leadership should be defined as a distinct meta-category. Spiritual leadership includes self-transcendent practical wisdom (phronesis), occurring Coram Deo. This serves as the integrating center of the model. Furthermore, change-oriented leadership is reconceptualized as visionary leadership grounded in the Christian story. Yukl’s basic description of relational behavior is expanded through the lens of Christian virtue ethics. Effective leadership is understood as stewardship, requiring a balance between internal moral goods and external instrumental goods. The church’s external relations are defined in terms of missional or evangelistic hospitality. Consequently, Christian leadership comprises five key dimensions: spiritual, effective, relational, visionary leadership, and external relations, summarized in the acronym S-E-R-V-E.

Marilyn Naidoo (ed.) 2021. Making Connections:

Theological education has a remarkable impact on the Christian leadership, mission, and other ministries of the congregations. Therefore, it is of utmost significance to regularly review theological discourse, curriculum, pedagogy, and institutional systems (pp. 4, 35). The book mentioned above is one of the seminal works edited by Prof Marilyn Naidoo concerning the development of theological education in Africa. It explores how integration within African theological education is understood and can be implemented by applying appropriate theological, philosophical, and pedagogical tools (pp. 4, 6).