Leadership Styles in Church Growth: Examining their Role in Societal Transformation and Church Commitment
Abstract:
The
study examined kind of leadership style exhibited by church leaders in
transforming society and church growth, and the relationship between leadership
style and organisational/church commitment. With a sample size of 384 church
members and a quantitative research approach, the findings of the study
revealed that most church leaders tend to exhibit a servant leadership style,
followed by transformational and then transactional leadership style. The
argument that churches leaders tend to exhibit more of servant leadership can
be based on the assertion that there is a strong resonance between the concept
of servant leadership and the concepts of humility and service, which are often
emphasised in religious teachings. Also, there is a positive and significant
relationship between church commitment and various leadership styles such as
servant and transactional but insignificant relationship between church
commitment and transformational leadership style. The study therefore
recommends that church leaders should always see themselves as servant leaders
and adopt rewards and motivation system to boost their subordinate’s commitment
other than only compelling their subordinates to move along with their vision.
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