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The workplace of the organised church: Theories of leadership and the

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DOI: 10.1080/14755610802535645

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The workplace of the organised church: Theories of leadership and the

Christian leader
Alice C. Stewarta
a
School of Business and Economics, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC, USA

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 Culture and Religion
Vol. 9, No. 3, November 2008, 301–318

The workplace of the organised church: Theories of leadership

and the Christian leader
Alice C. Stewart*

School of Business and Economics, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro,
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NC, USA
The issue of leadership is one that spans many organisations. While
management literature has examined this topic in depth, little comment has
been made regarding the legitimacy of traditional business leadership
theories, developed primarily in the United States, for use in a values-based
organisation such as the organised church. The unique spiritual nature of
Christian organisations is in some ways at odds with the assumptions of
traditional leadership models. That said, many churches in the United States
and churches outside the United States, but influenced by US institutional
structures, are desperately seeking improvement in both pastoral and
organisational effectiveness. This research examines traditional treatment of
leadership and identifies implications of traditional and more recent theories
of leadership for pastoral leaders and Christian laypeople.
Keywords: leadership; leader effectiveness; Christian leadership

Anyone studying the written body of knowledge on the subject of leadership soon
finds a confusing array of theories and opinions. An oft-stated theme is that the
act of leadership is critical to the evolution of organisations and society. Leaders
are often described as heroic figures that infuse organisations with a sense of
purpose and call forth the best of their followers. Organisation success is often
attributed, rightly or wrongly, to the person at the top (Meindl 1990).
Organisational failure is equally likely to be attributed to a lack of leadership.
While individuals generally can make distinctions between someone they
consider a ‘good leader’ and someone who is not, the question of what constitutes
‘good leadership’ is not as clear-cut.
While management literature has examined this topic in depth, little comment
has been made regarding the legitimacy of traditional business leadership
theories, developed primarily in the United States, for use in a values-based or
faith-based institution such as the organised Church.1 The nature of Christian
beliefs is in some ways at odds with the assumptions of traditional leadership
models grounded in market-based organisations. Those said, many churches in
the United States and churches outside the United States, but influenced by US

*Email: acstewa1@ncat.edu

ISSN 1475-5610 print/ISSN 1475-5629 online

q 2008 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/14755610802535645
http://www.informaworld.com
 302 A.C. Stewart
institutional structures, are desperately seeking improvement in both pastoral and
organisational effectiveness.

The growth of interest in Christian leadership

In the past decade, the number and scope of programmes offering Christian
leadership in the United States, Britain and some Asian countries has expanded
enormously. Seminaries and universities from a variety of denominations in the
United States, such as United Methodists, Assembly of God, Lutheran, Church of
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Christ, Roman Catholic and Southern Baptist offer programmes in Christian

leadership that rely heavily on providing not only a biblical view of leadership,
but a managerial view of the role of leaders in the organised church (Christian
Leadership Alliance 2008). Independent megachurches, such as Willow Creek
Christian Church, in Chicago, Illinois, broadcast leadership programmes featuring
secular management gurus as well as biblical scholars to thousands of church
both within and outside the United States (Willow Creek Leadership Summit
2008). Outside the United States, The Center for Christian Leadership sponsored
by the Teal Trust in the United Kingdom, provides leadership materials and
assessments in six languages using an ecumenical and cross-national approach
(The Teal Trust 2008). Even in Asia, the Christian Leadership Exchange is an
organisation that supports development of Christian leaders in China (Christian
Leadership Exchange 2008).
The thrust of many of these programmes is similar; it is to improve the
effectiveness of local congregations via application of biblical principles and
secular models of leadership. Often, the interpretation of leadership is in the
context of the role of the formal church authority (pastor, senior minister, bishop
priest, etc.).2 What is missing, though, is a consideration of the implications of
using leadership theories developed primarily from the business and political
perspectives to inform the training of individuals in the pastoral role and to
enhance church effectiveness. What are the limits of the application of these
theories? Do theories of leadership based on normative traits and descriptive
contingencies apply in the context of Christian organisations?
This research addresses these issues and attempts to begin a conversation on
the appropriate use of secular theories of leadership in faith-based, specifically
Christian, organisations. First, for clarity, this research describes a limited number
of traditional theories of leadership in use within both secular and Christian
leadership contexts. A complete treatment of the leadership literature is beyond the
scope of this research; however, an examination of some of the more popular
theoretical perspectives of leadership (e.g. charismatic leadership, transformational
leadership and servant leadership) is informative as a basis for examining the role
of leadership within Christian organisations. Second, implications of the underlying
assumptions of these traditional models are examined relative to their applicability
to the pastoral role. Finally, this research links studies from a tangential stream of
work: leadership development. This research argues that a more developmental and
 Culture and Religion 303
competency-based view may be more promising to achieve the goals of training for
pastoral, church and denominational leadership.

Descriptive perspectives on leadership

Much of the literature in the academic realm is focused on describing leadership
personality traits and behaviours and positing the impact of these behaviours on
leader effectiveness. Traditionally, academic research has been interested in
describing and predicting the phenomenon of leadership, with most work
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developed by social psychologists. The focus tends to be on leader as

organisational visionary who addresses leadership issues from higher levels
within the organisation (Bennis 1989; Kotter 1990) and puts a great emphasis on
the role of the formal leader in organisational change and development. Two
typical approaches that represent this stream are charismatic leadership, which
emphasises description of individual leader traits, and transformational and
transactional leaders, which describe leader attitudes and behaviours and the
relationship between these behaviours and subordinate actions.

Charismatic leadership theory

Conger and Kanungo (1987) characterise charisma as the ability to elaborate and
convey an unconventional, yet clear vision. According to Bess and Goldman
(2001), the defining elements of charismatic leadership are ‘special personal
characteristics leaders possess that interact with the perceptions and needs of
followers at a given point in time’ (Bess and Goldman 2001, 431). Klein and
House (1998) suggest specific personal characteristics and behaviours of leaders
that ‘light a fire’ within subordinates:
Pro-social assertiveness, self-confidence, need for social influence, moral
conviction, and concern for the moral exercise of power. Articulation of distal
ideological goals, communication of high expectations, confidence in followers,
emphasis on symbolic and expressive aspects of the task, articulation of a visionary
mission that is discrepant from the status quo, references to the collective and
collective identity (rather than to follower self-interest), and assumption of personal
risks and sacrifices (Klein and House 1998, 4 – 5).
Generally, the focus of charismatic leadership is on the ability of the leaders to
vision a viable future for the organisation and to gain employee commitment to
its implementation.
Charismatic leadership theory tends to resonate with lay observers of
leadership. A common theme among proponents of charismatic leadership is the
ability of the leaders to persuasively influence the behaviours, perceptions and
emotions of the followers to act for the organisation. This skill is considered rare
and valuable. The scarcity of charismatic leadership tends to support the illusion
of the ‘heroic’ individual; a Moses or a Martin Luther King, Jr. Even when
followers have engaged in heroic efforts themselves, their efforts are still
attributed to the influence of the charismatic leader. Though charismatic
 304 A.C. Stewart
leadership is linked to the personality of the leader, the strong persuasive and
communication skills described by the theory of charismatic leadership are
consistent with leader as motivator and leader as arbiter of social values.

Transformational and transactional leadership

James MacGregor Burns (1978) introduced the idea of transformational and
transactional leadership in the late 1970s. The constructs were embraced by
Bernard Bass (1985) and others to the extent that it is currently one of the
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dominant theories of leadership in use today. Burns (1978) originally described

transformational and transactional leadership as two ends of a leadership
continuum. Transformational leaders are characterised as those who articulate a
vision of the future that can be shared with peers and subordinates, provides
intellectual stimulation to subordinates and pays attention to differences among
people (Yammarino and Bass 1990). Transformational leadership has many of
the same skill needs as charismatic leaders, but the focus is more of a contingency
view. The transformational leader must understand the needs and motivators of
the subordinates and provide them with the socio-psychological support
necessary for them to move forward and act for the organisation. While the
charismatic leader may rely heavily on persuasion and personality, the
transformational leader takes responsibility for supporting followers in an
expansion of their individual world view. The transformation is in the individual
that is being led. The transformation of the individual will result in the
transformation of the organisation. The charismatic leader leads and expects
others to follow whereas the transformational leader leads by encouraging growth
and change in individual followers. Change in attitude and behaviour comes from
a changed world view. An example of a transformational leader in the current
array of Christian leaders might be someone like Reverend Rick Warren who
encourages Christians to find a purpose for their lives (Warren 2002).
In Burns’ theory, the transformational leader is contrasted with the
transactional leader who simply provides followers rewards in exchange for
desired behaviours. The transactional leader is not interested in changing the
world view of the subordinate or the follower. To gain the desired behaviour, the
transactional leader must understand the specific rewards that will motivate
the individual follower. By understanding the specific motivator, the leader can
gain the desired behaviours. An example of this type of leader in the Christian
organisation may be a priest who determines who may and may not receive
communion within the church organisation or a pastor who determines who is or
is not qualified to serve in a lay leadership role.
Though Burns (1978) originally posited a continuum, Bass (1985) argued that
transformational leadership and transactional leadership are complementary.
A leader could engage in both transformational and transactional behaviours.
According to Bass (1985) and Bass et al. (1987), the transformational style could
be ineffective if not augmented with transactional leadership skills.
 Culture and Religion 305
Servant leadership as a normative leadership theory
Traditional academic leadership research attempts to remain in a descriptive
mode. Another stream, however, has gained momentum and popularity
particularly in the last decade. This stream moves the descriptive elements into
a more prescriptive or normative mould. These normative authors, often business
practitioners or applied scholars in management, see value in prescribing
leadership behaviour, essentially advocating for the efficacy and values
associated with one style or set of characteristics over others.
In this genre, leadership tends to be value laden. Robert Greenleaf (1977)
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developed and popularised the concept of ‘servant leadership’. In Greenleaf (1977,

13–14) characterisation the effectiveness of the servant leader is measured by,
‘Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier,
wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?’.
Greenleaf describes a servant leader as ‘a visionary who listens’ and acknowledges
that his normative view contains substantive contradictions for practising managers.
Bennis and Nanus (1985) revisit transformational leadership to cast it in a more
normative vein. They argue that ‘transformative leadership is morally purposeful
and elevating’; it can ‘move followers to higher degrees of consciousness, such as
liberty, freedom, justice, and self-actualisation’ (Bennis and Nanus 1985, 218).
Finally, James Autry (1991) proposes a concept called ‘caring leadership’. Autry
models his normative theory of leadership on the fellowship of the early Christians
and the leadership lessons of Jesus. Autry describes leadership/management as a
‘sacred trust’ – the responsibility of caring for others. Autry (1991, 116), posits that
‘if Jesus could build an enduring religion on the power of love, why can’t enduring
and successful businesses be built on the same idea’ and suggests that true
leadership must be ‘management without emotional hiding places’.
Among these writers, most justify the adoption of transformational, servant or
caring leadership by suggesting that these methods will lead to higher levels of
organisational performance (Harvey 2001). A common tone through these works
is development of a sense of community in which the interests of the subordinate
are aligned with the interests of the organisation. The basis of this alignment is
‘community’ and ‘shared values’ rather than the specific material rewards
described in the transactional leader model. Mother Teresa is often cited as an
example of true servant leadership (Scott 2005).

Limitations of traditional leadership theories for the organised Christian

church
The quantities of academic leadership literature notwithstanding, there are
elements of both of these types of research (descriptive and normative) that make
application of extant theory to a Christian religious organisation problematic.
Much of the descriptive research in leadership depicts behaviours that are
inconsistent with the underlying assumptions of denominational and church life.
One assumption of the descriptive theories based on the ‘business’ model is that
 306 A.C. Stewart
the leader has the right to choose when to share power or information with
subordinates. A second assumption is that the leader controls some series of
rewards (whether psychological or material) that will only be given for compliant
behaviour. While the level of pastoral authority varies across denominations,
most pastors cannot assume the level of power that is claimed by leaders in
business organisations. Church organisations do not ‘hire and fire’ their
membership. While elements of transformational and transactional descriptions
may be appropriate in some contexts, the power imbalance assumed in market-
based organisations is not directly replicated in many church organisations.
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Christian church organisations are created based on interdependency of the

pastor and the congregation. In most mainstream Christian denominations and
institutions, the pastor does not have the authority to compel compliance or to
punish lack of performance. In some denominational situations, the congregation
exercises power over the pastor by withholding financial and time contributions, or,
in some denominations, imposing a threat of termination. Thus, on their face,
descriptive theories based on transactions and transformations and other approaches
which assume that the leader is an independent arbiter over the people he/she leads
may not be directly applicable to the pastoral role as organisational leader.
While the concept of ‘charismatic’ leadership resonates within some
congregations, this personality-based leadership theory would suggest that a
pastor would be a good leader if he/she is consistently, week after week, able to
use his/her individual personality and communication skills to create proper
responses within his/her congregation. While some people who assume a pastoral
role in a church organisation have the necessary personality traits to accomplish
this, not all church leaders are endowed with this skill set. The assumption that
charismatic personality represents the pastoral norm is challenged by the belief
among many Christian denominations that ministry requires a vocational call.
A pastor who is called to serve must act on that belief even if his/her personality
traits do not include a natural talent for passionate, persuasive exhortation. In the
Christian tradition, Moses is often cited as an example of a leader who did not
have the inherent personality traits associated with charismatic leaders.
While business organisations have the luxury of selecting people who optimally
‘fit’ their job qualifications, this is not always the case in a church or denominational
organisation. Finally, other characteristics of charismatic leadership may be
inconsistent with the goals and culture of religious organisations. Some research
(Bass 1985) shows that charismatic leaders tend to polarise their followers and
create dependence of the followers on the charismatic leader.
The concepts of servant leader and caring leader and even a values-based
transformational leadership approach may be more intuitively appealing to many
pastors and denominational leaders. Though this may be the case, there are limits
here as well. While these are normative prescriptions that may resonate with
pastors, it is not always clear that the pastoral behaviours associated with service
and caring will create an effective organisation, or even an effective church. If the
pastoral role is already articulated as servant, the exhortation and expectation
 Culture and Religion 307
to become even more service/servant oriented may lead to pastoral burnout and
depression. In addition, this approach often underestimates the friction associated
with organisational leadership. The ability to maintain a ‘servant’ orientation
when attempting to evoke positive change in organisations may lead to
inappropriate reticence to engage in internal organisational conflict.

The demand for effectiveness

An underlying assumption of both descriptive and normative leadership literature
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is one of effectiveness. This is particularly strong within the normative literature.

While the authors write of higher order values as the underpinning of charismatic,
transformational, servant or caring leadership, those values, in a business
organisation, must be subsumed to the value of organisational survival (Friedman
1962). Leadership practices that ultimately impinge upon the bottom line will not
be supported for long by organisational leadership. In the ‘for-profit’ world, what
works often takes ascendance over what is right. While normative models do not
directly speak to this, the fact that most theorists justify the superiority of their
approach based on improved organisational effectiveness suggests that is the core
value. Thus, the relationship between leadership and ‘bottom line’ make sense in
the context of a for-profit orientation, but effectiveness in a pastoral sense must be
defined differently.
Church organisations are called to transform and to love as their primary
mission. They are called to do this in spite of measures of performance success
identified by more secular organisations (growth, net revenue increase, etc.).
Transforming the Christian community through love and service is not optional.
Even if the practice of these transforming activities creates ineffective and
inefficient organisations (in the secular definition of these words) they still
represent the core values of most effective religious organisations.
The purpose of the critique above is not to argue that these traditional theories
of leadership are invalid conceptualisations. Rather the purpose is to point to the
limits of these descriptive and normative approaches to thinking about leadership
when the goal is to improve individual and organisational effectiveness in churches.
Though traditional academic theories of leadership and popularised expressions of
normative leadership have limitations, they have paved the way for an emerging
view of leadership that addresses some of the limitations of the previous work.
The emerging work in leadership speaks to several of the limitations of previous
work and suggests a preliminary model that addresses not only the role of
leadership in organisations, but the issue of leadership development as well.

Knowledge and capabilities: a leadership capabilities model

A special issue of Leadership Quarterly published a collection of articles that
came out of a substantial leadership development study sponsored by the US
Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. In the seminal
 308 A.C. Stewart
theory piece associated with this comprehensive study, Mumford et al. (2000b)3
present a different perspective in leadership research. Mumford notes that
traditional theories frame leadership in a particular way, focusing on the quality
of the leader –follower interaction. Mumford et al. (2000b, 11), though, argued
that effective leadership ‘depends on the leader’s ability to solve . . . complex
social problems that arise in organizations’. Mumford et al. (2000a, 156), frames
the problem of leadership in a new way by asking ‘What capabilities must an
individual possess in order to perform effectively in [socially complex] sic
organizational leadership roles?’. In the context of the church organisation, this
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question would allow a tighter focus on the skill sets and competencies necessary
to perform effectively as a Christian as well as an organisational leader. The social
complexity of a church organisation may require a more targeted set of skills than
persuasive communication and biblical scholarship.

Core concepts from Mumford’s model

While a complete description of Mumford’s large project is beyond the scope of
this study, the following section outlines the key insights of Mumford’s theory.
After exposition of Mumford’s core ideas, the implications of the new
perspectives for leadership in church organisations will be discussed. There are
three key points that underpin much of Mumford’s view of leadership.
(1) The role of the leader is to deal with ill-defined, non-routine problems.
Problems within the organisation that are routine tend to have solutions.
The role of a leader in a socially complex organisation is to identify and
articulate organisational problems and to provide the followers with the
information, support and insight necessary to the problem’s solution.
(2) To solve ill-defined, non-routine problems, leaders must develop a
portfolio of personal capabilities. To be effective a leader must develop
problem-solving skills, social judgement and deep knowledge of the
domain in which he/she operates.
(3) Leader effectiveness cannot translate into organisational effectiveness
without the appropriate capabilities among the followers. Leaders must
develop and implement solutions in a distinctly social context. While
much literature focuses on the behaviours and traits of leaders,
Mumford’s model suggests that the development of skills and knowledge
among followers is also important to organisational success. This aspect
of leadership has been missing from many of the traditional descriptive
and normative views of leadership.

Figure 1 provides the visual representation of the key features of Mumford’s

model.
According to Mumford, the leader’s role is to ensure that all functions critical to
task accomplishment and group maintenance are addressed. So not only must the
leader understand the tasks and the task environment, but he/she must understand
 Culture and Religion 309
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Figure 1. Integrated framework of leader development.

the social environment of the organisation. This is why the importance of the social
context and the skills and capabilities needed to navigate it are so heavily stressed.
The first capabilities in the model are knowledge based (Marchall-Mies et al.
2000). Knowledge capabilities are grounded in three cognitions. Domain-focused
cognition refers to deep knowledge of the industry, the business, the tasks, the
problem at hand or any other relevant and necessary expertise. Developing
knowledge in this area ensures that the leader has the ability to appropriately
evaluate factual information and scan for new and relevant information with
which to frame the problem. The leader seeks knowledge rather than just
information. The difference being that knowledge requires more complex mental
schemas across longer time frames.
Organisation-focused cognition refers to knowledge associated with
organisational processes. Knowledge of ‘how things work’ in the organisation,
the relevant stakeholders, the procedural activities as well as the political
processes are all necessary if the leader is to effectively address non-routine
problems or promote frame-breaking agenda. Finally, people-focused cognition
refers to deep knowledge of the people in the organisation, what motivates them,
how they will react, their strengths and their weaknesses.
The second capability that must be developed in effective leaders is social
judgement. Social judgement refers to the ability to understand and monitor the
social dynamics within the problem domain being addressed by the leader (some
might call these ‘people skills’). There are several specific skills associated with
social judgement. Organisational wisdom is the ability to analyse the downstream
consequences of organisational actions and the ability to coordinate different, but
complementary activities and agendas. Social perceptiveness or discernment is
the ability to identify emerging problems and influence others regarding solutions
to those problems . . . essentially being sensitive to the impact of issues before
they become dysfunctional in the organisation. Social performance skills refer to
communication and persuasion skills, negotiation skills and conflict resolution
 310 A.C. Stewart
skills. Taken collectively, these skills create the capability for social judgement
within the leader.
Finally, problem-solving capabilities refer to the elements of creativity and
framing that are necessary to solve ill-defined problems. Data analysis skills,
identifying the causal relationships between different organisational and
environmental elements, the ability to evaluate the gains and sacrifices associated
with solution sets, and helping others see the world in a new way are all elements
of creative problem solving.
The last element that is necessary for organisational success is the presence of
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skilled followers. The most skilled leader will fail if subordinates are incapable of
implementing a proposed solution. If organisation systems or the pattern of social
interaction within the organisation create barriers to the flow of information about
the problem situation to the leader, organisational effectiveness (however defined)
suffers. These barriers can be due to lack of follower capabilities in the same areas
of problem solving, social judgement and knowledge. In other words, the presence
of social dysfunction or organisational dysfunction, or lack of knowledge will
doom the organisation to resistance to change and ultimately failure. Part of the
leader’s capability set is to be aware of dysfunctional organisational elements and
create strategies to either redeem or incapacitate them.
What is interesting about the capabilities approach to leadership is its
consistency with the earlier work on transformational leadership. The transforma-
tional leadership stream describes the behaviours associated with effective
leadership. The capabilities research adds value by articulating the skills needed for
those behaviours to occur. For example, the need for communication, persuasion
and negotiation skills seems very consistent with the descriptions of charisma and
individualised consideration described by Bass (1985). The factor of intellectual
stimulation, described initially by Bass (1985) and found by Lowe et al. (1996) to be
critical to organisational success are behaviours that presume problem-solving
skills and knowledge.
However, the capabilities approach makes a clearer connection between
‘what’ works in terms of leadership and ‘how and why’ it works. The more
clearly ‘how and why’ are understood, the greater the probability that effective
leadership skills are accessible to a wider range of people. This approach moves
leadership from development of personal skills (i.e. communication, conflict
resolution, etc.) and toward understanding the system in which the leadership
must be exerted and the processes and behaviours that are effective levers for
system change. Leadership becomes more a function of analysis and action and
less a function of traits and individual personality.

Implications of a leadership capabilities model for the organised Christian

church
There are many implications of the leadership capability approach for developing
leadership in the organised church. Christian churches can certainly be described
 Culture and Religion 311
as complex social systems. Churches, like many other organisations, have their
share of ill-defined and non-routine problems. Drawing from the work of Lowe
et al. (1996), the potential value of transformational leadership to influence
change at both the individual and organisational levels is quite high in church
organisations.
The distinction in the leadership literature regarding the definition of leader
effectiveness is directly relevant to the difficulties of leading in the organised
church. What constitutes leadership effectiveness in the Church is not clear. In the
context of pastor and member, part of leadership effectiveness is having an
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impact on the ‘person in the pew’. For some, perhaps this is enough; and
ultimately reflects the best measure of effectiveness associated with the pastoral
role. However, the pastor, as well as the ‘church as organisation’, has a corporate
impact in the larger community. In the research, organisational performance was
maximised when the leader made subordinates think in new ways (Lowe et al.
1996). According to Mumford et al. (2000b), the organisational benefit required
the interaction of an effective leader and skilled followers. This suggests that an
effective church (as organisation) would require more than a talented and
charismatic pastoral leader.4
The pastoral leader is called upon to help the members think in new ways
regarding their spiritual journey, their personal relationships, their biases and
prejudices, their work life, social issues and many other areas of with potential for
personal growth. However, for the ‘church as community’ to effect wider social
change, the pastor may be called to a greater responsibility. The more personal
elements of the pastoral role must be purposefully connected to a larger
organisational and social context. To be effective in this context, the pastor must
incorporate a wider array of skills than theological knowledge and good
communication. There is an element of wisdom implied for success that is
desired and necessary, but more difficult to attain.
While the pastoral role described above may already be complicated enough,
there is yet another dimension of pastoral leadership that cannot be ignored. This
is the role of the pastor as leader of a large, multi-resourced organisation.
The pastoral skill set must also encompass the role of manager of staff and chief
operating officer of the organisation. If thought of in terms of Mumford’s
definition of leadership effectiveness, the tasks and group maintenance
challenges associated with the purely pastoral role may be different from the
task and group maintenance challenges associated with the day-to-day operation
of the church organisation and supervision of staff. However, if Mumford’s
capabilities model holds, the ability to effectively operate in both roles may be
enhanced by purposeful development of personal capabilities.

Implications of time, abilities and organisational characteristics

One implication of the capabilities model, especially when considered in the
context of Christian pastoral leadership development, is a balance between
 312 A.C. Stewart
thinking of pastoral capabilities and church capabilities generically (as something
all need) and thinking of capabilities relative to the individual. The capability
model suggests that pastors at different stages of their career path may need to
work on the development of different competences; especially since in theory
there is a direct relationship between experience and capability. This means that
the development necessary for a new pastor may be quite different than the
development needs of a more experienced pastor. In addition, because each
pastor has a natural skill set based on their personality and innate abilities, some
individuals may require development in some areas and not in others. Thus, the
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underlying idea of the capabilities approach may be that leaders do not have to be
‘born’, they can be made; but they are made one leader at a time!
The second implication of the capability model is that if followers are
essential to organisational effectiveness, church effectiveness is influenced by the
development of follower capabilities. In Christian church education programmes
follower capability is developed in the area of knowledge, particularly biblical
and theological knowledge. While useful and consistent with the model, this type
of training may not reflect the full range of competences that are necessary for
effective followership. For example, if a church, as an organisation, wants to
address issues of poverty in the larger community, a theological understanding of
our need to address poverty is appropriate, but there may also be a need for
knowledge development around the local issues of poverty as well as a need for
social judgement capabilities associated with inclusiveness or interacting with an
impoverished population.
There seems to be a tendency in the organised church to believe that
organisational knowledge and people knowledge will occur if members ‘just get
involved’, and that social judgement and problem-solving skills developed in
organisational contexts outside the church organisation are directly applicable.
To some extent, this may be true, but as issues of the organised church increase in
social complexity or task complexity capability development by experience
(or osmosis) may not be enough.
Another assumption about followers within church organisations is that there
is a substantial amount of leadership effectiveness in ‘for-profit’ organisations
that can be directly imported to a church organisation. While this may be true in
some respects and may be true for individuals, a meta-analysis of leadership
research (Graen and Uhl-Bien 1998) shows that, generally, leadership
effectiveness was perceived more strongly in non-business organisations! Also,
the persons at the higher levels of these organisations (i.e. business leaders) did
not exhibit as many identifiable leadership behaviours as lower level managers.
This challenges the assumption that the elements that create a successful
for-profit business organisation are the same elements that create an effective
church organisation. It is possible that some organisational skills sets are directly
transferable, but others are not at all.
The third element that is important to the discussion of leader capabilities is a
fundamentally important characteristic in most organisational literature:
 Culture and Religion 313
organisation size. The role of the pastoral leader is made more difficult as the size
of the church organisation increases. This is probably the case whether size is
measured by the number of members or the size of church staff. Looking at the
effect of church size through the lens of Mumford’s capabilities model yields the
following insights. An increase in church size creates distance between the pastor
and the congregation. In the context of the model, this means that the level of
people-focused knowledge that the pastor has will decline. This has a direct effect
on knowledge-based capabilities, which in turn, impact leader effectiveness. This
increases the probability that leader effectiveness will decline. The decline may
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result from the inability to continue to perform the necessary ‘group

maintenance’ function required of an effective leader.
A second impact of size is on the tasks associated with pastoral care.
The larger the congregation, the more varied the tasks associated with the church
organisation. This suggests that higher levels of expertise are needed to deal with
the variety of tasks. Also, new types of organisational wisdom and discernment
may be necessary to respond to the needs of the congregation. In addition, the
new tasks and needs may require additional training of the followers so that their
capabilities are also equal to the new understandings required.5
Finally, the impact of church size can be felt in the number and type of skills
needed to run a larger and more complex organisation. Larger churches have
more staff and more money. If many pastors were asked if they felt equal to the
task of running what is often a multimillion dollar budget, many may confess to
some qualms. The possibility of downside risk associated with financial
decisions, large physical facilities and staff that encompasses everything from
day care to accounting creates pressures on the skill set of pastors trained for
ministry.
Thus, from a capabilities point of view, size changes things. The skill sets that
may have been particularly effective in a smaller congregation may not be
adequate to deal with the greater social complexity of a large congregation. Since
the evolution of a pastoral career often involves moving from smaller to larger
congregations, based to a great extent on the pastor’s effectiveness, if there is not
a concomitant increase in skill to match the increased task and group
maintenance demands, then the pastor may become less effective.6

Implications for Christian leadership

Christians are called out people, meaning that Christian values demand that
believers be in the world but not of the world (The Holy Bible New International
Version 1984). Christian believers are expected to act with acknowledgement of
the community system within which they operate. Christians draw encourage-
ment from each other. Standing collectively provides more power and influence
than standing alone. Learning to live effectively in relation to their neighbours is
central to Christian belief. Thus, it seems that for Christians to become more
effective as community and in community, churches must become more effective
 314 A.C. Stewart
as organisations. The leadership models above identify areas, where church
leaders and church members can improve organisational effectiveness by
focusing on improving individual capabilities.
The model discussed above suggests myriad possibilities for Christian
leadership. For example, mentoring and coaching can impact social judgement
skills of the pastoral leader and/or the Christian lay leader. Programmes for
pastors to develop the management skills necessary to run larger organisations
make sense. Programmes for laypersons to enhance their capabilities play a role
as well. What can come from the imposition of the leader capability framework is
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a sense of intentionality such that types of developmental experiences can be

harnessed in the service of a larger and clearer goal.
The possibilities for the development of Christian leadership are directly
associated with the capabilities identified in the model and the mechanisms that
may be necessary to build those capabilities. Generally, there are three areas that
may be promising for Christian organisations interested in promoting Christian
leadership: development of programmes, tools and assessment. Figure 2 shows
the intersection of capabilities and audiences that could frame the programme
offerings associated with the development of Christian leadership capabilities.
The first two audiences reflect the earlier discussion regarding the organised
church. However, church members operate in other social contexts, where
leader capabilities could assist change efforts in many venues. Church members
with such enhanced capabilities could be a dramatic force for good in the
marketplace.

Figure 2. Potential programme framework.

 Culture and Religion 315
Tools
The second area where Christians interested in leadership development could
have impact is on the development of tools. One type of tool might be
development of case studies based on ill-defined and difficult problems faced by
churches or in society. The case method has been widely used in higher education
as a way of enhancing problem-solving and analysis skills.
In addition to case studies, development of social processing systems (such as
networks, coaches or mentors) and information processing systems (software)
may be useful to build individual pastoral capabilities. If part of developing the
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knowledge capability is cognitive awareness of the people and processes of the

organisation, creating datasets or mechanisms to identify best practices across
congregations may be an appropriate task. Use of networks, mentors and coaches
could assist in the development of social judgement and problem-solving
capabilities.

Assessment
One very important component of any capability development is development of
instruments that can discern the current state of pastoral or lay capabilities and
gauge improvement. Some assessment instruments are currently available, but
instruments that are directly related to these capabilities in the context of the
organised church may be rare.
Finally, organisational assessment to determine church effectiveness is
generally not well developed in many denominations. Unlike for-profit
organisations, churches must not adopt an instrumental approach to
effectiveness . . . one based on efficiency and survival. Rather, a new spiritual
calculus should be created to capture the extent of transformation; the
transcendent power and impact of a healthy, dynamic and active congregation.
Rather than budgets and headcount, Christians are challenged to at least try to
measure ‘cups of cold water in Jesus’ name.

Conclusion
While it is important to use God-given talents to determine ways of improving the
effectiveness of the church organisation, Christians must also walk humbly down
this path. Christian leaders, be they pastors or laypersons, must remember that an
essential tenet of Christian faith is belief in divine grace. The world cannot be
redeemed through individual acts regardless of how ‘effective’ church
organisations become. While Christian leaders must consider the realities of
situations, the nature of persons and the complexities of their organisations, they
must never forget that they claim a faith tradition which also believes that these
limitations can be transcended by a provident God.
This research has attempted to provide a new lens by which to examine the
possibility of improved leadership in Christian organisations. In moving from
 316 A.C. Stewart
traditional descriptions of leadership to an evaluation of leader capabilities, the
role of leadership in the organised church has expanded. One shift that is critical
for overall church effectiveness is to disconnect the role of the formal leader from
the capabilities of leadership necessary for the church as organisation to be
effective. For the Church to be effective, leadership is a competency or skill that
must be practised by the entire membership, not just those in positions of
authority. Leadership is an action practised more widely than initially described
in traditional views. Leadership practised by members of the community to effect
change is critical to the overall effectiveness of the Church and the church as
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organisation. This view challenges both pastoral and lay leadership. It demands
more of both if the Church and its organised institutions are to be effective in the
twenty-first century.

Notes
1. The ‘Church’ in the context of this study refers to the universal church of Christian
believers and does not refer to a specific denomination. The Church refers to believers
associated with values espoused by the Old and New Testaments and does not refer to
other religious traditions based in other scriptures. However, many of the points made
could be transferred to other religious traditions depending upon the extent to which
the belief system is or is not consistent with the theories of market exchange upon
which most organisational theories are based. When referring to the organisational
structures associated with the Church, the phrase ‘the organised church’ or ‘the church
organisation’ will be used.
2. In this study, reference to the pastoral role may also be interpreted to include other
titles who serve in leadership positions within the organised church such as ministers,
bishops, priests, etc.
3. This seminal piece will be referred to as ‘Mumford’ in the remainder of the research.
Other citations that include Mumford will be indicated in the traditional way.
4. There is obviously an analogy to be made here to our role as followers of Jesus and
the capabilities needed in the universal church to be effective at creating the Kingdom
of God.
5. One area where I see an example of this phenomenon is in the context of eldercare.
Ours is the first generation of people who must deal with significant and long-term
interpersonal, social and financial issues associated with the commandment to honour
one’s elderly father and mother. In addition, advances in medical care have made the
end stage of life a long and often sad and difficult process. This is a complex social
issue that crosses generations and creates substantial need for legal, financial,
emotional, medical and spiritual advice and support. Also, where there are aged
congregations, who often represent the most faithful followers, there may be financial
difficulties and loneliness from lack of family attention or social isolation. There is a
large gap between the life of a healthy elder and a declining elder. The transition from
one state to the other is often the time when the needs of the elders are the greatest . . .
and least noticed.
6. The same argument regarding the need for different capabilities could be made as a
congregation becomes more heterogeneous. Sometimes, size and heterogeneity are
related, other situations may reflect a change in the neighbourhood demographics or
age of the congregation. In either case, heterogeneity also changes the task and group
maintenance demands.
 Culture and Religion 317
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