Abstract
The role of Christian leaders has always been prominent in the Church. Whether in the form of full time Christian leaders, volunteer leaders such as youth workers or children's workers, vi1tually every aspect of church life is in some way or another connected to the role of Christian leaders. Within the framework of practical theology this thesis examines some of the primary issues confronting contemporary Christian leaders.Arguing that Western society has undergone significant cultural change and shift in the past fifty years, the thesis identifies some of the major expressions of this change and their consequences for Christian leaders. There has been a primary focus upon identifying the cultural shift, authority structures and moral ambiguities in contemporary Western society. These factors have an inevitable impact upon leadership paradigms and strategies and the correlation between them and the praxis and strategy of Christian leadership forms the focus of this thesis.
A particular emphasis of the work has been to create a synthesis between cultural shift, authority structure and moral ambiguity with their impact on Christian leaders, their paradigms and praxis. This has been achieved through a careful and extensive literature review and an empirical research project involving a random stratified sample of Assemblies of God (UK) ministers. The literature review and the empirical work are consistently cross referenced in order to provide a comprehensive attempt at describing missional leadership.
The genre of literature relative to this research project is copious. This is reflected in the bibliography and footnotes. The total word count of 96,391 (excluding footnotes and bibliography), although at the upper limit allowed for this project, does reflect the broad scope of engagement with the relevant literature.
| Date of Award | Mar 2010 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | William Kay (Supervisor) |
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