The Antecedents and Consequences of Evaluation in Pastoral Leadership

Lead evangelical pastors in the United States must deal with an adaptive problem as secularization becomes more of a reality in their context. How pastors evaluate and describe that problem in their context will determine how they respond. A tremendous amount of literature has been written about the relationship between problem evaluation and problem response in leadership. But there is a lack of research exploring how certain antecedents might influence the evaluation process for pastors, specifically self-differentiation, congregational expectations, and a missional identity. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how lead pastors in the United States describe the effects of secularization on the church they are leading, how they have responded to the impact of secularization on their churches, and their awareness of specific antecedents influencing their evaluation of the impact of secularization throughout the process. To collect data, the researcher conducted semistructured interviews. The sample (N = 10) consisted of lead pastors in the Nazarene denomination with at least 8 years of experience as a lead pastor. Three implications emerged from the findings: (a) secularization is implicit, complex, and highly contextual in the United States; (b) effective pastors responded to secularization with a vision developed from both a strong problem evaluation and a missional identity; and (c) pastors can steer congregational expectations instead of reacting to them when they develop strategy and vision from both a strong problem evaluation and missional identity. Out of the three implications, three recommendations for practice emerged. One, because secularization is highly contextual, it is imperative that pastors evaluate the problem of secularization as it manifests itself in their context. Two, pastors should cultivate a missional identity that informs their vision for the church. Third, pastors should leverage their vision for the church, born out of their missional identity and ...