2017

McNally, John

Acadia University

Doctor of Ministry

D.Min.

Acadia Divinity College

This research evolved from a series of Leadership Sessions at the East Preston United Baptist Church (EPUBC) which began in November, 2010. In these sessions, the need for formal training in Leadership was identified. This Thesis explores the efficacy of the Church equipping with education and training, in the best practices of Empowering Leadership, for transformation in the Church. A four-month collaborative qualitative action research project was conducted with core leaders of the Church. The research revealed that Leaders not only need Leadership education and training, but they also need to be practically equipped, encouraged and empowered through confidence-building support. The Empowering Leadership practices identified by Kouzes and Posner in their global research, as described in their book, The Leadership Challenge®, were selected to guide the Church’s equipping efforts in five exemplary leadership practices. Leaders are trained to operate at their “personal best,” using all of their gifts, and to equip and empower others to turn “shared values into action.” Through training in these practices, ministry assignments, and feedback, the EPUBC Leadership Team has risen to a higher level of engagement and empowerment in their Leadership practices. The biblical mandates of servant leadership, humility, utilization of gifts, and the priesthood of all believers, provide support for the Church providing this type of education. This concept is also theologically connected to the Doctrines of Creation and Humanity, the Trinity, and the Church. Further, the notion of liberation, as espoused in Black Liberation and local Black Church theology, is advanced in the participative and customized nature of Empowering Leadership. The Church plans to carry forward the practices of Empowering Leadership to be used by all.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:2194