Does Your Church Trust Your Leadership?

Do pastors consider themselves leaders? What do their church members think? One national study said most pastors are not effective visionary or motivational leaders by classical definitions, but our research found that pastors (98%) see what they do as leadership, and their congregations agree. Only two percent of pastors in our study do not consider themselves leaders. Likewise, only six percent of congregants did not consider their pastors to be leaders, although 99 percent admit that their pastors possess some leadership skills.

These findings run contrary to conclusions made in 2002 by researcher George Barna, who claims less than two-thirds of pastors actually possess leadership skills.

Overall, three-fourths of pastors are confident in describing their leadership style:

1. Pastors who have been in ministry more than 20 years are more likely to know their leadership style (86% versus 65% under 20 years).
2. Pastors who lead a church of above average size (89% versus 65% under 200 worship attendance) are also more likely to know their leadership style.

Name That Style

In our study, more than half of pastors consider shepherding and bridge-building to be their leadership style when given the chance to select up to five of the ten styles listed. Four in ten pastors said their style is directional, team-building, and visionary; however, entrepreneurial style was least likely to be checked and most likely to be the style pastors say they do not have. Other styles that one in three pastors admit lacking are reengineering, strategizing, visionary, and managing. Surprisingly, pastors with over 20 years in ministry are significantly more likely to lack a managing style (37% versus 18% with under 20 years in ministry), as are pastors at churches with over 200 in worship attendance (36% versus 22% under 200).

CEO or Shepherd?

Although many advocate a business or CEO model for pastoral leadership, fewer than ten percent of pastors admit to or are seen using this approach. Pastors are most likely to say they use the coach/team model of leadership (35%), but only 13 percent of members identify this model in practice. Instead, congregants most often observe their pastors modeling shepherd/sheep leadership (33%), or a shared leadership/peers relationship (23%).

Pastors Get Good Grades

Most churchgoers see their pastors in a positive light and are less critical of them than pastors are of themselves. But pastors and congregations differ as to the types of leadership skills pastors possess. Pastors rate themselves higher in the areas of administrative, manager-type skills, whereas congregations rate pastors higher in pastoral, interpersonal leadership skills. The gaps between the two assessments can be significant. For example, when compared with ratings from their church members, pastors rate themselves significantly higher in several areas. The pastor is:

1. adaptable (72% of pastors versus 48% of congregants)
2. flexible (65% versus 46%)
3. practical (60% versus 48%)
4. analytical (54% versus 29%).

These skills are often applied behind the scenes, where most churchgoers do not see their pastors’ daily work routine. On the other hand, pastors’ self-assessments may reflect their strong desire to exhibit these skills.

But the congregation gave pastors better grades in some skills than pastors gave themselves. The pastor is:

1. enthusiastic (74% of congregants versus 65% of pastors)
2. helpful (66% versus 49%)
3. inspiring (64% versus 42%)
4. thoughtful (61% versus 49%)
5. self-confident (57% versus 38%)
6. receptive (51% versus 38%)
7. thorough (44% versus 22%)

Modesty could be the reason pastors rated themselves lower in these more outward-focused skills.

In spring 2003, 168 pastors who subscribe to Leadership and Your Church completed surveys for this study. The results are considered accurate to within eight percentage points 95 percent of the time. Participating pastors were asked to distribute congregant surveys, and 1,388 were returned, yielding a margin of error of three percentage points for the congregant part of the study. The complete report on Pastoral Leaders may be obtained online at www.ChristianityTodayResearch.com.

John C. LaRue, Jr., is vice president of Internet research and development at Christianity Today International.

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