21st Century Church Leadership and Pastor Preparation

This study examined 21st-century American churches and the pastors who lead them to determine whether those pastors who attended seminaries, traditional universities, or denominational institutions were more academically prepared to grow church membership, increase weekly attendance, retain members, manage high-impact leadership teams, and engage in local church formation than were pastors who did not attend or complete any academic institution. The researcher examined the academic completion levels, leadership and church growth characteristics, and professional training of the participating pastors from six broadly defined categories: (a) pastors who participated in the 2014-2015 Outreach/LifeWay magazine survey; (b) pastors who participated in the 2014-2015 The Global Leader Summit-TGLS; (c) pastors of the 2014-2015 The Church Network (TCN) Certified Church Administrator (CCA) members; (d) pastors from the Church of the Nazarene K-Church project; (e) Best Christian Workplaces Institute (BCWI) respondent client pastors; and (f) pastors who were mentored under the leadership of a megachurch pastor located in the Midwest. The researcher compared the pastoral groups in leadership characteristics and identified their leadership commonalities. The research findings should assist pastors, clergy and denominational leaders, seminary faculty, church committees and administrators, to improve clergy recruitment, continuous learning initiatives and effective leadership development training for the 21st-century church