Psychological type profile of Lead Elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches in the United Kingdom

This study set out to examine the psychological type profile of Lead Elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches in the United Kingdom and to compare this profile with the established profile of clergymen in the Church of England. A sample of 134 Lead Elders completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales. The study shows that Newfrontiers Lead Elders display slight preferences for extraversion over introversion, for sensing over intuition, and for thinking over feeling, and a strong preference for judging over perceiving. These findings contrast with the profile of Church of England clergymen who prefer introversion over extraversion, intuition over sensing, and feeling over thinking, but who also display a less pronounced preference for judging over perceiving. Within the Newfrontiers leadership the most frequently reported types were ISTJ (16%) and ESTJ (13%), while among Church of England clergymen the most frequently reported types were INTJ (11%) and ISTJ (10%). The implications of these findings are discussed for the distinctive strengths, challenges and opportunities facing the leadership within the Newfrontiers network of churches