Collegial leadership in context of the mission pastor

The central theme of this dissertation is collegial leadership, an emerging leadership style in America. It synthesizes insights from secular and Christian writers, and the author's personal experiences as a Christian leader. The purpose of this dissertation is to define and formulate collegiality as it applies to the term of "mission pastor" and its impact upon church leaders and the mission of the church.

Change is part of the culture as we near the twenty-first century. First, the American culture is in transition as it redefines and understands the power and authority of the leader. Second, gender differences and confusion of these roles are presently impacting ministry and mission.

Biblically, the Theology of Creation in Genesis and Jesus' transformational theology, particularly in John's Gospel, provide a basis for collegial ministry. Not to be confused with equality, collegiality is a process, moving from a distant place to a place of respectful-credibility, meaning relational boundaries and the integrity of self.

The dissertation will be divided into three sections. The first section defines collegiality and provides a Biblical and theological foundation for collegial leadership. Included in this section is a discussion of the rationale in shifting to this new paradigm of leadership. Power and gender roles become the influencing factors as they are integrated with theology and the mission of the church.

The second section provides a new look at the research influencing collegiality. Recent brain research on the Reptilian brain shares a common ground with the Psalmist in understanding what calms and comforts an individual. In addition, the Gregorc Style-Delineator, which is included in Appendix B, gives leaders the skills to develop in the area of respect. A survey is presented in Appendix A that reflects the importance of leaders to communicate and respect boundaries for effective leadership.

The third section formulates the collegial leader-pastor whose worldview has changed from that of a former generation's "professional pastor." Specifically, the collegial missional leader emerges with a view of ministry and vision that integrates transformational theology within the context of the culture. The collegial mission pastor leads from the soul, inspires growth, and lives out the language of respectful-credibility.