Post-Seminary Professional Development of Christian Church Leaders: A Phenomenological Study

• Main Author: Williams, Michelle Dusheé
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2022
• Subjects: Biblical studies; Educational leadership; Higher education; Pastoral Counseling; Pedagogy; Religious education
• ISBN: 9798837541179

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how experiences with mentoring lived, professional turning points, and crises of faith influenced post-seminary professional development for Christian church leaders in Southern Michigan. The theoretical foundation that guided the development of the study was based on Mezirow’s transformative learning and Kolb’s experiential learning theories, which assert that lessons from lived experiences are significant and influence individual development. The theoretical underpinnings served as a framework to connect the church leaders’ lived experiences to the influences of post-seminary professional development, and to address the three research questions. The overriding research question that guided this study asked how Christian church leaders describe their lived experiences with mentoring, professional turning points, and crises of faith as having influenced their post-seminary professional development. The research sample consisted of 12 Christian apostolic church leaders holding pastoral positions for two or more years. The interviews consisted of semi-structured research questions and were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results revealed that Christian church leaders’ lived experiences influenced all three aspects of their post-seminary professional development. Future research may consist of continual exploration of Christian church leaders’ post-seminary professional development in order to better understand how to train emerging church leaders more effectively and meet their needs regarding life-long learning and practice.