wfn.org | Duke surveying clergy on pastoral leadership

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

May 23, 2001 News media contact: Thomas S. McAnally·(615)742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn.  10-71B{245}

 

By David Reid*

DURHAM, N.C. - Duke University Divinity School is overseeing a survey of
1,450 clergy nationwide this month as part of a comprehensive study on
pastoral leadership in America. 

"We want to see what excellent ministry looks like, what nurtures it and the
relationship between leadership and congregational vitality," said the Rev.
Jackson W. Carroll, director of "Pulpit & Pew: Research on Pastoral
Leadership," the school's research project that commissioned the survey.
"Our major emphasis will be on pastors of Christian churches - everything
from storefronts to mega-churches - but Buddhists, Jews and Muslims will
also be surveyed." 

The survey, believed to be the largest of its kind in the past three
decades, will document the religious leaders' call to ministry, their
educational backgrounds, time spent in various ministerial roles, family
life concerns and leadership styles. It also will look at pastors' morale,
on- and off-the-job stress, their emotional and physical health and the
support they receive from their denominations and congregations. 

The survey is a key component of "Pulpit & Pew," a four-year research
project to strengthen the quality of clergy and lay leaders in churches.
Church leaders from the United Methodist Church 23 other Christian
denominations are participating in and helping advise the project. 

"Pulpit & Pew" has four major components:  research into recent changes that
affect pastoral leadership;  reflection on the practice of pastoral
leadership; formation of pastoral leaders for continual learning and growth;
and identification of policies and practices that support  creative pastoral
leadership in vital congregations.

The overall project is supporting research on a variety of topics,
including: pastors who are forced out of their churches; how exemplary
church leaders grapple with public issues; pastoral leadership among
African-American clergy; images of pastors in popular media; pressures faced
by recently ordained Catholic priests; expectations of lay pastoral search
committees; issues for women in ordained ministry; leadership lessons from
new-paradigm or cell-based churches; and trends in clergy salaries. 

Initial research reports from some of the projects are scheduled to be
released this summer. Findings from the telephone survey of clergy are due
to be released in the fall. 

The survey results will be combined with the results of additional
questionnaires that were distributed to pastors through a separate study,
the "U.S. Congregational Life Survey," a project to survey approximately
850,000 church members in 3,000 congregations. "The Congregational Life
Survey" was conducted earlier this month and is sponsored by the
Presbyterian Church U.S.A. 

"Because we are working cooperatively with the Congregational Life Survey,"
said Carroll, "we will be able to correlate pastors' understandings of
leadership with those of their own congregations. We will be very interested
to see if they share the same attitudes about the keys to successful
leadership. This should help us describe what is required to become a good
pastoral leader." 

The divinity school's telephone survey is being conducted by National
Opinion Research Center, a social research organization based at the
University of Chicago. Participants will receive a summary of the findings. 

"Pulpit & Pew" is underwritten by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., a
private, Indianapolis-based foundation that supports community development,
education and religion.

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* Reid is director of communications for Duke University Divinity School. 

 

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United Methodist News Service
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