Date

7-15-2024

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Chair

Michael P. Sanders

Keywords

Annual Employee Evaluation, Pastoral Evaluation, Congregation-Led Church, Pastor, Committee, Strategy, Leadership, Character, Calling, Evaluation

Disciplines

Practical Theology | Religion

Abstract

Surrendering to the biblical mandate and God's call to pastoral ministry produces profound joy. However, pastoral burnout intensifies, and pastors leave the ministry at a staggering rate. Adding to the pressure of pastoral ministry, many churches implement an annual pastoral performance review policy. Imitating secular employment performance reviews, many churches base successful pastoral ministry on numerical metrics, performance goals, and preaching effectiveness. The researcher evaluated various pastoral evaluation forms across different denominations. Additionally, the researcher investigated the biblical theology of pastoral leadership. The action research project aimed to design a comprehensive, intentional, and biblical pastoral evaluation strategy for a congregation-led church. The project aimed to lead congregational leadership through an eight-week course that equips participants with the STEP Pastoral Evaluation Strategy. The research data was a pre-course questionnaire that collected participants' insights and views on pastoral evaluations, behavioral observations as a collective group, and a post-course survey. The data revealed that participants are willing to embrace a strategy that evaluates pastoral leadership comprehensively, intentionally, and biblically. When churches are willing to embrace the STEP Pastoral Evaluation Strategy, then congregations have a clear pastoral evaluation strategy that produces a unifying purpose in pastoral evaluations.

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