Date
7-22-2025
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (EdD)
Chair
Andy Wood
Keywords
church planters, situational leadership, SBTC, leadership development, growth
Disciplines
Educational Leadership | Leadership Studies
Recommended Citation
McKinley, Alton R., "Church Survivability: A Qualitative Study on Planters’ Leadership Development Role in Southern Baptist Texas Convention Planting" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7240.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7240
Abstract
Since the pandemic, there has been an accelerated decline in church membership, and within groups of young adults, there are alarming trends that raise concern for the direction of the church. Wang (2022) wrote that the decline is about 10 percentage points between 2019 and 2021 for those under age 35 and those 65+, but only four percent for the middle-aged group. This increased decline in attendance can be addressed by developing leaders who are well-equipped to handle many issues and problems simultaneously. Many secular leadership development concepts will help leaders become more efficient and practical. Winston (2018), in his book Biblical Principles of Leading and Managing Employees, writes about leadership concepts in the Book of the Galatians and the importance of applying them to leadership development. These concepts and approaches foster awareness to learn enriching approaches and elements of a leader that can have a lasting effect on leadership growth. Therefore, the frame in which Christian leaders view the Church has become increasingly ineffective, gaining the hearts and trust of those who desire to worship. The writer of Hebrews reminds the followers of Christ not to “forsake our assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh” (American Standard Version, 1929, Hebrews 10:25). The purpose of this phenomenological study will be to explore the leadership experience of SBTC church planters who have led successful church plants in North Texas. At this stage in the research, success was generally defined as church plants that have grown five percent annually over the last 5 years. The theory guiding this study was situational leadership theory II.
