Date

4-29-2026

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (EdD)

Chair

Gary Bredfeldt

Keywords

pastoral leadership, lead pastors, congregationalism, in-person worship attendance, post-COVID in-person worship attendance growth, North Carolina Southern Baptist Churches

Disciplines

Christianity | Leadership Studies

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological research is to examine and reveal the perceived experiences of pastoral leadership in post-COVID in-person worship attendance growth among North Carolina Southern Baptist Churches (NCSBCs) operating within the framework of congregational polity. The theory guiding this study is that pastoral leadership is vital for post-COVID in-person worship growth in Southern Baptist Churches (Bryan, 2024; Hudson, 2018). Hudson’s (2018) competency model for church revitalization identifies pastoral leadership as “one of the most consistent predictors of a church’s ability to grow after a period of plateau or decline” (p. 3). The unique leadership structure of Southern Baptist Churches (SBCs) includes congregationalism, a theological perspective in which church members exercise governing authority in the local church (Finn, 2017). The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSCNC) provided statistical information for this study, showing that 87.40% of NCSBCs did not experience post-COVID growth in in-person worship attendance in 2023 and 2024. After receiving Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, the researcher conducted in-person, semi-structured interviews with 12 lead pastors serving NCSBCs that have experienced high post-COVID growth. All participants were adults over 18. Additionally, all lead pastors were male, consistent with Article VI of the Baptist Faith and Message, the Southern Baptist Convention’s confessional statement.

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