Date

5-20-2026

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (EdD)

Chair

Alvin W. Dockett

Keywords

Organizational change, Team leadership, Adoptive church, Unity, Love

Disciplines

Educational Leadership | Leadership Studies

Abstract

The goal of this proposal was to implement the first six steps of Kotter’s eight-step organizational change model at Emmanuel Lutheran Church to help the leadership improve unity and cohesion within the congregation. A key part of this process was training a guiding coalition of important leaders in essential communication skills, team leadership, and intergenerational ministry concepts. Successfully completing this process and training positioned the congregation to serve its community as a family-oriented culture where disconnected and disillusioned people can find belonging. Using a well-known organizational change theory in a church setting presents its own challenges for pastoral leaders, who must guide their congregations through institutional resistance by building stronger team trust and increasing structural transparency, thereby fostering greater unity within the leadership team.

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