Developing spiritual leadership training materials for local church leaders of Central Luzon Conference

Abstract

Leadership plays a vital role in the development and success of any church organization. Many authors write about the importance of spiritual leadership on the progress of the organization. Since quality leadership is inevitable in the success of the organization, it implies that developing leaders toward spiritual leadership is imperative in the growth of the church organization. The purpose of this study is to develop training materials focusing on spiritual leadership development. This can be used in training local church leaders towards spiritual leadership development. At the onset of this project, a need assessment survey was conducted to determine the problems of the local churches and the possible alternative solution. Survey results showed that lack of spirituality is the prevalent problem in the churches. Survey findings also disclosed that there is a need for training materials and seminar focusing on spiritual leadership development. Hence, developing materials for spiritual leadership development and employing it in training local church leaders are appropriate solution to the problem. Before proceeding to the formulation of the training materials, this study examined the training done by Jesus to His disciples to determine the concept, foundation, process, and focus of spiritual leadership development. The theology of divine revelation through the ministry of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit together with J. Robert Clinton’s theory of leadership development and John M. Fowler’s theory of faith development were also discussed. The findings on these studies shaped the formulation of the training materials for spiritual leadership development. Using the materials developed in this project, a training seminar was conducted for the local church leaders of Area 8 of the Central Luzon Conference. The evaluation of the training seminar and of the materials used was done by using questionnaires, interviews, and personal observations. The results of the evaluation showed that the training materials developed in this study are effective tools in developing local church leaders towards spiritual leadership. Some suggestions for better spiritual leadership seminar are also presented.