Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Kathleen Beagles

Second Advisor

Tevni Grajales

Third Advisor

Boubakar Sanou

Abstract

Problem

An issue of major concern in Adventist universities in the territory of the Inter- American Division is the lack of training in the subject of leadership at the undergraduate level. The curriculum focuses more on the biblical and spiritual areas, while it neglects to offer those classes that develop leadership skills. Since pastors are the model leaders for their congregations, this course on Christian leadership, with an emphasis on the "servant-model," will help to train pastors in this area, hopefully coping with the current leadership training deficiency.

Method

A theoretical foundation was established for suggesting and developing a servant leadership course for the Inter-American Adventist Theological Seminary. This foundation was based on biblical, theological research and on the current leadership literature. Backward Design (Wiggins and McTighe) was used for the development of the Servant Leadership model course.

Results

There are no tangible results since this modular course has not been implemented. It was designed in the context of an in-residence cohort in leadership. However, there is a notable example of those who apply the servant-leadership model in their ministry. The perfect example was Jesus who chose twelve men (including some who had no academic degrees) and, in three and a half years of public ministry, He prepared them to lead the world. Similarly, strengthening the leadership of our church leaders as they follow the model Jesus taught and apply it to their ministry is the aim of this course.

Conclusion

The emphasis of the Christian leadership course on the servant-leadership model will be an important tool for all the leaders of the Inter-American Division. The servantleadership model has been challenging the old leadership paradigm for more than 40 decades. Even though several scholars have suggested that this model is only for Christian environments, the paradox is that secular leaders are using this model more than Christian leaders. This model has demonstrated that everybody engages in the organization mission, vision, and goals and, as a result, the organization develops and grows faster and stronger because the motto is about service and serving others first. The model of servant-leadership as Jesus taught us is still the leadership of excellence. Christian leaders of this new millennium have been called to accept and face with love, faith, humility, and service the challenge of our world today in all its aspects: social, economic, political, and religious.

Subject Area

Christian leadership--Study and teaching, Servant leadership--Religious aspects, Inter-American Adventist Theological Seminary

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dmin/291/

Download

Share

COinS