Toward an "Ageless Thinking" Congregation: A Study of the Leadership Culture of an Historic Canadian Church in Order to Steward its Heritage Ethos in the Adaptive Challenges of the Future

Abstract

The thesis Toward an 'Ageless Thinking' Congregation uses ethnographic research techniques to understand the leadership culture of a congregation in order to be able to steward its heritage ethos into a discontinuous future. The theological rationale underpinning the project focuses on the nature of the church as old and new and the congregation as a complex adaptive family. The literature review focuses on understanding the culture of a congregation, a survey of the transitional leaders' attributes and actions, and a basic understanding of the learning organization. A comparison of one congregation's historic vs. current leadership culture was conducted so as to understand the trajectory of its leadership culture. The historic leadership culture was determined through a group interview with long-term attendees and questionnaires sent to former clergy and lay leaders. The current leadership culture was determined through a group interview of current attendees and questionnaires sent to a group of current attendees. The research was coded and several themes of both the past and present leadership culture were established. A process to implement the findings was determined and one example of implementing a finding using the pattern was conducted. Conclusions in the form of themes for the church's main leadership bodies to consider are included for further discussion and implementation.