Experiences of Pentecostal Leadership: A Phenomenological Study among Norwegian Pastors
Experiences of Pentecostal Leadership: A Phenomenological Study among Norwegian Pastors
Truls Åkerlund | 2017
Abstract
Despite the exceptional growth of Pentecostalism over the last century, little research has been done on the nature of Pentecostal leadership. This study offers a better understanding of the essential characteristics of the phenomenon through a phenomenological analysis of the lived leadership experience of Norwegian Pentecostal pastors. Utilizing Giorgi’s (2009) descriptive phenomenological method based on Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology, the study detected a general structure of Pentecostal leadership comprised of eight constituents: (a) motivated by a sense of higher, divine purpose—the leader’s motivation to lead comes from a deep sense of commitment to serve God’s plans and purposes for the congregation and the world; (b) derived leadership—pastors see their leadership as derived from God, implying that they lead on behalf of someone else; (c) human and divine agency in a seamless interaction between rationality and spirituality—the idea of being led by God liberates rather than limits the leader to proactively engage in organizational matters, and the Pentecostal belief that God is active in every aspect of life frees him to seamlessly combine spirituality and rationality in leading the organization; (d) pragmatic and eclectic stance towards the Pentecostal tradition—the leader draws on the Pentecostal tradition in eclectic and often unsystematic ways and approaches Pentecostal spirituality as a dynamic reservoir, something to be defined as much as defining; (e) persuasive communication—in setting the direction for the Pentecostal congregation, the leader relies more on persuasion than position, making verbal communication an important means of influence; (f) dialectic relationship between structure and agency—organizational structures simultaneously enable and constrain leadership agency, meaning that the leader’s ability to influence the organization depends on his ability to adapt to the organization; (g) adaptive to context—Pentecostal leadership considers and adapts to the sociocultural context in which it is situated; and (h) involving the leader’s entire life—the leader leads the Pentecostal organization with his life, having modeling as a prime source of influence. The findings’ implications for theory and practice are considered, as are comparisons with organizational leadership theory and suggestions for further research.