Repository logo
 

Shared leadership and member engagement in Western Protestant house churches: a naturalistic inquiry

dc.contributor.authorVeliquette, Abigail J., author
dc.contributor.authorLynham, Susan A., advisor
dc.contributor.authorGloeckner, Gene, committee member
dc.contributor.authorMumford, Troy, committee member
dc.contributor.authorSmallwood, Steve, committee member
dc.date.accessioned2007-01-03T05:54:05Z
dc.date.available2007-01-03T05:54:05Z
dc.date.issued2013
dc.description.abstractWestern Protestant churches measure success through member engagement. Waning church member engagement has led some to argue that ineffective leadership structures are to blame. While the possibility of shared leadership has been advanced to this end, its use in Western Protestant Church settings has yet to be explored and understood. Thus, this study sought to inform and illuminate how member engagement occurred in Western Protestant house churches that practiced shared leadership. This study was conducted within the Naturalistic paradigm, utilizing the embedded methodologies of hermeneutic phenomenology and ethnography to (a) understand the lived experience and in situ culture of individuals who attend Western Protestant churches where shared leadership is practiced and its perceived effect on their resulting engagement as members of those churches and (b) based on these findings, offer thick description for deep understanding, informed action, and further study as to how shared leadership might be utilized within Western Protestant churches to foster member engagement. Findings indicated that he culture of the house churches selected could best be described through the practiced mediums of the house church including meeting in homes, fellowship time, the physical set up, the flexible structure, and the study of scripture. These mediums were indicative of the underlying beliefs, values, and assumptions of the house church culture. Additionally, the adaptive nature of the church has, in notable part, instigated this shift towards house churches. Some of the manifestations of this shift are seen through the enactment of shared leadership as visible through decision-making and the ways in which church members take initiative to be involved. Additionally, the manifestation of church member engagement is visible through how these members construct, shared and individual, the experiences of participation in the weekly gatherings, interaction throughout the week, and an increased sense of ownership and responsibility. Finally, the themes that had emerged were predominantly confirmed via a final quantitative member checking survey and enabled me to develop contextualized definitions for shared leadership and engagement.
dc.format.mediumborn digital
dc.format.mediumdoctoral dissertations
dc.identifierVeliquette_colostate_0053A_11838.pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10217/80186
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relation.ispartof2000-2019
dc.rightsCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.
dc.subjectorganizational leadership
dc.subjectleadership
dc.subjectWestern Protestant Church
dc.subjectengagement
dc.subjecthuman resource development
dc.titleShared leadership and member engagement in Western Protestant house churches: a naturalistic inquiry
dc.typeText
dcterms.rights.dplaThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
thesis.degree.disciplineEducation
thesis.degree.grantorColorado State University
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Veliquette_colostate_0053A_11838.pdf
Size:
2.47 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description: