Leadership and Religion

 

Religion can often be a danced-around subject, especially in the sciences. However, it provides lots of opportunities to observe leadership and followership in a non-work environment. The interaction between followers and leaders in a church environment is very dynamic. This post will discuss the many applications of leadership theories with the interplay of religious leaders and their followers. Out of familiarity with American/Western culture, I will use Christianity as the example throughout this post, but many concepts can be applied to other religions which are more prominent in other areas of the world. 

Religious leaders, such as preachers and pastors, possess certain powers within a church setting: referent, expert, and legitimate power. Referent power is established from likeability, expert powers are based on the credibility of knowledge relevant to the purpose or goal , and legitimate power is associated with the status of the position held within the organization (Northouse, P. G. (2021) page 11). In the church institution, referent power would be seen in the way the pastors and other religious leaders get along with the members. Although some denominations are more hierarchical, many congregations have the direct ability to select their own pastor or at least can exert significant influence over getting a pastor moved to a different church.  Thus, if they are not successful at fostering relationships through referent power, they are likely to fail.  Expert power is established by one’s knowledge on the history of the religion and ancient texts regarding the faith.  Although some of the newer independent denominations don’t require formal training, most require years of study that make the pastor an authority that people in the congregation will respect for their knowledge.  Legitimate power is created through appointment by denomination leadership.  The appointment comes with certain rights and responsibilities that are understood and reinforced by the organization through policies and procedure manuals.  

Some pastors can rely more on one of these powers than others.  For example, in the Catholic church, the priest is considered a voice of God and their appointment by the church, legitimate power, overrides all the other powers.  In some of the newer independent denominations, the charisma and likeability, referent power, is most important.  The Congregational church values individual intellectual study of the Bible and the congregation selects their own pastor.  In that case, expert power is appreciated more than the others.  In any one of these cases, the most successful leaders will combine the different powers to become an even more effective leader and can create a strong followership that helps achieve the goals of the organization. 

Moreover, there are specific skills and behaviors that religious leaders would benefit from having more than others. Based on the Mumford Skills Model, competencies such as social judgment and social skills are imperative for religious leaders. These skills involve the ability to take perspective and empathizing with others; behavioral flexibility that allows one to change the way they interact with others based on other people’s perspectives; and the ability to communicate goals, visions, and messages to the others. (Northouse, P. G. (2021) page 65). Social skills are very important because religious leaders have to respond to a lot of different situations that involve interactions with others. The ability to effectively communicate the goals of the church and religion while empathizing with the needs of the congregation is one of the most important duties of a preacher’s position. 

Additionally, because the behavioral flexibility is critical, another theory that supports the role of religious leaders is the situational approach. The situational approach suggests that different situations require different styles of leadership. (PSU WC, 2022, L. 5 p.12). The leadership styles include directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating. Directing focuses on achieving goals through specific instructions without a lot of concern for supportive behaviors, coaching focuses both on the goals of the organization and the followers needs, supporting leaders tend to focus more on the followers and  include them in the decision making process within the organization, and delegating leaders tend to put the majority of the goals and tasks in the hands of the followers (PSU WC, 2022, L. 5 p.13). 

Religious leaders may need to be more directive when coordinating specific events with volunteers.  For example, if the church holds a seminar on family and youth interaction in the church, the pastor is likely to give specific directions about participation, setup, breakdown, etc.  

A pastor may utilize a coaching approach when helping a new employee in a fairly high position.  A good example might be when a church hires a youth director when the pastor has previously been filling that role until the job got too big.  The pastor, when they hire the individual, already has a good idea of what they want the person to do.  If they are filling a pre-existing role, there may even be guidelines about how they should do the job. The pastor has definite objectives in mind and gives instructions to the new person that they believe will help them achieve the goals.

When working with groups who might become future leaders in the church, the pastor may employ a supporting style because they need to be attentive to the engagement and informational needs of their audience while trying to convey the key points of the message.  A good example of this would be when the pastor is preparing a youth group for a mission trip.  They want to encourage the youth to be excited about the trip while learning information that they need to successfully.  Allowing them to have input gives them emotional buy-in and more excitement about the trip.  

In many churches the pastor technically reports to a board of senior members of the church.  In this position the pastor employs a delegating leadership style.  An example of this would be for meetings where members of a church are taking votes on church direction, reviewing budgets and receiving input on current state of affairs within the church.  In these cases playing a delegating role empowers the lay leaders.  The diversity of ideas can result in decisions that can both attract new members and increase retention.

 Another important factor to consider is the followership involved within a religious institution. Followership is acceptance of an individual to become a leader (Northouse, P. G. (2021) page 353). In this perspective, leadership is seen as a co-created process in which the leadership behaviors act in conjunction with the follower behaviors which then produces the leadership in-action and the outcomes that come after (Northouse, P. G. (2021) page 364). Because of the heavy interaction among different members of a congregation, a pastor must be able to receive and consider their feedback. For, they may influence him or her just as much as he or she influences individual  members of the church when it comes to planning lessons or sermons and events.  Receiving input from the followers or congregation allows religious leaders to address their followers’ needs and desires and incorporate their responses into his or her behaviors. This establishes a communication channel that allows followers to be an active participant in the decisions made by the church and feel a sense of belonging. 

There are many ways religious leaders utilize leadership theory and the many hats they wear can directly impact how people see the religion and how they see the institutions. Being flexible in behavior and adaptive in how one handles situations is a great way to be an effective leader, and is especially important for leaders whose primary job is to work and interact with people. Religious leaders are very similar to other leaders, however, their goals can be much different from other organizations, thus the leadership practices should be examined. It is important to see how psychological factors are related to aspects of people’s lives  so we can observe the real-time application of them. 

 

References 

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2022). PSYCH 485 Retrieved from 

https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2181168/modules/items/35188530 

Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory & Practice (9 ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Inc.