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This is to certify that the

dissertation entitled

An Assessment of Practicing Seventh-day Adventist Ministers'
Perceived Administrative Skills: Implications for
Curriculum in Ministerial Training

presented by

Earlington Winston Guiste

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

Ph.D. degreein College 8. University

 

Administration

Major professor

Date eé/é/ 5/

MS U is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution 0-12771

 

 

MSU

LIBRARIES
m

 

 

RETURNING MATERIALS:
Place in book drop to
remove this checkout from
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AN ASSESSMENT OF PRACTICINC SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST
MINISTERS' PERCEIVED ADMINISTRATIVE SKILLS:
IMPLICATIONS FOR CURRICULUM IN
MINISTERIAL TRAINING

By

Earlington Winston Guiste

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Educational Administration

1985

ABSTRACT
AN ASSESSMENT OF PRACTICING SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST
MINISTERS' PERCEIUED ADMINISTRATIvE SKILLS:
IMPLICATIONS FOR CURRICULUM IN
MINISTERIAL TRAINING
By

Earlington Winston Cuiste

Purpose of the Study

 

The study was designed to assess the perceptions
which practicing Seventh-day Adventist ministers, in four
conferences, have of their own administrative skills in order
to gain a better understanding of their competencies and
needs; and to compare the ministers' assessments of their
skills on the basis of seven independent variables to deter-

mine their effects on those assessments.

Methodology

 

A sixty-eight item survey instrument was developed
on the basis of the Likert scale model, and posted to the
population of 242 practicing ministers. Out of the returned
questionnaires, 189 were used as the basis of the analysis.
The independent variables were: conference, ethnic classifi-
cation, ordination, number of churches pastoring, average
membership in pastorate, degree, and minimum church adminis-
tration requirement (CHMN 527). The dependent variables

were: planning, managing, decision making, communicating,

and evaluating. Multivariate Analysis was used to analyze
the seven null hypotheses, and a significance level of 0.05

was set for accepting or rejecting the hypotheses.

Findings

The skills which the ministers perceived themselves
to possess with the greatest degree of competence are the
decision-making skills. This category is followed in diminish-
ing sequence by communicating, planning, managing, and evalu-
ating skills. In regard to the null hypotheses, there were
conference, ethnic classification, number of churches pastor-
ing, average church membership in pastorate, degree, and
minimum church administration requirement (CHMN 52?) effects
on the ministers' assessments of their administrative skills.
Those hypotheses were rejected. There was no ordination
effect, therefore, that hypothesis could not be rejected.

In general, ministers from Regional conferences,
who are Black, pastor one church, have pastorates with average
and above church membership, attained the M.Div. degree and
more, completed the minimum church administration require-
ment (CHMN 527), assessed their levels of skills or competen-
cies higher than the other ministers.

The great majority of the respondents agreed that
the administrative skills are very important for an effective
administration of their churches, but that their academic
ministerial training did not adequately prepare them in those

skills.

DEDICATED

TO

My loving parents,
Joseph and Josephine Guiste

and sisters
Janet, Lilia, Dalia, and Judieth

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Words are insufficient to express my gratitude and
appreciation to God for having kept me alive and in sound
physical and mental health throughout my unforgettable and
very enlightening experience at Michigan State University,
and to all those who have contributed in one way or another
to the successful completion of this research.

Special acknowledgement goes to Dr. Eldon Nonnamaker,
the chairman of my Guidance Committee, for graciously accept-
ing to provide me with the necessary guidance, advice, and
encouragement so vital to my success. He gave more than
one hundred percent of himself, and went beyond the call
of his professional duty in his assistance.

Many thanks to the other members of my Guidance Com-
mittee. To Dr. Ben Bohnhorst for the gentleness and kindness
that flow so naturally from him, and for his intellectual
curiosity that has lead me to clarify certain aspects of
my research; to Dr. Wilbur Brookover for his unwavering sup-
port and availability, and tremendous research insights;
to Dr. Frederick Ignatovich for his example in approaching

his responsibilities with such professionalism, and for the

iii

insightful and unforgettable question with regard to my plans
for the analysis of the data after its collection.

My appreciation to President Charles D. Joseph of
the Lake Region Conference, President Charles Keymer and
Elder Arthur C. Carlson of the Michigan Conference, President
George Earle of the Northeastern Conference, and President
James L. Hayward of the Wisconsin Conference, for allowing
me the privilege to utilize the practicing ministers in their
conferences as the population for the research.

Special thanks to Dr. Paul L. Dressel for the time
he willingly took out of his busy schedule to read both my
proposal and dissertation, and also for the constructive
suggestions he offered; to Dr. Maxie Jackson for his gracious
support as a friend and for the opportunity to be his gradu-
ate assistant; and all practicing and former ministers --
Pastors Robert Jones, Oliver Babienco, Jerry LaFave, Paul
Gonzales, James Claire McKinley, Donald Marsh, Wills Barring-
ton Dixon, Dr. Willie Parker, Paget Maynard, and Kebede Daka
-- for their critical review of my questionnaire in its pre-
paration stage; and to Pastor Stafford Byers for his consis-
tent encouragement of many ministers to fill out and return
the questionnaire.

My sincere gratitude to my parents, Joseph and
Josephine Guiste who provided me with prayers, moral support,
and a solid Christian educational foundation, and without
whom I would not have been in existence; to my sisters, Janet,

Lilia, Dalia, and Judieth for their encouragement; and to

iv

my dear friend, Fitzroy Gardiner, for his contribution to
my educational success.

Last but certainly not least, because she is fore-
most in my mind, my loving wife and best friend, Evelyn
Bernadine Guiste, who made it possible. A million thanks
for being there through it all. I will always be grateful
for her love, kindness, patience, and concern that she demon-
strated throughout my educational experience. That experience

of the experience will never be forgotten.

THANK YOU KINDLY!!!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES O 0 O O O O O I O O O O O O O O O O 0
CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION 0 O O I O O O O O O O O O O O O 0

Statement of Problem . . . . . . . . . . . .
Purpose of the Research . . . . . . . . . .
Significance of the Problem . . . . . . . .
Conceptual Framework and Limitation of

Research . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Underlying Assumptions of the Research
Research Questions . . . . . . . . . .
Research Hypotheses . . . . . . . . .
Definition of Terms . . . . . . . . .

II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE . . . . . . . . .

Introduction . . . . . . . . . .
Leadership . . . . . . . . . .
What is Leadership . . . . .
Notable Theories of Leadership
Trait Theories . . . . . . .
Behavioral Theories . . . .
Contingency Theories . . . .
Power and Authority in Leadership
Notable Theories of Management . . .
Scientific Management Theory . . .
Human Relations Theory . . . . . .
Administrative Theory and Principles
Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Principles . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Evolving Role of the Protestant Min's e
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 t r

III. RESEARCH PROCEDURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Questionnaire Development . . . . . . . . .
Methods of Distribution and Collection of
Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Data Analysis Procedures . . . . . . . . . .

vi

PAGE

viii

16

16
18
l?
18
18
19
21
24
27
27
30
32
32
34
37
44

46
46
47
48

SO
52

CHAPTER
IV. PRESENTATION OF DATA . . . . . . .

Demographic Characteristics . .
Ministers' Evaluation of Their
Administrative Skills . . . .
Research Question 1 . . . .
Research Question 2 and Test
Hypothesis .
Hypothesis 2 .
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Summary . . .
Ministers' Recommendati n
Research Question 3 . .

H

\lmU'll-‘(JJ

o
S

O

of Hypothe

(f) o 0

V. SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS,

AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEA

The Problem . . . . . .
The Purpose of the Study
The Population . . . . .
The Questionnaire . . . . .
Collection and Analysis of Data
Findings . . . . . . . . . . . .
Demographic Characteristics .
Ministers' Overall Assessment
Administrative Skills . .
Research Hypotheses . . . .
Ministers' Recommendations .
Conclusions . . . . . . . . .
Recommendations . . . . . . .
Implications For Further Resear

I:
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I. Table 4.83 . . . . . . . . . .

II. Correspondence with Conference

and Ministers . . . . . . .
III. The Instrument . . . . . . . .

vii

RCH . . .

H o o o o o

3'
mo 0 0
P.

—{o o o o o o o

of

h

Presidents

PAGE

57

58

87
87
89
90
102
113
124
135
148
158
189
173
173

182

182
183
184
184
185
188
188

188
187
191
191
194
198

199
208
208

213
222

LIST OF TABLES

Distribution of Ministers According to
Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Responses Received from Ministers . . . .

Distribution of the Ministers According to
Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Distribution of the Ministers According to
Distribution of the Ministers According to

Distribution of the Ministers According to
fessional Classification . . . . . . . .

Distribution of the Ministers According to
Years of Professional Experience . . . .

Distribution of the Ministers According to
Number of Churches in Pastorates . . . .

Distribution of the Ministers According to
Membership in Pastorate . . . . . . . .

Distribution of the Ministers According to
Degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Distribution of the Ministers According to
Administration Courses Completed . . . .

Ministers' Assessment of Their Planning Skills .

Ranking of Ministers' Assessment of Their
Planning Skills . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ministers' Assessment of Their Managing Skills .

Ranking of Ministers' Assessment of Their
Managing Skills . . . . . . . . . . . .

viii

Page

48

52

59
59

8O

81

82

83

83

84

88

89

71

74

78

Ministers' Assessment of Their Decision-
making Skills 0 C C C O C O C C C C O O O O O

Ranking of Ministers' Assessment of Their
Decision-Making Skills . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ministers' Assessment of Their Communicating
Skills I O O C O C O O C O O O O O O O O O O O

Ranking of Ministers' Assessment of Their
Communicating Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ministers' Assessment of Their Evaluating Skills

Ranking of Ministers' Assessment of Their
Evaluating Skills 0 O O O O O O C C C O O O O

Univariate F-Test for Mean Assessments Accord-
ing to Regional and State Conference with
1.187 Degrees of Freedom . . . . . . . . . . .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Regional
and State ConferenmasMinisters' Assessment of
Their Planning Skills . . . . . . . . . . . .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Regional
and State ConferencasMinisters' Assessment of
Their Managing Skills . . . . . . . . . . . .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Regional
and State Conferences Ministers' Assessment
of Their Decision-Making Skills . . . . . . .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Regional
and State Conferences Ministers' Assessment
of Communicating Skills . . . . . . . . . . .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Regional
and State Conferences Ministers' Assessment
of Their Evaluating Skills . . . . . . . . . .

Univariate F-Test for Mean Assessment According
to Black and Caucasian Ministers with 1.777
Degrees of Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Black
and Caucasian Ministers on Their Assessment
of Their Planning Skills . . . . . . . . . . .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Black

and Caucasian Ministers on Their Assessment
of Their Managing Skills . . . . . . . . . . .

ix

Page

78

BO

82

83

85

87

91

92

94

98

99

101

103

104

107

4.37

Page

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Black
and Caucasian Ministers on their Assessment
of Their Decision-Making Skills . . . . . . . . 109

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Black
and Caucasian Ministers on Their Assessment
of Their Communicating Skills . . . . . . . . . lll

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Black
and Caucasian Ministers on Their Assessment
of Their Evaluating Skills . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Univariate F-Test for Mean Assessment According
to Unordained and Ordained Ministers with
1.187 Degree of Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Un-
ordained and Ordained Ministers Assessment
of Their Planning Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Un-
ordained and Ordained Ministers Assessment
of Their Managing Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Un-
ordained and Ordained Ministers Assessment
Of ThEJLI‘ DECISION-making Skills 0 o o o o o o o 120

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Un-
ordained and Ordained Ministers Assessment
of Their Communicating Skills . . . . . . . . . 122

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of Un-
ordained and Ordained Ministers Assessment
of Their Evaluating Skills . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Univariate F-Test of Mean Assessment Accord-
ing to Ministers Pastoring One Church, and
Ministers Pastoring Two and More Churches
with 1.187 Degrees of Freedom . . . . . . . . . 125

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers Pastoring One Church, and Ministers
Pastoring Two and More Churches on Their
Assessment of Their Planning Skills . . . . . . 127

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers Pastoring One Church, and Ministers
Pastoring Two and More Churches on Their
Assessment of Their Managing Skills . . . . . . 129

Page

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers Pastoring One Church, and Ministers
Pastoring Two and More Churches on Their
Assessment of Their Decision-Making Skills . . . 131

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers Pastoring One Church, and Ministers
Pastoring Two and More Churches on Their
Assessment of Their Communicating Skills . . . . 132

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers Pastoring One Church, and Ministers
Pastoring Two and More Churches on Their
Assessment of Their Evaluating Skills . . . . . 134

Univariate F-Test for Mean Assessment Accord-
ing to Ministers with Less Than Average (349)
Church Membership, and Ministers with Average
(349) and Above Church Membership with 1.187
Degrees of Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers with Less Than Average (349) Church
Membership, and Ministers with Average (349)
and Above Church Membership on Their Assess-
ment of Their Planning Skills . . . . . . . . . 138

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers with Less Than Average (349) Church
Membership, and Ministers with Average (349)
and Above Church Membership on Their Assess-
ment of Their Managing Skills . . . . . . . . . 140

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers with Less Than Average (349) Church
Membership, and Ministers with Average (349)
and Above Church Membership on Their Assess-
of Their Decision-Making Skills . . . . . . . . 142

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers with Less Than Average (349) Church
Membership, and Ministers with Average (349)
and Above Church Membership on Their Assess-
ment of Their Communicating Skills . . . . . . . 144

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers With Less Than Average (349) Church
Membership, and Ministers with Average (349)
and Above Church Membership on Their Assess-
ment of Their Evaluating Skills . . . . . . . . 145

xi

Univariate F-Test for Mean Assessment Accord-
ing to Ministers with Less Than M.Div.
Degrees, and Ministers with M.Div. Degrees and
Above with 1.188 Degrees of Freedom. . . . .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers with Less Than M.Div. Degrees, and
Ministers with M.Div. Degrees and Above on
Their Assessment of Their Planning Skills .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers with Less Than M.Div. Degrees, and
Ministers with M.Div. Degrees and Above on
Their Assessment of Their Managing Skills .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers with Less Than M.Div. Degrees, and
Ministers with M.Div. Degrees and Above on
Their Assessment of Their Decision-Making
Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers with Less Than M.Div. Degrees, and
Ministers with M.Div. Degrees and Above on
Their Assessment of Their Communicating
Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers with Less Than M.Div. Degrees, and
Ministers with M.Div. Degrees and Above on
Their Assessment of Their Evaluating
Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Univariate F-Test for Mean Assessment Accord-

ing to Ministers who did not Complete CHMN527,

and Ministers who Completed CHMN527 and
More with 1.187 Degrees of Freedom . . . . .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers who did not Complete CHMN527, and
Ministers who Completed CHMN527 and more
Administrative Courses on Their Assessment
of Their Planning Skills . . . . . . . . . .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers who did not Complete CHMN527, and
Ministers who Completed CHMN527 and more
Administrative Courses on Their Assessment
of Their Managing Skills . . . . . . . . . .

xii

Page

148

149

151

153

155

157

159

180

182

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers who did not Complete CHMN527, and
Ministers who Completed CHMN527 and more
Administrative Courses on Their Assessment
of Their Decision-Making Skills . . . . . .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers who did not Complete CHMN527, and
Ministers who Completed CHMN527 and more
Administrative Courses on Their Assessment
of Their Communicating Skills . . . . . . .

Means, Rank Order, and Overall Means of
Ministers who did not Complete CHMN527, and
Ministers who Completed CHMN527 and more
Administrative Courses on Their Assessment
of Their Evaluating Skills . . . . . . . . .

Ministers' Perceptions of the Proposed Recom-
mendations O O O O O O O C O O O O O I I O 0

Comparison of Means and Rank of Ministers'
Assessment of Their Administrative Skills .

xiii

Page

184

188

188

174

208

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

All organizations require competent administrators
to successfully direct their course of action for the realiza-
tion of the purposes of their existence. The church as a
non-profit organization is no exception. It needs quality
administrative leadership as much as any other non-profit
or profit-making organization. It has a mission which forms
the basis of its goals and objectives, and their achievement
require not only thorough theological, counseling, preaching,
and teaching knowledge and experience, but also the exposure
of the minister to sound administrative principles, skills,
and practice for a more effective and efficient administra-
tion of the church organization. This is of utmost signifi-
cance for the minister since he is generally assigned to
or appointed by a local church as its leader.

The assignment or appointment of ministers to local
churches is commonly made after a period of years at theo-
logical institutions which are designed to educate priests,
pastors, or ministers for the complex responsibilities of
their position. However, it appears that in the process

of formally educating the ministers (particularly those of

the Protestant persuasion), the administrative aspect of
the ministerial preparation program has been relatively neg-
lected as is reflected in ministers' performance in the ad-

ministration of the church.

Statement of Problem

 

Historically, the clergy (ministers or pastors) have
consistently played a very significant role in providing
administrative leadership in all the major administrative
units and local churches of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
since its inception as a chartered organized body in 1880.
However, in the researcher's discussion with a few Seventh-
day Adventist ministers with regard to church administrative
issues and problems, the common pervasive underlying message
received is that Seventh-day Adventist ministers are not
academically prepared to adequately assume the administrative
responsibilities of the local churches, and that they are
victims of the church's educational system.

The findings of this informal survey are supported
by scholars in church administration. Alvin Lindgren cited
a case (which is not necessarily an isolated one) in which
he claimed that a prominent but frustrated minister said
to him, "All I do is rush from one thing to another. I don't
really know what I am doing or why I am doing it." (Lindgren

1955, p. 13).

This problem, whether isolated or pervasive among
ministers, seems to be rooted in two fundamental causes:
(1) a misconception in the church about the nature of admin-
istration, and (2) a significant lack of academic training
and possibly very little or no informal reading in adminis-
tration by pastors and church leaders. (Gangel 1974, pp.
18, 25).

The misconception of administration in the church
is reflected in church leaders! attempts to provide spiritual
answers to organizational problems, and organizational answers
to spiritual problems. This is further compounded by the
misperceptions of administration as being nonessential, un-
interesting, and not spiritual (Gangel, 1974).

The lack of formal academic training in administra-
tion for ministers is addressed by H. Richard Niebuhr (1958),
William Leach (1958), and Kenneth D. Gangel (1974), who con-
cur that the traditional academic training of ministers does
not qualify them for administrative leadership in the church,
for "while many pastors and other Christian leaders train
extensively for preaching, teaching, and counseling minis-
tries, most of them spend very little time in formal training
(or even informal reading) to develop the capacity for admin-
istrative oversight" (Gangel, p. 25).

Richard Niebuhr wrote that "It is significant when
ministers reflect on their theological education they are
likely to regret more than any other deficiency in it the

failure of the school to prepare them for the administration

of such a church" (Niebuhr,1958, pp. 83-4). And Donald
Smith maintained that "the traditional roles of the pastor
do not include administration and organization" (Smith, 1974,
p. 51).

The educational system of the church appears to have
a significant responsibility in educating its ministers not
only for spiritual, but administrative leadership as well,
because the church characteristically parallels other in-
stitutions in that it is:

l. Purposive, with goals and objectives to be
achieved.

2. Peopled, with people who have personalities
that need to be integrated with the organiza-
tions goals etc.

3. Structual, with a structure to facilitate the
achievement of its goals and objectives.

4. Normative, with both written and unwritten norms
for the governance of members! behavior, in
their pursuance ofcfimmch goals. And

5. Sanction-bearing, for the protection of the in-
dividual and organization through discipline
of members whose behavior contravenes the norms
and established standards of the organization.
(Getzels and Guba, 1957, pp. 425-8).

Therefore, the church at large and the individual congrega-
tions need competent and effective administrative leadership.

This notion is confirmed by Kenneth Gangel who claimed that

"Effective administration is not an option for the church
any more than it is for AT&T" (Gangel, 1974, p. 23); William
Leach refers to the minister as an executive "who knows what
shall be done . . . how it shall be accomplished and through
whom" (Leach, 1958, p. 170); and Ellen G. White, the modern
prophetess of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, wrote
that "God's cause is in need of men and women who possess
rare qualifications and good administrative powers; men and
women who will make patient, thorough investigation of the
needs of the work" (White, 1948, Vol. 7, p. 249).

However, "executive ministers" are not born with
"rare qualifications and good administrative powers", they
must be educated through the educational system of the church
and be provided with practical experience for further admin-
istrative growth. Unfortunately, a review of the 1982-83
bulletins of all undergraduate Seventh-day Adventist educa-
tional institutions in the United States revealed their theo-
logical programs to be significantly deficient in planned
administrative education for prospective ministers. An
examination of the 1982-83, and the 1983-84 bulletins of
the Seventh—day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews
University has disclosed the offering of a few courses in
church administration, with one (CHMN 527 Church Leadership
and Administration) being mandatory for the Master of Divinity
program which provides the basic professional training for
the ministry. But is this course sufficient in terms of

preparation for the tremendous administrative responsibilities

involved in achieving the church's goals and objectives?
What administrative skills have ministers acquired through
this and other courses, and experiences?

The problem is to determine if Seventh-day Adventist
ministers are included in the general characterization of
ministers as deficient in administrative skills. This study

will undertake that task in a limited way.

Purpose of the Research

 

The church as an institution (which is purposive,
peopled, structural, normative, and sanction-bearing) demands
competent and effective administrative leadership for the
realization of its goals and objectives. This study was
therefore designed to assess the administrative skills of
ministers of four Seventh-day Adventist conferences (Lake
Region Conference, Michigan Conference, Northeastern Confer-
ence and Wisconsin Conference) in five selected areas of
administration: planning, managing, decision making, com-
municating, and evaluating.

However, the specific purposes of the study are:

1. To determine how practicing Seventh-day Adventist
ministers would assess their perceived current levels of
administrative skills in the five selected areas of admin-
istration.

2. To compare the practicing ministers' assessment

of their planning, managing, decision-making, communicating,

and evaluating skills on the basis of conference, race, or-
dination, number of churches pastoring, average church mem—
bership in pastorate, academic degree, and minimum church
administration requirement for the Master of Divinity program
(CHMN 527 Church Leadership and Administration).

3. To determine in which of the five selected admin-
istrative areas the practicing ministers regard themselves
as sufficient and deficient to better understand their com-
petencies and needs.

4. To consider and solict recommendations for the
improvement of those administrative skills in which ministers
perceive themselves as deficient, and for the improvement
of the administrative aspect of the ministerial preparation

program.

Significance of the Research

 

Neibuhr (1958), Leach (1958), Gangel (1974), and
Smith (1974) have implied deficiencies in their description
of ministers' administrative skills. Using the methodology
employed in this study (see chapter 3), this issue may be
investigated through the self-reporting of the ministers.
Thornton, iii, cited many studies which claim the "prepon-
derance of studies show that individuals rate themselves
higher than they are rated by comparison groups" (Thornton,
1980, p. 285). This trend could be a factor of this study,

but a Stanford psychologist, Bandura (1978), indicated that

self-rating can work. He cited four processes through which
people develop and verify self conceptions: through real-
life experiences, vicarious information gained from observa-
tion of others, through judgments received about themselves
and their performance from others, and they take the time
out to verify their feelings about themselves and their per-
formance. Individuals therefore appear to be able, to a
significant degree, to rate themselves validly and reliably.
In addition, the minister is the chief administrative
leader in the local church, and is ultimately responsible
for the local policies that give direction to the church
in terms of the kinds of programs and activities developed
and executed for the achievement of its objectives and goals.
Robbins (1980) claims that no one of the elements involved
in the administrative process is more important than the
other, and that "If any one function is performed poorly,
it impacts adversely on the effectiveness of the administra-
tor and the performance of his unit" (Robbins, 1980, p. 421).
This study is therefore important for the following reasons:
1. It should provide information, from the minis-
ters' perspective, that will help determine Seventh-day Ad-
ventist ministers' perceptions of their administrative skills.
2. It should provide a better understanding of the
current levels of Seventh-day Adventist ministers adminis-
trative skills from their perspective. This information
could be utilized by curriculum designers for necessary

improvement or adjustment in the church administrative aspect

of the ministerial preparation program, and by conference
administrators as they develop relevant in-service programs,
activities and materials for the upgrading of those skills
in which ministers are deficient. Failure to acquire the
incumbents' perspective through this and other scientific
investigations of the practioner's role can only serve to
widen the gap between theory and practice.

3. It should add to the ministers' awareness of
their relative responsibilities in the five selected areas

of administration through the reading of the questionnaires.

Conceptual Framework and Limitations of Research

Consideration was not given to all the describable
administrative skills that ministers should possess. The
human relations perspective was excluded on the basis that
it appears that this model, as well as the social-psychologi-
cal, are not perceived to offer as yet any consistently per-
suasive data on identifiable sets of skills that may be
empirically generalized. Perrow, in quoting Wilensky who
had summed up the human relations research, claimed that
Wilensky's conclusion, in the following statement, still
stands:

All this suggests that, at minimum, the practi-
tioner who wants to apply the human relations
research has no clear directive as to what to
do - and this is true not only of the findings
on size of immediate work group, the character
of informal work group solidarity, degree of

identification with company goals, and type of
leadership style as related to productivity;

10

it applies also to the findings on the relation

of "morale" (1.8., satisfaction with job and

company) to all of these variables. The evi-

dence is typically inconclusive, the interpre-

tations sometimes contradictory. (Quoted in

Perrow, 1979, p. 110).
This study was limited, therefore, to the church organiza-
tion from a classical management perspective that seeks to
optimize organization performance through the optimization
of structure. The researcher deemed such skills generic
and significant to the administrative process of the church.

The study was also limited to a survey, through a
questionnaire, of all practicing Seventh-day Adventist minis-
ters (chosen arbitrarily by the researcher) in four confer-
ences which include two Regional conferences: Lake Region
Conference and Northeastern Conference; and two State con-
ferences: Michigan Conference and Wisconsin Conference in
the United States of America. The population included two
hundred and forty-two (242) ministers; and the administrative
skills that were assessed are: planning, managing, decision
making, communicating, and evaluating.
Ministers' administrative skills were not observed

directly. Neither church board members who work closely
with the ministers, nor church members were asked to evaluate
the ministers' administrative skills, although this approach
might have provided additional data on the ministers' admin-

istrative skills. The major concern of the study was to

determine the ministers' perspectives.

ll

Underlying Assumptions of the Research

 

The researcher assumed in this study that there is
a common body of administrative knowledge and activities
that are generic, or universal in that in every organization
(public or private, business, industrial or voluntary such
as the church), administrators as decision makers perform
the functions of planning, managing, decision making, com-
municating, and evaluating.

It was also assumed that formal academic learning
is the primary source of providing theoretical knowledge
and some practical information in administration, a process
which is necessary and precedes full-fledged administrative

employment.

Research Questions

 

The objectives of this research were to discover
answers to the following research questions. The answers,
however, should provide pertinent information from the prac-
ticing ministers' perspective to curriculum planners and
conference administrators concerning the current levels of
the ministers' administrative skills.

Research Question 1. How do practicing Seventh-day
Adventist ministers assess their current levels of adminis-
trative skills in terms of planning, managing, decision mak-

ing, communicating, and evaluating?

12

Research Question 2. What are the effects of con-
ference, race, ordination, number of churches pastoring,
average church membership in pastorate, degree, and the com-
pletion of the mandatory church administration requirement
CHMN 527 on the ministers' assessments of their planning,
managing, decision-making, communicating, and evaluating
skills?

Research Question 3. What are the ministers' per-

 

ceptions of the recommendations listed by the researcher,
and what other suggested recommendations will they provide
for the improvement of their administrative deficiencies

and the church administrative aspect of the ministerial pre-
paration program in the Seventh-day Adventist Theological

Seminary?

Research Hypotheses

 

The following seven null hypotheses are based on
Research Question 2, and are tested by MANOVA, using the
probability of 0.05 as the level of the significance for
the rejection of the hypotheses.

Hypothesis 1. There will be no difference between
how practicing ministers of Regional and State conferences
assess their current levels of administrative skills in re-
gard to planning, managing, decision making, communicating,

and evaluating.

13

Hypothesis 2. There will be no difference between

 

how Black and Caucasion practicing ministers assess their
current levels of administrative skills in terms of planning,
managing, decision making, communicating, and evaluating.

Hypothesis 3. There will be no difference between

 

how unordained and ordained practicing ministers assess their
current levels of administrative skills in terms of planning,
managing, decision making, communicating, and evaluating.

Hypothesis 4. There will be no difference between

 

practicing ministers pastoring one church and ministers pas-
toring two or more churches in how they assess their current
levels of administrative skills in terms of planning, managing,
decision making, communicating, and evaluating.

Hypothesis 5. There will be no difference between

 

practicing ministers with pastorates of less than average
church membership (fewer than 349), and ministers with pas-
torates of average and above church membership (349 or more)
in how they assess their current levels of administrative
skills in terms of planning, managing, decision making, com-
municating, and evaluating.

Hypothesis 8. There will be no difference between

 

practicing ministers with less than M.Div. degrees and minis-
ters with M.Div. degrees and above in how they assess their
current levels of administrative skills in terms of planning,
managing, decision making, communicating, and evaluating.

Hypothesis 7. There will be no difference between

 

practicing ministers who did not complete the minimum church

14

administration requirement (CHMN 527), and ministers who
completed the minimum church administration requirement in

how they assess their current levels of administrative skills
in terms of planning, managing, decision making, communicating,

and evaluating.

Definition of Terms

 

The following definition of terms is presented in
order to provide a common basis of understanding in reading

this study.

Administration -- The task of discovering and clarifying
the purpose, goals, and objectives of an organization, and
moving in a coherent, comprehensive manner toward their

realization with and through others.

Assessment -- The act of appraising, determining, estimating,

 

or valuating the amount or value of something; to evaluate
the quality or worth of. (Assessment and evaluation will

be used interchangeably in this study).

Bureaucragy -- A form of organization in which systematic

 

administration and management are characterized by speciali-
zation of functions, objective qualifications for office,
action according to fixed rules, and or hierarchy of authority.
(Perrow, 1979; and Webster's Third New International Dic-

tionary, 1971).

15

Decision Making -- "Those activities directed at gathering

 

information and selecting alternative course of action in
relation to progress (or lack thereof) toward goals."

(Robson, 1978, p. 14).

Evaluating -- The formal process utilized in the assessment

 

of an organizational progress toward achievement of its goals.

Hierarchy -- A ranking of individuals, or a group of offi-

 

cials, according to their authority or function in the church

or government.

Managing -- The operationalizing of the plans of a group,
organization or individual, including the organizing, con-

trolling, coordinating etc. of all activities.

Planning -- The processes utilized by a group or individual
in determining its goals and objectives, and structured acti-

vities for their realization.

CHAPTER 11

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Introduction

 

The review of the related literature is divided into
three major sections. The first section deals with leader-
ship in terms of its definition, some leadership theories,
and power and authority in leadership. The second section
examines some notable theories of management, including
Scientific Management, Human Relations, and Administrative
theories and principles, and shows how these management per-
spectives have influenced the role of the Protestant minister.
Section 3 deals with the role of the Protestant minister
from the Continental Reformation, to the Puritan period,

to that of the new developments in the American society.

Leadership

 

Leadership appears to be a universal human phenomenon,
and a concept that has been widely studied. However, Burns
(1978) claimed that it is the most observed of phenomena
yet the least understood. So what is leadership? What

are the factors that determine an individual becoming a

18

17

leader? And what are the personality traits or attributes

that contribute to the effectiveness of leaders?

What is Leadership?

 

It appears as though there are as many definitions
and conceptualizations of leadership as there are persons
who have attempted to define it. Clarence Weber (1981) claims
that leadership is a moral function which is not necessarily
known by the number of people who are captivated by it, or
by how smooth it operates, but by the personalities it en-
riches. For him, it is a process that helps people examine,
evaluate, change, and develop roles and purposes. Fred Fiedler
(1984) defines the leader as the person who directs and co-
ordinates task-relevant activities in a group, or the one
who, in the absence of the designated leader, assumes those
responsibilities in the group. However, according to Bernard
M. Bass, the earliest cited definitions of leadership focussed
on "group process and movement. The next type of definition
considered it as the art of inducing compliance", while the
recent definitions tend to conceive of it in terms of "power
differentials, role differentiation, and initiation of struc-
ture." He claimed that as a result of "a parallel tabula-
tion of dates for different types of definitions indicates
that various trends of thought were taking place simultaneous-

ly." (Bass, 1981, p. 15).

18

Notable Theories of Leadership

 

Trait Theories. The traditional approach to the

 

study of leadership had been to identify those super qualities
that differentiate the leader from the followers. This ap-
proach gave rise to the trait theories of leadership.

Bernard (1928), Bingham (1927), Tead (1929) and others have
tried to explain the concept (leadership) in terms of per-
sonality and character traits. By 1940, Bird (1940) had
compiled some seventy-nine character and personality traits
from approximately twenty studies of psychological orienta-
tion. Some of the traits that have been identified by Stout
and Briner (1989) include intelligence, general ability,

task ability, and level of formal education. However, it
appears that the "best that can be said is that intelligence,
extroversion, self-assurance, and empathy tend to be related
to achieving and maintaining a leadership position; that

is," according to Robbins, "leaders tend to possess these
characteristics to a relatively greater degree than others
within the group in which they lead." (Robbins, 1980, p.
320).

Research in traits theories ran into difficulties.
Gouldner reviewed much of the evidence relating to this ap-
proach and concluded that "At this time there is no reliable
evidence concerning the existence of universal leadership
traits" (Gouldner, 1950, p. 31). Lippitt's (1955) report

on the trait theory showed that in 108 different studies,

19

only five percent of all the listed traits appeared in four
or more studies. Gibb (1989) claimed that inconsistent con-
clusions were the results of a summary of many studies on
the trait approach. And Robbins summed up its weakness in
the following:

Trait theories had inherent limitations: They
ignored the needs of followers; they generally
failed to clarify the relative importance of
various traits; they ignored situational factors;
and probably most importantly, although they
could specify traits that almost all leaders pos-
sess, these traits were frequently held almost by
a substantial number of nonleaders. (Robbins,
1980, p. 320).

Behavioral Theories. Since the trait approach failed

 

to produce the desired or expected results, researchers turned
their foci on the behaviors exhibited by leaders. The under-
lying assumption seems to be that if specific behaviors could
be identified in successful leaders, then programs could

be designed to inculcate those behavioral patterns into po-
tentially effective leaders. Bass (1981) claimed that G.

D. Aaronovich and B. I. Khotin had already reported, in 1929,
success in altering the leadership behavior in monkeys in
uncovering boxes of food. However, this approach was de-
signated as "what leaders do that others do not" by Stout

and Briner (1989).

In the late 1940's one of the most comprehensive
studies in this area was undertaken at Ohio State University.
The effort of Halpin and Winer (in Stogdill and Coons, 1957)
identified two factors (as a result of a factor analysis

of item correlations) which substantially accounted for most

20

of leadership behavior described by subordinates. These
are: (l) initiating structure, which basically referred

to the extent to which leaders were likely to define and
structure their, as well as subordinates' role for goal at-
tainment; and (2) consideration, which described leaders'
relationships with subordinates in terms of mutual trust,
respect for subordinates' ideas, and regard for their feel-
ings. Numerous studies conducted on the basis of these two
factors with their corresponding definitions discovered that
leaders high on the two factors were able more frequently
to achieve high subordinate performance and satisfaction
than those low on the said factors.

The University of Michigan studies produced similar
results to the Ohio State University studies. The researchers,
Kahn and Katz (1989), produced the employee-oriented and
production-oriented dimensions of leadership behavior. In
the employee-oriented behavior, the leaders emphasize inter-
personal relations; take personal interest in their subordi-
rmtes;and accept individual differences among them. On the
other hand, the production-oriented leaders are more con-
cerned with production than with the members. The study
concluded that leaders with employee-oriented behavior were
associated with higher group productivity and job satisfaction.

The researcher presented the two most popular and
significant studies conducted in regard to leadership as
a function of the leader's behavior. There are numerous

other research studies with similar conclusions, a couple

21

of which are Blake and Mouton (1984), and Reddin (1970).
They all had similar problems in that they had little suc-
cess in "identifying consistent relationships between pat-
terns of leadership behavior and successful performance."
(Robbins, 1980, p. 324). Another factor that was missing
in the studies was their failure to show the influence of

situational factors on leadership success or failure.

Contingency Theories. In reaction to the study of
the leadership phenomenon based on the leader's trait or
preferrable behavior, researchers began to focus on the situa-
tional factors that influenced the leader's success or fail-
ure. Fiedler (1989) was the first researcher to develop
a comprehensive contingency model of leadership. The model
proposed that the effectiveness of a particular pattern of
leader behavior was contingent upon the demands imposed by
the situation. In other words, the effective performance
of a group is highly dependent upon a compatible match between
the leader's style of interacting with his or her subordinates
and the control and influence provided the leader by the
situation. Fiedler isolated three situational variables
which he believed could be manipulated to provide a good
match with the behavioral style of the leader. The vari-
ables were: (1) the leader—member relations, which was con-
cerned with how well the leader was respected, liked, and
trusted; (2) task structure, that determined the degree to
which job assignments were structured or unstructured; and

(3) position power, which has to do with the influence of

22

the leader over the power factors such as hiring, firing,
discipline, promotion, salary etc. His research emphasized
the need to place persons (leaders) in leadership situations
for which they are suited. The task oriented leader should
lead favorable -- situations in which the three variables

are positive -- or unfavorable situations; and the relations-
oriented leader to provide leadership in situations that

are neither high nor low in favorability.

It appears that Fiedler went beyond the trait and
behavior approaches to the study of leadership in his attempt
to isolate situations and match them with personality measure,
something that he used to predict leadership effectiveness.
However, Fiedler's model was challenged by Green, et al.
(1970), Ashour (1973), and Korman (1973) on empirical, metho-
dological, and theoretical grounds, but it seems to be a
dominant contingency explanation of leadership effectiveness.

House (1971), in an attempt to reconcile the apparent
contradiction of the Ohio State research in which was stated
the "high-high" leader was not necessarily the most effec-
tive, formulated a path-goal contingency theory of leader-
ship in which he integrated the expectancy model of motiva-
tion with the findings on leadership behavior initiating
structure and consideration. According to House,

the motivational function of the leader consists
of increasing personal pay-offs to subordinates

for work-goal attainment, and making the path

to these pay-offs easier to travel by clarifying
it, reducing road blocks and pitfalls, and in-

creasing the opportunities for personal satisfac-
tion en route. (House, 1971, p. 234).

23

For House, the leader should provide the subordinates
with certain essentials -- guidance, encouragement, incentives
for performance -- that are not otherwise provided by the
organization. In other words, the role of the leader is
a supplementally motivational one, and the intervening vari-
ables are: (l) "effort-performance expectancy", which is
a worker perceived likelihood or probability that a given
level of effort will lead to the successful completion of
a task and task goals attainment, and (2) "performance-reward
extectancy", which is the likelihood that successful task
completion will lead to desirable or undesirable outcomes.

In essence, the theory is about path clarification,
need satisfaction, and goal attainment. How is this inte-
grated with the Ohio State findings? The initiating of struc-
ture helps to "clarify the path", and consideration makes
the path to be followed "easier to travel."

House's research conclusion was that leaders who
demonstrated a high degree of initiating structure, were
more effective when their subordinates were working on un-
structured or ambiguous tasks. In other words, when tasks
were unclear, leadership clarification of path to goal achieve-
ment was appreciated. On the other hand, high consideration
resulted in high subordinates' satisfaction when their tasks
were structured or routinized. This seems to suggest that
the scope of the job to be completed and the characteristics
of the subordinates have a moderating effect on a leader's
behavior and the performance and satisfaction of the subor-

dinates.

24

The path-goal theory has been criticized by
Schriesheim and Kerr (in Hunt and Larson eds.. 1977) on the
basis that conceptual problems of expectancy theory limits
path-goal theory when both are linked. Osborn (in Hunt and
Larson, 1974) claimed that the manner in which different
situational variables interact has not been specified, and
that it is not clear as to whether different aspects of the
situation have a different moderating influence on the ef-
fects of a leader's behavior. Yukl (1981) alleges that the
theory does not deal with the many other ways that leadership
can effect subordinates' performance, such as training, plan-
ning, organizing etc. However, in spite of the criticisms,
the Path-Goal theory has made a significant contribution
to the study of leadership by "providing a conceptual frame-
work to guide researchers in identifying potentially important

situational moderator variables." (Yukl, 1981, p. 152).

Power and Authority in Leadership

There is in all social organizations or units, some
form of leadership which is demonstrated through power, author-
ity and influence. But what are power and authority? And
how are they related to leadership?

Power as a generic concept is defined as a relation-
ship between two or more actors in which the action of one
is determined by the action of another or others. This de—

finition appears to have been adapted from Dahl (1958) who

25

defined power as "A has power over 8 to the extent that he
can get 8 to do something 8 would not otherwise do" (Dahl,
1958, pp. 202-3). Implied in this definition is the chance
and ability to exert one's will against the resistance of
others, the notion that is expressed in Weber's definition
of power (Weber, 1947). Implicit in the definitions of power
is the idea that it can only exist within the framework of
decision making in social relationships. Therefore, the
basis of any power structure is the decision-making process.
A significant question that needs to be answered is: what
gives power to some individuals and groups and not to others?
There are four major sources of power: (1) position in a
social group or organization; the higher the rank of an indivi-
dual, the greater the power. This is defined by Weber as
rational-legal authority; (2) personal attributes; when cer-
tain attributes are valued by people, the individual/s pos-
sessing those attributes gains powers. Weber defines this
as charismatic authority; (3) traditional power, which is
derived from the belief in the sanctity of traditions; and
(4) knowledge power, which is also referred to as professional
power. This type of power is acquired through extensive
training and education, experience, or through informal ave-
nues (Zey-Ferrell, 1979). What, therefore, is the difference
between power and authority?

Robbins claimed that power is "an individual's capa-
city to influence decisions", while authority is "the ability

to influence based on an individual's legitimate position

28

in one of the sources of power." (Robbins, 1980, p. 240).
This means that authority is based on a position in a social
group or organization, while the social unit is not the basis
of power.

Weber (1947) cited three types of legitimate authority
which are: rational-legal or bureaucratic, traditional,
and charismatic. Rational-legal authority rests on the be-
lief that obedience is owed to the established impersonal
order, the authority of the office. This type of authority
operates in large social units that are designed to accom-
plish certain administrative tasks on a large scale through
systematic coordination of a great number of people. The
administrative aspect is rationalized for goal attainment,
and the system is characterized by specialization, impersonal-
ity, hierarchical authority, systematized rules and merito-
cracy.

Traditional authority receives its legitimacy from
the established belief of sanctity of traditions. However,
with the increase of travel and educational opportunities
that have exposed peoples to different cultures, values,
and formal education that seem to influence people to ques—
tion everything. Traditional authority is probably on the
decline.

Charismatic authority is based on the personality
of the leader, or personal characteristics of the powerholder
that the followers value. The values may be heroism, exem-

plary character, execptional sanctity etc. found in the

27

leader. However, the danger in this type of authority is
that anomie could result when the leader dies, particularly
if the movement is not structured into an organization.
Professional authority is based on the knowledge
and competency acquired through the educational process,
and the acceptance by others of the expert giving the instruc-
tions or orders. This type of authority enables the pro-
fessional to direct and guide others in certain complex pro-
cesses. However, some are inclined to place this kind of
authority as subdivision of the bureaucratic type.
There is a need in every social unit or organization
for some form of leadership which is exercised through power,

authority, and influence (Peil, 1977).

Notable Theories of Management

 

Scientific Management Theory

 

Frederick W. Taylor, the pioneer of the scientific
management movement, formulated the initial principles of
this management theory as a result of his work experiences
and studies at the Midvale and Bethlehem steel companies
during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
He became aware of the shortcomings in factory operations
of his time with regard to work standards, worker management
responsibilities (lack of clear conceptions), bases of manage-
ment decision (intuition, hunch, past experience), worker

inability or ineptitude in task assignment etc. His overriding

28

objective appeared to have been the discovery of guidelines
for the improvement of production efficiency. Four principles
of management were derived from his studies: (1) scientific
determination replaced the rule-of—thumb method in deter-
mining a worker's job, (2) workers were to be selected and
trained on a scientific basis, (3) cooperation of management
and labor to accomplish objectives, and (4) a more balanced
division of responsibility between managers and workers,

and managers planning and supervising, and workers executing
the plans. The implementation of his scientific method or
efficiency ideology lead to significant increases in manage-
ment efficiency and worker productivity (Carroll and T051,
1977).

Frank Gilbreth, another contributor to scientific
management, became known for his motion study, and directed
his efforts at work arrangements, elimination of body and
hand motions, and the design and use of appropriate tools
and equipment for the maximization of work performance.
(Cited in Robbins, 1980). And Cooke (1910) broadened the
notions of scientific management in terms of the application
of its principles in universities and municipal organizations.
What he also sought was the one best way to perform jobs.

There is no doubt, that scientific management has
made a significant contribution to the operations of all
social organizations. Out of it came some very important
ideas such as: inefficiency of management and workers, im-

plementation of scientific method to management, specialization,

29

planning and scheduling, selection of the right person for
jobs, task time standard, and wage incentives -- worker is
paid for what he/she does (Carroll and T051, 1977).

Callahan (1982) presents a very comprehensive view
on the widespread acceptance of the efficiency philosOphy
(Taylorism), but Perrow (1979) claims that employers (during
the heyday of scientific management)

did not embrace the ideology of Taylorism,
though they increased the degree of bureaucra-
tization and control it required. For one
thing it 'questioned their good judgement and
superior ability which had been the subject

of public celebration for many years'. It re-
duced their discretion, placing it in the
hands of technicians; it implied that manage-
ment's failure to utilize the skills of workers
was the reason for workers' inefficiencies and
restiveness. (Perrow, 1979, pp. 84-85).

In spite of the employers' rejection, the efficiency
philosophy was heralded as applicable to the operations of
the church. Matthews (1912), a prominent clergyman, praised
Taylor's work and claimed it a "practical philosophy" that
was destined to replace the traditional methods utilized in
the church. He criticized the ministers for their excessive
waste of time, and contended that church workers should be
taught to "work under direction according to plans", and
keep proper record of the church's operations. "If this
seems to make the church something of a business establish-
ment it is precisely what should be the case. We have too

long", he continued, "regarded the church as capable of per-

forming its possible services to the community without the

30

most elementary means of administration". (Matthews, 1912,
pp. 1-2. Cited in Callahan 1982, p. 45).

The efficiency philosophy, in one form or another,
is in the church to stay as is reflected in prominent church
administration publications by Richards (1970), Kilinski

and Wofford (1973), Gangel (1974) and others.

Human Relations Theory

 

While the scientific management movement was stress-
ing organizational control from an asymmetric perspective
or a top-down, single source from the top of organizational
hierarchy in the early nineteen hundreds, there was emerging
a counter movement with emphasis on social relationships,
individual needs, and informal groups. Perrow (1979) Quoted
a management journal of 1928 that urged employers to "Treat
workers as human beings. Show interest in their personal
success and welfare" (Perrow, 1979, p. 85).

However, Haire (1954) traced the human relations
philosophy of management to Elton Mayo in 1927, and to
Roethlisberger's and Dickson's interpretations of that work.
This organizational management philosophy was systematically
extended by authors Argyris (1957), Likert (1981), McGregor
(1958) and others. Much emphasis was placed upon the indivi-
dual and democratic principles. Perrow (1979) described

the progression of the human relations as:

31

high morale leads to high productivity; good

leadership ("democratic" leadership; good

leadership, good human relations, considera-

tion, etc.) leads to high morale (and thus

to high productivity); effective leadership

(combining a concern for people with a concern

for task effectiveness) leads to high morale

and/or high productivity; effective leader-

ship has to be tailored to the group situation

(e.g., group task, structure, member relation-

ship timing, stress, etc.). (Perrow, 1979,

p. 110).

Although the human relations theory had gained per-
vasive credibility, many criticisms were leveled against
it. Carey (1987), Sykes (1985) and others have questioned
the research methods and conclusions of the Hawthone studies.
It was claimed that the samples were too small, questions
too vague, and results were misinterpreted. Another criti-
cism is that management was seen as rational, while the
workers were viewed as nonrational (Kerr cited in Landsberger,
1958). It is also claimed that the researchers' search for
workers' negative attitudes gave too much emphasis to the
social groups in the workplace while ignoring the larger
institutional framework of the economic system in which those
relationships emerge and have meaning (Ibid.).
Irrespective of the numerous criticisms, the human

relations research made a significant impact on the thinking
of management problems, and led researchers to be aware that

the human factor had to be taken into consideration in the

development of a science of management.

32
Administrative Theory and Principles

Theory. While Taylor was formulating and testing
his theory of scientific principles of management in the
U.S.A., Henri Fayol of France was articulating his views
of administration. He can be perceived as the first of the
general administrative theorists, that is, one of those who
were/are concerned with the principles of organizations and
the functions of the administrator. Fayol stressed the im-
portance of labor specialization, parallel increase of author-
ity and responsibility, discipline, organizational members
receiving orders from one superior, level in organization
for decision making etc. One very important aspect of his
work was his claimed applicability and definition of adminis-
tration as a process of planning, organizing, command, co-
ordinating, and controlling (Fayol, 1949).

Barnard (1938), another significant contributor to
administrative theory, appeared to have combined the influ-
ence of scientific management and human relations in his
attempt to reconcile the needs of organizations with those
of individual members. Effectiveness was viewed by him in
the light of organizational goals and their achievement,
while efficiency pertained to worker satisfaction. He also
outlined some important principles as guidelines for execu-
tives to manage organizations efficiently. These are: (l)
maintaining organization communication, (2) securing essen-

tial services of individuals, and (3) formulating purpose

33

and objectives. In his work, Barnard demonstrated the signi-
ficance of informal organization, viewed organizations as
systems of coordinated activities, and introduced social
aspects into the analysis of managerial functions and pro-
cesses.

White (1929) was one of the first to publish a text-
book devoted to public administration in which he argued
for the separation of administration and politics; that the
goal of administration is economy and efficiency; and that
administration is a legitimate discipline subject to scienti-
fic study.

Weber also made a significant contribution to the
theory of organization that influenced academics and practic-
ing administrators after World War II. He developed the
ideal type of organization that became the first theory of
bureaucracy, the ideal type of which is characterized by
division of labour, an authority of hierarchy of superior-
subordinate relationships, formal rules and procedures, im-
personal interactions, and a selection and promotion system
based on merit. His was a theory of authority structures,
and his description of organizational activity was based
on authority relations. There is no doubt that his theory
of bureaucracy emphasized rationality, predictability, im-
personality, technical competence, and authoritarianism,
which is similar to that of the ideological emphasis of

Taylorism (Gerth and Mills, 1948 or 1979).

34

There are a number of other social scientists who
endeavored to expand upon this field of study. Simon (1945
and 1978) contended that the decision-making processes hold
the key to the understanding of organizational phenomena.
Therefore, if the rationality of decision making was increased,
there would be a parallel improvement in the administration
of the organization. What he actually did was to analyze
the administrative process through a study of administrative
decisions in organizations. Getzels and Guba (1957) attempted
to develop a socio-psychological theory of organizations
that would have broad administrative application. They con-
ceptualized the organization of having dual dimensions:
the nomothetic or normative aspect of the social system which
included the institution, role, and expectation; and the
idographic or personal aspect of the social system, and in-
cluded the individual, personality, and need disposition.

A deeper understanding of the dual components of the social
system could lead to improved administration. And Coladarci
and Getzels (1955) have pointed out instances when theory
was used in educational administration.

In the large volume of literature in administration
through which the researcher searched, it appears that these
theoretical formulations were used in one way or another

in the different fields of administration.

Principles. An examination of the literature reveals
that Fayol is considered one of the foremost pioneers in

administrative theory and principles. He formulated five

35

elements of administration as: (l) planning (prevoyance),
(2) organization, (3) command, (4) coordination, and (5)
control (Fayol, 1949).

Many other writers have in one way or another added
or modified the principles proposed by Fayol. One example
is provided in Gulick's acroynym, POSDCORB that means plan-
ning, organizing,staffing, directing, coordinating, report-
ing, and budgeting (Gulick, 1937). Newman is another author
who divided his publication on the principles and techniques
of administration into the following sections: Planning,
Organizing, Assembling Resources, Directing, and Controlling
(Newman, 1951). And the American Association of School Ad-
ministrators (AASA) Yearbook of 1955 listed five principles
of the administrative process as follows: planning, alloca-
tion, stimulation, coordination, and evaluation (AASA Yearbook,
1955). One important thing is worth noting and that is the
substitution of the concept of "stimulating" for previous
"commanding" and "directing", a notion that appears to re-
flect the more humane approach of the Human Relation school
of thought in management as opposed to the Scientific Manage-
ment approach.

Another significant inclusion in this list was the
concept of evaluation or the continuous examination of the
results of the performance of the other activities. This
concept was identified in Litchfield's thesis about the cycli-
cal nature of the administrative process. For him it was

"reappraising" at the end of the process that resulted in

38

taking the process back to the starting point in a substan-
tial way. He included the following activities as components
of the process: decision making, programming, communicating,
controlling, and reappraising. He also proposed that each
activity was independent and may be applied heuristically

to a single problem or to the entire organizational activity
(Litchfield, 1958).

Gregg (1957), in his attempt to apply Scientific
Management theory to educational administration listed seven
activities in the process, and they included: decision mak-
ing, planning, organizing, communicating, influencing, co-
ordinating, and evaluating (Gregg, 1957). The decision-
making component has been greatly emphasized, particularly
by Simon whose book was written on the assumption that the
"decision-making processes hold the key to the understanding
of the organizational phenomena" (Simon, 1978, p. 40 of In-
troduction).

Robbins believed that administration is a universal
process, and that the process is composed of planning, or-
ganizing, leading, and controlling. Leading for him com-
prised of "supervision, motivation, communication, bringing
about change, and managing conflict." But unlike Litchfield,
he believed that the components are "highly interrelated",
and that "If any one function is performed poorly, it impacts
adversely on the effectiveness of the administration and

the performance of his unit." (Robbins, 1980, pp. 10, 421).

37

In the area of church administration, Lindgren claimed
that "it is imperative that the church administrator be fami-
liar with the following steps in the administrative process,
as applied to church administration:

1. Recognition of need

2. Planning

3. Organizing

4. Stimulating

5. Evaluating" (Lindgren, 1985, p. 70).

There are certain components that seem to be included
in the many conceptualizations of the administrative process,
but there is no clear-cut number of principles that comprise
the process. Therefore, the present study will utilize plan-
ning, managing, decision making, communicating, and evaluating
as components of the administrative process as was used by

Robson (1978) in his study.

The Evolving Role of the Protestant Minister

Prior to the Continental Protestant Reformation,
criticisms of corruption, the priests being isolated from
the people, the sermons being boring, and numerous others
were levelled against Roman Catholicism. But one of the
fundamental criticisms that was directed against the church
was that "instead of permitting the word of God to run a
free course among men, the Papists confined it to a historical
man-made institution, the church of Rome" (Pauch, 1983, p.

111).

38

This understanding of Luther and other fellow Re-
formers of allowing the "Word . . . to run a free course
among men", lead to the development of the most distinguish-
ing landmark of the Protestant church known as preaching.
According to Skinner (1979), it was regarded at the Reforma-
tion period, "as a natural and permanent element in the wor-
ship and ministry of the Christian faith" (Skinner, 1979,

p. 30). Preaching, therefore, became the most significant
aspect of public worship, and was the primary role or func-
tion of ministers during that time (Pauch, 1983). But Martin
Luther became so concerned about the enthusiasts and faulty
preaching, that he formulated nine rules for good preaching
as follows:

First of all, a good preacher must be able to

teach correctly and in an orderly manner. Second,

he must have a good head. Third, he must be able

to speak well. Fourth, he should have a good

voice, and fifth a good memory. Sixth, he must

know when to stop. Seventh, he must know his

stuff and keep at it. Eighth, he must be willing

to risk body and soul, property and honor. Ninth,

he must let everyone vex and ridicule him. (Cited

in Pauch, 1983, p. 134).

In addition to preaching, ministers had to function
as teachers, another aspect that was unequivocably stated
in Luther's first rule. The church was perceived to be the
educator of its members through the instruction provided
by the ministers. According to John Calvin, ministers had

"to preach the Word of God, to instruct, to admonish, to

exhort and reprove in public and private, to administer the

39

sacraments and, jointly with the elders, to exercise disci-
pline" (Schaff, 1910, p. 477).

Another role of the minister during the Reformation
period was that of pastoral care. This particular role seemed
to have been deemphasized since the ministers visits to pri-
sons and other institutions were limited. They were not
allowed to visit the sick in their homes unless invited to
do so, but members were encouraged to invite their ministers
particularly when family members were near death. It appears
that uninvited sick calls were not made "in order to avoid
the impressions that people required the services of a priest
when they were about to die" (Pauch, 1983, pp. 138-7).

During the Puritan era in England, the functions
of the Protestant ministers (non-Anglicans) were reinforced.
The Puritans wanted to rid the English or Anglican Church
of all the practices of Roman Catholicism. The ministers
of the more extreme Puritans who separated from the Church
of England had gained a good reputation for their preaching,
and it remained the central aspect of the Puritan ministry.
Preaching was considered a very serious matter, and careful
preparation was made because a sermon could have been a major
event in a time when organized social activities were few
(Hudson, 1983, p. 185).

The other functions included the conducting of public
worship, administering the sacraments, and of equal importance
was that of pastoral care and oversight. This aspect (pas-

toral care) was given greater emphasis because its importance

40

was realized. It included such responsibilities as instruct-
ing the people in the doctrines and values of the faith,
pastoral visitation for at least three other purposes: (1)
visiting the sick, (2) getting to know the people since an
intimate knowledge of them equipped the ministers with enough
information to reprove and admonish them, and (3) pastoral
discipline. A type of counseling role began to develop since
ministers were encouraged to be "patient and bear with
'peevish' and 'distempered' and disordered affections and
actions of those who come to him." They were also advised
to share the members sorrows and tears, be good listeners,
guard secrets, and not to be discouraged by small results
after considerable efforts. Ministers were also called to
be schoolmasters, adult instructors, and to draft legal docu-
ments, give legal advice, and to adjudicate disputes (Ibid.).
However, with the transplantation of Christianity
to America through immigration, some new developments in
regard to the minister's role began to emerge. Christianity
became diversified and fragmented into several voluntary
and independent bodies operating in a free society. The
traditional sacramental outlook was gradually replaced by
an evangelical perspective of the faith made real through
the propagandization of the gospel. In addition, the minister
had to adapt to a new situation in which the colonists ardently
defended religious diversity which became known as religious

freedom.

41

This new situation, in which the minister became
isolated from that power structure and status of the home
church bureaucracy, placed the minister in a position in
which he became dependent upon his character and the laity,
since the people could remove him from their church if they
thought it necessary. The laity had control over the local
churches and fought to keep it that way. Under these condi-
tions, the minister had to be a good preacher since the empha-
sis was on revivalism, or evangelism, or the conversion of
souls which tended to obscure the other aspects of the minis-
try. He had to be persuasive and use political power to
maintain his position since the Protestant churches appointed
officers who formed the backbone of the church. This politi-
cal relationship that resulted from the minister's depend-
ence upon the local congregation "tended to make the American
minister -- unless of more than average abilities or wealth
-- very sensitive to the peculiar provincialisms of his parish
and often subservient to and the spokesman for them" (Mead,
1983, p. 218).

By the early to the mid-1800, "the revival machinery"
was put into full gear, and Mead claims that during this
period "the conception of the minister practically lost its
priestly dimensions as traditionally conceived, and became
that of a consecrated functionary . . . who directed the
purposive activities of the visible church" which according
to him included the "denomination and Societies as well as

the local congregation" (Ibid., p. 228).

42

Subsequent to the mid-1800, when the American society
was becoming increasingly more complex with sharper class,
cultural, ethnic, and intellectual differences that were
brought about by industrialism, sectionalism, and immigra-
tion, the fundamentalist minister still regarded preaching
as the most important means of disseminating the gospel
(Michaelsen, 1983). But during the early 1900 with the
advancement of the efficiency philosophy through Taylorism,
pressure was exerted on the church and the minister to use
the principles of scientific management in the administra-
tion of the church. This notion was expressed by Matthews
when he wrote, "We have too long regarded the church as cap-
able of performing its possible services to the community
without the most elementary means of administration" (Shailer
Matthews, 1912, p. 2, in Callahan, 1952, p. as).

This new dimension to the Protestant ministry was
very necessary as the institutional church developed with
needs for assistant pastors, deaconesses, custodians, secre-
taries, and other personnel in order to accommodate the in-
flux of people. In this context, the minister required ad-
ministrative ability, and according to Michaelsen, adminis-
tration "was one of Protestantism's most effective weapons
in meeting the problems created by advancing urbanism"
(Michaelsen, 1983, p. 283). This aspect of the ministry
has remained very important to the present-day church in

its achievement of its goal. Its importance is also reflected

43

in the numerous books that have been published in church
administration.

In many large modern affluent churches, ministerial
specialists are employed to take care of educational, pas-
toral, and other areas, "while the chief minister concerns
himself with preaching and administration" (Ibid., p. 288).
This seems to indicate the importance placed upon these two
functions of the ministry, because "Preaching remains per-
haps the most dramatic, most effective, and most used means
of communicating the gospel in Protestantism and will always
be central in a tradition that stresses the primary of the
Word of God" (Ibid., p. 285).

As the American society experienced intellectual,
social, and economic development after the Civil War, urban
slum, vice, crime, disease, poverty and unemployment became
parts of the society's problems. Ministers were some of
the first men to try to find remedies for the social ills
by reaching out beyond the church to the community. Such
a movement blossomed into what is known today as the Social
Gospel Movement that based its theology in the doctrine of
the Kingdom of God. Rauschenbusch claimed that the "Kingdom
of God is not confined within the limits of the Church and
its activities. It embraces the whole human life. It is
the transfiguration of the social order" (Rauschenbusch,
1945, pp. 144-145). Out of this movement emerged the percep-

tion of the minister as a "social reformer".

44

Another special role developed for the minister as
America became more institutionalized. The church sent its
ministers into the hospitals, armed forces, prisons, schools,
etc. to function as chaplains in order to make religion more
accessible to the people. However, "Preaching has continued
to be a central element in the Protestantism of the twentieth

century" (Michaelsen, 1983, p. 285).

Summary

The literature is saturated with a wide variety of
definitions and theoretical perspectives on leadership.
Those mentioned in the review are the trait theory which
assumed leaders to possess super qualities that differen-
tiated them from followers; the behavioral theory which empha-
sized that specific behaviors could be identified in success-
ful leaders; and the contingency theory that focussed on
the situational factors as determinants of leadership success
or failure. Power and authority, and different authority
types were discussed showing their relationship to leadership.
Three major theories of management and administration
were presented. Scientific management with its focus on
an efficiency philosophy that was translated into a more
efficient organizational structure for greater control and
productivity; and the human relations theory that emphasized
individual needs, informal groups, and social relationship

as effective means of achieving management goals in terms

45

of higher productivity. The administrative theory appears

to be a reconciliation between classical management and human
relations theories that recognized the needs of the organiza-
tion and those of the individual members. In regard to the
principles or elements of administration, there seemed to

be much semantic interplay and conceptual overlap between

the authors in reference to the process.

There is no doubt that there is a distinct dichotomy
in the management philoSOphies of scientific management and
the human relations school of thought with their respective
efficiency-production and worker-consideration philosophies.
But there is a parallel between those emphases and the
fundamental findings of the leadership studies of initiating
structure and consideration.

These different management and administrative theories
have influenced the role of the Protestant ministry. His-
torically, the emphasis on the minister's role at the Continen-
tal Reformation period was primarily preaching. It was not
long before it was broadened to include education and pas-
toral care. With the introduction of the ministry to America,
and the many significant societal changes such as industriali-
zation, urbanization, institutionalism, the development and
implementation of management, administrative, and social
theories, the Protestant minister's role multiplied signifi-
cantly. However, the expected roles of the minister can
be categorized under four headings of preaching, administra-
tion, educating, and pastoral care (or some may include coun-

seling).

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH PROCEDURE

Introduction

 

After discussing the proposed study with the former
committee chairman, the researcher wrote letters to the presi-
dents of the Lake Region, Michigan, Northeastern, and Wiscon-
sin conferences of Seventh-day Adventist requesting permission
to include all practicing ministers within their jurisdiction
in the study. Permission was granted, and the stage was
established for the study to begin.

The procedure involved in the study included a review
of the literature, the development of the instrument to as-
sess the ministers' perceptions of their administrative skills
in five selected areas, the distribution and collection of
the questionnaire, and the analysis and presentation of the
data. However, this chapter is divided into the following:
(1) the population, (2) the questionnaire design, (3) methods
of distributing and collecting the questionnaire, and (4)

the analysis of data procedure.

48

47

The Population

 

The population of the study consisted of all practic-
ing ministers (242) in four Seventh-day Adventist conferences,
inclusive of which are two Regional conferences, and two
State conferences. The two Regional conferences are com-
posed of predominantly Black ministers, and are comprised
of the Lake Region Conference and the Northeastern Conference;
while the two State conferences consist of Michigan Confer-
ence and the Wisconsin Conference, both of which are over-
whelmingly composed of Caucasian ministers. The Lake Region
Conference is comprised of some churches in the following
states: Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota;
the Northeastern Conference encompasses churches that are
in the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and
Rhode Island; the Michigan Conference includes churches in
the State of Michigan; and the Wisconsin Conference is com-
posed of churches in the State of Wisconsin. The following
Table 3.1 shows the distribution of practicing ministers

in the four conferences.

48

TABLE 3.1

DISTRIBUTION OF MINISTERS
ACCORDING TO CONFERENCE

 

 

 

CONFERENCES NUMBER
Lake Region Conference 44
Michigan Conference 103
Northeastern Conference 87
Wisconsin Conference 28
TOTAL 242

 

Questionnaire Development

The instrument used in the collection of the data
for the assessment of the administrative skills of the minis-
ters, in the five selected aspects of administration, was
a sixty-eight item questionnaire that was developed by the
researcher through a review of the literature in the five
administrative areas, the information of which was utilized
in the modification of Donald Robson's (1978) questionnaire
that was used to measure the perceived management skills
of practicing school superintendents in Michigan. In the
modification process, those items that the researcher deemed
applicable to church administration were maintained, and
other items were formulated and incorporated into the ques-

tionnaire.

49

Subsequently, a copy of the questionnaire was sub-
mitted to four former, and six currently practicing Seventh-
day Adventist ministers for their critical review in terms
of items relevance, clarity, and comprehensiveness etc.

When those questionnaires were collected, the researcher

made some relevant, yet minor suggested changes. The revised
questionnaire was finally examined by the doctoral committee
members who suggested additional changes that were made.

The final product was a sixty-eight item questionnaire that

was submitted to the presidents of the Wisconsin and Michigan
Conferences for their review and approval before the researcher
sent it to the ministers in their constituencies.

The questionnaire was divided into three sections,
with Section II being further subdivided into five parts.

Section I was designed to acquire information from
the ministers on their conference affiliation, age, race,
professional classification, years of professional pastoral
experience, number of churches in pastorates, number (average)
of church membership in pastorates, degrees attained, and
completion of minimum church administration requirement CHMN
527. A total of nine items were in this section.

Section II consisted of forty-five administrative
items that were subdivided into five parts. Part 1 contained
fourteen planning skills; part 2 consisted of nine managing
items; part 3 was comprised of the eight decision-making
skills; part 4 was composed of six communicating items; and

part 5 consisted of eight evaluating skills. In this section,

50

the ministers were asked to assess their current levels of
skills on each item in the five categories.

Section III contained twelve statements and two open-
ended questions. Two of the twelve statements were designed
to solicit the practicing ministers' perceptions of the
significance of the five selected aspects of administration,
on which they were assessed, to the administration of the
church (item 55), and how adequately the ministerial prepara-
tion training program prepared them in five selected aspects
of administration (item 80). The remaining ten statements
solicited the ministers' perceptions of recommendations that
were formulated by the researcher; and the last two item
questions requested three recommendations per item from the
ministers for the improvement of their administrative skills
in the five selected aspects of administration (item 87),
and the improvement of the church administrative aspect of
the ministerial preparation program. Section II and III,
with the exception of items 87 and 88, were structured after
the Likert scale model with a five-point rating scale (Likert,

1952, See also questionnaire in Appendix III).

Methods of Distribution and
Collection of Questionnaire
After receiving the names and addresses of the prac-
ticing ministers, with the exception of those in the Michigan
Conference, the researcher prepared a cover letter that ex-

plained the purposes of the study, its significance, and

51

the anonymity provided for the ministers' protection; a ques-
tionnaire; and a self-addressed stamped envelope in each
envelope auui mailed them in: 139 ministers. The researcher
also delivered IHIS stamped envelopes ufldfli the same contents
tm) the president's office cfi‘ the Michigan Conference where
they were addressed and mailed to the ministers of that con-
stituency around the middle of April, 1984. The deadline
for the return of the completed questionnaires was May 15,
1984.

On May 10, 1984, a reminder letter was sent to all
the ministers (the same procedure was followed with the Michi-
gan Conference) after time researcher received approximately
fifty percent of the questionnaires. A second questionnaire
was mailed to all the ministers who made such a request,
and by August 1984, the researcher received 193 questionnaires
out of total population of 242. This was a 79.75 percent
response, but four of the returned questionnaires were incom-
plete and thus discarded. The remaining 189 (78.1 percent)
completed questionnaires were utilized in tfifirs study. The
following, Table 3.2 shows the breakdown of the population

and the responses.

52

TABLE 3.2

RESPONSES RECEIVED FROM MINISTERS

 

 

Number of Total Number Number of Number not
Questionnaires of Usable Responding
Mailed Respondents Questionnaires

242 193 189 51

 

Data Analysis Procedures

The data collected via the questionnaire from the
ministers who were engaged in pastoral ministry formed the
basis for the analysis of this study. The researcher coded
the data which were sent to the Scoring Center at Michigan
State University for keypunching. The punched cards, proposal,
and a copy of the questionnaire were taken to an employee,
of the Office of Research Consultation, who assisted the
researcher in writing up the computer programs for the data
analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
(SPSS). After the first program was written by the employee,
the researcher was shown how to enter the data into the CDC
Cyber 170 model 750 computer for analytical treatment. With
further instructions, the researcher entered and ran the
programs, the results (computer output) of which were taken
back to the employee for assistance in their interpretation.

In order to analyze the demographic characteristics

of the ministers responding from the population, frequencies

53

and percentages were used. And to assess the five selected
aspects of administration -- planning, managing, decision
making, communicating, and evaluating -- and the first twelve
statements of the recommendation section, a five-point rating
scale (Likert scale) was used. The following scale was used
in the questionnaire:

Selected Aspects Lowest Rank Average Highest
of Administration Rank

Planning (items 10-23)

.C
Managing (items 24-32) g m .3
Dec1510n Making (Items —1 3 g g“ I
33-40) > O H «4 >
Communicating (items 8 ’J E I 3
41-48) > < >
Evaluating (items 47-54)
1 2 3 4 5

In order to answer Research Question 1 on which the
study was predicated, and which asked the question how Seventh-
day Adventist practicing ministers assess their current levels
of administrative skills in the five selected areas of admin-
istration, the collected data were tabulated and analyzed
by frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and rank.

With reference to the five-point rating scale, the
skill items with scores in the range of 3.9 to 5.0 are con-
sidered to be in the highest-ranking group; those with scores
that fall in the range of 3.0 to 3.89 are in the average
group; and the items with scores falling in the 1.0 t0 2-99

range are considered to be in the lowest group.

54

The seven hypotheses, which were derived from the
second research question were tested with the use of the
Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). A significance
level of 0.05 was set for the rejection or acceptance of
the nulltwpotheses. Descriptive statistics (including the
mean, rank order, and overall means) were employed as an
addition to compare the ministers' assessments when they
were grouped according to the independent variables.

The following are the seven null hypotheses that
were tested at the 0.05 level of significance.

1. There will be no difference between how practic-
ing ministers of Regional and State conferences assess their
current levels of administrative skills in regard to plan-
ning, managing, decision making, communicating, and evalu-
ating.

2. There will be no difference between how Black
and Caucasian practicing ministers assess their current
levels of administrative skills in terms of planning, managing,
decision making, communicating, and evaluating.

3. There will be no difference between how unor-
dained and ordained practicing ministers assess their cur-
rent levels of administrative skills in terms of planning,
managing, decision making, communicating, and evaluating.

4. There will be no difference between practicing
ministers pastoring one church and ministers pastoring two

or more churches in how they assess their current levels

55

of administrative skills in terms of planning, managing,
decision making, communicating, and evaluating.

5. There will be no difference between practicing
ministers with pastorates of less than average church member-
ship (less than 349), and ministers with pastorates of average
or above church membership (349 or more) in how they assess
their current levels of administrative skills in terms of
planning, managing, decision making, communicating, and evalu-
ating.

8. There will be no difference between practicing
ministers with less than M.Div. degrees and ministers with
M.Div. degrees and above in how they assess their current
levels of administrative skills in terms of planning, manag-
ing, decision making, communicating, and evaluating.

7. There will be no difference between practicing
ministers who did not complete the minimum church administra-
tion requirement (CHMN 527), and ministers who completed
the minimum church administration requirement in how they
assess their current levels of administrative skills in terms
of planning, managing, decision making, communicating, and
evaluating.

In order to answer Research Question 3 that dealt
with the perceptions of the practicing ministers with regard
to the recommendations presented by the researcher for the
improvement of their administrative deficiencies and the
church administrative aspect of the ministerial preparation

program at Andrews University Theological Seminary, frequency

58

and percentage counts were employed to present the responses
of the ministers. The following is a representation of the

five-point scale that was utilized in measuring the ministers'

I‘ESDDFTSES:

Recommendations Not Recommended Undecided Recommended
(items 55-58)

Strongly
Undecided
Strongly

Disagree
Disagree
Agree

Agree

For the last two items (87 and 88) in the questionnaire
(the open-ended questions), the narrative method was used
to record and categorize the ministers' recommendations for
the improvement of their administrative deficiencies and
that of the church administrative aspect of the ministerial

program.

CHAPTER IV

PRESENTATION OF DATA

The purpose of this chapter is to present the data
submitted by the practicing ministers in the investigation,
along with the results of the analysis. The findings of
the study will be presented in four sections. In the first
section, the demographic characteristics with respect to
conference, age, ethnic classification, professional classi-
fication, years of professional experience, number of churches
pastoring, total membership of pastorate,degree, and church
administration course CHMN 527, will be presented. Section
two deals with the practicing ministers' evaluations of their:
planning skills, managing skills, decision-making skills,
communicating skills, and evaluating skills, which address
Research Question 1. In section three are presented the
results of the Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA)
tests performed on the research hypotheses that are derived
from Research Question 11. The means, rank order, and over-
all means are employed as descriptive statistics in comparing
the ministers' evaluations when grouped according to indepen-
dent variables. The fourth section deals with the data that

answers Research Question 3.

57

58
Demographic Characteristics

This section provides a description of the data with
regard to conferences, age, race, professional classifica-
tion, years of professional experience, number of churches
pastoring, total membership of pastorate, degree attained,
and church administration course taken.

The total number of practicing Seventh-day Adventist
ministers responding to the questionnaire was 193, or 79.8
percent of the 242 practicing ministers contacted in the
four Seventh-day Adventist conferences. However, only 78.1
percent of the returned questionnaires were in usable condi-
tion. The following is the results of the analysis of the
first part of the questionnaire.

In the following Table 4.1 is shown the distribution
of practicing ministers according to conferences. Thirty-
three ministers (17.4 percent) were from the Lake Region
Conference, 85 (45.0 percent) from the Michigan Conference,
48 (25.4 percent)from the Northeastern Conference, and 23
(12.2 percent)from the Wisconsin Conference.

With regard to age categories, as shown in Table
4.2.12 (8.3 percent) of the ministers were between 20-29
years old, 84 (33.9 percent) were 30-39 years old, 47 (24.9
percent) were 40-49 years old, 38 (20.1 percent) were 50-

59 years old, and 27 (14.3 percent) were 80 years and older.

One (.5 percent) minister did not report his age category.

59

TABLE 4.1

DISTRIBUTION OF THE MINISTERS
ACCORDING TO CONFERENCES

 

 

 

 

Conferences Number Percentage

Lake Region 33 17.4

Michigan 85 45.0

Northeastern 48 25.4

Wisconsin 23 12.2

Total 189 100.0
TABLE 4.2

DISTRIBUTION OF THE MINISTERS
ACCORDING TO AGE

 

 

Age Grouping Number Percentage
20-29 12 8.3
30-39 84 33.9
40-49 47 24.9
50-59 38 20.1
80 plus 27 14.3
Not reporting 1 0.5

 

80

Table 4.3 presents the distribution of the practicing
ministers according to their ethnic classification. As is
indicated, 101 (53.4 percent) were Caucasian, 78 (41.3 per-
cent) were Black, 9 (4.8 percent) were Spanish-American,

and 1 (.5 percent) was of another ethnic heritage.

TABLE 4.3

DISTRIBUTION OF THE MINISTERS
ACCORDING TO RACE

 

 

 

Race Number Percentage
Caucasian 101 53.4
Black 78 41.3
Spanish-American 9 4.8
Other 1 0.5
Total 189 100.0

 

In Table 4.4 is shown the distribution of practicing
ministers according to their professional classification.
The table indicates that 11 (5.8 percent) of the practicing
ministers were interns, 24 (12.7 percent) were unordained

ministers, and 154 (81.5 percent) were ordained ministers.

81

TABLE 4.4

DISTRIBUTION OF THE MINISTERS
ACCORDING TO PROFESSIONAL CLASSIFICATION

 

 

 

Unordained/ Number Percentage
Ordained

Intern 11 5.8
Unordained Pastor 24 12.7
Ordained Pastor 154 81.5
Total 189 100.0

 

The distribution of practicing ministers according

to years of professional experience is shown in Table 4.5.

There are 40 (21.2 percent) ministers with 1-5 years (and

less than 1 year) of professional eXperience, 38 (20.1 per-

cent) with 8-10 years of experience, 33 (17.5 percent) with

11-15 years of experience, 28 (13.7 percent) with 18-20 years

of experience, 14 (7.4 percent) with 21-25 years of experi-

ence, 18 (8.5 percent) with 28-30 years of experience, and

22 (11.8 percent) with 31 and more years of professional

experience.

82

TABLE 4.5

DISTRIBUTION OF THE MINISTERS
ACCORDING TO YEARS OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

 

 

 

Years of Professional Number Percentage
Experience

1-5 (less than 1 year) 40 21.2
8-10 38 20.1
11-15 33 17.5
18-20 28 13.7
21-25 14 7.4
28-30 18 8.5
3l-and above 22 11.8
Total 189 100.0

 

Table 4.8 presents the distribution of practicing
ministers according to the number of churches in their pas-
torates. As is shown, 78 (40.2 percent) ministers were as-
signed to one church each, whereas 84 (44.4 percent) were
entrusted with 2 churches, 24 (12.7 percent) were assigned
to 3 churches, and 5 (2.7 percent) entrusted with 4 and or
more churches.

The following Table 4.7 presents the distribution
of practicing ministers according to the number of member-
ship in each pastorate. Since each minister was requested
to record the total membership in his pastorate on the ques-
tionnaire, the investigator computed the mean membership

of the pastorates which was 349, and then placed each minister

83

TABLE 4.8

DISTRIBUTION OF THE MINISTERS

ACCORDING TO NUMBER OF CHURCHES IN PASTORATE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Number of Churches Number Percentage
in Pastorate

l 78 40.2

2 84 44.4

3 24 12.7

4 and more 5 2.7
Total 189 100.0

TABLE 4.7
DISTRIBUTION OF THE MINISTERS
ACCORDING TO MEMBERSHIP IN PASTORATE

Average Number Percentage
Below Average
(less than 349) 131 89.3
Average 1 0.5
Above Average
(more than 349) 57 30.2
Total 189 100.0

 

84

in his respective category -- below average (less than 349),
average (349). There were 131 (89.3 percent) ministers with
pastoral districts (pastorates) of less than 349 members,

1 (.5 percent) with 349 members in his pastorate, and 57
(30.2 percent) with memberships of more than 349.

In Table 4.8,practichugministers are distributed
according to their academic degree/s attained. It was dis-
covered that 89 (38.5 percent)of the ministers had obtained
either a B.A. or B.Th. degree, 43 (22.8 percent) had M.A.
degrees, 83 (33.3 percent) had completed the M.Div. degree,
8 (3.2 percent) had acquired the D.Min. (Doctor of Ministry)
degree, 4 (2.1 percent) had obtained the Ph.D. degree, and
3 (1.8 percent) had no degree, while 1 (.5 percent) failed

to report on this section of the questionnaire.

TABLE 4.8

DISTRIBUTION OF THE MINISTERS
ACCORDING TO DEGREES

 

 

Degrees Number Percentage
B.A. or B.Th. 89 38.5
M.A. 43 22.8
M.Div. 83 33.3
D.Min. 8 3.2
Ph.D. 4 2.1
No Degree 3 1.8
Missing Data 1 0.5

 

Total_ 189 100.0

 

85

The distribution of practicing ministers according
to the number of administration courses completed is shown
on Table 4.9. The results of the analysis show that 18 (9.5
percent) of the ministers did not attend the Seventh-day
Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University but
had completed 1 course in administration, 18 (8.5 percent)
had completed 2 administration courses and did not attend
the Theological Seminary, 25 (13.2 percent) did not attend
the Seminary and had completed 3 or more courses in adminis-
tration, while 18 (8.5 percent) neither attended the Seminary
nor completed any course in administration. There were 48
(24.4 percent) ministers who attended the Seminary and com-
pleted only the required church administrative course, CHMN
527 Church Leadership and Administration; 29 (15.3 percent)
of the ministers completed CHMN 527 and other administra-
tion courses; while 21 (11.1 percent) ministers completed
other administration courses at the exclusion of CHMN 527;
and 18 (9.5 percent) ministers completed no administrative
course even though they attended Andrews University.

It should be noted that, based upon the analysis
of the data presented in Table 4.9, 75 (39.7 percent) of
the respondents did not attend the Theological Seminary at
Andrews University, while 114 (80.3 percent) attended the
Theological Seminary at Andrews University, but only 75 (39.7
percent) completed the required church administrative course
CHMN 527. Whether the remaining 39 of the 114 ministers
who attended the Seminary while CHMN 527 was required is

unknown.

88

TABLE 4.9

DISTRIBUTION OF THE MINISTERS
ACCORDING TO ADMINISTRATION COURSES COMPLETED

 

 

 

Courses Completed Number Percentage
One 18 9.5
Two 18 8.5
Three and more 25 13.2
None 18 8.5
CHMN 527 48 24.4
CHMN 527 and others 29 15.3
Others excluded CHMN 527 21 11.1
None 18 9.5
Total 189 100.0

 

In summary, 81 (42.8 percent) of the practicing minis-

ters who responded to the questionnaire were employed by

two Regional Conferences, while 108 (57.2 percent) of the
ministers were employed by two state Conferences; 78 (40.2
percent) of the ministers were below age 40, while 112 (59.3
percent) were age 40 and above; 101 (53.4 percent) were of
the Caucasian classification, and 78 (41.3 percent) were
Black; 35 (18.5 percent) of the ministers were unordained,
while 154 (81.5 percent) were ordained; 111 (58.5 percent)
had less than 18 years of professional experience in the
ministry, and 78 (41.2 percent) had 18 years and more of

professional experience; 78 (40.2 percent) were pastoring

87

one church each, while 113 (59.8 percent) were pastoring

2 or more churches each; 131 (89.3 percent) of the ministers
were in pastorates with less than 349 members, and 58 (30.7
percent) were in pastorates with 349 and more members; 112
(59.3 percent) of the ministers did not attain the basic
professional training for the ministry, as is reflected in
the possession of the M.Div. degree (they possessed either
M.A. or the B.A.), and 73 (38.8 percent) were in possession
of the M.Div. degree or above; and 72 (39.7 percent) of the
ministers had completed the basic required course in church
administration CHMN 527, while 114 (81.3 percent) did not

pursue nor complete that course.

Ministers' Evaluation of Their Administrative Skills

The practicing Seventh-day Adventist ministers were
asked on the questionnaire, "What Is Your Current Level of
Skill In the Following Areas?" The areas included: plan-
ning, managing, decision making, communicating and evalu-

ating. The findings are presented in this section.

Research Question I

 

"How do practicing Seventh-day Adventists ministers
assess their current levels of administrative skills in terms
of planning, managing, decision making, communicating, and

evaluating?"

88

To answer this question, the assessment of the 189
practicing ministers relative to the fourteen (14) planning
skills, nine (9) managing skills, eight (8) decision-making
skills, six (8) communicating skills, and eight (8) evalu-
ating skills, were analyzed and the results are presented
in terms of raw scores, percentages, means, standard devia-
tions, and ranked according to means.

Planning Skills. Table 4.10 shows the raw numbers,

 

percentages, means, standard deviations, and ranks of the
ministers in regard to planning skills. Table 4.11 shows
the assessment scores for fourteen planning skills ranging
from a mean of 3.707 to a mean of 2.738.

In Table 4.11, the skills have been categorized into
three groups according to their numerical value. None of
the planning skills fall into the first group range of 3.9 -
5.0. However, in the second group, thirteen of the fourteen
planning skills fall in the 3.0 - 3.89 range, and one in
the 1.0 - 2.99 range. The highestranked skill is "Initiating
positive action in the church rather than reacting to actions
initiated by others", and 15.9 percent of the ministers rated
their level of ability to perform this skill "very high",
while 48.1 percent rated "high", 27.5 percent at "average",
8.3 percent "low", and 1.8 percent "very low" (see Table
4.10). It should be noted that 91.5 percent of the respond-
ing ministers assessed this skill "average" to "very high".
This skill was followed in rank by "Persuading the church

(members) to allocated resources for priority goals". 12.2

89

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71

TABLE 4.11

RANKING OF MINISTERS' ASSESSMENT
OF THEIR PLANNING SKILLS

 

 

Level of Item
Assessment No. Planning Mean Rank
3.9 - 500
Highest
Ranking
Group
3.0 - 3.89 21 Initiating positive action in the 3.707 1
Average church rather than reacting to ac-
Ranking tions initiated by others.
Group
19 Persuading the church to allocate 3.849 2
resources for priority goals.
18 Delegating responsibilities to 3.838 3
church members.
20 Preparing an adequate financial 3.817 4
plan for yoru church.
22 Determining the flow of activi- 3.598 5
ties and responsibilities when
assigned to a new pastorate.
11 Developing short-range (less than 3.583 8
5 years) plans for your church.
13 Developing church goals and objec- 3.540 7
tives that are based on the mis-
sion of the church.
14 Determining programs and activi- 3.527 8
ties that will facilitate (make
easy) the achievement of church
goals and objectives.
23 Working systematically at attain- 3.488 9
ing church goals and objectives.
15 Defining clearly the responsibi- 3.444 10

lities of the church members in
the programs and activities of
the church.

72

TABLE 4.11 (Cont'd.)

 

 

Level of Item
Assessment No. Planning Mean Rank
3.0 - 3.89 17 Planning for an effective steward- 3.380 11
Average ship program in your church.
Ranking
Group 18 Implementing the stewardship pro- 3.118 12
gram in such a way as to achieve
the planned or desired results.
12 Formulating policy statements or 3.118 13
guidelines to operationalize your
church plans.
1.0 - 2.99 10 Developing long-range (5 years or 2.738 14
Lowest more) plans for your church.
Ranking
Group

 

percent of the ministers evaluated their ability on this
skill "very high"; 52.4 percent as "high"; 24.9 percent as
"average"; 7.9 percent as "low"; and 2.1 percent as "very
low".

In the third group, with the range of 1.0 - 2.99,
falls the lowest ranked skill which is "Developing long-range
(5 or more years) plans for your church" with a mean score
of 2.738. Table 4.10 shows that 3.2 percent of the ministers
assessed their level of skill to develop long-range plans
as "very high"; 18.9 percent as "high"; 41.8 percent as
"average"; 24.9 percent as "low"; and 12.2 percent as "very
low".

Managing Skills. The raw numbers, percentages, means.

standard deviations, and ranks, with regard to the managing

73

skills, are shown in Table 4.12, and in Table 4.13 are the
assessment scores for the same skills ranging from a mean
score of 3.825 to a mean of 2.995.

The managing skills have been categorized into three
groups according to their evaluative score. The first groups
has a range of 3.9 - 5.0, and no skill received a means score
high enough to be placed within that range. But in the second
group with the range of 3.0 - 3.89 fell eight (8) of the
nine managing skills, with the highest ranked skill being
"Resolving or reducing conflict among church members." Of
the respondents, 19.8 percent evaluated their level of skill
in this area as "very high"; 48.1 percent as "high"; 28.8
percent as "average"; 2.8 percent as "low"; and 1.1 percent
as "very low". This managing skill was followed in rank
by "Implement the planned programs and activities for the
achievement of church goals and objectives", which was as-
sessed by 5.3 percent of the ministers as "very high"; 38.1
percent as "high"; 49.7 percent as "average"; 5.8 percent
as "low"; and .5 percent as "very low".

In the third group, which is the lowest rank with
a range of 1.0 - 2.99, was placed the lowest-ranked skill
which is "Managing your time to achieve maximum efficiency
in your ministry", and it has a mean score of 2.995. Table
4.12 shows that 4.8 percent of the respondents assessed their
level of skill in this area as "very high"; 19.0 percent
as "high"; 52.4 percent as "average"; 18.5 percent as "low";

and 5.3 percent as "very low".

74

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78

TABLE 4.13

RANKING 0F MINISTERS' ASSESSMENT OF

THEIR MANAGING SKILLS

 

Level of
Assessment

Item
No.

Managing Skills

Mean

Rank

 

3.9 - 5.0
(Highest)

3.0 - 3.89
(Average)

1.0 " 2099
(Lowest)

31

27

28

24

3O

25

28

29

Resolving or reducing conflict
among church members.

Implement the planned programs
and activities for the achieve-
ment of church goals and objec-
tives.

Monitoring the progress of church
programs and activities without
obstructing the process.

Developing church members' po-
tentials for responsible posi-
tions in the church.

Using a variety of leadership
and management styles to achieve
church goals and objectives.

Influencing church members
through the use of different
motivational techniques.

Influencing positively church
members' commitments to respon-
sibilities through home visita—
tions.

Criticizing constructively the
performance of church members to
influence constructive change.

Managing your time to achieve
maximum efficiency in your minis-
try.

3.825

3.420

3.314

3.305

3.228

3.154

3.138

3.101

2.995

77

Decision-Making Skills. Table 4.14 presents, for

 

each individual skill, the raw numbers, percentages, means,
standard deviations, and ranks in reference to the decision-
making skills; while Table 4.15 shows the ranking by means
which range from a mean of 4.111 to a mean of 3.397. The
skills have also been categorized into two groups ranging
from_3.9 - 5.0 as the highest ranking group, and 3.0 - 3.89
as the average ranking group. None of the skills mean scores
was low enough to create the lowest ranking group of 1.0 -
2.99.

The highest ranking group consists of three decision-
making skills on which the great majority of ministers evalu-
ated their skill level as "high" to "very high". "Promoting
decisions that are consistent with church policy" was the
highest-ranked skill, on which 30.2 percent of the minis-
ters assessed their skill level as "very high"; 51.3 per-
cent as "high"; 18.0 percent as "average"; .5 percent as
"low"; and 0.0 percent as "very low". This was followed
by "Making decisions that are based on practical values",
and "Promoting a variety of opinions in meetings before
a decision is made" which were tied with a mean score of
4.011. A great majority of the respondents evaluated their
level of skill as "high" and "very high" on both skills.

For example, 19.8 percent assessed their skill level as
"very high"; 82.4 percent as "high"; 18.4 percent as "aver-
age"; and 1.1 percent as "low" on "Making decisions that

are based on practical values"; and 22.2 percent as "very

78

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um um on H o quumHmcoo mum Hmcu mConHomo OCHuoeoud .mm

N «mm. Hoo.q N.NN b.8m m.mH m. m. .mome mH COHmHumo m muowmo mOCH
Nq moH mm H H upmme CH mCoHCHoo mo >HwHHm> m ocHuoeoua .mm

d new. me.m m.mH m.mq 5.5m m.m m. .mme mH conHumo m maowmo COHH
mN mm mm HH H umEHOHCH qusmHmH HHm .AHHmuHHom.a OCHumCHmu .qm
am am mm Du N -eoooo op ou oH ears HHeooHo ocHHCHooom .mm

H 2 H 2 H 2 H 2 H z

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mem .o.m Cmmz .msq msooq .msq .m>< aonm mHHme mCmeEuConHomo emuH

 

muume oszqsuonmHumD KHMIP no hzmzmmmmmq

.mEMFmHzHE

«H.q mquH

79

 

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mH mm mm HN H coHuum mo mmmudou m>HumCumuHm OCHHomHmm .Dq

. . . . . . . .mmmCm>HpumHHm

a com eon m a mu H mm o em m as H m poo HeHoHHos oHoru xooro or nooHnHooo
am no De mm a roasro oeeH nooHooo xooooooe opposHoeH .mn

H 2 H 2 H 2 H 2 H 2

roHI .> roHI sou sou .> .o2
1Com .o.m Cows .m>< m>oo< .m>q .m>q aonm mHHme OCmeEaConHumo EmHH

 

A.D.Hcouv «H.q mumq»

RANKING OF MINISTERS'

80

TABLE 4.15

THEIR DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

ASSESSMENT OF

 

 

Level of Item
Assessment No. Decision-Making Skills Mean Rank
3.9 - 5.0 38 Promoting decisions that are con- 4.111 1
Highest sistent with church policy.
Ranking
Group 37 Making decisions that are based 4.011 2
on practical values.
35 Promoting a variety of opinions 4.011 2
in meetings before a decision is
made.
3.0 - 3.89 33 Specifying clearly what is to 3.891 3
Average be accomplished before making a
Ranking decision.
Group
34 Gathering practically all rele- 3.881 4
vant information before a deci-
sion is made.
40 Selecting alternative courses 3.519 5
of action to achieve church
goals and objectives.
38 Building (or including) into de- 3.505 8
cisions the steps and proce-
dures to implement them.
39 Including feedback periods 3.397 7

into church decisions to check
their validity and effective-
ness.

81

high"; 57.7 percent as "high"; 18.5 percent as "average";
.5 percent as "low"; and .5 percent as "very low" on "Pro-
moting a variety of opinions in meetings before a decision
is made."

In the second group, which is categorized as "aver-
age ranking" with a range of 3.0 - 3.89, fall all the remain-
ing decision-making skills. The lowest-ranked skill is
"Including feedback periods into church decisions to check
their validity and effectiveness", on which 12.7 percent
of the respondents evaluated their level of skill as "very
high", 33.3 percent as "high"; 37.0 percent as "average";
14.8 percent as "low"; and 2.1 percent as "very low".

Communicating Skills. Presented in Table 4.18 are
the communicating skills, the number of ministers respond-
ing to each skill, percentages, means, standard deviations,
and ranks. Table 4.17 shows the ranking by means which
range from a mean score of 3.887 to a mean of 3.280. The
skills have also been categorized by mean scores and are
grouped into three ranges of 3.9 - 5.0, 3.0 - 3.89, and
1.0 - 2.99. However, all the communicating skills fall
into the 3.0 - 3.89 category which is known as the "average
ranking group."

The highest-ranked skill is "Building trustworthy
or confidential relationships with and among church members",
on which 19.8 percent of the respondents assessed their
level of skill as "very high"; 51.9 percent as "high"; 23.3

percent as "average"; and 3.7 percent as "low". The second

82

 

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. . . . . . . .mumoeme

H mmw bmm m w mH m Hm m MN 5 m o o Louoco ocoem oCm CuHa moHcmcoHpmHmH
an em as a a HoHeeooHecoo oo Hrooosunspo ocHoHHsm .me

m mun. qoq.m «.8 o.mm m.mq m.oH 0.0 .mumoewe CUHJCU 0Coem
5H mm mm ON a CoHumoHCaeeou HmcomumoumHCH OCHHmHHHHumu .eq

. . . . . . . .COHumoHCJEEou coaoucu mmHuH>Huom oCm

q Nwh mmm m o m 5 mg m Ha N a H H memuooud CUHDCU omCmHHomumm How phononm
pH Nm mu m N .mumneme Cunard >Hm>HHHmoo OCHoCmnHHCH .mq

m mmb. >>m.m w.HH >.mm «.mq m.m 0.0 .Cuuano Hoox
NN mu Nm OH o CH CoHHHOHmHU COHHmoHCneeou OCHNHCooumm .Nq

w mam. omN.m m.m N.Nm w.mq H.NH H.N .Cuuazu
NH Hm mm «N a “30> CH coHumuHCDEEoo Ho aoHH mCH mCHmmsz .Hc

H 2 H 2 H 2 H 2 H 2

23: .s 821 sou sou .s .o2
mem .o.m Com: .msq msooq .msq .m>< aonm mHHme mCHHmUHcoeeou EmuH

 

muume othquHZDEEDu mHuIF no Fzmzmmmmmq .mmmpmHzHE

mH.q mquF

83

TABLE 4.17

RANKING OF MINISTERS' ASSESSMENT OF
THEIR COMMUNICATING SKILLS

 

 

Level of Item
Assessment No. Communicating Skills Mean Rank
3.9 " 500
Highest
Ranking
Group
3.0 - 3.89 45 Building trustworthy or confi- 3.887 1
Average dential relationships with and
Ranking among church members.
Group
48 Evaluating your own communica- 3.831 2
tion by noting the comprehension
of it by others.
42 Recognizing communication distor- 3.577 3
tion in your church.
43 Influencing positively church 3.553 4
members' support for established
church programs and activities
through communication.
44 Facilitating interpersonal com- 3.404 5
munication among church members.
41 Managing the flow of communica- 3.280 8
tion in your church.
1.0 " 2099
Lowest
Ranking

Group

84

highest-ranked skill is "Evaluating your own communication

by noting the comprehension of it by others," and 12.7 per-
cent of the respondents evaluated their level of skill in

this area as "very high"; 43.4 percent as "high"; 37.0 percent
as "average"; 5.3 percent as "low"; and .5 percent as "very
low".

Although none of the skills mean score was low enough
to fall into the 1.0 - 2.99 range, or the "lowest ranking
group", the skill that ranked the lowest was "Managing the
flowing of communication in your church", which had a mean
score of 3.280. On this communicating skill, 8.3 percent
of the respondents rated their level of skill as "very high";
32.3 percent as "high"; 48.8 percent as "average"; 12.7
percent as "low"; and 2.1 percent as "very low".

Evaluating Skills. For each evaluating skill in

 

Table 4.18 is presented the raw numbers of respondents,
percentages, means, standard deviations, and ranks; while
Table 4.19 shows the ranking by means which range from a
mean of 3.852 to a mean of 2.840. The skills are grouped
into two categories, the first ranging from 3.0 - 3.89,
and the second from 1.0 - 2.99. No evaluating skill re-
ceived a mean score high enough for the highest ranking
group with the range of 3.9 - 5.0.

However, the evaluating skill receiving the highest
mean score of 3.852 was "Determining the needs of your
church". 20.1 percent of the respondents assessed their

level of skill in this area as "very high"; 48.1 percent

85

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m mm mm Nm N CUHJCU Ho mmmcm>HHumwwm mCH ochmmmmq .Nm
m Nmm. NMH.m N.q m.Nm N.od m.mH m.m .omHHHucmoH
m Nm we Nm DH mommC mCH Home 0H mmsHuommoo OCHCHEumHmo .Hm
w mmm. Nam.N b.m m.MN m.Nq m.mN m.w .m>m>u:m Edam
b ca Hm me NH owHumHHou Amumpv CoHumEHowCH oCHumuoumHCH .om
m Hoo.H Dem.N m.m o.mH w.>m v.0m q.> .mommC Hp
HH an Hp mm «H THCDEEoo mCHeumpmp on >m>u3m m OCHoon>mo .mq
O 0 O O O I O OmCOnoHC-WQO
m Nmm wHo m m q m wN b mm m NN m m Ho mamH> .mumoeme CUHJCU OCHmmmmmm CH
m om mp we HH mmusomuoua OCHHuEmm mHmHuaouuom DCHm: .mq
H mun. Nmm.m H.DN H.Nq H.mN H.N m.o
mm Hm mm a H .Cuuazo Hao> Ho mommC mCH OCHCHEHmHmo .rq
H 2 H 2 H 2 H 2 H 2
23: .s 23: sou sou .s .o2
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muume othunq>m mHmIk do H2mzmmmmm<

mH.q mumqh

.mmmhmHzHE

88

.>HHCDEEoo oCm CUHDCU Hoo>

 

u me. Hom.N m.H m.mH m.om m.mN m.q Ho CDHHmsHmsm mCH CH om>H0>CH mmmmmu
m Nm mm om m noun mCH HHm OCHmHmHogm pCm mCHuouHCoz .qm
.xCoEHmCmHD mH
HHmCH Coca CoHuum m>HpHmog ocmep oCm
o ems. meo.m m.m 2.2m m.me N.Hm a.m ecoECHooeo Hood doe oopmocpun pornHH
nomumm CHHa mmpHHHonCogmmu uHmCH mg
m mm mm as n mUCmeuomumu .wumoeme Couszo OCHHmoeou .mm
H 2 H 2 H 2 H 2 H 2
roHI .s roHI sou sou .s .o2
1Com .o.m Cmmz .msq m>ooq .msq .m>< aonm mHHme OCHumsHmsm empH

 

A.o.ocouv mH.e

mumqh

87

TABLE 4.19

RANKING OF MINISTERS' ASSESSMENT
OF THEIR EVALUATING SKILLS

 

 

Level of Item
Assessment No. Evaluating Skills Mean Rank
3.9 - 5.0
Highest
Ranking
Group
3.0 - 3.89 47 Determining the needs of your 3.852 1
Average church.
Ranking
Group 52 Assessing the effectiveness of 3.219 2
church programs at appropriate
stages, or at their completion.
51 Determining objectives to meet 3.138 3
the needs identified.
53 Comparing church members' per- 3.048 4
formance of their responsibili-
ties with established standards
for goal attainment, and taking
positive action when there is
disharmony.
48 Using appropriate sampling pro- 3.018 5
cedures in assessing church mem-
bers' views or opinions.
1.0 - 2.99 50 Interpreting information (data) 2.942 8
Lowest collected from surveys.
Ranking
Group 54 Monitoring and appraising all 2.841 7
the processes involved in the
evaluation of your church and
community.
49 Developing a survey to deter- 2.840 8

mine community needs.

88

as "high"; 29.1 percent as "average"; 2.1 percent as "low";
and .5 percent as "very low". It is clearly seen that a
majority of the respondents rated their level of skill be-
tween "high" and "very high"; and an overwhelming majority
(97.3 percent) evaluated their skill between "average" and
"very high". Following this skill, in terms of rank with

a mean score of 3.219, was "Assessing the effectiveness

of church programs at appropriate stages, or at their comple-
tion." It ranked second highest, and 4.8 percent of the
respondents assessed their skill level in this area as "very
high"; 31.2 percent as "high"; 45.0 percent as "average";
18.9 percent as "low"; and 1.1 percent as "very low".

In the second group (lowest ranking group with a
range of 1.0 - 2.99) , fell three skills with respective
mean scores of 2.942, 2.841, and 2.840. The skill that
ranked the lowest with a mean score of 2.840 was "Develop-
ing a survey to determine community needs", and 5.8 percent
of the respondents evaluated their level of skill in this
area as "very high"; 18.0 percent as "high"; 37.8 percent
as "average"; 30.7 percent as "low"; and 7.4 percent as
"very low".

In Summary. The administrative skills in the five

 

selected areas that are related to the first research ques-
tion provided the following results: A general glance at
the results of the analysis of the practicing Seventh-day
Adventist ministers' evaluation of the level of their admin-

istrative skills in regard to the forty-five (45) skills

89

on the questionnaire reveals that the respondents rated
their level of skill highly on three of the decision-making
variables (see Table 4.15), with one communicating variable
(no. 45 on questionnaire) following closely with a mean
score of 3.887 (See Table 4.17). In contrast, the respon-
dents evaluated their level of skills low on five of the
forty-five (45) skills (1 planning Skill, 1 managing, and

3 evaluating), with two other evaluating skills on border-
line (see Tables 4.11, 4.13, 4.19). The category on group
of skills in which the respondents are most competent is
the area of decision making, while they appear to be least

competent in the evaluating skills.

Research Question II and Test of the Hypotheses

 

This section presents the results of the testing
of the research hypotheses which were derived from the second
research question. Multivariate Analysis (MANOVA) was uti-
lized in the analysis of the data gathered via the question-
naire. In order to accept or reject the null hypotheses,
a significance level of 0.05 was set. In addition, the
means, rank order, and overall means were employed as descrip-
tive statistics to compare the practicing ministers' assess-

ments when grouped according to the independent variables.

90

Hypothesis 1

 

"There will be no difference between how practicing
ministers of Regional and State conferences assess their
current levels of administrative skills with respect to
planning, managing, decision making, communicating and evalu-
ating."

MANOVA statistics were used to test this hypothesis.
The Multivariate Wilks F-test was 8.21855, which is signifi-
cant at the 0.05 level (P = 0). Hence Hypothesis I is re-
jected.

Table 4.20 presents the results of the Univariate
F-tests (with 1.187 degrees of freedom) in order to identify
the significant difference between "Regional and State con-
ference ministers' assessment on the five aspects of the
administrative skills." The results indicate that there
is a conference effect on how the respondents assessed their
level of skills in the five areas. The F-tests were signifi-
cant at the 0.05 level (P = O, P = O, P = 0.000008, P =
0.00002, and P = 0 respectively).

Table 4.21 presents the rank order based upon the
means for each of the fourteen planning skills as was evalu-
ated by the ministers of Regional and State conferences
as the level of their skills. Regional conference ministers
ranked four planning skills (items 18, 21, 15, and 19) as
highest, while the remaining ten skills were ranked as

average (items l3, 14, 22, 10, ll, 17, 12, 18 and 10).

91

TABLE 4.20

UNIVARIATE F-TEST FOR MEAN ASSESSMENTS
ACCORDING TO REGIONAL AND STATE CONFERENCES
WITH 1.187 DEGREES OF FREEDOM

 

 

Aspects of Hypothesis Error Significance
Administration Mean Square Mean Square F 0f F
Skills

Planning 10.22528 0.30598 33.42081 0*
Managing 7.48978 0.25853 29.19845 0*
Decision-making 5.98424 0.27977 21.39010 0.000008134*
Communicating 8.28133 0.33150 18.88512 0.000002213*
Evaluating 11.21704 0.39810 28.31904 0*

 

*Significant at the 0.05 level

Although none of the skills ranked below average, "Develop-
ing long-range (5 or more years) plans for your church"

was ranked last with a mean score of 3.050. The State con-
ference ministers ranked no planning skill in the highest
category, but thirteen of the fourteen were ranked as aver-
age, and (item 10) "Developing long-range (5 or more years)
plans for your church" as below average. When comparing
the mean score for each planning skill, with the exception
of item 22, Regional conference ministers have rated their
skills higher than State conference ministers. It is also
clear on Table 4.21, that items 10 and 23 were ranked 8

and 13 by the respondents of both conferences.

92

TABLE 4.21

MEANS RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF REGIONAL AND

STATE CONFERENCES MINISTERS'

OF THEIR PLANNING SKILLS

ASSESSMENT

 

 

Item Regional State
No. Planning Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 81 N = 108

10. Developing long-range (5 or more years) 3.0508 13 2.5093 13
plans for your church.

11. Developing short-range (less than 5 3.7848 9 3.4352 3
years) plans for your church.

12. Formulating policy statements or guide- 3.4891 11 2.8519 12
lines to operationalize your church
plans.

13. Developing church goals and objectives 3.8987 5 3.2778 8
that are based on the mission of the
church.

14. Determining programs and activities 3.85 7 3.287 5
that will facilitate (make easy) the
achievement of church goals and objec-
tives.

15. Defining clearly the responsibilities 3.9494 3 3.0741 10
of the church members in the programs
and activities of the church.

18. Delegating responsibilities to church 4.1375 1 3.2885 7
members.

17. Planning for an effective Stewardship 3.5928 10 3.1852 9
program in your church.

18. Implementing the Stewardship program 3.3210 12 3.0558 11
in such a way as to achieve the
planned or desired results.

19. Persuading the church to allocate re- 3.9375 4 3.4352 3
sources for priority goals.

20. Preparing an adequate financial plan 3.8125 8 3.4722 2

for your church.

93

TABLE 4.21 (Cont'd.)

 

 

Item Regional State

No. Planning Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 81 N = 108

21. Initiating positive action in the 3.9875 2 3.5 1

church rather than reacting to
actions initiated by others.

22. Determining the flow of activities 3.88 8 3.3981 4
and responsibilities when assigned
to a new pastorate.

23. Working systematically at attaining 3.8125 8 3.2130 8
church goals and objectives.

 

OVERALL MEANS 3.882 3.212

 

In comparing the overall means for the planning
skills, it can be seen that Regional conference practicing
ministers evaluated their level of skills more highly than
did those of the State conferences. There was a significant
difference between Regional and State conference ministers
in their evaluation of the levels of skills in the area
of planning.

Table 4.22 shows the rank order that is based upon
the mean score for each nine (9) managing skills, and which
was the result of the evaluation done by Regional and State
conferences' ministers on their managing skills. Regional
conference ministers ranked one managing skill (item 31)
highly (above average), and eight (items 24-30, and 32)

skills as average. No managing skill was ranked below

94

TABLE 4.22

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF REGIONAL AND

STATE CONFERENCES MINISTERS'

ASSESSMENT

OF THEIR MANAGING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Regional State
No. Managing Skills Mean Mean
N = N =

24. Developing church members' potentials 3.5318 3.1389
for responsible positions in the
church.

25. Influencing church members through 3.5250 2.8798
the use of different motivational
techniques.

28. Influencing postively church members' 3.2593 3.0483
commitments to responsibilities through
home visitation.

27. Implementing the planned programs and 3.55 3.3241
activities for the achievement of
church goals and objectives.

28. Monitoring the progress of church pro- 3.5125 3.1887
grams and activities without obstruct-
ing the process.

29. Criticizing constructively the perfor- 3.45 2.8428
mance of church members to influence
constructive change.

30. Using a variety of leadership and 3.8049 2.9444
management styles to achieve church
goals and objectives.

31. Resolving or reducing conflict among 4.0 3.8944
church members.

32. Managing your time to achieve maxi- 3.2718 2.787
mum efficiency in your ministry.
OVERALL MEANS 3.493 3.211

 

95

average, but of all the managing skills, item 28, "Influen-
cing positively church members' committment to responsibi-
lities through home visitation", was ranked ninth or last.
On the other hand, State conference practicing ministers
ranked no managing skill above average; whereas five (items
31, 27, 28, 24, and 28) skills were ranked as average; and
four (items 30, 25, 29, and 32) of the managing skills were
ranked below average. It is interesting to note that items
31 and 24 were ranked 1 and 4 respectively by ministers
from Regional and State conferences with the number one
ranked being "Resolving or reducing conflict among church
members."

A comparison of the overall means of both Regional
and State conferences ministers' evaluation of the level
of their skills in the managing area reveal that respondents
of the State conferences assessed their managing skills
lower or more negatively than ministers in the Regional
conferences. From an overall perspective, there was a signi-
ficant difference between Regional and State conferences
ministers' evaluation of the levels of their managing skills.

Table 4.23 is a presentation of the rank order of
the eight (8) decision-making skills based on the mean score
for each individual skill. Ministers from the Regional
conferences ranked four of their decision-making skills
(items 38, 37, 35, and 33) highly (above average), with
"Promoting decisions that are consistent with church policy"

being ranked number one, and four (items 34, 40, 38, and

98

TABLE 4.23

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF REGIONAL AND

STATE CONFERENCES MINISTERS'

ASSESSMENT

OF THEIR DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Regional State
No. Decision-making skills Mean Mean Rank
N = N =

33. Specifying clearly what is to be accom- 3.95 3.5
plished before making a decision.

34. Gathering practically all relevant in- 3.8519 3.5185
formation before a decision is made.

35. Promoting a variety of opinions in 4.0108 3.8981
meetings before a decision is made.

38. Promoting decisions that are consis- 4.2222 4.0278
tent with church policy.

37. Making decisions that are based on 4.1 3.9444
practical values.

38. Building (or including) into deci- 3.8125 3.2778
sions the steps and procedures to
implement them.

39. Including feedback periods into 3.7407 3.1389
church decisions to check their
validity and effectiveness.

40. Selecting alternative courses of 3.8272 3.2870
action to achieve church goals
and objectives.
OVERALL MEANS 3.934 3.574

 

97

39) as average. No decision-making skill is ranked below
average, but the one that is last in ranking with a mean
score of 3.740 is "Including feedback periods into church
decisions to check their validity and effectiveness." The
State conferences ministers' evaluation of their decision-
making skills showed two skills (items 38 and 37) being
ranked highly (above average), with the number one ranked
skill being "Promoting decisions that are consistent with
church policy." The remaining six skills (items 35, 34,

40, 38 and 39) were ranked as average. Although no decision-
making skill was ranked below average for the State con-
ferences ministers, the skill that is ranked last (8th)

with a mean score of 3.138 is "Including feedback periods
into church decisions to check their validity and effective-
ness", the identical one with the same ranking as that of
the Regional conferences' respondents.

It is of interest to note that even though the in-
dividual mean score for each decision-making skill was ranked
higher by the respondents of the Regional conferences, six
of the eight skills (items 38, 37, 35, 40, 38, and 39) have
comparatively identical ranking, inclusive are the number
1 and 8 (last)ranked skills. When a comparison of the over-
all means is made, it is seen that ministers from the Regional
conferences have evaluated their levels of decision-making
skills higher than the ministers from the State conferences,
and that there was a significant difference between ministers
of Regional and State conference in how they assess those

skills.

98

Presented in Table 4.24 is a comparison of the mean
scores and rank for each of the six (8) communicating skills
for the respondents from both Regional and State conferences,
as a result of their assessments of their levels of skills
in this area. One communicating skill (item 45) was ranked
highly by the ministers from the Regional conferences.

It is "Building trustworthy or confidential relationships
with and among church members", and has a mean score of
4.038. The other five communicating skills were ranked

as average, with "Managing the flow of communication in

your church" as the number six or last ranked skill with

a mean score of 3.4815. 0n the other hand, no communicating
skill was ranked highly as a result of the evaluation per-
formed by ministers of the State conferences; all the skills
(items 41 - 48) were ranked as average; but the number one
ranked skill is "Building trustworthy or confidential rela-
tionship with and among church members"; and the skill which
is ranked sixth or last is "Managing the flow of communica-
tion in your church." No communicating skill was ranked
below average.

It is worth noting that each communicating skill
item mean score for respondents from the Regional conference
was higher than the mean score of each skill item of minis-
ters from the state conferences. However, each skill was
identically ranked by the respondents of both Regional and

State conferences. A comparative view of both overall means

99

TABLE 4.24

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF REGIONAL AND

STATE CONFERENCES MINISTERS'

ASSESSMENT

OF THEIR COMMUNICATING SKILLS

 

Item
No.

Communicating Skills

Regional
Mean Rank

N 2

State
Mean Rank

N 2

 

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

48.

Managing the flow of communication in
your church.

Recognizing communication distortion
in your church.

Influencing positively church members'
support for established church programs
and activities through communication.

Facilitating interpersonal communica-
tion among church members.

Building trustworthy or confidential
relationship with and among church
members.

Evaluating your own communication by
noting the comprehension of it by
others.

3.4815

3.8148

3.7854

3.5802

4.0380

3.8785

3.1298

3.3981

3.3925

3.2710

3.7757

3.4434

 

OVERALL MEANS

3.7428

3.375

 

100

reveals that ministers of the Regional conferences signifi-
cantly assessed their level of communicating skills higher
than those of the State conferences.

Table 4.25 shows the rank order of the eight evalu-
ating skills based on the mean score for each skill. Respon-
dents from the Regional conferences ranked one skill (item
4?) highly, and it is, "Determining the needs of your church."
The other seven skills were ranked as average, with "Inter-
preting information (data) collected from surveys" and
"Monitoring and appraising all the processes involved in
the evaluation of your church and community" (items 50 and
54 respectively) ranking sixth or last. Ministers from
the State conferences, on the other hand, did not accumulate
a mean score high enough on any of the skill items to be
ranked highly. Of the eight evaluating skills, two are
ranked as average (items 47 and 52), the number one ranked
being "Determining the needs of your church" with a mean
score of 3.820, and the other six (items 51, 48, 50, 53,

49, and 54) ranking below average., "Monitoring and apprais-
ing all the processes involved in the evaluation of your
church and community" was ranked eight or last with a mean
score of 2.801. There are more skills in this category

that are ranked below average by one group of ministers

than in any other category of skills.

When comparing the ranking of the skills, it was
discovered that two evaluating skills (items 47 and 52)

were ranked identically (l and 2 respectively) by both

101

TABLE 4.25

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF REGIONAL AND

STATE CONFERENCES MINISTERS'

OF THEIR EVALUATING SKILLS

ASSESSMENT

 

 

 

Item Regional State
No. Evaluating Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 81 N = 108
4?. Determining the needs of your church. 4.1805 1 3.8204 1
48. Using appropriate sampling procedures 3.2375 5 2.8519 4
in assessing church members' views or
opinions.
49. Developing a survey to determine 3.2375 5 2.5483 7
community needs.
50. Interpreting information (data) col- 3.1805 8 2.7778 5
lected from surveys.
51. Determining objectives to meet the 3.3580 4 2.9720 3
needs identified.
52. Assessing the effectiveness of church 3.5083 2 3.0093 2
programs at appropriate stages, or at
their completion.
53. Comparing church members' performance 3.4375 3 2.7593 8
of their responsibilities with estab-
lished standards for goal attainment,
and taking positive action when there
is disharmony.
54. Monitoring and appraising all the 3.1805 8 2.8019 8
processes involved in the evaluation
of your church and community.
OVERALL MEANS 3.381 2.888

 

102

Regional and State conferences' respondents. A comparison

of the overall means revealed that ministers from the Regional
conferences evaluated their level of evaluating skills signi-

ficantly higher than did ministers from the State conferences.

In summary, there is a significant difference shown

 

in the five administrative skill categories between how prac-
ticing ministers from both Regional and State conferences
evaluated the level of their administrative skills through
the use of MANOVA statistics. As a result of this finding,

Hypothesis 1 is rejected.

Hypothesis 2

 

"There will be no difference between how Caucasian
and Black practicing ministers assess their current levels
of administrative skills in terms of planning, managing,
decision making, communicating, and evaluating."

The hypothesis was tested through the use of MANOVA
statistics. The multivariate Wilks F-test was 8.14947, which
is significant at the 0.05 level (P = 0). Consequently,
Hypothesis 2 is rejected.

Table 4.28 presents the findings of the Univariate
F-tests (with 1.177 degrees of freedom) in order to identify
the significant difference between Black and Caucasian minis-
ters' evaluation of the five categories of administrative
skills. The F-tests were significant at the 0.05 level (P = O,

P = O, P = 0.000007, P = 0.00008, and P = 0 respectively).

103

TABLE 4.28

UNIVARIATE F-TEST FOR MEAN ASSESSMENT ACCORDING TO
BLACK AND CAUCASIAN MINISTERS
WITH 1.177 DEGREES OF FREEDOM

 

 

ASPECtS 0f Hypothesis Error Significance
Administration Mean Square Mean Square F Of F
Skills

Planning 10.98014 0.31238 35.08700 0*
Managing 7.87932 0.25739 30.81190 0*
Decision-making 8.09484 0.28831 21.13910 0.000007259*
Communicating 5.28515 0.32431 .18.23488 0.0000821"
Evaluating 10.49892 0.38737 27.10282 0*

 

*Significant at the 0.05 level

The results indicate that there is a race effect on how the
respondents assessed their level of administrative skills.

In Table 4.27 are presented the results for planning
skills in terms of means, rank order, and overall means of
the ministers' assessment of the fourteen planning items.
Black ministers evaluated two skills (items 18 and 21) highly,
with "Delegating responsibilities to church members" as the
highest ranked with a mean score of 4.142. The twelve re-
maining skills are ranked in the average category, but "Deve-
loping long-range (5 or more years) plans for your church"
was ranked fourteen or last among the planning skills with
a mean score of 3.052. The Caucasian ministers did not rank

any of the skills highly; twelve were ranked as average,

104

TABLE 4.27

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF BLACK AND
CAUCASIAN MINISTERS ON THEIR ASSESSMENT
OF THEIR PLANNING SKILLS

 

 

Item Black Caucasian
No. Planning Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 78 N = 101

10. Developing long-range (5 or more years) 3.0528 14 2.4851 13
plans for your church.

11. Developing short-range (less than 5 3.8158 9 3.4455 2
years) plans for your church.

12. Formulating policy statements or guide- 3.5128 12 2.8317 12
lines to operationalize your church
plans.

13. Developing church goals and objectives 3.9079 5 3.2574 8
that are based on the mission of the
church.

14. Determining programs and activities 3.8571 7 3.2873 5
that will facilitate (make easy) the
achievement of church goals and ob-
jectives.

15. Defining clearly the responsibilities 3.9474 4 3.0495 10
of the church members in the programs
and activities of the church.

18. Delegating responsibilities to church 4.1429 1 3.2277 7
members.

17. Planning for an effective Stewardship 3.8028 11 3.1782 8
program in your church.

18. Implementing the Stewardship program 3.3205 13 3.0398 11
in such a way as to achieve the plan-
ned or desired results.

19. Persuading the church to allocate re- 3.9481 3 3.4158 3

sources for priority goals.

105

TABLE 4.27 (Cont'd.)

 

 

 

 

Item Black Caucasian
No. Planning Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 78 N = 101

20. Preparing an adequate financial plan 3.8442 8 3.4455 3
for your church.

21. Initiating positive action in the 4.0130 2 3.4950 1
church rather than reacting to
actions initiated by others.

22. Determining the flow of activities 3.8889 8 3.3881 4
and responsibilities when assigned
to a new pastorate.

23. Working systematically at attaining 3.8052 10 3.1883 9
church goals and objectives.
OVERALL MEANS 3.8913 3.1923

with "Initiating positive action in the church rather than

reacting to actions initiated by others" being ranked number

one; and two skills (items 12 and 10) ranked below average

with "developing long-range (5 or more years) plans for

your

church" ranking last.

The Black ministers assessed the levels of their

planning skills on all fourteen items higher than did the

Caucasian ministers. Two skills (items 19 and 12) had

identical ranking (3 and 12 respectively) with

though it is ranked 13 and 14 by Caucasian and

item 10 (al-

Black minis-

ters respectively) ranking last. A comparison of the overall

means indicates that Black ministers evaluated

their level

108

of planning skills significantly higher than did the Cauca-
sian ministers.

Presented in Table 4.28 are the mean scores and
rank for the nine managing skills as were assessed by Black
and Caucasian ministers. Black ministers' evaluation of
their skills on all the managing items resulted in all the
skills having a mean score range of 3.974 - 3.258, all
items being ranked as average, with "Resolving or reducing
conflict among church members" as the number one ranked
skill (item 31) with a mean score of 3.974, while "influen-
cing positively church members' commitments to responsibi-
lities through home visitation" as eighth ranked or last
among the skills. 0n the other hand, Caucasian ministers
ranked five skills (items 31, 27, 28, 24, and 28) as average,
with "Resolving or reducing conflict among church members"
being ranked number one with a mean score of 3.883 and the
remaining four managing skills (items 30, 25, 29, and 32)
are ranked low or below average. For Caucasian ministers,
"Managing your time to achieve maximum efficiency in your
ministry" was ranked ninth or last with a mean score of
2.782.

All the managing skills were evaluated higher by
Black ministers than by the Caucasian respondents. One
skill (item 31) was ranked number one by both Black and
Caucasian ministers, and a comparison of the overall means
reveals that Black ministers significantly assessed their

levels of managing skills higher than the Caucasian ministers.

107

TABLE 4.28

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF BLACK AND

CAUCASIAN MINISTERS ON THEIR ASSESSMENT

OF THEIR MANAGING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Black Caucasian
No. Managing Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 78 N = 101

24. Developing church members' potentials 3.4935 3.1188 4
for responsible positions in the church.

25. Influencing church members through the 3.5325 2.8713 7
use of different motivational techni-
ques.

28. Influencing positively church members' 3.2584 3.0198 5
commitments to responsibilities through
home visitation.

27. Implementing the planned programs and 3.5325 3.3089 2
activities for the achievement of
church goals and objectives.

28. Monitoring the progress of church pro- 3.5195 3.1782 3
grams and activities without ob-
structing the process.

29. Criticizing constructively the per- 3.4815 2.7921 8
formance of church members to in-
fluence constructive change.

30. Using a variety of leadership and 3.8028 2.9208 8
management styles to achieve church
goals and objectives.

31. Resolving or reducing conflict among 3.9744 3.8832 1
church members.

32. Managing your time to achieve maximum 3.2892 2.7824 9
efficiency in your ministry.
OVERALL MEANS 3.4957 3.0728

 

108

Table 4.29 shows the means, rank and overall means
for the eight decision-making items as were evaluated by
both Black and Caucasian ministers as a reflection of the
levels of their managing skills. Black respondents assessed
their level of skills on four of the items highly (items
38, 33, 37, and 33), "Promoting decisions that are consistent
with church policy" being ranked number one with a mean
score of 4.243, and the other four (items 34, 40, 38, and
39) as average ranking. Caucasian ministers on the other
hand, ranked three items (numbers 38, 37 and 35) highly,
with their number one ranked skill being "Promoting deci-
sions that are consistent with church policy" which had
a mean score of 4.029. The remaining skills (item 34, 33,
38, 40, and 39) were ranked as average. Although no decision-
making skill was ranked below average for either Black or
Caucasian ministers, the item that both groups of respon-
dents ranked eighth or last is "Including feedback periods
into church decisions to check their validity and effective-
ness" with a mean score of 3.743 and 3.158 respectively.

A comparative view of each decision-making skill
mean score reveals that Black ministers evaluated their
level of skills higher than did the Caucasian respondents.
When the overall means for both groups of ministers are
examined, the discovery was that Black respondents assessed
their levels of decision-making skills significantly higher

than did Caucasian ministers.

109

TABLE 4.29

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF BLACK AND
CAUCASIAN MINISTERS ON THEIR ASSESSMENT
OF THEIR DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Black Caucasian
No. Decision-Making Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 78 N = 101

33. Specifying clearly what is to be accom- 3.9740 4 3.4851
plished before making a decision.

34. Gathering practically all relevant in- 3.8718 5 3.505
formation before a decision is made.

35. Promoting a variety of opinions in 4.1818 2 3.9109
meetings before a decision is made.

38. Promoting decisions that are consistent 4.2438 1 4.0297
with church policy.

37. Making decisions that are based on 4.0909 3 3.9505
practical values.

38. Building (or including) into deci- 3.8182 7 3.2772
sions the steps and procedures to
implement them.

39. Including feedback periods into church 3.7438 8 3.1584
decisions to check their validity and
effectiveness.

40. Selecting alternative courses of 3.8333 8 3.2574
action to achieve church goals and
objectives.
OVERALL MEANS 3.9439 3.5717

 

110

In reference to the six communicating skills, Table
4.30 presents the mean and rank order for each item, and
the overall means of the assessments of the levels of both
Black and Caucasian ministers. The Black respondents ranked
one skill (item 45), "Building trustworthy or confidential
relationships with and among members", highly (and highest).
The same skill was ranked number one (highest) by Caucasian
respondents but in the average category. All the remaining
skills (items 48, 42, 43, 44, and 41) were ranked as average
by Black ministers. On the other side, Caucasian respondents
ranked all six communicating skills as average, with the
number sixth (item 41) ranked skill being "Managing the
flow of communication in your church" with a mean score
of 3.108. This skill was given the same ranking by the
Black ministers but with a mean score of 3.435.

When the communicating skills mean scores for Black
and Caucasian ministers are compared, Black respondents
have assessed their skills higher than did their counter-
parts. It should be noted also that comparatively, Black
and Caucasian ministers gave incidental ranking to each
of the skills. From an overall perspective, there was a
significant difference between Black and Caucasian respon-
dents' evaluation of the levels of their communicating skills.

Regarding the evaluating skills as were assessed
by Black and Caucasian ministers, Table 4.31 shows the mean
and rank for each skill item, together with the overall

means. Black ministers assessed one skill (item 47) as

111

TABLE 4.30

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF BLACK AND
CAUCASIAN MINISTERS ON THEIR ASSESSMENT
OF THEIR COMMUNICATING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Black Caucasian
No. Communicating Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 78 N = 101
41. Managing the flow of communication in 3.4359 3.1089 8
your church.
42. Recognizing communication distortion 3.7821 3.4158 3
in your church.
43. Influencing positively church members' 3.7308 3.38 4
support for established church pro-
grams and activities through communi-
cation.
44. Facilitating interpersonal communica- 3.5385 3.23 5
tion among church members.
45. Building trustworthy or confidential 4.0132 3.78 1
relationships with and among church
members.
48. Evaluating your own communication by 3.8482 3.4444 2
noting the comprehension of it by
others.
OVERALL MEANS 3.7072 3.3813

 

112

TABLE 4.31

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF BLACK AND
CAUCASIAN MINISTERS ON THEIR ASSESSMENT
OF THEIR EVALUATING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Black Caucasian
No. Evaluating Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 78 N = 101
47. Determining the needs of your church. 4.1538 3.8040
48. Using appropriate sampling procedures 3.2078 2.8317
in assessing church members' views or
opinions.
49. Developing a survey to determine com- 3.2078 2.5347
munity needs.
50. Interpreting information (data) col- 3.1538 2.7921
lected from surveys.
51. Determining objectives to meet the 3.3333 2.97
needs identified.
52. Assessing the effectiveness of church 3.5 2.9901
programs at appropriate stages, or
at their completion.
53. Comparing church members' performance
of their responsibilities with 3.4158 2.7129
established standards for goal attain-
ment, and taking positive action
when there is disharmony.
54. Monitoring and appraising all the 3.1410 2.5842
processes involved in the evaluation
of your church and community.
OVERALL MEANS 3.3821 2.8737

 

113

high, and highest in terms of rank. This skill is "Deter-
mining the needs of your church", and it has a mean score

of 4.153. Although it is not ranked high by Caucasian minis-
ters, it is the highest ranked in that group of skills.
Caucasians respondents ranked two skills (items 47 and 52)

as average, and the remaining skills (items 51, 48, 50,

53, 54, and 49) as low or below average. Items 54 and 49
were ranked lowest for Black and Caucasian ministers respec-
tively.

A comparative examination of each skill mean score
indicates that Black ministers assessed their levels of
skills higher than did Caucasian ministers. Three skills
(items 47, 52, and 54) were ranked identically, and the
overall means reveal that there was a significant difference
between Black and Caucasian ministers on their assessments

of the levels of their evaluating skills.

Hypothesis 3

 

"There will be no difference between how unordained
and ordained ministers assess their current levels of admin-
istrative skills in terms of planning, managing, decision
making, communicating, and evaluating."

To test this hypothesis, MANOVA statistics were
utilized. The Multivariate Wilks F-test was 1.77087, which
is not significant at the 0.05 level (P = 0.121). The hypo-

thesis was therefore not rejected.

114

Table 4.32 presents the Univariate F-tests (with
1.187 degrees of freedom) which was performed to determine
whether there was any significant difference between unor-
dained and ordained ministers in how they assessed their
levels of administrative skills in the five selected aspects
of administration. The results indicate that there is no
ordination effect on the evaluations of the planning, manag-
ing, decision-making, communicating, or evaluating skills.
The F-tests were not significant at the 0.05 level (P =
0.904, P = 0.472, P = 0.848, P = 0.107, and P = 0.135, re-

spectively).

TABLE 4.32

UNIVARIATE F-TEST FOR MEAN ASSESSMENT ACCORDING TO
UNORDAINED AND ORDAINED MINISTERS
WITH 1.187 DEGREES OF FREEDOM

 

 

Aspects of Hypothesis Error Significance
Administration Mean Square Mean Square F Of F
Skills

Planning 0.00523 0.38081 0.01451 0.904
Managing 0.15385 0.29578 0.52018 0.472
Decision-Making 0.08498 0.31142 0.20880 0.848
Communicating 0.94501 0.38033 2.82282 0.107
Evaluating 1.01479 0.45085 2.25183 0.135

 

115

PreSented in Table 4.33 are the means, rank order,
and overall means of the fourteen planning skills as were
evaluated by unordained and ordained practicing ministers.
Unordained ministers did not rank any of the planning highly
(above average), but twelve of the fourteen skills (items
11-17, and 19-23) were ranked as average, with "Delegating
responsibilities to church members" being ranked number
one with a mean score of 3.8; and the remaining two skills
(items 10 and 18) as low or below average. The ordained
ministers also did not rank any skill above average, but
thirteen of the fourteen planning skills were ranked as
average (items 11-23) with "Initiating positive action in
the church rather than reacting to actions initiated by
others" as ranked number one with a mean score of 3.7013;
and one skill (item 10) as ranked below average. Both un-
ordained and ordained ministers ranked "Developing long-
range (5 or more years) plans for your church" 13th and
14th respectively (last in each case). One planning skill
(item 18) received identical ranking.

When the overall means of the fourteen planning
skills for both unordained and ordained ministers are com-
paratively viewed, the revelation is that neither the un-
ordained nor ordained respondents evaluated their levels
of planning skills significantly higher than the other.

Regarding the nine managing skills, Table 4.34 shows

the mean and rank order for each item, together with the

118

TABLE 4.33

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF UNORDAINED AND
ORDAINED MINISTERS' ASSESSMENT OF THEIR
PLANNING SKILLS

 

 

Item Unordained Ordained
No. Planning Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 35 N = 154

10. Developing long-range (5 or more 2.8857 13 2.75 14
years) plans for your church.

11. Developing short-range (less than 5 3.7429 2 3.5481 8
years) plans for your church.

12. Formulating policy statements or 3.0857 11 3.1234 13
guidelines to operationalize your
church plans.

13. Developing church goals and objec- 3.8857 4 3.5088 7
tives that are based on the mission
of the church.

14. Determining programs and activities
that will facilitate (make easy) the 3.8288 5 3.5033 8
achievement of church goals and ob-
jectives.

15. Defining clearly the responsibilities 3.5429 1 8 3.4211 10
of the church members in the programs
and activities of the church.

18. Delegating responsibilities to church 3.8 1 3.8013 5
members.

17. Planning for an effective Stewardship 3.2288 10 3.3898 11
program in your church.

18. Implementing the Stewardship program 2.9429 12 3.2208 12
in such a way as to achieve the plan-
ned or desired results.

19. Persuading the church to allocate re- 3.8857 4 3.8405 3
sources for priority goals.

20. Preparing an adequate financial plan 3.3824 9 3.8888 2

for your church.

117

TABLE 4.33 (Cont'd.)

 

 

Item Unordained Ordained
No. Planning Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank

N = 35 N = 154
21. Initiating positive action in the 3.7353 3 3.7013 1

church rather than reacting to actions
initiated by others.

22. Determining the flow of activities 3.4242 8 3.8333 4
and responsibilities when assigned
to a new pastorate.

23. Working systematically at attaining 3.4571 7 3.4708 9
church goals and objectives.

 

OVERALL MEANS 3.4020 3.4155

 

overall means for both Unordained and ordained ministers.
No skill item was ranked above average for both unordained
and ordained ministers, but eight of the nine (items 24-
31) for the unordained, and all nine for the ordained were
ranked as average; while one (item 32) was ranked below
average for unordained ministers. Both groups of ministers
ranked five skills (items 31, 28, 25, 28 and 32) identically,
with the number one ranked being "Resolving or reducing
conflict among church members", and the ninth (last) ranked
being (item 32) "Managing your time to achieve maximum effi-
ciency in your ministry."

A comparison of the overall means of the managing
skills for both the unordained and ordained ministers shows

that neither group assessed its managing skills significantly

118

TABLE 4.34

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF UNORDAINED AND

ORDAINED MINISTERS'
MANAGING SKILLS

ASSESSMENT OF THEIR

 

 

 

Item Unordained Ordained
No. Managing Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 35 N = 154

24. Developing Church members' potentials 3.5429 2 3.25 4
for responsible positions in the church.

25. Influencing church members through the 3.2288 8 3.1373 8
use of different motivational techni-
ques.

28. Influencing positively church members' 3.2857 7 3.1039 7
commitments to responsibilities through
home visitation.

27. Implementing the planned programs and 3.3235 4 3.4418 2
activities for the achievement of
church goals and objectives.

28. Monitoring the progress of church 3.4 3 3.2941 3
programs and activities without ob-
structing the process.

29. Criticizing constructively the per- 3.3143 5 3.0523 8
formance of church members to influ-
ence constructive change.

30. Using a variety of leadership and 3.1714 8 3.2403 5
management styles to achieve church
goals and objectives.

31. Resolving or reducing conflict among 3.8857 1 3.8117 1
church members.

32. Managing your time to achieve maximum 2.8571 9 3.028 9
efficiency in your ministry.
OVERALL MEANS 3.3238 3.2503

 

119

higher than the other, but that on an average the unordained
ministers were slightly higher or more favorable in their
evaluations. There is also a relatively strong degree of
consistency between both groups of ministers in their assess-
ments of the nine managing items.

In Table 4.35 are found the means and rank order
for each of eight decision-making skills, and the overall
means which are based on the assessments of both unordained
and ordained practicing ministers. The unordained and or-
dained respondents ranked three skills (items 38, 37, and
35; and 38, 35, and 37 in respective order for both groups)
highly (above average), with "Promoting decisions that are
consistent with church policy" ranking number one by both
groups, with mean scores of 4.0288 and 4.1299 for unordained
and ordained ministers respecively. All the remaining skills
(items 33, 34, 39, 38, and 40) were ranked as average.
"Building (or including) into decisions the steps and pro-
cedures to implement them" and "Including feedback periods
into church decisions to check their validity and effective-
ness" are ranked seventh and eighth (last) respectively
by both groups of ministers. Two skills (items 38 and 33)
received identical ranking.

When the two overall means of the eight decision-
making skills for both the unordained and ordained ministers
were compared, the revelation is that neither group of re-
spondents evaluated its level of skills significantly higher
than the other, but the ordained ministers were more favor-

able in their assessment of those skills.

120

TABLE 4.35

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF UNORDAINED AND
ORDAINED MINISTERS' ASSESSMENT OF THEIR
DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Undordained Ordained
No. Decision-Making Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 35 N = 154

33. Specifying clearly what is to be accom- 3.7143 3.8883
plished before making a decision.

34. Gathering practically all relevant in- 3.7143 3.8494
formation before a decision is made.

35. Promoting a variety of opinions in 3.9118 4.0235
meetings before a decision is made.

38. Promoting decisions that are consis- 4.0288 4.1299
tent with church policy.

37. Making decisions that are based on 4.0 4.0130
practical values.

38. Building (or including) into decisions 3.3824 3.5325
the steps and procedures to implement
them.

39. Including feedback periods into church 3.5143 3.3701
decisions to check their validity and
effectiveness.

40. Selecting alternative courses of ac- 3.5714 3.5085
tion to achieve church goals and ob-
jectives.
OVERALL MEANS 3.8892 3.7370

 

121

An examination of Table 4.38 shows the means, rank
order, and overall means for the six communicating skills
as they were assessed by the unordained and ordained minis-
ters. Unordained respondents ranked one skill (item 45)
highly (above average) and the others (items 48, 42, 44,

43 and 41) as average. 0n the other hand, the ordained
ministers ranked all six skills as average. However, both
groups of respondents evaluated their levels of communicating
skills in such a way that four (items 45, 48, 42 and 41)

of them received identical ranking, with the highest ranked
being "Building trustworthy or confidential relationship
with and among church members" (its mean scores are 4.1785
and 3.8224 for unordained and ordained respectively), and
the lowest ranked being "Managing the flow of communication
in your church" with respective mean scores of 3.3143 and
3.2727.

A comparative examination of the mean scores for
all the communicating skills reveals that the unordained
ministers assessed their levels of skills more favorably
than did the ordained respondents. The overall means indi-
cated the same information even though the difference was
not significant.

Table 4.37 shows the eight evaluating skills with
their means, rank order, and overall means which are based
on the unordained and ordained ministers' assessments of
those skills. The unordained ministers assessed seven skills

(items 47, 51, 52, 50, 53, 49, and 48) as average, and one

122

TABLE 4.38

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF UNORDAINEO AND
ORDAINED MINISTERS' ASSESSMENT OF THEIR
COMMUNICATION SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Unordained Ordained
No. Communicating Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 35 N = 154
41. Managing the flow of communication in 3.3143 8 3.2727
your church.
42. Recognizing communication distortion 3.8857 3 3.5519
in your church.
43. Influencing positively church members' 3.5714 5 3.5490
support for established church pro-
grams and activities through communi-
cation.
44. Facilitating interpersonal communica- 3.8 4 3.3595
tion among church members.
45. Building trustworthy or confidential 4.1785 1 3.8224
relationships with and among church
members.
48. Evaluating your own communication by 3.8571 2 3.5789
noting the comprehension of it by
others.
OVERALL MEANS 3.8809 3.4989

 

123

TABLE 4.37

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF UNORDAINED AND
ORDAINED MINISTERS' ASSESSMENT OF THEIR
EVALUATING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Unordained Ordained
No. Evaluating Skills Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 35 N = 154
47. Determining the needs of your church. 3.8 1 3.8838
48. Using appropriate sampling procedures 2.8 8 3.0854
in assessing church members' views
or opinions.
49. Developing a survey to determine com- 3.0857 8 2.7843
munity needs.
50. Interpreting information (data) col- 3.2857 4 2.8838
lected from surveys.
51. Determining objectives to meet the 3.4571 2 3.0854
needs identified.
52. Assessing the effectiveness of church 3.3714 3 3.1842
programs at appropriate stages, or at
their completion.
53. Comparing church members' performance
of their responsibilities with estab- 3.1714 5 3.0198
lished standards for goal attainment,
and taking positive action when there
is disharmony.
54. Monitoring and appraising all the pro- 3.0571 7 2.7922
cesses involved in the evaluation of
your church.
OVERALL MEANS 3.2535 3.0849

 

124

(item 48) with a means score of 2.80, it being "Using appro-
priate sampling procedures in assessing church members views
or opinions" as below average. 0n the other hand, the or-
dained respondents evaluated five skills (items 47, 52,
51, 48, and 53) as average, and the remaining three (items
50, 54, and 49) as below average. "Developing a survey
to determine community needs" was ranked seventh or lowest,
and the skill that ranked highest for both groups is "Deter-
mining the needs of your church."

When the overall means are taken into account, it
appears that unordained ministers assessed their levels
of evaluating skills slightly higher than did the ordained
ministers, even though this difference was not at a signifi-
cant level.

Hypothesis 3 was not rejected since the Multivariate
F-test revealed that differences in the assessments of none
of the five aspects of administration met the established

standard of significance at the 0.05 level.

Hypothesis 4

 

"There will be no difference between practicing
ministers pastoring one church and ministers pastoring two
or more churches in how they assess their current levels
of administrative skills in terms of planning, managing,
decision making, communicating, and evaluating."

MANOVA was used to test this hypothesis. The Multi-

variate Wilks F-test result was 3.45393, and was significant

125

at the 0.05 level (P = 0.005). The hypothesis was therefore
rejected.

Table 4.38 presents the results of the Univariate
F-tests (with 1.187 degrees of freedom). These tests were
conducted to determine if there is a significant difference
between ministers pastoring one church and those pastoring
two churches or more in their assessments of the five aspects
of administration. The results indicate that there is a
number-of—church effect on the respondents' evaluations
of the planning, managing, decision-making, evaluating skills.
The effect was not significant with the communicating aspect.
The F-test results were significant (with the one exception)
at the 0.05 level (P = 0.0021 P = 0.00342, P = 0.001, and

P = 0.004 respectively, with P = 0.109 being the exception).

TABLE 4.38

UNIVARIATE F-TEST FOR MEAN ASSESSMENT ACCORDING TO MINISTERS
PASTORING ONE CHURCH, AND MINISTERS PASTORING TWO
AND MORE CHURCHES WITH 1.187 DEGRESS OF FREEDOM

 

 

Aspects of Hypothesis Error Significance
Administration Mean Square Mean square F 0f F
Skills

Planning 3.49734 0.34193 10.22807 0.002*
Managing 3.88438 0.27888 13.30871 0.0003420*
Decision-Making 3.38883 0.29385 11.53982 0.001*
Communicating 0.93583 0.38038 2.59823 0.109
Evaluating 3.73934 0.43808 8.57484 0.004*

 

*Significant at the 0.05 level

128

Table 4.39 shows the mean and rank order for each
of the fourteen planning skills, and the overall means of
the ministers pastoring one church, and those pastoring
two churches and more. Ministers pastoring one church evalu-
ated thirteen planning skills (items 11-23) as average,
with item 21 as the highest ranked, and one skill (item
10) as below average, it being "Developing long-range (5
or more years) plans for your church." The respondents
pastoring two churches and more assessed twelve of the skills
(items 13-23, and 11) as average, with "Persuading the church
to allocate resources for priority goals as ranked the high-
est; and two skills (items 12 and 10) being ranked below
average, with "Developing long-range (5 or more years) plans
for your church" as ranked the lowest.

When the mean scores for each skill are compared,
ministers pastoring one church consistentbrevaluated each
planning skills higher than did those pastoring two or more
churches. The significant difference between both groups
of ministers is seen in the comparison of the overall means.

Turning now to the nine managing skills, Table 4.40
presents the mean, and rank order for each item, and the
overall means which reflect the evaluations of both groups
of ministers. The respondents pastoring one church evaluated
one skill (item 31) above average (highest ranked), and
the remaining eight as average, with the lowest ranking
skill (item 28) being "Influencing positively church members'

commitment to responsibilities through home visitation"

127

TABLE 4.39

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS
PASTORING ONE CHURCH, AND MINISTERS PASTORING
TWO AND MORE CHURCHES ON THEIR ASSESSMENT
OF THEIR PLANNING SKILLS

 

 

Item One-Church Two-And-More
No. Planning Skills Ministers Church Ministers
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 78 N = 113
10. Developing long-range (5 or more 2.92 13 2.8181 14

years) plans for your church.

11. Developing short-range (less than 3.7087 8 3.5 4
5 years) plans for your church.

12. Formulating policy statements or 3.4079 11 2.9204 13
guidelines to operationalize
your church plans.

13. Developing church goals and ob- 3.78 3 3.3929 8
jectives that are based on the
mission of the church.

14. Determining programs and acti- 3.7105 5 3.4018 7
vities that will facilitate
(make easy) the achievement of
church goals and objectives.

15. Defining clearly the responsibi- 3.8533 9 3.3038 10
lities of the church members in
the programs and activities of
the church.

18. Delegating responsibilities to 3.8553 2 3.4911 5
church members.

17. Planning for an effective Steward- 3.5 10 3.2855 11
ship program in your church.

18. Implementing the Stewardship 3.25 12 3.115 12
program in such a way as to a-
chieve the planned or desired
results.

19. Persuading the church to allo- 3.88 8 3.8283 1
cate resources for priority
goals.

128

TABLE 4.39 (Cont'd.)

 

 

Item One-Church Two-And-More
No. Planning Skills Ministers Church Ministers
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 78 N = 113
20. Preparing an adequate financial 3.7105 5 3.5538 3

plan for your church.

21. Initiating positive action in 3.8947 1 3.5804 2
the church rather than reacting
to actions initiated by others.

22. Determining the flow of activi- 3.7534 4 4.4909 8
ties and responsibilities when
assigned to a new pastorate.

 

23. Working systematically at at- 3.8842 7 3.3214 9
taining church goals and ob-
jectives.
OVERALL MEANS 3.5789 3.30152

 

with a mean scores of 3.3028. Ministers pastoring two or
more churches assessed seven skills (items 31, 27, 24, 28,
30, 25, and 28) as average, and two (items 29 and 32) as
below average. "Managing your time to achieve maximum effi-
ciency in your ministry" was ranked ninth or lowest. However,
both groups of ministers assessed "Resolving or reducing
conflict among church members" as their highest level skill
although the mean score for ministers pastoring one church
was higher.

When the means of both groups are further compared,
it is seen that three skills (items 31, 27, and 30) received

identical ranking; that the respondents pastoring one church

129

TABLE 4.40

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS
PASTORING ONE CHURCH, AND MINISTERS PASTORING

TWO AND MORE CHUCHES ON THEIR ASSESSMENT
OF THEIR MANAGING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item One-Church Two-And-More
No. Managing Skills Ministers Church Ministers
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 78 N = 113
24. Developing church members poten- 3.4887 4 3.1984 3
tials for responsible positions
in the church.
25. Influencing church members through 3.3087 8 3.0531 8
the use of different motivational
techniques.
28. Influencing positively church 3.3028 9 3.0285 7
members' commitments to respon-
sibilities through home visita-
tion.
27. Implementing the planned programs 3.8318 2 3.2788 2
and activities for the achieve-
ment of church goals and objec-
tives.
28. Monitoring the progress of church 3.4933 3 3.1947 4
programs and activities without
obstructing the process.
29. Criticizing constructively the 3.3289 8 2.9484 8
performance of church members
to influence constructive change.
30. Using a variety of leadership and 3.3421 5 3.1504 5
management styles to achieve
church goals and objectives.
31. Resolving or reducing conflict 3.9474 1 3.7434 1
among church members.
32. Managing your time to achieve 3.2237 7 2.8407 9
maximum efficiency in your minis-
try.
OVERALL MEANS 3.4342 3.1494

 

130

assessed their managing skills more positively than those
pastoring two or more churches; and the significant differ-
ence between their evaluations was further highlighted by

a scrutiny of the overall means.

With regard to Table 4.41, the mean and rank order
for each of the eight decision-making skills, and the overall
means are presented. Both groups of ministers assessed
their levels of skills on three items (nos. 38, 35, and 37)
above average, with the respondents pastoring one church
evaluating the same skills slightly more positive. The skill
that was identically ranked highest was "Promoting decisions
that are consistent with church policy." The remaining
skills (items 33, 34, 40, 38 and 39) were ranked as average,
with "Including feedback periods into church decisions to
check their validity and effectiveness" ranking the lowest
(eighth). Five items received identical ranking.

The significant difference between ministers pastor-
ing one church and those pastoring two and more churches
in their assessment of the eight decision-making skills is
seen in the higher evaluation mean scores of the skills,
and particularly when the overall means of the assessments
are compared.

Looking at the results regarding the six communica-
ting skills, Table 4.42 shows the individual means of the
skills as were assessed by the ministers. The ministers

pastoring one church ranked one skill (item 45) "Building

131

TABLE 4.41

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS
PASTORING ONE CHURCH, AND MINISTERS PASTORING
TWO AND MORE CHURCHES ON THEIR ASSESSMENT
OF THEIR DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item One-Church Two-And-More
No. Decision-Making Skill Ministers Church Ministers
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 78 N = 113
33. Specifying clearly what is to be 3.8933 4 3.5575 4
accomplished before making a deci-
sion.
34. Gathering practically all rele- 3.8553 3.5310
vant information before a deci-
sion is made.
35. Promoting a variety of opinions 4.1184 3.9375
in meetings before a decision is
made.
38. Promoting decisions that are con- 4.2105 4.0442
sistent with church policy.
37. Making decisions that are based 4.0789 3.9843
on practical values.
38. Building (or including) into 3.8842 3.3839
decisions the steps and proce-
dures to implement them.
39. Including feedback periods into 3.8447 3.2301
church decisions to check their
validity and effectiveness.
40. Selecting alternative courses of 3.8974 3.3982
action to achieve church goals
and objectives.
OVERALL MEANS 3.8914 3.8183

 

132

TABLE 4.42

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS
PASTORING ONE CHURCH, AND MINISTERS PASTORING
TWO AND MORE CHURCHES ON THEIR ASSESSMENT
OF THEIR COMMUNICATING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item One-Church Two-And-More
No. Communicating Skills Ministers Church Ministers
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 78 N = 113
41. Managing the flow of communica- 3.3818 8 3.2124 8
tion in your church.
42. Recognizing communication distor- 3.5789 4 3.5752 2
tion in your church.
43. Influencing positively church 3.8318 3 3.5 4
members' support for established -
church programs and activities
through communication.
44. Facilitating interpersonal com- 3.4211 5 3.3929 5
munication among church members.
45. Building trustworthy or confiden- 4.0133 1 3.38018 1
tial relationships with and among
church members.
48. Evaluating your own communica- 3.7388 2 3.5588 3
tion by noting the comprehension
of it by others.
OVERALL MEANS 3.8184 3.4749

 

133

trustworthy or confidential relationship with and among church
members" highest and above average, while the other skills
(items 48, 43, 42, 44, and 41) were ranked as average. 0n

the other side, the respondents pastoring two and more
churches ranked all the skills (items 41-48) as average,

but item 45 was ranked highest, and item 41 was ranked sixth
(last or lowest) by both groups. There were three items

(45, 44 and 41) that were given identical ranking, based

on the mean scores, by both groups.

Although there was no significant difference between
the ministers pastoring one church and those pastoring two
and more churches in their assessment of the six communicating
skills, the respondents pastoring one church show slightly
higher evaluations on those skills than did the other minis-
ters, and this is also seen when the overall means of their
assessment are compared.

Table 4.43 shows the means, rank order, and overall
means of the eight evaluating skills as were assessed by
the practicing ministers. Ministers pastoring one church
evaluated one skill (item 47) above average and is ranked
highest, while the remaining skills (items 48-54) were ranked
average, with item 54 ranking lowest with a mean score of
3.0. Ministers pastoring two and more churches evaluated
three skills (items 47, 52, and 51) as average, with "Deter-
mining the needs of your church" being ranked highest (both
groups rank this skill highest), and the other items (53,

48, 50, 54, and 49) as average, with "Developing a survey

134

TABLE 4.43

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS
PASTORING ONE CHURCH, AND MINISTERS PASTORING

TWO AND MORE CHURCHES ON THEIR ASSESSMENT

OF THEIR EVALUATING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item One-Church Two-And-More
No. Evaluating Skills Ministers Church Ministers
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 75 N = 113
47. Determining the needs of your 4.0283 1 3.7345 1
church.
48. Using appropriate sampling pro- 3.2287 4 2.8781 5
cedures in assessing church mem-
bers' views or opinions.
49. Developing a survey to deter- 3.04 7 2.708 8
mine community needs.
50. Interpreting information (data) 3.1318 7 2.8142 8
collected from surveys.
51. Determining objectives to meet 3.3028 3 3.0288 3
the needs identified.
52. Assessing the effectiveness of 3.4287 2 3.0804 2
church programs at appropriate
stages, or at their completion.
53. Comparing church members' per-
formance of their responsibili- 3.1887 5 2.9558 4
ties with established standards
for goal attainment, and taking
positive action when there is
disharmony.
54. Monitoring and appraising all 3.0 8 2.7345 7
the processes involved in the
evaluation of your church and
community.
OVERALL MEANS 3.2713 2.9845

 

135

to determine community needs" ranking lowest. There were
four skills (items 47, 52, 51, and 50) receiving identical
ranking.

An examination of each evaluating skill mean score
reveals that ministers pastoring one church assessed their
level of skill on each item slightly higher than did minis-
ters pastoring two or more churches, and the significant
difference between both groups of ministers is shown parti-
cularly when the overall means of their evaluations are com-
pared.

Although there was no significant difference between
ministers pastoring one church and those pastoring two or
more churches in their assessment of their communicating
skills, CDEIELMHB significant differences between them in
their evaluation on the planning, managing, decision-making,
and evaluating skills. The Multivariate F-test also revealed
significant difference between both groups in their assess-
ments of their overall administrative skills in the selec-

ted areas therefore hypothesis 4 is rejected.

Hypothesis 5

"There will be no difference between ministers with
pastorates of less than average church membership (less than
349) and ministers with pastorates of average or above church
membership (349 or more) in how they assess their current
levels of administrative skills in terms of planning, manag-

ing, decision making, communicating, and evaluating."

138

In order to test this hypothesis, MANOVA was utilized.
The Multivariate Wilks F-test result was 2.85973, which is
significant at the 0.05 level (p = 0.024). Hence the hypo-
thesis is rejected.

Table 4.44 shows the results of the Univariate F-
tests performed to identify any significant difference between
ministers with pastorates of less than average church member-
ship, and those ministers with pastorates of average and
above church membership in terms of their assessments of
the five selected aspects of administration. The results
indicate that there is an average church membership effect
on the evaluations of the planning skills (P = 0.001), with
the managing and decision-making skills very much on the
borderline but more in favor of no effect (P = 0.058 and
P = 0.051 respectively), while there was no effect on the
communicating and evaluating skills (P = 0.284 and P = 0.213
respectively).

The means, rank order, and overall means for the
fourteen planning skills are presented in Table 4.45. Minis-
ters with less than average church membership in their pas-
torates assessed twelve skills as average, with "Initiating
positive action in the church rather than reacting to actions
initiated by others" being ranked the highest, and two skills
(items 12 and 10) being evaluated below average. "Develop-
ing long-range (5 or more years) plans for your church" is
ranked the lowest. 0n the other hand, ministers with average

and above membership in their pastorates evaluated two planning

137

TABLE 4.44

UNIVARIATE F-TEST FOR MEAN ASSESSMENT ACCDRDING TD MINISTERS
WITH LESS THAN AVERAGE (349) CHURCH MEMBERSHIP, AND
MINISTERS WITH AVERAGE (349) AND ABOVE CHURCH
MEMBERSHIP WITH 1.197 DEGREES 0F FREEDOM

 

 

Aspects of Hypothesis Error Significance
Administration Mean Square Mean Square F 0f F
Skills

Planning 3.91281 0.33972 11.51733 0.001*
Managing 1.07889 0.29082 3.70221 0.058
Decision-Making 1.18117 0.30545 3.88895 0.051
Communicating 0.41970 0.38314 1.15575 0.284
Evaluating 0.70738 0.45230 1.58397 0.213

 

*Significant at the 0.05 level

skills (items 18 and 21) above average, "Delegating respon-
sibilities to church members" being ranked highest; and
twelve skills (items 10-15, 17-20, and 22-23) as average
with the lowest ranked skill being "Developing long-range
(5 or more years) plans for your church."

A comparison of the two groups' assessments shows
that both gave the same ranking to two planning skills (items
17 and 10); that ministers with average and above member-
ship in their pastorates evaluated their skills higher or
more favorable on all items; and the significant difference

is revealed in the overall means.

138

TABLE 4.45

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND DVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WITH LESS
THAN AVERAGE (349) CHURCH MEMBERSHIP, AND MINISTERS WITH
AVERAGE (349) AND ABDVE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP ON THEIR
ASSESSMENT OF THEIR PLANNING SKILLS

 

 

Item Less Than Average And
No. Planning Skills Average Above
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 131 N = 58
10. Developing long-range (5 or more years) 2.5789 14 3.1053 14
plans for your church.
11. Developing short-range (less than 5 3.4482 7 3.8947 3
years) plans for your church.
12. Formulating policy statements or guide- 2.9895 13 3.4483 12
lines to operationalize your church
plans.
13. Developing church goals and objectives 3.4275 8 3.8038 7
that are based on the mission of the
church.
14. Determining programs and activities 3.4504 8 3.7018 9
that will facilitate (make easy) the
achievement of church goals and ob-
jectives.
lS. Defining clearly the responsibilities 3.3588 10 3.8429 9
of the church members in the programs
and activities of the church.
18. Delegating responsibilities to church 3.4848 5 3.9828 1
members.
17. Planning for an effective Stewardship 3.2977 11 3.5 11
program in your church.
18. Implementing the stewardship program 3.0840 12 3.3821 14
in such a way as to achieve the plan-
ned or desired results.
19. Persuading the church to allocate re- 3.5573 2 3.8598 4

sources for priority goals.

139

TABLE 4.45 (Cont'd.)

 

 

Item Less Than Average And
No. Planning Skills Average Above
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 131 N = 58
20. Preparing an adequate financial plan 3.5154 3 3.8448 5

for your church.

21. Initiating positive action in the church 3.8 1 3.9483 2
rather than reacting to actions initi-
ated by others.

22. Determining the flow of activities and 3.4922 4 3.8384 8
responsibilities when assigned to a
new pastorate.

23. Working systematically at attaining 3.4154 9 3.5882 10
church goals and objectives.

 

OVERALL MEANS 3.3173 3.8293

 

With regard to the nine managing skills, Table 4.48
presents the individual means as were assessed by the prac-
ticing ministers. Although both groups of ministers received
the same ranking on two skills (item 31 being the highest
and item 32 the lowest), those respondents with average
and above membership gave more favorable assessments to
the same skills. Ministers with less than average church
membership evaluated seven skills (items 31, 27, 28, 24,

30, 28, and 25) as average, and two (items 29 and 32) as
below average, while those with average and above membership

assessed all the managing skills as average.

140

TABLE 4.48

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WITH LESS
THAN AVERAGE (349) CHURCH MEMBERSHIP, AND MINISTERS WITH
AVERAGE (349) AND ABOVE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP ON THEIR
ASSESSMENT OF THEIR MANAGING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Less than Average And
No. Managing Skills Average Above
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 131 N = 58

24. Developing Church members' potentials 3.2815 4 3.4035 3
for responsible positions in the church.

25. Influencing church members through the 3.0783 3.3333
use of different motivational techni-
ques.

28. Influencing positively church members' 3.0783 3.2759
commitments to responsibilities
through home visitation.

27. Implementing the planned programs and 3.3789 3.5172
activities for the achievement of
church goals and objectives.

28. Monitoring the progress of church pro- 3.3053 3.3333
grams and activities without obstruct-
ing the process.

29. Criticizing constructively the per- 2.9923 3.3448
formance of church members to influ-
ence constructive change.

30. Using a variety of leadership and 3.1527 3.3988
management styles to achieve church
goals and objectives.

31. Resolving or reducing conflict among 3.7939 3.8988
church members.

32. Managing your time to achieve maximum 2.9818 3.0890
efficiency in your ministry.
OVERALL MEANS 3.2137 3.3773

 

141

Although there was no significant difference in
their assessments of their managing skills, ministers with
average and above membership in their pastorates evaluated
their levels of managing skills more favorable than their
counterparts. This is also reflected in a comparison of
the overall means. It should be noted also that four skills
(items 31, 27, 25, and 32) were given identical ranking
by both groups.

Table 4.47 shows the means, rank order, and overall
means for the eight decision-making skills. Both groups
of ministers assessed their levels of skills highly (above
average) on three items (38, 35, and 37), with the highest
ranked being "Promoting decisions that are consistent with
church policy" for both groups. Both groups of ministers
- those with less than average membership and those with
average and above membership in their pastorates - also
assessed their levels of skills on the remaining items (33,
34, 38, 40 and 38) as average with number 39 ranking eighth
or last among the skills.

A comparative examination of each decision-making
skill mean scores reveals that although there was no signi-
ficant difference between the two groups of ministers in
terms of their assessments of the levels of their decision-
making skills, the ministers with pastorates of average
and above membership did evaluate their skills slightly

more favorably than did the ministers with less than average

142

TABLE 4.47

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WITH LESS
THAN AVERAGE (349) CHURCH MEMBERSHIP, AND MINISTERS WITH
AVERAGE (349) AND ABOVE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP ON THEIR
ASSESSMENT OF THEIR DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Less than Average And
No. Decision-Making Skills Average Above
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 131 N = 58

33. Specifying clearly what is to be accom- 3.8031 3.8947
plished before making a decision.

34. Gathering practically all relevant in- 3.8107 3.7759
formation before a decision is made.

35. Promoting a variety of opinions in 3.9385 4.1724
meetings before a decision is made.

38. Promoting decisions that are consis- 4.0783 4.1897
tent with church policy.

37. Making decisions that are based on 3.9789 4.0882
practical values.

38. Building (or including) into decisions 3.4385 3.8552
the steps and procedures to implement
them.

39. Including feedback periods into church 3.3884 3.4855
decisions to check their validity and
effectivess.

40. Selecting alternative courses of ac- 3.4809 3.8054
tion to achieve church goals and ob-
jectives.
OVERALL MEANS 3.8755 3.8489

 

143

membership. This is readily seen when the overall means
are compared.

Regarding the six communicating skills, Table 4.48
shows the means, rank order, and overall means for the items
as were assessed by the respondents. Both groups of minis-
ters did not evaluate any of the communicating skills above
average nor below average. All skills were assessed as
average, with the highest ranked (item 45) being "Building
trustworthy or confidential relationship with and among
church members", and the lowest ranked (item 41) being
"Managing the flow of communication in your church." These
two items, together with items 44 and 48 were assigned identi-
cal ranks.

There was no significant difference between the
two groups of ministers in their assessments of the levels
of their communicating skills, but ministers with average
and above membership in their pastorates did evaluate their
skill levels higher than the other respondents. This is
also reflected in a comparison of the overall mean scores.

Table 4.49 shows the individual means, rank order,
and overall means for the eight evaluating skills. The
ministers with less than average membership in their pas-
torates did not evaluate any of the items above average.
Four (items 47, 52, 51, and 53) were assessed as average,
and four (items 48, 50, 49, and 54) as below average with
number 47 ranking highest and number 54 being ranked lowest.

0n the other hand, the respondents with average and above

144

TABLE 4.48

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WITH LESS
THAN AVERAGE (349) CHURCH MEMBERSHIP, AND MINISTERS WITH
AVERAGE (349) AND ABOVE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP ON THEIR
ASSESSMENT OF THEIR COMMUNICATING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Less Than Average And
No. Communicating Skills Average Above
Mean Rank . Mean Rank
N = 131 N = 58
41. Managing the flow of communication in 3.2804 3.3821 8
your church.
42. Recognizing communication distortion 3.5725 3.5882 4
in your church.
43. Influencing positively church members' 3.5154 3.8379 3
support for established church programs
and activities through communication.
44. Facilitating interpersonal communica- 3.4077 3.3988 5
tion among church members.
45. Building trustworthy or confidential 3.8828 3.8988 1
relationships with and among church
members.
48. Evaluating your own communication by 3.5814 3.7414 2
noting the comprehension of it by
others.
OVERALL MEANS 3.5012 3.8034

 

145

TABLE 4.49

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WITH LESS
THAN AVERAGE (349) CHURCH MEMBERSHIP, AND MINISTERS WITH
AVERAGE (349) AND ABOVE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP ON THEIR
ASSESSMENT OF THEIR EVALUATING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item - Less Than Average And
No. Evaluating Skills Average Above
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 131 N = 58
47. Determining the needs of your church. 3.7834 4.0517
48. Using appropriate sampling procedures 2.9771 3.1053
in assessing church members' views or
opinions.
49. Developing a survey to determine com- 2.8154 2.8988
munity needs.
50. Interpreting information (data) col- 2.9237 2.9828
lected from surveys.
51. Determining objectives to meet the 3.0848 3.2588
needs identified.
52. Assessing the effectiveness of church 3.1450 3.3929
programs at appropriate stages, or
at their completion.
53. Comparing church members' performance
of their responsibilities with estab- 3.0000 3.1579
lished standards for goal attainment,
and taking positive action when there
is disharmony.
54. Monitoring and appraising all the pro- 2.8092 2.9138
cesses involved in the evaluation of
your church and community.
OVERALL MEANS 3.0591 3.1918

 

148

membership in their pastorates assessed one skill (item
47) as above average; four (items 52, 51, 53, and 48) as
average; and three (items 50, 54, and 49) as below average.
Six skills (items 47, 52, 51, 53, 50, and 47) were given
the same ranking.

Although there was no significant difference in
four aspects of administration between the two groups of
ministers, the ministers with average and above membership
assessed their levels of skills on each item slightly higher
than did the ministers with below average membership in
their pastorate. This result is reinforced when the overall
means of their evaluations are compared.

Since, however, the analysis of the data by use
of the Multivariate F-test revealed a significant difference
between the ministers who had membership below average in
their pastorates and those who had average and above member-
ship in their pastorates regarding their assessments of
their administrative skills in the five areas, the hypothesis

is rejected.

Hypothesis 8

 

"There will be no difference between practicing
ministers with less than M.Div. degrees and practicing minis-
ters with M.Div. degrees and above in how they assess their
current levels of administrative skills in terms of planning,

managing, decision-making, communicating, and evaluating."

147

This hypothesis was tested with the use of MANOVA
statistics. The Multivariate Wilks F-test result was 2.95758,
which is significant at the 0.05 level (P = 0.014). There-
fore, the hypothesis is rejected.

Table 4.50 presents the resulflsof the Univariate
F-tests (with 1.188 degrees of freedom) performed to deter-
mine any significant difference between the practicing minis-
ters with less than M.Div. degrees, and those with M.Div.
and above degrees in their evaluations of their current
levels of administrative skills in the five selected areas.
The results indicate that there is no M.Div.-degree effect
on the evaluations of the planning, managing, decision-
making, and communicating aspects since the F-test results
were not significant at the 0.05 level (P = 0.857, P = 0.992,
P = 0.130, and P = 0.873 respectively). However, the results
also indicate that there was a M.Div.-degree effect on the
assessment of the evaluating skills since the results of
the F-test also indicate a significant difference at the
0.05 level (P = 0.028).

Regarding the fourteen planning skills, Table 4.51
shows the mean and rank order for each item, and the overall
means as assessed by practicing ministers with less than
M.Div. degrees, and those with M.Div. degrees and above.
Ministers with less than M.Div. degrees did not assess any
of the planning skills above average. However, they evalu-
ated thirteen of the skills (item 11-18 and 20-23) as average,

with "Persuading the church to allocate resources for priority

148

TABLE 4.50

UNIVARIATE F-TEST FOR MEAN ASSESSMENT ACCORDING TO MINISTERS
WITH LESS THAN M.DIV. DEGREES, AND MINISTERS WITH M.DIV.

AND ABOVE WITH 1.188 DEGREES 0F FREEDOM

 

 

Aspects of Hypothesis Error Significance
Administration Mean Square Mean Square F Of F
Skills

Planning 0.01172 0.38085 0.03249 0.857
Managing 0.00003 0.29815 0.00009 0.992
Decision-Making 0.71825 0.30954 2.31395 0.130
Communicating 0.00941 0.38881 0.02584 0.873
Evaluating 2.15872 0.44040 4.89720 0.028“

 

*Significant at the 0.05 level

goals" as the highest ranked, and one skill (item 10) as
below average. Those respondents with M.Div. degrees and
above also did not assess any planning skill above average.
They evaluated twelve skills (items ll-l7 and 19-23) as
average, "Initiating positive action in the church rather
than reacting to actions initiated by others" being ranked
highest, and two skills (items 18 and 10) below average.
Both groups of ministers ranked "Developing long-range (5
or more years) plans for your church" the lowest, and gave
identical rankings to three skills (items 22, 23, and 12).
Although there was no significant difference between

both groups of ministers in their assessments of their plan-

ning skills, an examination of the overall means reveals

149

TABLE 4.51

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WITH LESS
THAN M.DIV. DEGREES, AND MINISTERS WITH M.DIV.
DEGREES AND ABOVE ON THEIR ASSESSMENT
OF THEIR PLANNING SKILLS

 

 

Item Less than M.Div. and
No. Planning Skills M.Div. Above
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 119 N = 89

10. Developing long-range (5 or more years) 2.7009 13 2.8281 14
plans for your church.

11. Developing short-range (less than 5 3.5558 5 3.8232 3
years) plans for your church.

12. Formulating policy statements or guide- 3.1597 12 3.0290 12
lines to operationalize your church
plans.

13. Developing church goals and objectives 3.4788 7 3.8377 2
that are based on the mission of the
church.

14. Determining programs and activities 3.5 8 3.5797 5
that will facilitate (make easy) the
achievement of church goals and ob-
jectives.

15. Defining clearly the responsibilities 3.4359 9 3.4493 10
of the church members in the programs
and activities of the church.

18. Delegating responsibilities to church 3.8891 3 3.5441 7
members.

17. Planning for an effective Stewardship 3.4034 10 3.2809 11
program in your church.

18. Implementing the Stewardship program 3.2805 11 2.9855 13
in such a way as to achieve the plan-
ned or desired results.

19. Persuading the church to allocate re- 3.7034 1 3.5507 8

sources for priority goals.

150

TABLE 4.51 (Cont'd.)

 

 

Item Less than M.Div. and
No. Planning Skills M.Div. Above
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 119 N = 89
20. Preparing an adequate financial plan 3.8891 3 3.4708 9

for your church.

21. Initiating positive action in the 3.8949 2 3.7101 1
church rather than reacting to ac-
tions initiated by others.

22. Determining the flow of activities 3.5877 4 3.5882 4
and responsibilities when assigned
to a new pastorate.

23. Working systematically at attaining 3.4578 8 3.4928 8
church goals and objectives.

 

OVERALL MEANS 3.4159 3.3995

 

that ministers with less than M.Div. degrees evaluated their
planning skills slightly more favorably than did the minis-
ters with M.Div. degrees and above.

With respect to nine managing skills, Table 4.52
presents the means and rank order for each individual item,
and the overall means of the skills as were assessed by
the practicing ministers. Those respondents with less than
M.Div. degrees assessed all the skills (items 24-32) as
average, while the ministers with M.Div. degrees and above
evaluated eight of the skills (items 24-31) as average,
and one (item 32) below average. Both groups of ministers

assessed two skills (items 31 and 32) similarly in the sense

151

TABLE 4.52

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WITH LESS

THAN M.DIV. DEGREES, AND MINISTERS WITH M.DIV.

DEGREES AND ABOVE ON THEIR ASSESSMENT
OF THEIR MANAGING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Less than M.Div. and
No. Managing Skills M.Div. Above
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 119 N = 89

24. Developing church members' potentials 3.2735 3 3.3478 * 4
for responsible positions in the church.

25. Influencing church members through the 3.1358 7 3.1884 5
use of different motivational techni-
ques.

28. Influencing positively church members' 3.1785 8 3.0725 7
commitments to responsibilities
through home visitation.

27. Implementing the planned programs and 3.4237 2 3.4203 3
activities for the achievement of
church goals and objectives.

28. Monitoring the progress of church pro- 3.2521 4 3.4285 2
grams and activities without obstruct-
ing the process.

29. Criticizing constructively the perfor- 3.0783 9 3.1449 8
mance of church members to influence
constructive change.

30. Using a variety of leadership and man- 3.2437 5 3.1884 5
agement styles to achieve church goals
and objectives.

31. Resolving or reducing conflict among 3.8403 1 3.7971 1
church members.

32. Managing your time to achieve maximum 3.0840 8 2.8408 8
efficiency in your ministry.
OVERALL MEANS 3.2833 3.2840

 

152

that the two items received the same ranking, the highest
being "Resolving or reducing conflict among church members",
and the lowest ranked being "Managing your time to achieve
maximum efficiency in your ministry."

When the managing skills are examined on an indivi-
dual basis the indication is that there is a strong degree
of consistency between the average assessments of both groups
of ministers. This is also reflected in the overall means,
the sum of which gives some credence to the conclusive state-
ment that there was no significant difference between minis-
ters with less than M.Div. degrees and those with M.Div.
degrees and above in their assessments of their managing
skills.

Table 4.53 presents the means and rank order for
each of the eight decision-making skills, and the overall
means as were assessed by the ministers. Both groups of
respondents (those with less than M.Div. degrees and those
with M.Div. and above) evaluated three skills (items 38,

35, and 37) highly or above average, with "Promoting deci-
sions that are consistent with church policy" being highest
ranked for ministers with less than M.Div. degrees, and
"Promoting a variety of opinions in meetings before a deci-
sion is made" as highest ranked for ministers with M.Div.
degrees and above. The remaining five skills (items 33,

34, 38, 39, and 40) were assessed as average, with one skill

(item 39) being ranked eighth or last by both groups of

153

TABLE 4.53

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WITH LESS

THAN M.DIV. DEGREES, AND MINISTERS WITH M.DIV.
DEGREES AND ABOVE ON THEIR ASSESSMENT

OF THEIR DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item. Less Than M.Div. and
No. Decision-Making Skills M.Div. Above
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 119 N = 89

33. Specifying clearly what is to be accom- 3.8525 3.7828
plished before making a decision.

34. Gathering practically all relevant in- 3.8387 3.7101
formation before a decision is made.

35. Promoting a variety of opinions in 3.9578 4.1014
meetings before a decision is made.

38. Promoting decisions that are consis- 4.1429 4.0580
tent with church policy.

37. Making decisions that are based on 3.9881 4.0725
practical values.

38. Building (or including) into decisions 3.4748 3.5507
the steps and procedures to implement
them.

39. Including feedback periods into church 3.3277 3.5217
decisions to check their validity and
effectiveness.

40. Selecting alternative courses of ac- 3.4202 3.8812
tion to achieve church goals and ob-
jectives.
OVERALL MEANS 3.8817 3.8097

 

154

ministers. There are two other skills (items 37 and 33)
that received the same ranking by both groups.

A comparison of the individual skills reveaksthat,
with the exception of one skill (item 38), ministers with
M.Div. degrees and above consistently evaluated their levels
of decision-making skills higher on average than did the
respondents with less than M.Div. degrees. This is also
very evident in a comparison of the overall means, even
though there was no significant difference between both
groups of ministers in their assessments of their levels
of decision-making skills.

In Table 4.54 are presented the means, rank order,
and overall means of the six communicating skills. Minis-
ters with less than M.Div. degrees did not assess any of
the skills above average nor below average; all the skills
(items 41-48) were evaluated as average, with one (item
45) receiving the highest rank, and one (item 41) being
ranked lowest. On the other hand, the respondents with
M.Div. degrees evaluated one skill (item 45) highly or above
average, and the others (items 42, 48, 43, 44, and 41) as
average. Both groups of ministers ranked "Building trust-
worthy or confidential relationship with and among church
members" highest and "Managing the flow of communication
in your church" as lowest, with one other skill (item 44)

receiving identical ranking.

155

TABLE 4.54

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WITH LESS
THAN M.DIV. DGREES, AND MINISTERS WITH M.DIV.
DEGREES AND ABOVE ON THEIR ASSESSMENT
OF THEIR COMMUNICATING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Less than M.Div. and
No. Communicating Skills M.Div. Above
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 119 N = 89
41. Managing the flow of communication in 3.3025 3.2319
your church.
42. Recognizing communication distortion 3.5548 3.8087
in your church.
43. Influencing positively church members' 3.5798 3.5
support for established church pro-
grams and activities through communi-
cation.
44. Facilitating interpersonal communica- 3.3529 3.4853
tion among church members.
45. Building trustworthy or confidential 3.8718 3.9118
relationships with and among church
members.
48. Evaluating your own communication by 3.8525 3.8029
noting the comprehension of it by
others.
OVERALL MEANS 3.5384 3.5217

 

158

There was no significant difference between both
groups of ministers in their assessments of the levels of
their communicating skills. This is reflected in the strong
degree of consistency between average evaluations of the
communicating skills, and in the comparison of the overall
means.

Table 4.55 shows the means, rank order, and overall
means for the eight evaluating skills as were assessed by
the ministers. Neither group of ministers evaluated any
of the evaluating skills above average, but both groups
ranked item 47 highest with very relatively similar mean
scores. Ministers with less than M.Div. degrees assessed
four skills (items 47, 52, 48, and 53) as average, and four
(items 51, 54, 50, and 49) as below average. The respond-
ents with M.Div. degrees and above evaluated six skills
(items 47, 51, 50, 53, and 49) as average, and two skills
(items 48 and 54) as below average.

A comparison of the individual mean scores for each
skill item reveals that with the exception of one (item
48), ministers with M.Div. degrees and above assessed con-
sistently their levels of evaluating skills higher than
did the respondents with less than M.Div. degrees. This
is evident also in the overall means, and so is the signifi-
cant difference between both groups of ministers in their
assessments of their evaluating skills.

In general, since the Multivariate F-test revealed

significant differences between both groups of ministers

157

TABLE 4.55

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WITH LESS
THAN M.DIV. DEGREES, AND MINISTERS WITH M.DIV.
DEGREES AND ABOVE ON THEIR ASSESSMENT
OF THEIR EVALUATING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item Less than M.Div. and
No. Evaluating Skills M.Div. Above
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 119 N = 89
47. Determining the needs of your church. 3.8403 3.8841
48. Using appropriate sampling procedures 3.0508 2.9710
in assessing church members' views or
opinions.
49. Developing a survey to determine com- 2.7203 3.0725
munity needs.
50. Interpreting information (data) col- 2.7583 3.2899
lected from surveys.
51. Determining objectives to meet the 2.9748 3.4493
needs identified.
52. Assessing the effectiveness of church 3.1525 3.3382
programs at appropriate stages, or
at their completion.
53. Comparing church members' performance
of their responsibilities with estab- 3.0189 3.1014
lished standards for goal attainment,
and taking positive action when
there is disharmony.
54. Monitoring and appraising all the pro- 2.8087 2.9130
cesses involved in the evaluation of
your church and community.
OVERALL MEANS 3.0241 3.2483

 

158

in their evaluation of theiremmdnistrative skills, the hypo-

thesis is rejected.

Hypothesis 7

 

"There will be no difference between practicing
ministers who completed the minimum church administration
requirement (CHMN 527), and practicing ministers who did
not complete the minimum church administration requirement
(CHMN 527) in how they assess their current levels of admin-
istrative skills in terms of planning, managing, decision
making, communicating, and evaluating."

MANOVA was utilized in the testing of this hypo-
thesis. The result of the Multivariate Wilks F-test was
2.94444, which is significant at the 0.05 level (P = 0.914).
Therefore, hypothesis 7 is rejected.

Table 4.58 presents the results of the Univariate
F-tests (with 1.187 degrees of freedom) to identify the
significant difference between the two groups of ministers
- those who completed the church administration minimum
requirement, and those who did not. The results indicate
that there is no CHMN 527 effect on the assessments of the
planning, managing, decision-making, and communicating skills
since the F-tests were not significant at the 0.05 level

(P = 0.894, P = 0.452, P 0.892, and P = 0.924 respective-

ly). 'However, there was a CHMN 527 effect on the assessment
of the evaluating skills because the F-test result was signi-

ficant at the 0.05 level (P = 0.005).

159

TABLE 4.58

UNIVARIATE F-TEST FOR MEAN ASSESSMENT ACCORDING TO MINISTERS
WHO DID NOT COMPLETE CHMN527, AND MINISTERS WHO COMPLETED
CHMN527 AND MORE WITH 1.187 DEGREES 0F FREEDOM

 

 

Aspects of Hypothesis Error Significance
Administration Mean Square Mean Square F 0f F
Skills

Planning 0.05593 0.38034 0.15523 0.894
Managing 0.18819 0.29588 0.58882 0.452
Decision-Making 0.00579 0.31174 0.01858 0.892
Communicating 0.00330 0.38537 0.00903 0.924
Evaluating 3.52891 0.43721 8.07148 0.005*

 

*Significant at the 0.05 level

With regard to the fourteen planning skills, Table
4.57 shows the individual item means, rank order, and over-
all means of the ministers' assessments of those skills.
Both groups of practicing ministers - those who did not
complete and those who completed CHMN 527 - did not assess
any of the planning skills above average, but they both
evaluated thirteen skills (items 11-23) as average, with
"Initiating positive action in the church rather than react-
ing to actions initiated by others" being ranked highest
(number 1), and "Developing long-range (5 or more years)
plans for your church" as fourteenth ranked (number 14).
Four skills (items 21, l4, l7, and 10) received the same

ranking.

180

TABLE 4.57

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WHO DID
NOT COMPLETE CHMN527, AND MINISTERS WHO COMPLETED
CHMN527 AND MORE ADMINISTRATIVE COURSES ON THEIR

ASSESSMENT OF THEIR PLANNING SKILLS

 

 

Item No CHMN 527
No. Planning Skills CHMN 527 and More
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 114 N = 75

10. Developing long-range (5 or more years) 2.8518 14 2.8887 14
plans for your church.

11. Developing short-range (less than 5 3.5044 8 3.7027 2
years) plans for your church.

12. Formulating policy statements or 3.0789 13 3.1733 12
guidelines to operationalize your
church plans.

13. Developing church goals and objectives 3.4425 9 3.8892 3
that are based on the mission of the
church.

14. Determining programs and activities 3.4887 7 3.5887 7
that will facilitate (make easy) the
achievement of church goals and ob-
jectives.

15. Defining clearly the responsibilities 3.4554 8 3.4287 10 -
of the church members in the programs '
and activities of the church.

18. Delegating responsibilities to church 3.8579 4 3.8081 5
members.

17. Planning for an effective Stewardship 3.4035 11 3.2933 11
program in your church.

18. Implementing the Stewardship program 3.2544 12 3.0400 13
in such a way as to achieve the plan-
ned or desired results.

19. Persuading the church to allocate re- 3.8814 2 3.8 8

sources for priority goals.

181

TABLE 4.57 (Cont'd.)

 

 

Item No CHMN 527
No. Planning Skills CHMN 527 and More
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 114 N = 75
20. Preparing an adequate financial plan 3.8754 3 3.5270 9

for your church.

21. Initiating positive action in the 3.8930 1 3.7297 1
church rather than reacting to ac-
tions initiated by others.

22. Determining the flow of activities 3.5838 5 3.8438 4
and responsibilities when assigned
to a new pastorate.

23. Working systematically at attaining 3.4248 10 3.5333 8
church goals and objectives.

 

OVERALL MEANS 3.3991 3.4342

 

Although there were no significant differences be-
tween the two groups in their assessments of the fourteen
planning skills, the respondents who completed CHMN 527
did evaluate their skills slightly more positive than those
who did not complete CHMN 527, particularly when the over-
all means are compared.

Regarding Table 4.58, the mean and rank order for
each managing skill, and the overall means are presented
to show how both groups of ministers assessed their levels
of skills on the nine managing items. Both groups of minis-
ters did not assess any managing skill above average, but

they both evaluated eight skills as average, and one below

182

TABLE 4.58

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WHO DID
NOT COMPLETE CHMN527, AND MINISTERS WHO COMPLETED

CHMN527 AND MORE ADMINISTRATIVE COURSES ON THEIR
ASSESSMENT OF THEIR MANAGING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item No CHMN 527
No. Managing Skills CHMN 527 and More
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 114 N = 75

24. Developing church members' potentials 3.2879 3.38
for responsible positions in the church.

25. Influencing church members through the 3.0877 3.2588 '
use of different motivational techniques.

28. Influencing positively church members' 3.1579 3.1087
commitments to responsibilities through
home visitation. -

27. Implementing the planned programs and 3.4035 3.4459
activities for the achievement of
church goals and objectives.

28. Monitoring the progress of church pro- 3.2832 3.38
grams and activities without obstruct-
ing the process.

29. Criticizing constructively the per- 2.9823 3.28
formance of church members to influ-
ence constructive change.

30. Using a variety of leadership and man- 3.2105 3.2533
agement styles to achieve church goals
and objectives.

31. Resolving or reducing conflict among 3.2848 3.8287
church members.

32. Managing your time to achieve maximum 3.0528 2.9087
efficiency in your ministry.
OVERALL MEANS 3.2397 3.3007

 

183

average. Whereas the ministers who did not complete CHMN
527 ranked item 27 highest (average), and item 29 lowest
(below average), the respondents who completed CHMN 527
ranked item 31 highest (average), and item 32 lowest (below
average). Two items (numbers 28 and 32) received the same
ranking.

There was no significant difference between the
two groups of ministers in their assessments of their levels
of managing skills, but the respondents who completed CHMN
527 did evaluate their skills slightly higher on seven out
of the nine skills, something that is reflected in a compari-
son of the overall means.

Table 4.59 presents the means, rank order, and over-
all means for the eight decision-making skills as were as-
sessed by both groups of ministers. The two groups of re-
spondents evaluated three skills (items 35, 38, and 37)
above average, and the remaining skills (items 33, 34, 3B,
39, and 40) as average. Whereas the ministers who did not
complete CHMN 527 assessed item 38 highest with a mean score
of 4.1754, those who completed CHMN 527 evaluated item 35
highest. However, both groups of ministers assessed "In-
cluding feedback periods into church decisions to check
their validity and effectiveness" lowest. Four skills
(items 37, 33, 34, and 39) received individually identical
ranking.

Again, there was no significant difference between

both groups of practicing ministers in their assessments

184

TABLE 4.59

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WHO DID
NOT COMPLETE CHMN527, AND MINISTERS WHO COMPLETED

CHMN527 AND MORE ADMINISTRATIVE COURSES ON THEIR
ASSESSMENT OF THEIR DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item No CHMN 527
No. Decision-Making Skills CHMN S27 and More
Mean Mean Rank
N = 114 N = 75
33. Specifying clearly what is to be accom- 3.8754 3.7182 4
plished before making a decision.
34. Gathering practically all relevant in- 3.8491 3.88 5
formation before a decision is made.
35. Promoting a variety of opinions in 3.9737 4.0878 1
meetings before a decishxiis made.
38. Promoting decisions that are consis- 4.1754 4.0133 3
tent with church policy.
37. Making decisions that are based on 4.0 4.0270 2
practical values.
38. Building (or including) into decisions 3.4912 3.5270 7
the steps and procedures to implement
them.
39. Including feedback periods into church 3.3598 3.4533 8
decisions to check their validity
and effectiveness.
40. Selecting alternative courses of ac- 3.4849 3.8 8
tion to achieve church goals and ob-
jectives.
OVERALL MEANS 3.7238 3.7350

 

185

of their decision-making skills, but when the individual
skills mean scores were compared, the ministers who completed
CHMN 527 assessed their levels of decision-making skills
(with the exception of item 38) slightly higher than the
respondents who did not complete CHMN 527. This is also
evident in the comparison of the mean scores.

In Table 4.80 are shown the means, rank order, and
overall means for the six communicating skills as were as-
sessed by the respondents. The practicing ministers who
did not complete CHMN 527 did not-evaluate any communicating
skill above average; all (items 41-48) were assessed as
average, while the respondents who completed CHMN 527 evalu-
ated one skill (item 45) above average, and the remaining
skills as average. Both groups of ministers assessed, with
slightly differing mean scores, "Building trustworthy or
confidential relationship with and among church members"
highest (ranked number 1), and "Managing the flow of com-
munication in your church" lowest (ranked number 8). Three
skills (items 45, 44, and 4l)received individually identical
ranking.

Although there was no significant difference between
both groups of practicing ministers in terms of their assess-
ments of the levels of their communicating skills, a compari-
son of the overall means reveals that ministers who completed
CHMN 527 did evaluate their levels of communicating skills

slightly higher than did their counterpart.

188

TABLE 4.80

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WHO DID
NOT COMPLETE CHMN527, AND MINISTERS WHO COMPLETED

CHMN527 AND MORE ADMINISTRATIVE COURSES ON THEIR
ASSESSMENT OF THEIR COMMUNICATING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item No CHMN 527
No. Communicating Skills CHMN 527 and More
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 114 N = 75
41. Managing the flow of communication in 3.3248 3.2133 8
your church.
42. Recognizing communication distortion 3.5283 3.8533 2
in your church.
43. Influencing positively church members' 3.5877 3.5 4
support for established church pro-
grams and activities through communica-
tion.
44. Facilitating interpersonal communica- 3.3509 3.4885 5
tion among church members.
45. Building trustworthy or confidential 3.8571 3.9324 1
relationships with and among church
members.
48. Evaluating your own communication by 3.8283 3.8351 3
noting the comprehension of it by
others.
OVERALL MEANS 3.5292 3.5377

 

187

There are presented in Table 4.81 the means, rank
order, and overall means for the eight evaluating skills
as were assessed by both groups of ministers. The practicing
ministers who did not complete CHMN 527 evaluated none of
the skills above average, but assessed four (items 47, 52,
48, and 53) as average, and four (items 51, 54, 50, and
49) below average, with item 47 ranking highest, and item
49 lowest. 0n the other hand, the respondents who completed
CHMN 527 assessed one skill (item 47) above average, six
skills (items 51, 52, 50, 53, 49, and 48) as average, and
one skill (item 54) as below average. One skill (item 47)
received identical and the highest rank by the two groups
of respondents.

A comparison of the mean scores for each skill,
and the overall means reveal that, with the exception of
item 48, ministers who completed CHMN 527 assessed their
levels of evaluating skills significantly higher than did
the respondents who did not complete CHMN 527, which accounts
for the significant difference between both groups in their
assessments.

Looking back at the result of the Multivariate F-
test shows that there was a significant difference between
the ministers who completed the minimum church administration
requirement course CHMN 527, and those who did not in their
assessments of the levels of their skills in the five selected
aspects of administration. Hypothesis 7 is therefore re-

jected.

188

TABLE 4.81

MEANS, RANK ORDER, AND OVERALL MEANS OF MINISTERS WHO DID
NOT COMPLETE CHMN527, AND MINISTERS WHO COMPLETED

CHMN527 AND MORE ADMINISTRATIVE COURSES ON THEIR

ASSESSMENT OF THEIR EVALUATING SKILLS

 

 

 

Item No CHMN 527
No. Evaluating Skills CHMN 527 and More
Mean Rank Mean Rank
N = 114 N = 75
47. Determine the needs of your church. 3.8158 1 3.9087 1
48. Using appropriate sampling procedures 3.0175 3 3.0135 7
in assessing church members' viewscn:
opinions.
49. Developing a survey to determine com- 2.8814 8 3.08 8
munity needs.
50. Interpreting information (data) col- 2.7193 7 3.28 4
lected from surveys.
51. Determining objectives to meet the 2.9292 5 3.4533 2
needs identified.
52. Assessing the effectiveness of church 3.0798 2 3.4324 3
programs at appropriate stages, or at
their completion.
53. Comparing church members' performance 3.0 4 3.1218 5
of their responsibilities with estab-
lished standards for goal attainment,
and taking positive action when there
is disharmony.
54. Monitoring and appraising all the pro- 2.7458 8 2.9887 8
cesses involved in the evaluation of
your church and community.
0VERAU. MEANS 2.9890 3.2883

 

189

Summary

A summary of the findings of the research hypotheses
which were derived from the second research question are
presented in this section. Multivariate Analysis of Vari-
ance was utilized in order to test the significance of the
seven null hypotheses which are related to the effects of
conference, race, ordination, number of churches, member-
ship of pastorate, degree, and church administration course
CHMN 527 on the assessments of the five selected areas of
administration: planning, managing, decision making, com-
municating, and evaluating. In addition, the analysis pro-
duced the means and rank order for each item, and the over-
all means which were used to compare the practicing ministers
evaluations of the five selected aspects of administration.

Hypothesis 1 tested the effect of conference on
the assessments of the five selected aspects of administra-
tion. The Multivariate Wilks F-test showed a significant
difference between Regional and State conference practicing
ministers with regard to the five selected areas of adminis-
tration. The hypothesis was therefore rejected. When the
individual item means and rank order, and overall means
for the five selected areas of administration were compared,
it was discovered that ministers from the Regional conferences
assessed their levels of administrative skills in the five
areas higher than did the ministers from the State confer-

ences.

170

Hypothesis 2 tested the effect of race on the assess-
ments of administration. The analysis of the data with
the Multivariate Wilks F-test revealed that there was a
significant difference between Black and Caucasian practic-
ing ministers in the evaluation of the levels of their skills
in the five areas. Therefore, hypothesis 2 was rejected.
A comparison of the means for the individual items means,
rank order, and overall means showed that Black ministers
assessed their levels of administrative skills higher than
did the Caucasian ministers.

Hypothesis 3 tested the effect of ordination on
the assessments of the administrative skills by the respon-
dents, with the use of the Multivariate Wilks F-test. The
results showed no significant difference between unordained
and ordained ministers in the evaluation of the levels of
their administrative skills in the five selected areas.
Consequently, hypothesis 3 was not rejected. Although there
was no significant difference between unordained and ordained
ministers in their assessments of the levels of their admin-
istrative skills, a comparison of the overall means for
each major section of the administrative skills reveal that
the unordained ministers assessed their levels of managing,
communicating, and evaluating skills slightly higher than
did the ordained ministers; while the ordained ministers
evaluated their levels of planning and decision-making skills

slightly higher than did the unordained ministers.

171

Hypothesis 4 looked at the effect of the number
of churches pastored on the respondents' evaluations of
the levels of their administrative skills in the five selected
areas. The Multivariate F-test was used to analyze the
data, and the results indicated that there was a significant
difference between ministers pastoring one church, and minis-
ters pastoring two or more churches in their assessments
of their administrative skills. Hypothesis 4 was therefore
rejected. When the means and rank order for the individual
items, and the overall means were compared, it was shown
that ministers pastoring one church assessed their levels
of skills much higher than did ministers who pastored two
and more churches.

Hypothesis 5 tested the effect of the average (349)
church membership in pastorates on how practicing ministers
evaluated their levels of administrative skills in the five
selected areas. The testing was performed with the use
of the Multivariate Wilks F-test, the results of which indi-
cated significant difference between ministers with pas-
torates of less than average (349) church membership, and
ministers with average (349) and above church membership
in how both groups assessed their administrative skills.
Therefore, hypothesis 5 was rejected. When the means for
each skill item, and the overall means were compared, it
was clearly seen that ministers with pastorates of average
and above church membership evaluated their levels of admin-

istrative skills in all five selected areas higher than

172

ministers with pastorates of less than average church mem-
bership.

Hypothesis 8 examined the effect of the M.Div. de-
gree on how practicing ministers assessed their levels of
administrative skills in the five selected areas. The Multi-
variate Wilks F-test was used to determine the effect.

It revealed a significant difference between ministers with
less than M.Div. degrees, and those with M.Div. degrees

and above in how both groups evaluated their levels of ad-
ministrative skills. The hypothesis was therefore rejected.
However, ministers with less than M.Div. degrees assessed
their planning and communicating skills higher than minis-
ters with M.Div. degrees, while ministers with M.Div. degrees
and above evaluated their managing, decision-making, and
evaluating skills higher than did ministers with less than
M.Div. degrees when the overall means in each of the five
selected areas were compared.

Hypothesis 7 tested the effect of the minimum church
administration requirement CHMN 527 on how practicing minis-
ters evaluated their levels of administrative skills. The
testing was performed with the use of the Multivariate Wilks
F-test, the result of which showed a significant difference
between ministers who did not complete CHMN 527, and those
who completed CHMN 527 on how they assessed the levels of
their administrative skills in the five selected areas.
Therefore, the hypothesis was rejected. In general, however,

when the items mean scores and overall means were compared,

173

it was shown that the practicing ministers who had completed
the minimum church administration requirement CHMN 527 had
evaluated their levels of administrative skills slightly
higher than did those who did not complete the minimum re-

quirement.

The Ministers' Recommendations

Research Question 3 is answered in this section.
It deals with the ministers' perception of the recommendations
presented by the researcher, together with the additional
suggestions recommended by the ministers to address their
administrative deficiencies and the church administrative

aspect of the ministerial program.

Research Question 3

 

"What are the ministers' perceptions of the recommenda-
tions listed by the research, and what other suggested recom-
mendations will they provide for the improvement of their
administrative deficiencies and the church administrative
aspect of the ministerial preparation program in the Seventh-
day Adventist Theological Seminary?"

Table 4.82 presents the findings in terms of raw
numbers and percentages under the five-point scale (strongly
disagree, disagree, undecided, agree, and strongly agree)
for each proposed recommendation. The results showed agree-

ment between ministers' perceptions in eleven out of the

174

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177

twelve recommendations. This indicates that more than 50
percent of the ministers (respondents) supported each of

the eleven recommendations as is seen in the "agree" and
"strongly agree" columns. The one recommendation (item

81) that did not receive a sufficient support (38%) did

not receive a strong enough rejection (only 38.1%) since
24.9% of the respondents were undecided. However, the fol-
lowing are the recommendations in rank order from the highest
level of support to the lowest.

1. The planning, managing, decision-making, com-
municating and evaluating skills are very important to the
effective administration of your church (99% support).

2. There should be more practical emphasis on the
instruction of planning, managing, decision making, com-
municating, and evaluating in church administration courses
(91.9% support).

3. More typical church administration problem and
conflict examples should be provided in church administra-
tion courses with corresponding principles for their resolu-
tion (87.7% support).

4. Your conference should provide in-service train-
ing (programs and activities) for the ministers in the fol-
lowing areas of planning, managing, decision making, com-
municating, and evaluating (85.8% support).

5. As a practicing minister, you need further in-
formation in the planning, managing, decision-making, com-

municating, and evaluating skills to administer the affairs

178

of your church/es more efficiently and effectively (79.2%
support).

8. The skill areas of planning, managing, decision
making, communicating, and evaluating should be combined
and taught as a course in church administration to provide
more indepth information in these areas (79.1% support).

7. More courses in church administration should
be offered in the ministerial preparation program (70.8%
support).

8. Your academic training did not adequately pre-
pare you in the skills of planning, managing, decision mak-
ing, communicating, and evaluating for the effective admin-
istration of your church/es (88.4% support).

9. As a practicing minister, you should be respon-
sible for your own personal growth in the administrative
skills of planning, managing, decision making, communicating,
and evaluating (87.8% support).

10. All church administration courses should be
mandatory for all ministerial students or prospective minis-
ters (84.9% support).

11. As a practicing minister, you have not been
reading sufficiently in the administrative skills of plan-
ning, managing, decision making, communicating, and evalu-
ating (59.0% support).

12. There should be more theoretical emphasis in

the instruction process of planning, managing, decision

179

making, communicating, and evaluating in church administra-
tion courses in the theological program (38.8% support).

The practicing ministers were given two open-ended
questions (items 87 and 88) with three respective lines
to propose other recommendations for the improvement of
their administrative skills and the church administrative
aspect of the ministerial program in the Seventh-day Adven-'
tist educational institutions. Sixty-two of the 189 respon-
dents answered one or both questions. The following is
a list of the recommendations suggested by the ministers
for the improvement of their administrative skills which
the investigator grouped into five categories:

1. Twenty-three of the respondents suggested the
conferences' assistance in terms of establishing personal
and professional objectives; in-service training; motiva-
tional rewards from conference for goal achievement; time
off to spend with pastor who has good administrative skills;
and bibliography of books on administration to read from
the conferences.

2. Thirty-six of the ministers recommended a con-
tinuing education program with workshops in which the re-
spondents can share their frustrations and problems, and
seek solutions; learn how to handle conflict, discover real
church needs, and structure church finance and budget; im-
prove interpersonal relation and leadership skills; how
ixlnmtivate people; and be able to share skills and ideas

with other ministers.

180

3. Nine of the respondents suggested a stronger
internship program in which more emphasis is placed on ad-
ministrative skills, and ministers being allowed to observe
experienced pastors with good administrative skills.

4. Nine ministers proposed an evaluation system
in which the conferences periodically evaluate the pastors;
ministers having to submit their plans periodically to the
conferences; and more supervision and accountability from
the conferences.

5. One respondent suggested the establishment of
an office apart from the conference to deal with the pas-
tors' administrative problems.

In reference to item 88 in which the ministers were
asked to make suggestions for the improvement of the church
administrative aspect of the ministerial preparation program,
the recommendations were categorized by the investigator
as follows:

1. Six of the respondents recommended a better
balance between theology and church administration in the
program through the offering of more administration courses
at both college and seminary levels, and making those courses
mandatory.

2. Sixteen of the ministers recommended that church
administration courses should teach ministers how to lead
as a servant while being a good follower; present a better
understanding of the pastor's board administrative responsi-

bilities, and more realism and less idealism of churches'

181

expectations in administration, and realistic expectations
of conference priorities; teaching more about the motiva-
tion of people, decision making and getting, conflict manage-
ment, practical matters in church administration, cross
cultural administration, communication (internal and ex-
ternal) for church organization, and evaluation of community's
needs; and a better understanding of the paradox, and ambi-
guity of managing the church.

3. Fifteen of the respondents recommended more
practical training at the seminary in which students will
be allowed to work with a pastor of great administrative
skills in order to have their skills tested and appraised
in a real church setting; more case studies; and field practi-
cum guidelines for supervisory ministers and more students/
intern specified practical experience in committee adminis-

trative situations.

CHAPTER V

SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS,
RECOMMENDATIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS
FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

The Problem

 

H. Richard Niebuhr (1958), William Leach (1958),
and Kenneth D. Gangel (1974) concur that ministers are not
academically prepared for their administrative responsibili-
ties. In addition, Gangel claimed that there is a negative
attitude toward administration in the church which seems
to suggest that administration is nonessential, uninterest-
ing, and not spiritual; and that ministers spend very little
time even in informal reading to develop their administrative
capacity. "The gift of administration therefore suffers
from 'benign neglect'" (Gangel, 1974, p. 25). The problem
to which this study is directed is an assessment of the ad-
ministrative skills, in five selected areas,of practicing
Seventh-day Adventist ministers in four conferences. The
assessment is based on data collected from the said minis-

ters.

182

183

The Purpose of the Study

This study was designed to obtain an assessment of
the perceived administrative skills of all ministers in four
Seventh-day Adventist conferences in five selected areas
of administration; to analyze the data collected in the as-
sessment to determine the current levels of the ministers'
administrative skills; and to use the results to recommend
improvements in those skills.

The primary purposes of this study were: (1) to
determine how practicing Seventh-day Adventist ministers
assess their levels of administrative skills with regard
to planning, managing, decision making, communicating, and
evaluating; (2) to compare the ministers' assessment of their
administrative skills (planning, managing, decision making,
communicating, and evaluating) on the bases of conference,
race, ordination, number of churches pastoring, average mem-
bership of pastorate, degree, and church administration re-
quirement (as independent variables); (3) to determine the
administrative area/s in which practicing Seventh-day Adven-
tist ministers perceive themselves to be deficient; and (4)
to solicit recommendations for the improvement of the minis-
ters' administrative skills, and the church administrative

aspect of the ministerial preparation program.

184

The Population

 

The population studied consisted of all the practic-
ing ministers (242) in four Seventh-day Adventist conferences.
0f the 242 ministers, 193 returned the questionnaires, and

189 being in usable condition.

The Questionnaire

 

The questionnaire that was utilized in gathering
the data for this research consisted of three sections as
follows:

Section 1:7 Demographic or general information con-

 

cerning conference, age, ethnic classification, ordination,
professional experience (years of), number of churches pastor-
ing, membership of pastorate, degree, and church administra-
tion requirement course CHMN 527. There was a total of nine
items.

Section II: This section consisted of five parts:
(1) planning, with 14 items; (2) managing consisting of 9
items; (3) decision making, with 8 items; (4) communicating,
consisting of 8 items; and (5) evaluating, with 8 items.
There was a total of 45 item skills that were evaluated by
the ministers.

Section 111: There were 14 items in this section.

 

The first 12 items were designed to obtain the ministers'
perceptions of the church administration aspect of the minis-

terial program and recommendations for the improvement of

185

their administrative skills. The two last open-ended ques-
tions requested the ministers to list additional recommenda-
tions for the improvement of both their administative skills
and the church administation aspect of the ministerial pro-

gram.

Collection and Analysis of Data

0f the 242 questionnaires that were mailed to all
the practicing Seventh-day Adventist ministers on April 18,
1984, 193 questionnaires were received by the researcher.
Four of the questionnaires were discarded as a result of
numerous incomplete responses. The remaining 189 completed
questionnaires (78.19 percent of the 242 mailed questionnaires)
were utilized in this study.

In the analysis of the data, frequency distributions

of the numbers, percentages, means, standard deviations and
rank orders were used to describe the ministers' overall
assessments regarding the five selected aspects of adminis-
trative skills. The Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA)
technique was utilized to test the seven null hypotheses
which were related to the effects of conference, race,
ordination, number of churches pastoring, average member-
ship of pastorate, degree, and church administration
minimum requirement (CHMN 527) on the respondents' assess-
ments of the five selected aspects of administration:

planning, managing, decision making, communicating, and

188

evaluating. The significance level was established at 0.05.
In addition, individual item means, rank order, and overall
means were used to analyze and compare the ministers' assess-

ments of the five selected aspects of administration.

Findings

Demographic Characteristics

 

A general glance of the data received from the 189
practicing ministers who responded to the questionnaire re-
veal that a majority, 57.2 percent, were from State confer-
ences; 59.8 percent were forty years old and over; a little
over one-half were Caucasians; an overwhelming percentage
(81.5) were ordained; over one-half had eleven years and
more of pastoral experience; 59.8 percent were pastoring
two and more churches; more than two-thirds (89.3 percent)
had pastorates with less than average (349) membership; a
majority had attained less than the M.Div. (B.A., B.Th.,
and M.A.) degree; and only 39.7 percent having completed
the present minimum church administration requirement CHMN

527.

Ministers' Overall Assessment of Their Administrative Skills

1. In general, the respondents did not assess any
of their planning skills highly; whereas they rated 13 of

the skills as average, and one below average.

187

2. None of the 9 managing skills was rated highly.
Eight were considered to be average, and one below average.

3. Three of the decision-making skills were evaluated
highly, and the remaining 5 as average.

4. The ministers did not assess any of the communi-
cating skills highly, all 8 skills were considered to be
average.

5. None of the 8 evaluating skills was assessed
highly. Five were evaluated as average, and three below

average.

Research Hypotheses

 

1. Hypothesis 1 dealt with the effect of conference
on the ministers' assessment of the five selected aspects
of administration. The Multivariate F-test analysis revealed
a significant difference between Regional and State confer-
ences' respondents in their assessments of their current
levels of administrative skills in the five selected aspects
of administration. Therefore, hypothesis 1 was rejected.

When overall means of the five aspects of administra-
tion (based on the respondents evaluations) were compared,
it was discovered that ministers from the Regional conferences
assessed their levels of administrative skills higher than
those from State conferences.

2. Hypothesis 2 was concerned with the effect of

race (Black and Caucasian) on the respondents' evaluations

188

of their levels of administrative skills in the five selected
areas of administration. The analysis of Multivariate F-
test showed a significant difference between Black and Cauca-
sian ministers in their evaluation of the levels of their
administrative skills in the five selected areas. Hypothesis
2 was therefore rejected.

The use of the overall means to compare Black and
Caucasian assessments of the five selected aspects of adminis-
tration revealed that Black ministers evaluated their levels
of administrative skills significantly higher than did the
Caucasian ministers.

3. Hypothesis 3 looked at the effect of ordination
on the respondents' evaluations of the level of their adminis-
trative skills in five selected areas. The use of the Multi-
variate F-test in the analysis of the data showed no signifi-
cant difference between unordained and ordained ministers
in their assessments of their administrative skills. There-
fore, the hypothesis was not rejected.

Although there was no significant difference in the
evaluations of unordained and ordained ministers' administra-
tive skills, when the overall means of both groups of respon-
dents' assessments in the five selected aspects of adminis-
tration were compared, unordained ministers evaluated their
levels of managing, communicating, and evaluating skills
slightly higher than ordained ministers, and ordained respon-
dents assessed their planning and decision-making skills

slightly higher than the unordained ministers.

189

4. Hypothesis 4 dealt with the effect of the number
of church/es pastored by the respondents on their assessments
of the levels of their administrative skills in the five
selected areas. The use of the Multivariate F-test on the
data showed a significant difference between ministers who
pastored one church, and ministers who pastored two or more
churches in their evaluations of their administrative skills.
Therefore, the hypothesis was rejected.

When the overall means of the five selected aspects
of administration were compared on the basis of the evaluations
of both groups of ministers, it was found that ministers
pastoring one church assessed their levels of administrative
skills higher than did those ministers pastoring two or more
churches.

5. Hypothesis 5 was concerned with the effect of
average (349) church membership in pastorates on the respon-
dents' assessments of the levels of their administrative
skills in the five selected areas. The Multivariate F-test
was utilized to analyze the data, and the results showed
a significant difference between ministers with pastorates
of less than average (less than 349) church membership, and
ministers with average (349) and above church membership
in their pastorates. Therefore, the hypothesis was rejected.

A comparison of the overall means of both groups
of ministers' evaluations in the five selected areas of ad-
ministration revealed that the respondents with pastorates

of average and above church membership assessed their levels

190

of administrative skills higher than ministers with less than
average church membership in their pastorates.

8. Hypothesis 8 examined the effect of degree (less
than M.Div. and M.Div. and above) on the ministers' evalua-
tion of their administrative skills in the five selected
areas of administration. With the use of Multivariate F-
test on the data, it was discovered that there was a dif-
ference between ministers with less than the M.Div. degree,
and ministers with M.Div. degree and above. Therefore, hypo-
thesis 8 was rejected.

When the overall means for the five aspects of adminis-
tration for both groups' assessments were compared, it was
discovered that ministers with less than M.Div. degree as-
sessed their levels of administration skills slightly higher
on the planning and communicating skills, while the respon-
dents with M.Div. degree and above evaluated their levels
of managing, decision-making, and evaluating skills higher
than did the other ministers.

7. Hypothesis 7 examined the effect of CHMN 527
on the respondents' assessments of their administrative skills
in the five selected areas of administration. The data analy-
sis was performed with the Multivariate F-test. The result
showed a difference between ministers who did not complete
CHMN 527 in their evaluations of their administrative skills.

A comparison of the overall mean scores for the five
selected aspects of administration, based on the respondents'

assessments, revealed that the ministers who completed CHMN

191

527 evaluated their levels of skills in all five aspects
of administration higher than those ministers who did not

complete CHMN 527.

Ministers' Recommendations

With regard to the twelve recommendations proposed
by the investigator, the ministers supported eleven recommenda-
tions and offered additional suggestions for the improvement
of their administrative skills and the administrative aspect
of the ministerial preparation program at the Theological

Seminary at Andrews University.

Conclusions

The more significant conclusions that may be drawn
from the findings of this study are as follows:

1. In general, the ministers assessed their levels
of planning skills as average, with the exception of "Deve-
loping long range (5 or more years) plans for your church"
which was evaluated below average.

2. In reference to the managing skills, the respon-
dents were only average in their assessments of those skills,
but seemed to have lacked the skill or discipline in managing
their time to achieve maximum efficiency in their ministry.

3. There is a strong indication that the ministers
in general perceived their decision-making and communicating

skills to be average to above average.

192

4. In terms of their evaluating skills, however,
the ministers seem to be lacking most in this area.

S. A great majority of the respondents believe that
the administrative skills (planning, managing, decision mak-
ing, communicating and evaluating) are very significant to
the administration of the church, but that their academic
training did not adequately prepare them in these areas.

8. In reference to the research hypotheses, it was
discovered through the analysis of the data that there was
a significant difference between Regional and State confer-
ence ministers, Black and Caucasian ministers, ministers
pastoring one church and those pastoring two and more churches,
ministers with less than average church membership and those
with average and above church membership in their pastorates,
and ministers who have not completed and those who have com-
pleted the minimum church administration requirement CHMN
527 in their assessments of the levels of their administra-
tive skills in the five selected aspects of administration.
This difference was also reflected in the higher assessments
of Regional conference ministers, Black ministers, one-church
ministers, ministers with average and above church member-
ship in their pastorates, and ministers who completed CHMN
527 when the overall means for each of the five selected
aspects of administration were compared.

7. No significant difference was found between the
unordained and ordained ministers in their assessments of

the levels of their administrative skills in the five selected

193

aspects of administration. A comparison of the overall means
for each of the five aspects revealed that unordained minis-
ters assessed their planning, managing, and communicating
skills higher than ordained ministers, while ordained minis-
ters evaluated their decision-making and evaluating skills
higher than unordained ministers.

8. The results of hypothesis 8 showed a significant
difference between ministers with less than the M.Div. de-
grees and those with M.Div. and above in their assessments
of the level of their administrative skills in the five se-
lected aspects of administration. When the overall means
for the five aspects were compared, it was discovered that
ministers with less than the M.Div. degree assessed their
levels of planning and communicating slightly higher, while
ministers with the M.Div. degree and more assessed their
managing skills slightly higher and their decision-making
and evaluating skills much higher than ministers with less
than the M.Div. degree.

9. With regard to the twelve recommendations pro-
posed by the investigator, the ministers did not support
the one that stated "There should be more theoretical empha-
sis in the instruction process of planning, managing, decision-
making, communicating, and evaluating in church administra-
tion courses in the theological programs", but gave their
support to the other proposed recommendations to improve
their administrative skills and the church administrative

aspect of the ministerial preparation program.

194

Recommendations

 

The following recommendations are presented on the
basis of the findings and conclusions of the study.

Administration is a significant aspect of the prac-
ticing ministers' vocation, and its totality cannot be ac-
quired in the classroom. There is much to be learned through
experience in the real situation and through continued study.
The implication is that ministers should not be totally de-
pendent upon the conferences to provide administrative in—
formation for them, but should be more responsible in terms
of continuing the educational process through personal dis-
covery, reading, and study in administration for the enhance-
ment of their growth and development in this area.

Special attention should be given to the development
of the long-range planning skills of ministers, and their
application to the church. Ministers cannot afford to "keep
shop" based on their projected length of stay in a pastorate.
There is a need to evaluate all aspects of the church and
provide the necessary leadership in establishing long-range
plans in conjunction with other church leaders for the church,
so that the church will be able to carry on with a structured
program in the absence of the minister, rather than having
to start over with the arrival of a new pastor.

The academic experiences provided by educational
institutions do not absolve the conference from their respon-

sibilities of providing continuing educational opportunities

195

for their ministers. There is a need for seminars, work-
shops, and other activities that will focus on administrative
skills with special attention given to long-range planning,
time management, general management and evaluating skills.

The conferences also need to evaluate their intern-
ship programs in order to ascertain their effectiveness in
terms of opportunities provided for interns to receive ade-
quate administrative insights into the application of theory
to the real situation, and also to understand those situations
in which it is more expedient to be political. This would
necessitate the placing of intenrswith ministers who are
successful administrators -- analytical, human oriented,
conceptual, can deduce and apply biblical principles of
administration, and can provide relatively sufficient
guidance, opportunity for experience in administrative
behavior for the interns' growth and development.

Based on the finding that ministers with one church
in their pastorate assessed their levels of administrative
skills higher than those with two or more churches in their
districts, it might appear economically infeasible, but con-
sideration should be given to the establishment of a one-
pastor one-church future conference goal.

The conferences need to establish an evaluation system
to identify the administrative weaknesses of their ministers
so that they may provide appropriate assistance. It is also

needed to monitor their performance and progress.

198

What are the implications of the findings for the
ministerial curriculum decision makers at Seventh-day Adven-
tist educational institutions? A great majority of the
ministers claimed that the ministerial program did not ade-
quately prepare them in the five selected areas of adminis-
tration. An evaluation of the ministerial preparation pro-
gram is needed, primarily from the practicing ministers'
perspective, in order to determine its content balance
in the major subject matter areas, and to determine the
strength of the church administration aspect. Failure to
understand the incumbent perspective through systematic
scientific investigation of the practicing ministers' role
will only serve to expand the gap between theory and practice.

Although the comprehension of administrative princi-
ples, theory, and task performance are significant and needed
through the offering of a more mandatory church administra-
tion courses, they would be insufficient to the administra-
tor. These must be combined with educating ministers to
synthesize information and experiences; think logically and
rationally; distinguish causes and effects, and their rela-
tions; and perceive relationships for the relatively success-

fully administration of the church.

Implications for Further Research

 

Based on the results of the study, the following
are suggestions for further research in the area of Seventh-

day Adventist ministers' administrative skills.

197

The investigator does not claim that the instrument
(questionnaire) used in the study was totally effective in
measuring the perceived administrative skills of the minis-
ters, but it can be adopted by the conferences and educa-
tional institutions to measure the five selected areas of
administration. Further research for the improvement of
the instrument is necessary.

Continued research designed to evaluate the adminis-
trative skills of ministers in all aspects of church adminis-
tration should be encouraged.

It is also necessary to continue research designed
to measure the administrative skills of ministers acquired
from their academic program in order to determine the effect
of the church administration aspect of the ministerial pre-
paration on ministers administrative skills acquisition.

There is a need to evaluate the ministerial prepara-
tion programs in order to ascertain if ministers are provided
a balanced education in preparation for their vocation, and
to determine specifically the necessary and needed improve-
ments in the church administration aspect of the ministerial
preparation program.

It is necessary to determine the various sources
through which ministers acquire their administrative skills,
and how influential those sources are on the ministers chosen
methods of performance.

Further research into the administrative skills of

ministers necessitates the inclusion of the ministers' church

198

members, and particuarly the Church Board members who work
more closely with the ministers on administrative matters,
for a comparative perspective.

Further research is necessary to determine why Black
ministers consistently assessed their levels of administrative
skills higher than the Caucasian ministers when both groups
received relatively similar education.

More research is needed to ascertain the effects
of ministers' imcompetence in administrative skills on church
members relationships, church climate, minister-member rela-
tionship, church growth etc.

It is also worth researching why ministers with one
church in their pastorate assessed their levels of adminis-
trative skills higher than ministers with two and more churches,
while ministers with average (349) and above membership in
their pastorates assessed their levels of administrative
skills higher than ministers with pastorates of less than
average church membership.

It should be pointed out that generalizability was
not a major concern of this study, scientific replicability
was. The hope is that the study will be duplicated to in-
clude all or a scientific sample across the country, and
then replicated to reduce the probability of error to develop

low level theories of ministers' administrative skills.

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APPENDIX I

TABLES

206

 

 

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207

 

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208

 

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msom.m Hmun.m quo.m mmmm.m -mu uoc mamupcmpoa .mumgeme Lacuna ocuaoflmsmo .qm
mcwmmcms
ha ma HN ma .mm>fluuwhpo pcm mamoo
«NHN.m mnmm.m mHHN.m ooo.q cunocu ocwcamuum um >Hamuwumemum>m ocwxuoa .mN
xcmm com: 1cmm cows xcmm coma xcmm cmmz m>wpmuumacw5bq .oz
Camcoomws cumummmcuuoz cmofiLUHE cowowm mxmu emuH

 

A.U.ucouv mm.c mumq»

209

 

 

N N H m .xuaaoo councu Laws
0>00.« >00H.« 0HHO.« 0m0m.« ucmumfimcou mum umcp mcofimwump mewuoeouo .mm

« « m a .mme ma COMmMump m muommb mocw
0000.« 000.« 0080.0 m00«.« numme cw mcowcwoo mo >umwum> m ocwpoeoua .mm

m 0H 0 ma .mome ma coflmflump m muommp cofiu
bm00.n 00m>.m 00b«.m 0000.« nmeHOLCM ucm>mamu Ham >HHmUHuumoo ocfluwzumu .«m

0 m m m .coflmfluwp m 0cwxme muommp pmcmfiao
>m00.m 0m>0.m H>««.m mN00.« neouum on 0» ma page >Hummau 0ca>cwumom .mm

mcfimesCONmfiumo

«N «m on an .xuumflcwe H30» Cw xocmfluwmmm
HON0.N >00H.m m0>>.N N«N«.m enemee m>ww£um 0» mefia “30> mcwomcmz .Nm
omum.m mmmm.m nmmw.m mowg.« Lounge ocoem puuaccou ocHuaomu Ho mcfisaommm .Hm

om «m mm Hm .mmsflpumnno

. . . . pcm mambo Louncu m>mficum on mma>am acme
0>00 m 000m 0 0000 N 0>m> m nmomcme pcm oHLmeUmmH mo >umflum> m 0cam: .0m
xcmm cmmz xcmm com: xcmm cow: xcmm cow: m>wumupmwaED< .oz
camcoumfls cumummmcpuoz cmowcuflz coflowm mxm4 emuH

 

A.u.scouv mm.« wquH

210

I. a.”

P: I. a pia 11'“ .EF. LIB-DEE

 

 

NH DH mH mm .coHpmocheeou Lagoon“ mmeHs

. . . . uHuom pcm memuoouo memHHpmumm How Huooonm
0«m« m N«00 m 0H0m n «000 m .mumnEmE cuuocu >Hm>HuHmoo 0cHuconmcH .0«

0 0H 0H 5H .couzcu Hoox
w000.m >H0>.m NH«m.m m0«0.m CH coHuHouch COHumuHcaeeou mcHNHcooomm .N«

0H «N 0N 0m .zuuocu
momm.m ooam.m Hsmo.m m«m«.m “30> CH COHmechssou co BOHL mg» ocHomcm: .Hq

GCHumucheeou

«H NH 0H «H .mm>HHumhno pcm mHm00 councu m>mHLum on
0w«n.m NON>.m 00FN.m >000.m coHpum mo mmmunou m>HpmcumuHm 0CHpumem .0«

0H HN 0N 0H .mmmcm>Huommmm

. . . . pcm >HHUHHm> HHmzu xumcu on mconHump
«00H m 0m«0 m NH«H m 0050 m counco oucH mUOHumo xomppmmm 0CHp3HucH .mm

0H 0N pH HH .ewcp ucwEmHoeH on mmujumoouo pcm mumum
000N.m >000.m «NON.m 0Hm0.« mcp mconHump oucH AmchnHUCH gov 0CHDHH30 .00

H m N « .mmon> Hmu
«00H.« 00N0.« H«m0.m 00HN.« uHHomHQ co pmmmp mum umcu mCOHmHump 0cme£ .bm
xcmm cam: xcmm cmmz xcmm cmw: xcmm cmm: m>HumuumHCHEDq .oz
chcoumHB cumpmmmcuuoz cmoHLUHz coHomm wxmq ewuH

 

H.u.ucouv mm.q

mqmqh

211

 

Hm am Hm mm .umHLHscmoH
mnqo.m emmH.m «Nmm.m «mmm.m mumm: mcu umme as mm>HpumHDo ochHEHmsmo .Hm
MN um um NM .m>m>u:m Eoum
kmmm.m oooo.m mmmk.~ mmmm.m omsomHHou Hmpmov coHmeCOCCH ocHsmuuumucH .om
mm mm on mm .mummc
mmmk.m MHmo.m smms.m mmqm.m suHcaeeou mcHsumpmu on >m>usm m acHuon>mo .mq
0N mm mm mm .mCOHCHoo Ho mamH> .mumnewe cunocu OCHmmmmmm
nmmw.~ mmmm.m Hsmm.m oomm.m CH mmuanmuoua OCHHQEmm mpmHHaouuum GCHm: .mq
OH m m N H a
. 0H: 0 H30 0 m mm: m CHCHEHm m .
kam.m mama.q Hksm.m wmmm.« ; L L n g» . . p a pa
mCHumnHm>0
0 0 «H HN .mumcuo >5 pH mo COHmcwcmHueou mzp
kmmm.m mmmm.m mmkm.m wkmk.m acHuoc >5 coHmeHcaeeou :30 “30> ocHumsHmsw .ms
m b « 0 .mumneme Lounzu 0coem pcm zuHa qumCOHu
mmso.s «kmm.m smou.m mmmH.q -mHmH HmecmuHccou go xcpuoasmaup ocHuHHsm .m«
0H NN NN 0N .mumneme counzu 0coem
pHNm.m mamm.m «mom.n mmkm.m coHsmUHcseeoo HmcomumaumuCH OCHpmuHHHomu .«s
xcmm cmms xcmm cmma xcmm cmms xcmm cmma m>HumupchHEp< .oz
chcoomHB cumpmmwcpuoz cmoHcoHE COHomm meA EmuH

 

A.U.ucouv 00.« mgmqp

212

0N 00 00 «0 .pocneeoo 0cm

. . . . councu “30> mo COHumnHm>m m2» CH nm>Ho>CH
>000 N NH«0 0 00pm N 0000 0 mmmmmuouu mcu HHm 0chHmHoom 0cm 0CHuouHcoa .«0

.>coeHmcmHU mH mumzu cmca coHuum m>HuHmoo
0N 0N 00 HN 0cmeu 0cm .pcwechuum Hmo0 mom moumpcmum

0000.N 0000.0 «0NH.N 0000.0 szmHHnmumm LHHB mmHuHHHDHmcoammH gHmcp
0o mucmeuomumo .mumneme councu 0CHHmoeo0 .00

HN H0 0N 0N .coHumHoeou
HHmc» um up .mmomum mumHuoouaom pm memno

 

00«0.0 0«00.0 0000.0 0n0w.0 noun Lunacu mo mmmcm>Huumkmm mzu 0chwmmmq .N0
xcmm cmm: xcmm cmmz xcmm cmmz xcmm Emma m>HumHumacaeoq .oz
chcoumHB cumpmmmcuuoz cmoHLUHE conmm mxm0 . . . EmuH

 

A.D.ucouv 00.« 0000b

APPENDIX II

CORRESPONDENCE WITH CONFERENCE PRESIDENTS AND PASTORS

213

Michigan State University
14130 Spartan Village
East Lansing, Michigan 48823

February 7, 1983

President Charles Joseph

Lake Region Conference of S.D.A.
8517 South State Street

Chicago, ILL. 60619

Dear President Joseph:

I am delighted to inform you that I have completed the period
of residency for my doctoral program in the Department of
Administration and Curriculum at Michigan State University,
and have chosen as my dissertation topic: "An Assessment

of Seventh-day Adventist Ministers' Administrative Skills:
Implications for Administration and Curriculum in Ministerial
Training." This study is designed to: a) assess the percep-
tions which practicing ministers have of their administrative
skills: b) determine skills which ministers currently possess
as well as those which they perceive to be significant in
administering church affairs: c) discern perceived impact

of formal academic training as against workshops in the deve-
lopment of their administrative skills: and d) assess their
desire for further formal training in significant skill areas.

This research is an outgrowth of my keen interest in Church
Administration, and I believe that the findings will prove
invaluable to your administration since the knowledge gained
in such a study will provide a better understanding of the
ministers' competencies and needs in the area of Church Admin-
istration. The findings may also warrant serious curricular
considerations in ministerial training.

The population of my study will comprise all ministers in

a few conferences, including yours. I am, therefore, request-
ing your permission to involve all ministers within your
jurisdiction in my dissertation project. I would also appre-
ciate you sending me a copy of your Conference Directory

and any available support that you deem necessary and relevant
to the completion of this study.

Thank you kindly for considering this request, and for a
favorable response by February 21, 1983 or before. May God
continue to bless you in your endeavors as you press for
the culmination of His work.

Yours in Christ,

Earlington W. Guiste

214

Michigan State University
1413G Spartan Village
East Lansing, Michigan 48823

February 7, 1983

President Charles Keymer
Michigan Conference of S.D.A.
P.O. Box 19009

Lansing, Michigan 48901

Dear President Keymer:

I am delighted to inform you that I have completed the period
of residency for my doctoral program in the Department of
Administration and Curriculum at Michigan State University,
and have chosen as my dissertation topic: "An Assessment

of Seventh-day Adventist Ministers' Administrative Skills:
Implications for Administration and Curriculum in Ministerial
Training." This study is designed to: a) assess the percep-
tions which practicing ministers have of their administrative
skills: b) determine skills which ministers currently possess
as well as those which they perceive to be significant in
administering church affairs: c) discern perceived impact

of formal academic training as against workshops in the deve-
lopment of their administrative skills: and d) assess their
desire for further formal training in significant skill areas.

This research is an outgrowth of my keen interest in Church
Administration, and I believe that the findings will prove
invaluable to your administration since the knowledge gained
in such a study will provide a better understanding of the
ministers' competencies and needs in the area of Church Admin-
istration. The findings may also warrant serious curricular
considerations in ministerial training.

The population of my study will comprise all ministers in

a few conferences, including yours. I am, therefore, request-
ing your permission to involve all ministers within your
jurisdiction in my dissertation project. I would also appre-
ciate you sending me a copy of your Conference Directory

and any available support that you deem necessary and relevant
to the completion of this study.

Thank you kindly for considering this request, and for a
favorable response by February 21, 1983 or before. May God
continue to bless you in your endeavors as you press for
the culmination of His work.

Yours in Christ,

Earlington W. Guiste

215

Michigan State University
14130 Spartan Village
East Lansing, Michigan 48823

February 7, 1983

President George Earle
Northeastern Conference
115-50 Merrick Boulevard
Jamaica, New York 11434

Dear President Earle:

I am delighted to inform you that I have completed the period
of residency for my doctoral program in the Department of
Administration and Curriculum at Michigan State University,
and have chosen as my dissertation topic: "An Assessment

of Seventh-day Adventist Ministers' Administrative Skills:
Implications for Administration and Curriculum in Ministerial
Training." This study is designed to: a) assess the percep-
tions which practicing ministers have of their administrative
skills: b) determine skills which ministers currently possess
as well as those which they perceive to be significant in
administering church affairs: c) discern perceived impact

of formal academic training as against workshops in the deve-
lopment of their administrative skills: and d) assess their
desire for further formal training in significant skill areas.

This research is an outgrowth of my keen interest in Church
Administration, and I believe that the findings will prove
invaluable to your administration since the knowledge gained
in such a study will provide a better understanding of the
ministers‘ competencies and needs in the area of Church Admin-
istration. The findings may also warrant serious curricular
considerations in ministerial training.

The population of my study will comprise all ministers in

a few conferences, including yours. I am, therefore, request-
ing your permission to involve all ministers within your
jurisdiction in my dissertation project. I would also appre-
ciate you sending me a copy of your Conference Directory

and any available support that you deem necessary and relevant
to the completion of this study.

Thank you kindly for considering this request, and for a
favorable response by February 21, 1983 or before. May God
continue to bless you in your endeavors as you press for
the culmination of His work.

Yours in Christ,

Earlington W. Guiste

216

Michigan State University
1413G Spartan Village
East Lansing, Michigan 48823

February 7, 1983

President James Hayward
Wisconsin Conference of S.D.A.
P.O. Box 7310

Madison, Wisconsin 53707

Dear President Hayward:

I am delighted to inform you that I have completed the period
of residency for my doctoral program in the Department of
Administration and Curriculum at Michigan State University,
and have chosen as my dissertation topic: "An Assessment

of Seventh-day Adventist Ministers' Administrative Skills:
Implications for Administration and Curriculum in Ministerial
Training." This study is designed to: a) assess the percep-
tions which practicing ministers have of their administrative
skills; b) determine skills which ministers currently possess
as well as those which they perceive to be significant in
administering church affairs: c) discern perceived impact

of formal academic training as against workshops in the deve-
lopment of their administrative skills: and d) assess their
desire for further formal training in significant skill areas.

This research is an outgrowth of my keen interest in Church
Administration, and I believe that the findings will prove
invaluable to your administration since the knowledge gained
in such a study will provide a better understanding of the
ministers' competencies and needs in the area of Church Admin-
istration. The findings may also warrant serious curricular
considerations in ministerial training.

The population of my study will comprise all ministers in

a few conferences, including yours. I am, therefore, request-
ing your permission to involve all ministers within your
jurisdiction in my dissertation project. I would also appre-
ciate you sending me a copy of your Conference Directory

and any available support that you deem necessary and relevant
to the completion of this study.

Thank you kindly for considering this request, and for a
favorable response by February 21, 1983 or before. May God
continue to bless you in your endeavors as you press for
the culmination of His work.

YOJIS in christ,

Earlington W. Guiste

217

Michigan State University
14130 Spartan Village
East Lansing, Michigan 48823

Dear Pastor:

I am pursuing a study of the administration skills of our
ministers in four conferencasfor my dissertation project,
and would appreciate your response through the completion

of the enclosed questionnaire, and its return to me in the
enclosed self-addressed stamped envelope by May 15, 1984.

I have procured the permission of President Earle to include
all ministers of the conference in this study (see enclosed

copy).

The study has a dual purpose: (1) it attempts to assess

the perceptions that practicing S.D.A. ministers have of
their current levels of church administration skills, and
(2) it provides ministers with an opportunity to suggest
recommendations for the improvement of their administration
skills, and the church administration aspect of the minis-
terial preparation program at our educational institutions.
The findings should furnish invaluable information to the
curriculum designers of our educational institutions for

the improvement of the administration aspect of the minis-
terial program, and to the administrators of our conferences
to assist them in providing relevant information or material
for ministerial in-service training in church administration.

I am aware that your completion of the questionnaire is an
imposition on your time, but your cooperation is extremely
important to the completion of this study, even though your
participation is entirely voluntary. If you need further
clarification while completing the questionnaire, please

do not hesitate to call me collect at (517) 355-0870. You
may rest assured that your responses will be treated with
utmost confidence. No individual information will be re-
vealed to anyone, and the final report will not identify
individuals. You will remain completely anonymous.

Thank you kindly for your cooperation, and may the Lord con-
tinue to bless your efforts as you labor in His vineyard.

Your brother in Christ,

Earlington Guiste

218
MICHIGAN CONFERENCE

q} «Sm/enth- (1 a3 Adx/enfisfs

Phone [517/ 485-2226
P.0. Box [.9009
l ans/rig, M/l'bI'gan 48.90 I

 

May 18, 1983

Mr. Earlington Guiste
Michigan State University
14136 Spartan Village

East Lansing, Michigan 48823

Dear Brother Guiste:

The administration of the Michigan Conference has given approval to your
request to send your questionnaire to our ministers. It is our policy
not to relinquish names and addresses; therefore, if you bring the filled
envelopes to the office, we will address them. It is also understood
that you will be responsible for the postage. Postage for your question-
naire copied on both sides would be 54 cents, and 71 cents if copied only
on one side. In my opinion, providing postage and a self addressed enve-
lope for it to be returned would give greater assurance of a response.

Six of our ministers have reviewed your questionnaire and see it very
comprehensive and practical. One suggested sending a bibliography with
it to give him help in areas he finds himself lacking.

We would like to have a print-out of our conference when you are finished
if this could be arranged.

Success to you, Brother Guiste, with God's blessings.
Most cordially,

(iiucéaxa/ C71 (CZékzzcnz,/

Arthur C. Carlson, Director
Ministerial Association

1d"’

3 2C) \N'E S'T STAI N T J CTS»E P H EST R E E'T

219 {flkéfimg/
,3 fiflWzW V/oof

(MW/mmeco/Q’zmw/ m4; g/Mw/M,

 

afidoofléaaféamdhn¢
.§f_QZ%qu/f/gyzmua
fingénbzouzwzhzw

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Match 11, 1983

Ma. Eanttngton w. Gutbte
Mtchtgan State Untvehbtty
14136 Spaatan Vtttage

Eabt Lanbtng, Michigan 48823

Dean Mn. Gutbte:

I had hoped by thtb time that out Confiehence Dtneetonteb would
be heady bo that I could bend you one ab hequebted; but out
Confienence Secnetahy, Etdeh Bapttbte, hab tnéohmed me that the
Dtaectonteb wttt not be 065 the phebb unttt the tattea pant 06
next week on bhoatty theheafitea. Thenefione, natheh than have
you watt longed, I've abhed my bechetany to type up the nameb
and addnebbeb 06 out pabtohb and bend to you. Ab boon ab the
Confieaence Dthectonteb ate heady, I wttt have one bent to you
0.

wtth eveay good wtbh, I am
Vehy btncenety youhb,
sé/x/ KW
G. R. Eante '
Pnebtdent

GRE:ve

Enctobuneb 2«//

22D

Moonsin
O onference or SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS

P.o. Box 7310 MADISON, wnscoNsw 53707
(608)24P5235

May 27, 1983

Earlington Guiste

1413 G. Spartan Village

East Lansing, MI 48823

Dear Brother Guiste:

We have received and reviewed your survey questionnaire,
and approval is given to send it to our pastors. I am
enclosing a list of their names and addresses.

God bless as you complete your program.

Cordially your brother,

.‘\
’1‘,

James L. Hayward
President

JLH /Vb.'/
Enc.

O

221

DJ\\\ CHARLES D. JOSEPH

/I

March 1 , 1983

Dr. Earlington W. Guiste
Michigan State University
1413G Spartan Village
East Lansing, MI 48823

Dear Brother Guiste:

I was happy to know of your success in completing
your doctoral residency requirements. Enclosed is
a c0py of our conference directory to aid in your
dissertation research.

Sincerely,

LAKE REGION CONFERENCE

“1”"

Charles D. Ioseph, D.Min.
PRESIDENT

CD]
/

edw

Enclosure

APPENDIX III

THE INSTRUMENT

222

ASSESSMENT OF S.D.A. MINISTERS' ADMINISTRATIVE SKILLS

Demographic Data

 

In questions 1-9, you are kindly asked to Circle

only the Letter which is next to the information that applies

to you.

1.

8y which conference are you presently employed? (Circle
one).

A. Lake Region Conference of S.D.A.

8. Michigan Conference of S.D.A.

C. Northeastern Conference of S.D.A.

0. Wisconsin Conference of S.D.A.

In which category or age group does your age fall?
(Circle one).

A. 20 - 29

B. 30 - 39

C. 40 - 49

D. 50 - 59

E. 60 and above

What is your ethnic classification? (Circle one).
A. Caucasian

8. Black

C. Spanish-American

D. Other (Explain)

 

223

What is your present classification? (Circle one).
A. Intern

B. Unordained Pastor

C. Ordained Pastor

How many years have you been in pastoral ministry?
(Circle one).

A. 1 - 5 (and less than 1 year)

8. 6 - 10

C. 11 - 15

D. 16 - 20

E. 21 - 25

F. 26 - 30

G. 31 and over. (Please write the number of years .)

How manycfiumches do you pastor? (Circle one).
A. One (1)

8. Two (2)

C. Three (3)

0. Four (4) or more

What is the total membership of your pastorate or
church/es? (Please write in the number).

 

What degrees have you attained? (Circle all that you
have).

A. B.A. or B.Th.

8. M.A.
C. M.Div.
D. D.Min.

E. Please write in any other.

 

224

9. How many courses in administration (church, business,
education, etc.) did you complete in your academic
career? (If you have not attended Andrews University,

 

 

circle one of A - D: and if you have attended Andrews

University, circle one of E - H).

A. One (1) E. CHMN 527 Church Leadership
and Administration (re-

8. Two (2) quired for M.Div.)

C. Three (3) or more F. CHMN 527 and other adminis-

tration courses.

D. None
G. Other administration courses

excluding CHMN 527.

H. None

PART II

SKILLS ASSESSMENT DATA

Instructions

In this section, you are kindly asked to read the ques-
tion, WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT LEVEL OF SKILL IN THE FOLLOWING
AREAS?, at the top of each page. Apply the question to the
statements under PLANNING, MANAGING, DECISION MAKING, COMMU-
NICATING, and EVALUATING: and then Circle one of the numbers
that correspond to the answer of your choice

in the column to the right side of the page.

< D <
(D < (D
H r- (O I H
EXAMPLE: (This is only an example). < 2 g; g ‘<
r- 0 IT I
QUESTION: WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT LEVEL OF 2 ‘° 5'
SKILL IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS? 3

1. Conducting an evaluation of your
ChUrCh heads. 0 o o o o o o o o o o o l 2 3 a 5

2. Applying the concept of Management
by Objective to the management of
your church. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 23 4 5

fully.

225

Thank you kindly for reading the instructions so care-

section.

UUESTION: WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT LEVEL

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

OF SKILL IN THE FOLLOWING
AREAS?

(PLANNING)

Developing long-range (5 or more
years) plans for your.church. . . . .

Developing short-range (less than
5 years) plans for your church. . . .

Formulating policy statements or
guidelines to operationalize your
church plans. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Developing church goals and objec-
tives that are based on the mission
Of the ChUrCho O O I O C O O O O O 0

Determining programs and activities
that will facilitate (make easy) the
achievement of church goals and
objectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Defining clearly the responsibilities
of the church members in the programs
and activities of the church. . . . .

Delegating responsibilities to church
members 0 O I O O O O O O O O O O O 0

Planning for an effective Steward-
ship program in your Church. . . . .

Implementing the Stewardship program
in such a way as to achieve the
planned or desired results. . . . . .

Persuading the church to allocate
resources for priority goals. . . . .

moq Xian

moq

a6eianv

Please answer ALL the following questions in this

HPIH

ufitH Klan

226

QUESTION: WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT LEVEL

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

OF SKILL IN THE FOLLOWING
AREAS?

(PLANNING)

Preparing an adequate financial plan
for your church. . . . . . . . . . .

Initiating positive action in the
church rather than reacting to actions
initiated by others. . . . . . . . .

Determining the flow of activities
and responsibilities when assigned
to a new pastorate. . . . . . . . . .

Working systematically at attaining
church goals and objectives. . . . .

(MANAGING)

Developing church members' potentials
for responsible positiomsin the
ChurCh. I O O O O O O C C C O O O O O

Influencing church members' through
the use of different motivational
tEChniQUES. C O O O O I O O O O O O O

Influencing positively church members'
commitments to responsibilities
through home visitation. . . . . . .

Implementing the planned programs
and activities for the achievement
of church goals and objectives. . . .

Monitoring the progress of church
programs and activities without ob-
structing the process. . . . . . . .

Criticizing constructively the per-
formance of church members to influ-
ence constructive change. . . . . . .

Using a variety of leadership and
management styles to achieve church
goals and objectives. . . . . . . . .

Resolving or reducing conflict among
church members. . . . . . . . . . . .

m01 Xian

m01

abeianv

ufirH

HPIH Klan

227

QUESTION: WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT LEVEL

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

OF SKILL IN THE FOLLOWING
AREAS?

(MANAGING)

Managing your time to achieve maximum
efficiency in your ministry. . . . .

(DECISION MAKING)

Specifying clearly what is to be
accomplished before making a deci-

Sion. O O O O O O O O O O O O I O O O

Gathering practically all relevant
information before a decision is

made. 0 O O O O O O O O I O O O 0 O 0

Promoting a variety of opinions in
meetings before a decision is made. .

Promoting decisions that are consis-
tent with church policy. . . . . . .

Making decisions that are based on
practical values. . . . . . . . . . .

Building (or including) into deci-
sions the steps and procedures to
implement them. . . . . . . . . . . .

Including feedback periods into
church decisions to check their
validity and effectiveness. . . . . .

Selecting alternative courses of
action to achieve church goals and
Objectives. 0 O O O O O O O O O O O .

(COMMUNICATING)

Managing the flow of communication
in your church. . . . . . . . . . . .

Recognizing communication distortion
in your church. . . . . . . . . . . .

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228

QUESTION: WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT LEVEL

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

OF SKILL IN THE FOLLOWING
AREAS?

(COMMUNICATING)

Influencing positively church mem-
bers' support for established church
programs and activities through
communication. . . . . . . . . . . .

Facilitating interpersonal communica-
tion among church members. . . . . .

Building trustworthy or confidential
relationships with and among church
members. 0 O O O O O O O O O O I O 0

Evaluating your own communication by
noting the comprehension of it by
Others. 0 O O O I O O O O O O O O O O

(EVALUATING)
Determining the needs of your church.

Using appropriate sampling proce-
dures in assessing church members'
views or opinions. . . . . . . . . .

Developing a survey to determine
community needs. . . . . . . . . . .

Interpreting information (data) col-
lected from surveys. . . . . . . . .

Determining objectives to meet the
”eBdS identifiEd. I O I O O O O O O 0

Assessing the effectiveness of church
programs at appropriate stages, or at
their completion. . . . . . . . . . .

Comparing church members' performance
of their responsibilities with estab-
lished standards for goal attainment,
and taking positive action when there
is disharmony. . . . . . . . . . . .

Monitoring and appraising all the
process involved in the evaluation
of your church and community. . . . .

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229

PART III

RECOMMENDATIONS

As you consider improvements for practicing ministers'
administration skills, and the ministerial preparation pro-
gram, please indicate your responses to the following recom-
mendations. Please read the statements and circle the number
in the column that corresponds to the answer of your thinking

or choice.

BBIDBSTQ

PBPIOBPUO

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anOV X16uoiqg

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55. The planning, managing, decision
making, communicating and evaluating
skills are very important to the
effective administration of your
church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 3 4 5

56. As a practicing minister, you need
further information in the (1) plan-
ning, (2) managing, (3) decision-
making, (4) communicating, and (5)
evaluating skills to administer
the affairs of your church/es more
efficiently and effectively. . . . . 1 2 3 4 5

57. As a practicing minister, you have
not been reading sufficiently in the
administrative skills of planning,
managing, decision making, communi-
cating, and evaluating. . . . . . . . 1 2 3 4 5

SB.

59.

60.

61.

62.

63.

230

As a practicing minister, you should
be responsible for your own personal
growth in the administrative skills
of planning, managing, decision-
making, communicating, and evalu-
ating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Your conference should provide in-
service training (programs and acti-
vities) for its ministers in the fol-
lowing areas of planning, managing,
decision-making, communicating, and
evaluating. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Your academic ministerial training
did not adequately prepare you in
skills of planning, managing, deci-
sion making, communicating, and
evaluating, for the effective admin-
istration of your church/es. . . . .

There should be more theoretical
emphasis on the instruction process
of planning, managing, decision-
making, communicating, and evaluating
in church administration courses in
the theological programs. . . . . . .

There should be more practical empha-
sis on the instruction of planning,

managing, decision making, communica-
ting, and evaluating in church admin-
istration courses. . . . . . . . . .

More typical church administration
problem and conflict examples should
be provided in church administra-
tion courses with corresponding
principles for their resolution. . .

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231

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64. More courses in church administration
should be offered in the ministerial
preparation program. . . . . . . . . 1 2 3 4 5
65. The skill areas of planning, managing,

decision making, communicating, and

evaluating should be combined and

taught as a course in church adminis-

tration to provide more indepth in-

formation in these areas. . . . . . . l 2 3 4 5

66. A11 church administration courses
should be mandatory for all minis-
terial students or prospective minis-
ters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l 2 3 4 5

For the last items, you are asked to make your own sug-
gestions in response to two questions. However, if you have
no suggestions, please return the questionnaire with the blank

spaces for items 67 and 68.

67.

66.

232

What other recommendations would you like to make for

the improvement of your administrative skills in planning,
managing, decision making, communicating, and evaluating,
as a result of your personal efforts, and your conference
involvement. (Briefly state THREE in order of importance
with the first (A) being the most important).

 

 

 

What other recommendations would you like to make for
the improvement of the church administrative aspect

of the ministerial preparation program in our educa-
tional institutions. (Briefly state THREE in order

of importance with the first (A) being the most impor-
tant .

 

 

 

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