Mentorship Among Early Career Senior Pastors: Examining Whether Mentored Leaders are Better Equipped to Lead

Early career senior pastors are often expected to confidently step into senior leadership positions with minimal support, direction, guidance and/or training. The support of an experienced mentor could potentially lessen the challenges for early career leaders. The purpose of this mixed-methods phenomenological study was to explore the effectiveness of mentorships for early career senior pastors who hold senior leadership positions in Christian churches in the United States. For the purposes of this study, a early career senior pastor is defined as an individual with 0-10 years of experience in a senior leadership position. The phenomenological study explored three questions: (1) What congruence, if any, exists between mentorship and leadership effectiveness, (2) To what extent do mentored leaders perceive they are better equipped to lead because of the mentoring experience, and (3) In what specific ways do early career senior pastors perceive that their mentorship experience enhanced their leadership effectiveness. By utilizing surveys, questionnaires, and interviews, the researcher collected and analyzed the data. The data was collected, compiled, and analyzed to determine the congruence between mentorship and effective leadership. The findings from this study indicate that early career senior pastors perceive they were better equipped to lead because they actively participated in one-on-one mentorship experiences where they gained effective communication skills, insight into the importance of vulnerability, spiritual guidance, and opportunities or continual growth and development.