An Examination of How Training Impacts the Leadership and Management Competency of Pastors of the New Beginning Family of Churches

Research has concluded that clergy need management and leadership skills to effectively lead the 21st-century church and meet its diverse challenges (Porter, 2014). These leadership skills can be taught and developed through training, mentoring, and modeling. New Beginning Worship Center Family of Churches comprised eight non-denominational churches that experienced various challenges, including membership decline and economic problems. The strategic problem was that these clergy members lacked the skills to address the challenges faced by their churches effectively. There was a need to improve the leadership and management skills of the New Beginning Worship Center pastors to allow them to address the current challenges facing their churches and surrounding communities (Cunningham, 2022; Hillman, 2006). This praxis program determined the impact training had on improving the leadership and management skills of New Beginning Christian Center non-denominational pastors in southcentral Florida as determined by the Clergy Effectiveness Scale (CES), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). The theoretical framework used for this study was based on Katz's (1974) leadership skills approach theory, which contends that skills can be developed. The program sought a 75% participation rate of all New Beginning Family of Churches pastors.