The project will explore the leadership styles of mid council judicatory leaders who are engaged in missional transformation of their judicatories. Data will be gathered through face to face interviews and ministry context observations in a variety of denominational settings including but not limited to PC(USA), ELCA, the Episcopal Church (TEC), the United Church of Canada, and the Church of England. Geographical contexts include the Pacific NW (Seattle) and Canada (Vancouver B.C.), the Midwest (Cincinnati), the Northeast (Newark, New Jersey), and Great Britain (Birmingham, U.K.). The project will explore what leadership styles have been effective in taking the judicatory beyond a technical change to bring about real adaptive change.

In our work with Al Roxburgh of the Missional Network we have realized that our presbytery has been engaged in primarily technical change—reorganization and restructuring. In the last two years, seven congregations have gone through a 5 step process for congregational transformation. The simple experiments are beginning to change the culture of the congregation from an attractional model to a more missional understanding of what it means to be Church. Recently we have begun to explore how the presbytery could also go through a systemic shift through experiments on a corporate level. Some judicatories nationally and globally have already begun this essential work of reshaping how we connect to one another. The study will analyze what specific leadership styles & capacities are essential for creating an environment that fosters a missional understanding and encourages an adaptive approach to the challenges we face.