‘A Better Wheel For These Times’ Servant Leadership

2003

Margaret E. G. Murray

‘A Better Wheel For These Times’ Servant Leadership: A Paradigm for Clergy Leadership in Today’s Congregations

This thesis is a critical examination of issues affecting clergy leadership in congregations. The paradigms of patriarchal hierarchy and Christendom are analyzed to expose the dynamics of dominance, deference, and dependence as forces which impinge on clergy relationships within congregations. Insights from contemporary leadership theorists and active clergy are employed to argue the inadequacy and incongruous character of this legacy of leadership patterning. Robert Greenleaf’s Servant Leadership principles are utilized to critique the systematic consequences and are proposed as a credible, vocationally appropriate alternative paradigm for life-giving leadership in contemporary congregations.