Assessing Religious Leadership: A Scoping Review of Leadership Effectiveness Criteria and Current Trends in the Church

Abstract

This scoping review aims to critically analyze various criteria for assessing leadership effectiveness within religious organizations, alongside current trends that inform our understanding of church leadership. The review encompasses a comprehensive exploration of existing literature, identifying key themes and gaps in the understanding of effective leadership practices within the church context.

Introduction

The study explores the critical role of leadership in Judeo-Christian traditions and the contemporary Western Christian Church, emphasizing that effective leadership is essential for addressing modern challenges in church life. These challenges include demographic changes, institutional scandals, inter-church competition, and sociocultural shifts (e.g., inclusion of the LGBTQI community, generational divides, and secularism). Effective leadership is considered the primary solution, but the concept and criteria of effectiveness remain underdeveloped, inconsistent, and contentious in the academic and ecclesial literature.

A. Background and Rationale:

• Religious leadership has historical and theological roots, often exemplified by the Good Shepherd metaphor in Christian tradition.

• Past leadership models were morally guided and servant-based, but over time became entangled with power and wealth.

• Today’s church leaders must mediate between theological fidelity and a rapidly changing societal context.

• The necessity for updated leadership theories is urgent, particularly with increasing societal complexity and technological change.

B. Purpose of the Scoping Review:

• The review analyzes literature from the last 20 years on religious leadership to define and synthesize leadership effectiveness criteria specific to religious contexts.

• It aims to:

  • Inform academic understanding.

  • Provide evidence-based tools for practitioners.

  • Identify gaps and future research directions.

• It also seeks to expand the conversation beyond Christianity to broader spiritual contexts and leadership theories.

C. Scope and Objectives:

• The review focuses primarily on Christian church leadership but references broader nonprofit and secular leadership frameworks.

• Three key debates are highlighted:

  1. The appropriateness of applying secular/business leadership models in religious settings.

  2. The need for a theological foundation for leadership training and assessment.

  3. The tension between traditional leadership structures and the Church’s informal, diverse, and decentralized reality.

• Religious leadership is contrasted with nonprofit leadership, emphasizing differences in mission, values, and spiritual context.

II. Methodology:

• The review applies a scoping review methodology using Arksey and O’Malley’s framework.

• It combines qualitative content analysis with bibliometric survey methods, focusing on texts from 2000 onward.

• Scripture, especially Pauline epistles, is examined for spiritual leadership criteria.

• The study includes 87 analyzed sources, categorized thematically, coded, and synthesized to identify key concepts and contradictions.

III. Leadership Effectiveness Criteria in Religious Contexts:

A. Biblical and Theological Foundations:

• Leadership in scripture is marked by service, moral integrity, and spiritual responsibility (e.g., prophets, priests, kings).

• Jesus’ role as the Suffering Servant and Good Shepherd redefines leadership through love, humility, and self-sacrifice.

• Religious leadership effectiveness must integrate theology, ethics, community service, and biblical doctrine.

• There is a need for greater collaboration between secular leadership theory and theological insights.

B. Traditional Leadership Models:

• Most churches still rely on hierarchical models (e.g., Catholic, Presbyterian), though many U.S. churches operate under autonomous or populist models.

• Traditional structures offer stability but often lack flexibility to adapt to contemporary demands.

• These models influence leadership training and competencies but face growing pressure to innovate.

Key Findings and Implications:

• There is a significant gap between secular leadership theory and church practice.

• Many churches struggle to adopt effectiveness criteria without compromising doctrinal integrity.

• Emerging leadership models (e.g., relational, distributed, situational leadership) may better fit modern church dynamics than rigid traditional structures.

• More empirical and interdisciplinary research is needed to validate leadership models in diverse church contexts.

• The study encourages developing theologically grounded, context-sensitive, and practically applicable criteria for effective religious leadership.

Conclusion

This scoping review seeks to answer the question “According to currently available evidence in peer-reviewed literature, what criteria are used to assess religious leaders in Christian churches for their leadership effectiveness and are there current trends in how the assessment of religious leadership effectiveness is performed?” The reviewed literature will focus on several themes for assessing leadership effectiveness in a church setting and will touch on contemporary trends when available. The themes found are alienation, reconciliation, personnel, messages, and skills seen in primarily Seventh-day Adventist and United Methodist traditions. Trends indicate a departure from traditional textual training in return for more non-standard approaches or focus in techno- or leadership field.The endeavor of pastoral leadership is a hallmark appeal of large church congregations. With a careful blend of inspirational, motivational, educational, and organizational approach, leadership and congregations can produce dramatic spiritual renewal, vast growth, and an expanded service to the surrounding community. Yet in many smaller church settings, leaders consider themselves surprisingly inadequate, ever unprepared, and often unworthy of their Christian calling. Standing in the shadows of a much revered predecessor, new pastoral leaders may find their new assignments hopelessly challenging, even unwinnable (B. Wells, 2016). Rather than anticipating their adjusting authoritarian control and personalistic style orientation, parishioners begin to view their delegated leaders as insincere, demanding, or simply unreasonable.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Joel Bulus Haruna. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.