In modern times, one of the strongest calls to ministers in general and to African-American pastors in particular has been to exercise their leadership skills toward the development of a variety of church-related services and church-based outreach programs and interventions. (Munroe, 1993; Reed, 1994). In order to fully understand what is required of pastors in today's churches, this chapter of the study examines the general literature on church leadership.
The presented review begins with a description of the current perspective on those attributes and characteristics believed to constitute the effective leader in general.
This description is followed by an examination of the role of vision in church leadership, emphasizing the church leader's role as a visionary. Church leadership preparation in the modern day world is then examined, followed by a discussion of leadership preparation of black church leaders; differences between white and black church leadership preparation are addressed.
The role of church leadership in the community is then explored as well as is the place of lay leaders in the church. The next section of the review looks at the kinds of educational programs and services that are currently being implemented in African-American churches. This examination includes: church-based educational programs: health education programs; vocational/career programs; child-care and childhood education programs; maturational programs; political/advocacy programs; and lay ministers' and counselor programs.
The final section of the chapter presents a summary of the reviewed literature and formulates conclusions regarding church leadership in general, leadership in black churches, and the kinds of programs and currently being implemented in African-American churches as part of pastors' efforts to maximally fulfill their leadership roles.
According to Crawford (1998), the general (organizational) leadership liter...