Date of Award
2002
Document Type
Practicum
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Marian Gibney
Keywords
academic credit, Assemblies of God, Australia, churches, collegial, conferences, credentialed ministers, degree of interest, development issues, diversity, evaluation criteria, fellowship, formal professional development, graduate education, growth, informal professional development, leadership, long-term development, mentoring, methodology, ministry effectiveness, ministry environment, ministers, non-church organizations, ordained ministers, perceived needs, personalization, probationary ministers, professional development, professional recognition, program delivery, relationships, research question, seminars, senior ministers, state conferences, summative committees, survey instrument, topic selection, training programs, Victoria, workforce development
Abstract
The Assemblies of God (AOG) in Victoria is a diverse fellowship of Churches, ministers, and non-Church organizations. The fellowship has been growing in numbers and diversity significantly over the last 20 years. This diversity has made it increasingly difficult to run training programs that are relevant to individual needs. The problem is that the perceived professional development needs of AOG in Victoria ministers are unknown. It is also unknown if past professional development programs have met the perceived needs of the ministers.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceived needs of credentialed ministers of the AOG in Victoria, Australia for professional development. The research question was, "What is the difference between the professional development being offered and the perceived needs of the credentialed ministers of the AOG in Victoria, Australia for professional development as related to: (a) Degree of interest of selected areas to their present ministry environment? (b) The perceived increase in ministry effectiveness from recent participation in professional development? (c) Degree of interest in participating in a program of professional development? (d) The most suitable methods for delivering professional development? (e) Level of professional recognition and/or academic credit desired?
The data for the results was collected by surveying all ordained and probationary ministers of the AOG in Victoria (n 252) . The survey instrument designed for this purpose can be found in appendix A of this report. Formative and summative committees were used to create the evaluation criteria (appendix B) for this study. The data was collected, sorted and the results reported according to the evaluation criteria.
There were 72 potential topics for professional development considered in this study. Of the 72 topics considered in this study, 50 topics scored more than 3.50 and were considered important for the professional development of ministers. Past professional development of both formal and informal nature were examined. The informal professional development from the state and national conferences received the highest levels of perceived increase in ministry effectiveness. Probationary ministers generally had a higher level of satisfaction with their past professional development than senior ministers. Graduate education scored the highest level of perceived increase in ministry effectiveness.
This study concluded that there was a significant perceived need for a program of professional development among the credentialed ministers of the AOG in Victoria. Senior ministers desired professional development that focused on long-term development issues that will nourish themselves and their churches into the future. Probationary ministers were greatly impacted by the elementary skills obtained from conferences and seminars they attended.
The major recommendations of this study are that a program of professional development be implemented that is personalized, collegial, and includes mentoring. It was also recommended that the programs of professional development be strongly based on the areas of leadership and relationships with a focus on long-term personal and Church development.