Date of Award
2002
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
David L. Boggs
Committee Member
Rene E. Villa
Committee Member
Linda M. Howard
Keywords
attitudes, bishops, church leaders, churches, conference superintendents, creative thinking, cultural relevance, delivery methods, evaluation, formative evaluation, Free Methodist Church, implementation, lay leaders, leadership development, local churches, modern paradigms, pastors, problem solving, program design, program development, program evaluation, research, safe atmosphere, seminars, skills development, surveys, teaching, two-day seminar, willingness
Abstract
The problem investigated within the Free Methodist Church was that church leaders (pastors and lay leaders) lacked skills in how to proactively engage churches in creative thinking and problem solving. The purpose of this project was to develop a program to help church leaders improve creative thinking and problem-solving skills and to design a plan for evaluating such a program.
There were four comprehensive research questions for this study. The first was "What is the subject matter of a comprehensive program for developing in church leaders the skills and attitudes needed to improve creative thinking and problem solving? The second research question was ''What are the design elements/components of a comprehensive program for developing in church leaders the skills and attitudes needed to improve creative thinking and problem solving? The third research question was "What are the delivery method elements/components of a comprehensive program for developing in church leaders the skills and attitudes needed to improve creative thinking and problem solving? The fourth research question was "How might a formative evaluation plan be constructed to determine effectiveness and accomplish program improvement?"
Development and evaluation problem-solving methodologies were used to design the program and to develop a plan for formative evaluation. Pastors were surveyed about the extent of the problem, their opinions concerning program components, and their preferred delivery systems.
It was concluded that creative thinking skills can be taught and that pastors had a desire to learn them and showed a willingness to pass the information and skills learned on to their local church leaders. It was also concluded that program evaluation, including input from the learners, should be designed along with the program implementation plan. The outcome of this study was a two-day seminar teaching creative thinking skills to pastors and local lay leaders. Recommendations for further research included creating a "safe atmosphere" in local churches where creative ideas can be shared without concern of being judged or ridiculed, and encouraging an openness to creative thinking that will establish modern paradigms which, in turn, can make local churches more culturally relevant.
It was also recommended that this report be disseminated to all U.S. Free Methodist bishops and conference superintendents so that they may be informed of the program and schedule its presentation within their assigned areas.