nurturing servant leaders in religious education - Scholarly ...

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leadership terms, researchers have long studied the question: are leaders born or made? Leadership studies until the 1960s showed high trends towards the belief in leaders being born. The literature of the time primarily focused on traits and behaviours of great leaders, assuming if certain attributes could be isolated, it would then be easier to determine who could be a great leader (Kekale, 2001). However, these theories were one-dimensional and subject to bias, failing to take into account the essential interplay of leader, follower and context that defines leadership as opposed to leading (Popper, 2002). By the end of the twentieth century, new trends, such as those marked by critical theory and cultural leadership perspectives showed greater recognition of the interplay of these three elements, thus adding further intricacies to complicate the leader as born vs. made debate. Pre-empting the question, and articulating the worldview that will be espoused in this thesis, Avoid (2005) has given equal weight to both sides of the leader born vs. made debate, endorsing a balancing of the two in understanding leadership development, and thus assuming even with inherent leadership tendencies, external encouragement and development remain necessary for leadership success. He stated “leadership development is indeed made and born…and learning and leading must go hand in hand for anyone to achieve his or her full leadership potential” (p. 3, italics added). Hence, the question becomes not whether leaders are born or not, for this has lead to prolific, yet misguided rhetoric, what Roost (1991) has labelled working in the “periphery” of leadership, but how can abilities and tendencies be nurtured in such a way that leadership potential is fully realised? The title: Nurturing servant leaders The word nurturing in the title of this thesis is deliberately used to refer to the external development necessary for servant leaders to emerge. Nurturing as a concept was so profound in the writing of Greenleaf that he stated “the nurture of the human spirit could become a unifying idea congenial with the traditions and doctrines of any religion, or any system of thought that might be a religion in its effect even though its adherents do not use the term” (1996b, p. 187). Nurturing is defined as “to feed or nourish…to bring up, train, educate” (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, p. 608) and is 5
viewed as a key element in the production of true servant leaders (Greenleaf, 1996b). A parent may nurture a child to adulthood. Nurseries, using the same Latin root as nurture, provide environments to strengthen young and tender plants. It is in nurturing that bonds of relationship are created and chances for future constructive productivity increased. In this thesis service is viewed as an essential element of effective nurturing. Although it represents definite connections to humanity and human growth, nurturing as a concept in servant leadership literature has been little explored (Boaz, 2001). For its importance in human endeavour Dyck (1994) has defined “nurture as an individual, parental, and communal responsibility. Nurture is a demand of justice; a responsibility justly expected and justly claimed, and hence, a moral right” (p. 333). Literature on nurturing has indicated that the need for nurturing may not necessarily end with childhood, but may continue throughout the lifecycle, as people increasingly take upon themselves the dual nature of nurturer and nurtured. Fogel, Melson, & Mistry (1986) argued that “individuals can nurture other individuals of any age” and suggest that limiting our vision of the effects of nurturance closes our minds to the possibilities of helping others in highly affective ways (p. 56). The garden: Central metaphor of this thesis When the practice of servant-leadership was considered through the lens of nurturing, multitudinous elements presented themselves as necessary for creating an optimal environment in which servant leadership can flourish. My positive experiences as a student in the CES, for instance, I substantially credit to the work of countless others. The further this theme was considered, the more appropriate it seemed to use a central metaphor to assist in the processing and envisioning of this project. I hope that by using a central metaphor, the richness of the analysis and overall purposes of the project, to be laid out forthwith, will be enhanced. The garden will play a central role in this thesis for reasons personal, thematic, and relational. The garden is chosen as the central metaphor because it necessarily assumes a level of deliberate organisation, of internal potential, as well as the need for 6
Page 1 and 2: NURTURING SERVANT LEADERS IN RELIGI
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents Table of Contents
Page 5 and 6: CES and teaching tools.............
Page 7 and 8: List of Tables Table 1 2004-2005 CE
Page 9 and 10: vii
Page 11 and 12: opportunity to finish this degree c
Page 13 and 14: (seasons), Church Educational Syste
Page 15 and 16: thesis represents a personal journe
Page 17: leadership in which the servant lea
Page 21 and 22: Part of the inadequacy of our many
Page 23 and 24: who have planted the good word of G
Page 25 and 26: Chapter V presents the findings of
Page 27 and 28: Early missionaries found success am
Page 29 and 30: together to give them his last coun
Page 31 and 32: established an expanded institute p
Page 33 and 34: of data gathering there were 1758 s
Page 35 and 36: also helps teachers learn how to mi
Page 37 and 38: Chapter III: Literature Review The
Page 39 and 40: Ye know that they which are account
Page 41 and 42: Servant Leadership, now in its sixt
Page 43 and 44: More grounding necessary Issues sur
Page 45 and 46: uilt sufficiently on studies conduc
Page 47 and 48: Exploring paradox Servant leadershi
Page 49 and 50: the actions of a servant-first scho
Page 51 and 52: Unfortunately, with increasing mate
Page 53 and 54: Significance of the study The curre
Page 55 and 56: Chapter IV: Methodology The objecti
Page 57 and 58: context plays an important role in
Page 59 and 60: Chosen participants fell into two g
Page 61 and 62: have at times been divided in analy
Page 63 and 64: Focus groups Focus groups were cond
Page 65 and 66: Data analysis Data for this project
Page 67 and 68: Figure 1 Garden Elements Admirers S
Page 69 and 70:
particular selection method was to
Page 71 and 72:
Overall, the list shows a trend tow
Page 73 and 74:
all. By being able to teach it, I
Page 75 and 76:
Family The importance of the family
Page 77 and 78:
One of my favourite people in one o
Page 79 and 80:
highlights one director’s belief
Page 81 and 82:
CES and the relationship with self
Page 83 and 84:
teach when I was out on the mission
Page 85 and 86:
CES and confidence Four volunteer t
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CES and integrity When asked what i
Page 89 and 90:
share that night she remembered and
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While the differences of people wer
Page 93 and 94:
cultures to some degree and were ab
Page 95 and 96:
of service in the garden from the f
Page 97 and 98:
From participant answers, it would
Page 99 and 100:
evelation. As members of the Church
Page 101 and 102:
whole person. In speaking of the wh
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CES was a way in which the purposes
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wisdom is portrayed as “antitheti
Page 107 and 108:
new opportunities to learn, to enga
Page 109 and 110:
Chapter VII: Application of Finding
Page 111 and 112:
Participants also indicated that th
Page 113 and 114:
the significance of what was said,
Page 115 and 116:
Chapter VIII: Conclusions and Recom
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Study strengths and weaknesses This
Page 119 and 120:
Looking ahead: A personal reflectio
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Clark, J. R., Jr. (1992). The chart
Page 123 and 124:
Intellectual Reserve. (1994). Teach
Page 125 and 126:
112 Rieser, C. (1995). Claiming ser
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Appendices Appendix A-Structure of
Page 129 and 130:
Appendix C-Participant Information
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Mobile: 021-1822-371 Email: Lesley_
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Zealand context, at least one year
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Appendix E-Director Consent Form Co
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Appendix G- Translated Information
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126 ‘E anga fēfē ha‘aku kau k
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Áho: Approved by the Auckland Univ
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Leadership.” What do you feel are
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