Table Of ContentABSTRACT
AN INVESTIGATION OF PUBLIC LEADERSHIP FORMATION
IN SELECT ZIMBABWE CHURCHES
by
Kurai Chitima
The growing number of Christians holding positions of influence in Zimbabwe
makes the inclusion of the church‘s role in prudent assessment of leadership formation in
Zimbabwe inescapable. Presently, the contribution churches make to the development of
leaders for service in the public arena, such as in business and national governance, is
obscure. Failure to confirm and check this area is likely to compromise the quality of
leadership and integrity to Christian values. Both concessions work to deter a positive
transformational impact of the church.
This study compared views of a select group of church leaders and public leaders
on Christian formation and public leadership development. The data analyzed revealed
1. A disparity of goals and practices of Christian formation programs,
2. A difference of perceived leadership formation needs,
3. A weakness in development of personal and civic direction, and
4. A weakness in equipping for faith application in nonchurch contexts.
I make recommendations of how the church can better contribute to the life
formation of Christian public leaders by paying more attention to individual background,
context, and aspiration peculiarities.
DISSERTATION APPROVAL
This is to certify that the dissertation entitled
AN INVESTIGATION OF PUBLIC LEADERSHIP FORMATION
IN SELECT ZIMBABWE CHURCHES
presented by
Kurai Chitima
has been accepted toward fulfillment
of the requirements for the
DOCTOR OF MINISTRY degree at
Asbury Theological Seminary
May 4, 2010
Mentor Date
May 4, 2010
Internal Reader Date
May 4, 2010
Representative, Doctor of Ministry Program Date
May 4, 2010
Dean of the Beeson Center Date
AN INVESTIGATION OF PUBLIC LEADERSHIP FORMATION
IN SELECT ZIMBABWE CHURCHES
A Dissertation
Presented to the Faculty of
Asbury Theological Seminary
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Ministry
by
Kurai Chitima
May 2010
© 2010
Kurai Chitima
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER 1 PROBLEM ....................................................................................................1
Introduction ..............................................................................................................1
The Problem .............................................................................................................1
The Purpose .............................................................................................................3
Research Questions ..................................................................................................4
Research Question #1 ..................................................................................4
Research Question #2 ..................................................................................4
Definition of Terms..................................................................................................4
Public Leader ...............................................................................................5
Christian Public Leader................................................................................7
Leadership Development .............................................................................8
Christian Formation ...................................................................................13
Context of the Study ..............................................................................................16
Africa Context ............................................................................................16
Zimbabwe Context .....................................................................................20
Methodology ..........................................................................................................24
Participants .................................................................................................24
Instrumentation ..........................................................................................25
iii
Variables ....................................................................................................25
Data Collection ..........................................................................................25
Data Analysis .............................................................................................27
Delimitations and Generalizability ............................................................27
Theological Foundation .........................................................................................27
Overview of the Study ...........................................................................................30
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE .............................................................................................31
Introduction ............................................................................................................31
Theological Underpinning .....................................................................................32
Nature of the Church ..................................................................................32
Mission of the Church ................................................................................35
Missions and Culture .................................................................................40
Convergence of Missions Views ...............................................................41
Christian Formation Practices ................................................................................49
Mandate of Christian Formation ................................................................49
Rationale of Intentional Christian Formation ............................................51
Christian Formation Principles from Christ‘s Ministry .............................56
Christian Formation Phases .......................................................................58
Leadership Challenge in Africa .............................................................................64
Challenge of Development ........................................................................65
Challenge of Localization ..........................................................................67
Challenge of Institutions and Systems .......................................................69
Challenge of Christian Formation ..............................................................70
iv
Challenge of Theological Relevance .........................................................73
Methodological Support.........................................................................................77
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................80
Problem and Purpose .............................................................................................80
Research Questions ................................................................................................80
Research Question #1 ................................................................................81
Research Question #2 ................................................................................81
Population and Participants....................................................................................82
Design of the Study ................................................................................................86
Instrumentation ..........................................................................................87
Pilot Test ....................................................................................................89
Variables ....................................................................................................90
Reliability and Validity ..............................................................................91
Data Collection .....................................................................................................91
Data Analysis .........................................................................................................93
Ethical Procedures .................................................................................................93
CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS ...................................................................................................95
Problem and Purpose .............................................................................................95
Participants .............................................................................................................95
Research Question #1 ............................................................................................96
Research Question #2 ............................................................................................99
Christian Formation Processes ...................................................................99
Leaders‘ Christian Formation Attitudes...................................................104
v
Public Leader Ongoing Support Needs....................................................118
Alternative Leadership Development Influences .....................................119
Summary of Major Findings ................................................................................119
CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................121
Major Findings .....................................................................................................121
Finding One: Mismatch of Goals and Practices ......................................122
Finding Two: Mismatch of Perceived Needs...........................................123
Finding Three: Personal and Civic Direction ..........................................124
Finding Four: Contextual Capacity ..........................................................128
Implications of the Study .....................................................................................131
Limitations and Strengths ....................................................................................134
Recommendations ................................................................................................135
Suggestions for Further Studies ...........................................................................142
Personal Reflections.............................................................................................143
APPENDIXES
A. Instruments ......................................................................................................145
B. Development Needs Mentioned ......................................................................154
C. Participants ......................................................................................................159
D. Biblical Interpretation in Methodological Pluralism ......................................161
WORKS CITED ..............................................................................................................163
WORKS CONSULTED ..................................................................................................172
vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1. The Public Leader Sampling Procedure ...........................................................85
Table 3.2. Objectives and Research Methods Used ...........................................................87
Table 4.1. Public Leadership Development Needs ............................................................97
Table 4.2. Christian Mission Attitudes ............................................................................105
Table 4.3. Personal Vision Attitudes ...............................................................................106
Table 4.4. National Vision Attitudes ...............................................................................107
Table 4.5. Public Leadership Vision ................................................................................108
Table 4.6. Moral Values Attitudes ...................................................................................109
Table 4.7. Handling Success and Failure Attitudes .........................................................110
Table 4.8. Ethical Issues Attitudes ...................................................................................110
Table 4.9. Family Attitudes .............................................................................................111
Table 4.10. Personal Accountability Attitudes ................................................................112
Table 4.11. Leadership Principles and Skills Attitudes ...................................................113
Table 4.12. Handling Succession Attitudes .....................................................................114
Table 4.13. Faith Application Attitudes ...........................................................................115
Table 4.14. Career Peculiarities Attitudes .......................................................................116
Table 4.15. Outside Church Relational Skills Attitudes ..................................................117
Table 4.16. Distribution of Attitude Scores .....................................................................118
Table 4.17. Attitude Comparison Summary ....................................................................120
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1. Subject areas from the research title ................................................................31
Figure 2.2. Comparing and contrasting addition to multiplication
in Christian formation ......................................................................................52
Figure 2.3. The main Christian formation phases evident in literature .............................58
Figure 3.1. Denominations and local church structure in Zimbabwe ................................83
Figure 3.2. Data collection flow ........................................................................................92
Figure 4.1. General public leader-church leader attitude to meeting needs .......................98
Figure 4.2. Polygons of attitude score distributions ........................................................118
Figure 5.1. Process integrity ............................................................................................123
Figure 5.2. Relational priority ..........................................................................................125
Figure 5.3. Christian formation process ...........................................................................137
Figure 5.4. Life cross-sectional dimensions ....................................................................141
viii
