A strategy for motivating professional growth of pastors in the Southern highlands conference, Tanzania

Abstract

The issue of offshoots is one of the big challenges facing the Southern Highlands Conference. This has affected the church in Southern Highlands Conference. Church members have become suspicious about the church organization. As a result, they question some of the church beliefs and Church Manual guidelines. A contributing factor is the incompetence on the part of pastors to handle the situation and to restrain the heresies from invading the church. The pastors’ professional growth is low. Most of them are unable to handle theological and leadership issues. The situation has preoccupied the researcher to the point that he has undertaken this research with the purpose of developing a strategy to empower pastors in the Conference, thus helping them to grow professionally. In the process of the study, the researcher collected data from the relevant current literature as well as from the survey in the Southern Highlands Conference. The data obtained from the survey was analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program. The analysis revealed that the contributing factors to pastors’ poor performance were lack of personal study on the part of pastors (see Table 9), and incompetence in the use of computer science (See tables 10, and 15).As a solution to the problem, the research has developed a strategy which proposes three pillars for pastors’ professional growth. These are: 1) Personal study, 2) Prayer, and 3) Practical use of gained knowledge including computer science. The designed strategy was implemented and evaluated through a Bible Conference organized in Isanga SDA Church. Three pastors who had been trained on the use of the three pillars were key presenters of the Bible conference. The outcome of the meeting revealed the effectiveness of the strategy In conclusion, the researcher is persuaded that the implementation of this strategy will enhance pastors’ professional growth in the Southern Highlands Conference. Pastors are urged to apply the three pillars for their professional growth in the ministry.