Multiple factors correlate to the advancement of a congregation but increasingly, these factors gravitate towards a common variable: leadership. .
Pastoral leadership can be defined as the work that pastors do to equip and motivate church members in the pursuit of the church's overall mission. Therefore, everything a pastor does from preaching, to teaching, to counseling, can be defined as leadership. Some tasks require more direct leadership than others such as administrative meetings, long range planning and financial monitoring of the church's affairs. Overall, the pastor is the key shaping influence and sets the tone of the church. .
Pastors are overwhelmed with a mass of ideas about what leadership is and how it should be done, leading to a scattered approach to leadership. Research shows that transformational pastoral leadership seems to best indicate the potential for significant church growth. Transformational leaders are those who articulate a vision of the future and share it with peers and followers (Judge and Bono, 2000, p. 24). These leaders also consider long term needs (Burns , 1978, p. 112), increased productivity (Bennis, 1984, p.16) and developing followers into leaders (Burns, 1978, p. 79).
Without this type of effective leadership, the church will lose sight of its mission. When this happens the ministry teams will not be able to implement the church vision causing conflict that can lead to an unsuccessful congregation.
Transformational Leadership.
For pastors, effective leadership has evolved over the years to mean much more than just providing spiritual direction. Baldwin, Bommer and Rubin (2007) tell us that, "Effective leadership consists of multiple dimensions and is a function of personal characteristics as well as transactional and transformational behaviors that influence positive action in others" (p. 68). Transformational leadership behavior is an effective style of leadership for pastors because it emphasizes feelings of trust, admiration, loyalty and respect toward a leader.