Pastoral Performance: A Predictive Study 0f Pastoral Ministry in the Northeastern Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Problem
The assumption of this study is that pastoral performance holds crucial answers to the questions of growth and stagnation of the Church in the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. During the quinquennial term that ended 2015, the statistical report of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist showed that the North American Division contributed a small 2.98% of the world Church growth.
Methodology
The research was quantitative, cross-sectional, non-experimental, correlation and explanatory. The population consisted of 184 Church boards in the Northeastern Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in encompassing New York and the New England States. There was a total of 61 participating Churches represented by 305 board members to whom an instrument was administered. The substantive statistical analysis process was based on the multivariate regression. The constructs made up of the five instruments used were analyzed through factorial analysis techniques (with explained variance levels of over 80%, which are good) and multivariate regression (with significant correlations for the indicators). For reliability of the instruments the Cronbach's alpha method was used (reaching levels higher than .8).
Results
The study set out to explore whether professional competencies, organizational commitment, servant leadership and mentoring predict pastoral performance. The study sample consisted of 305 church board members from the Northeastern Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church. The participants filed in the scale on a questionnaire that measured each variable. The data were analyzed using descriptive methods, explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses, t-test, ANOVA, the Pearson correlation coefficient and multivariate regression. Results showed, according to the perceptions of the board members that the following three independent variables predict pastoral performance: professional competencies p = .001 and r = .187; servant leadership p = .044 and r = .120; mentoring p = .000 and r = .551. A significant regression equation was found (F(301) = 181.243, p = .000), with adjusted R2 of .640. Perceived pastoral performance = 1.009 + .167 (perceived professional competencies) + .104 (perceived servant-leadership) + .416 (perceived pastoral mentoring). The model is fit (F(4, 300) = 136.795, p = .000). However, organizational commitment as perceived by board members was not significant (p = .172) and the model adjusted excluding this construct. LSD was used as Post Hoc Test. It was found that doctorate is significantly different with high school, bachelor and master. The Church board members with doctoral degree tended to give a high score on pastoral performance compared to master, bachelor, high school and other. Additionally, high school significantly differed from bachelor, master and other. The Church board members with high school degree tended to give a high score on pastoral performance as compared to bachelor, master and other. There is no significant difference of high school and doctorate perception on pastoral performance.
Conclusion
The multivariate regression confirmed the construct model’s predictability of pastoral performance and can be used to gain deeper insights regarding pastoral performance. The study confirmed that the constructs: professional competencies, servant leadership and mentoring were significant predictors of pastoral performance, while organizational commitment was not significant. However, there was no significant difference among the demographic variables except for education. Therefore, theological institutions, organizations, Churches and Pastors can be guided by the findings of this study to train, employ, evaluate and execute pastoral ministry efficiently.