The situational variables of congregation size and ministerial function were used to identify patterns of leadership skills for effective ministry in a sample of 421 Lutheran clergy. Significantly different styles were found for each of ten functions in five size groups. Ministerial leadership has sometimes been described by the terms authoritarian and democratic, in accord with reviews of leadership in secular organizations. When sets of leader skills were investigated, an intentional orientation (cf. Biersdorf, 1976), sometimes in combination with a participative style, seemed to be an apt general description of the leadership of effective clergy in this sample.
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