Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Department

Seminary

First Advisor

Jamale Kempt, DMin

Second Advisor

Stuart Cocanougher, DMin

Abstract

African American Christian women CEOs of smaller nonprofit organizations face multiple challenges in developing the necessary leadership skills to ensure their organization’s success including a deficiency in formal leadership training, difficulties in balancing Christian beliefs with leadership responsibilities, and limitations in interacting with boards of directors. The lack of appropriate leadership skills hinders their ability to effectively lead their nonprofit organizations, improve their organization’s performance, and limits career advancement.

The current options for leadership training do not adequately address the challenges and opportunities faced by these leaders. The lack in leadership development results in a deficiency of African American women Christian CEOs leading smaller nonprofit versus larger nonprofit organizations.

Based upon research and qualitative study results, this dissertation seeks to address its claim that implementing a servant leadership model can enhance African American Christian women CEOs’ leadership style and skills while yielding significant improvements in their nonprofit organizations’ performances.

Section 1 explains the problem, defines terms, and addresses barriers faced by these women including access to leadership training, understanding, and applying servant leadership models, and unfavorable perceptions towards servant leadership. Section 2 reviews proposed solutions of different leadership models available to help and the benefits and drawbacks of each. In Section 3, the research data illustrates the need for the proposed solution of developing a training program around the Dare to Serve – Servant Leadership Model. Section 4 delves into the proposed artifact, a training program titled, “Dare to Lead With Purpose: Empowering African American Christian Women Nonprofit CEOs Through Servant Leadership.” Section 5 details the practicalities of the training including the audience, training modules, and the budget needed. In Section 6, the researcher discusses the time involved in developing the training materials, possibilities for further research, and how the Ubunto leadership model could be further integrated into the training program.

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