Conclusion
The main objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between the
pastor’s servant leadership style of leadership and organizational commitment of the
ministerial staff and administrative assistants to Southern Baptist churches in Mississippi.
Evidence supported the reliability and validity of both servant leadership and
organizational commitment measurement instruments.
Servant Leadership and Organizational Commitment 84
The results of the study revealed that the pastor’s servant leadership style of leadership
had a positive correlation with affective and normative commitment. This means that
leadership behaviors which involve meeting the needs of others, initiating processes of
healing, being observant, promoting encouragement, and focusing on the good of society
has an effect on how ministerial staff and administrative assistants feel about staying withthe church.
The ministerial staff and administrative assistant’s affective commitment, their
emotional attachment to the church, identification, and involvement with the church was
positively correlated with the pastor’s servant leadership. The outcome of such a
relationship between the pastor and staff will be belief in goals of the church, hard work,and long tenure with the organization (Mowday, Porter & Steers, 1982).
The ministerial staff and administrative assistant’s normative commitment, the loyalty
of the staff to the church, had a positive correlation with the pastor’s servant leadership.
The staff’s loyalty and devotion, the sacrifices that they make on behalf of the church, is evidence of such a relationship (Weiner & Verdi, 1980).
The results of the study revealed a weak negative correlation between the pastor’s
servant leadership and continuance commitment of the church staff based on the r-values.
The p-values were not below 0.01, therefore the researcher accepted the hypothesis. This
means that the pastor’s leadership behaviors which involve meeting the needs of others,
initiating processes of healing, being observant, promoting encouragement, and focusing
on the good of society had no effect on the continuance commitment of the staff.
This present study provides another view of the importance of leadership in the local
church. Hopefully, this study provides instruction and encouragement for the future
development of leaders, reminding them of the impact they have on others, in both
church and organizational settings.