The Pastor as a Self-differntiated Leader Nurtured by a Confluence of Grace Engaging Wesleyan Sprititual Disciplines

The author's thesis was, "The spiritual disciplines as a means of grace informs the process of increased self-differentiation enabling the Pastor to bring helpful skills and perspectives for working with the congregation." The author applied the concept of self-differentiation from the Family Systems Theory of Murray Bowen and the work of Hal Knight concerning the Wesleyan Spiritual Disciplines to the Pastor Leader. In a twenty-four hour educational clergy retreat, pre and post retreat inventories were administered to measure self-differentiation (DSI) and engagement with the spiritual disciplines. Feedback from the retreat and four post-retreat assignments describing the application of self-differentiation in their ministry contexts provided affirmation for the author's thesis.