Through the Eyes of Youth Leaders: A Study of the Leadership Development Experiences of Youth Leaders in Three Samoan Seventh-day Adventist Churches in the Greater Sydney Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Abstract

This study set out with the focus of exploring the leadership development experiences of six past youth leaders from three of the Samoan Seventh-day Adventist churches in the Greater Sydney Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in NSW. The study was carried out using a mixed method design of a brief quantitative questionnaire and qualitative individual interviews with the six youth leaders. Using descriptive and thematic analysis, four key themes emerged from the data. The leadership development experiences of the six youth leaders revolved around positive involvement in the youth committee and church in general, that assisted their transition into the role of youth leader; the forging of key informal mentoring relationships with former or older youth leaders; the impact of training that was difficult to adapt to a Samoan local church setting; and the impact this had on the culturally bound relationships of youth leaders and their faufautua or church appointed mentors. The study found that although youth leaders generally reflected positive experiences of youth leadership development in their local Samoan Seventh-day Adventist churches; there are also areas of concern that are likely to need consideration, by the three churches and the Greater Sydney Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, to improve the experience of youth leaders in the future.