Joyful accompaniment: Student and alumni spiritual leadership development within an immersive service trip

Abstract:

This ethnographic action research case study illustrates how undergraduate student and alum participants in a week-long service trip describe their development of spiritual leadership skills. From a mission-focused spiritual leadership perspective, there are inherent problems with the current definition of student leadership in higher education. Currently, student leadership emphasizes positional authority and action-oriented goals, neglecting deeper dimensions of leadership which include service, humility, and moral integrity. For this study, I will be redefining leadership as justice-oriented accompaniment and adapting the Spiritual Leadership theory to better suit a Catholic Dominican mission-focused leadership model. This adaptation creates a shift from productivity-focused behaviors to spiritually grounding behaviors, acknowledging the inherent value of each individual’s gifts. The case was bounded by the participants and activities included in the Blue Ridge Service Trip, a week-long program where students and alums from Coastal Beacon University worked together to provide youth with positive mentors. Through qualitative methods of semi-structured interviews, observations, field notes, and reflexive journaling, I examined participants' lived experiences to understand how participation in a service trip influenced spiritual leadership development. The findings illustrate three themes regarding spiritual leadership development. These findings include the three stages of spiritual development, the benefit of repeated service, and programmatic elements that support the creation and sustaining of community. Based on the findings and their connection to current literature, implications for theory and practice include an argument for the addition of formation stages to the spiritual leadership theory, an emphasis on spiritual leadership development in higher education, the option for repeated service to support leadership development, and the use of fun, inclusion, and traditions to create and sustain community. The findings of this study bring forth implications for theory, policy, and practice of spiritual leadership in higher education. These implications include a call for the addition of formation stages to spiritual leadership, a focus on spiritual leadership development, increased opportunities for repeated service, and an emphasis on intentional community building. These implications also inform recommendations for future research regarding spiritual leadership in higher education, expanding research to longitudinal studies and expanding research across various programs.

ZOOM LINK: https://zoom.us/j/4023055471