Relatively little is known about the ongoing development of pastors as leaders. This study focused on learning agility, the combination of personal strategies and situational factors that pastors rely on to capture the lessons their experiences teach them. Interviews with 100 senior pastors indicated that the situational factors associated with learning for pastors were those that pushed them to step to the edge of their comfort zones, requiring them to draw on God and others, manage significant change, manage the ministry in all its complexity, and to extract lessons from positive and especially negative results. The personal strategies that pastors leveraged to navigate through and learn from key experiences included adopting a learning focus, relying on personal character and values, establishing and managing relationships, relying on their faith and calling, and using their expertise and knowledge. Implications for lifelong pastoral leadership development are explored.
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