Missional Leadership in a Post-Secular Context: A Theological and Empirical Case Study of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Eastern Zambia

Abstract

The emergence of post-secular societies-where religious and secular worldviews continue to coexist and interact in public life, rather than religion simply fading away-demands a fresh look at Christian leadership. Instead of merely maintaining institutions, leadership today needs to involve the whole faith community in what theologians call the missio Dei (Latin for "the mission of God"), the conviction that mission is first and foremost God’s own activity, into which the church is invited to participate. This study examines that challenge through a case study of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church in Eastern Zambia, a region with about 59,000 members spread across a vast and culturally diverse area stretching from the Luangwa Bridge to Chama District. Using a sequential mixed-methods design, the research first builds a theological framework from Trinitarian and missio Dei thinking, and then tests it against real-world data gathered through semi-structured interviews with church administrators, pastors, and lay leaders, alongside participant observation and document analysis. The findings reveal three critical dynamics: 1) a tension between inherited top down structures and the practical needs of contextual mission; 2) the role of communal, Sabbath-centred discernment as a space where authority can be shared; and 3) the strategic use of digital platforms to coordinate mission across great distances in a network with multiple centres of initiative. The study concludes by proposing a Contextual-Trinitarian Participatory Model for missional leadership, arguing that sustainable leadership in complex post-secular settings requires a theologically grounded commitment to kenotic vulnerability (a leadership posture modelled on Christ’s self-emptying, where leaders willingly relinquish control and power for the sake of others), communal praxis (the whole church thinking and acting together), and structural adaptability (systems that bend to support mission, not block it).