Leadership Perspectives Among Diaspora Evangelicals in the USA

The Interplay of Theology, Self-Discipline, and Spiritual Maturity

Authors

  • Alexander Negrov Hodos Institute, United States

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29357/2789-1577.2025.23.2.6

Keywords:

diaspora Evangelicals, 3M Hodos Leadership Framework, leadership development, spiritual maturity, self-discipline, followership, cultural memory, faith–work integration

Abstract

This article examines perspectives on leadership and leadership development among Evangelicals in the so-called Slavic diaspora of the United States, with particular attention to the interplay of theology, self-discipline, and spiritual maturity. The study is based on data from 173 participants—36 interviewees and 137 survey respondents—drawn primarily from Ukrainian diaspora churches, alongside Christians who migrated from Russia, Belarus, Moldova, and Central Asia. Data were collected between April 2021 and May 2025 within educational processes initiated by churches or non-accredited educational organizations in the United States.

The findings indicate that participants consistently affirm spiritual growth and intimacy with God as foundational to leadership. At the same time, many acknowledge that insufficient self-discipline constitutes a significant obstacle to their formation as leaders. Leadership was frequently described in social or functional terms—such as organizational effectiveness or communal influence—rather than in explicitly theological categories. Moreover, a majority of respondents gave little attention to the role of followership, revealing a notable gap in holistic reflection on leadership.

The article argues that an integrated approach—linking theological reflection with disciplined leadership practice—is essential for cultivating spiritually grounded, ethically responsible, and effective leaders and followers. Such integration is particularly crucial for immigrant evangelical communities as they navigate questions of identity, cultural adaptation, and mission in the American context.

References

  1. Alewell, Dorothea, Yochanan Altman, Puneet K. Bindlish, David M. Boje, John James Cater, Leo Paul Dana, Giuseppe Delmestri, et al. Workplace Spirituality: Making a Difference. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2022.
  2. Alhassan, Abdul-Latif, and Brandon W. Kliewer. “African Leadership in the Diaspora: Diffusion, Infusion, Synergy, and Challenges.” Journal of Leadership Studies 16, no. 1 (2022): 52–56. https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.21803.
  3. Anacker, Gary J., and John R. Shoup. “Leadership in the Context of Christian Worldview.” In Organizational Leadership, edited by Jack Burns, John R. Shoup, and Donald C. Simmons Jr., 35–64. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014.
  4. Chaleff, Ira. The Courageous Follower. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2009.
  5. Chaleff, Ira. Intelligent Disobedience. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2015.
  6. Chaleff, Ira. To Stop a Tyrant: The Power of Political Followers to Make or Break a Toxic Leader. Los Angeles: Wonderwell Press, 2024.
  7. Cohen, Robin. Global Diasporas: An Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, 2022. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003256526.
  8. Delbecq, André L. “Christian Spirituality and Contemporary Business Leadership.” Journal of Organizational Change Management 12, no. 4 (1999): 345–354.
  9. Epitropaki, Olga, Ronit Kark, Charalampos Mainemelis, and Robert G. Lord. “Leadership and Followership Identity Processes: A Multilevel Review.” The Leadership Quarterly 28, no. 1 (2017): 104–29.
  10. Ewest, Timothy, ed. Faith and Work: Christian Research, Perspectives, and Applications. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2022.
  11. Gazsó, Dániel. “An Endnote Definition for Diaspora Studies.” Minority Research, no. 18 (2015): 161–82.
  12. Gill, Roger, and Alexander Negrov. “Perspectives on Leadership Development in Post-Soviet Eurasia.” International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management 21, no. 3 (2021): 409–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/14705958211051551.
  13. Gold, Steven J. “Ethnic Enclaves.” In Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, edited by R. A. Scott and S. M. Kosslyn, 1–18. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
  14. Grossman, Jonathan. “Toward a Definition of Diaspora.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 42, no. 8 (2019): 1263–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2018.1550261.
  15. Heifetz, Ronald, and Marty Linsky. Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002.
  16. Heifetz, Ronald, and Marty Linsky. “Self-Management.” In Encyclopedia of Leadership, vol. 4, edited by George R. Goethals, Georgia J. Sorenson, and James MacGregor Burns. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004.
  17. Kang, Namsoon. Diasporic Feminist Theology: Asia and Theopolitical Imagination. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2015.
  18. Kellerman, Barbara. Followership: How Followers Are Creating Change and Changing Leaders. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2008.
  19. Kim, Luther Jeom O. Doing Diaspora Missiology toward “Diaspora Mission Church”: The Rediscovery of Diaspora for the Renewal of Church and Mission in a Secular Era. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2016.
  20. Linville, Michael W., and Mark A. Rennaker. Essentials of Followership: Rethinking the Leadership Paradigm with Purpose. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt, 2024.
  21. Majhail, Harjinder Singh, and Sinan Dogan, eds. World of Diasporas: Different Perceptions on the Concept of Diaspora. Leiden: Brill, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004388048.
  22. Negrov, Alexander. Hodos Leadership. Seattle, WA: Hodos Institute, 2025.
  23. Negrov, Alexander, and Alexander Malov. “Eco-Theology and Environmental Leadership in Orthodox and Evangelical Perspectives in Russia and Ukraine.” Religions 12, no. 5 (2021): 305. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12050305.
  24. Negrov, Alexander, Oleksandr Malov, and Dina Polishchuk-Prokopchuk. “Leadership in the Face of Trauma: A Qualitative Study of Forced Ukrainian Christian Migrants.” Theological Reflections: Eastern European Institute of Theology 21, no. 2 (2023): 157–80. https://doi.org/10.29357/2789-1577.2023.21.2.9.
  25. Negrov, Alexander, and Ronald E. Riggio. Leadership in Ukraine: Studies during Wartime. Northampton, UK: Edward Elgar, 2025. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035353958.
  26. Olofinjana, Israel Oluwole, ed. World Christianity in Western Europe: Diasporic Identity, Narratives and Missiology. Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2020.
  27. Pătru, Adrian. “Religious Diaspora: A New Approach to Its Existence and Meaning.” Religions 12, no. 10 (2021): 831. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12100831.
  28. Piotrkowski, Meron M. Priests in Exile: The History of the Temple of Onias and Its Community in the Hellenistic Period. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2019.
  29. Riggio, Ronald E., Ira Chaleff, and Jean Lipman-Blumen, eds. The Art of Followership: How Great Followers Create Great Leaders and Organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2008.
  30. Sanders, J. Oswald. Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer. Rev. ed. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2016.
  31. Sharp, Larry W. Missions Disrupted: From Professional Missionaries to Missional Professionals. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2022.
  32. Shtareva, Yulia. Frozen: A Grounded Theory of Transgenerational Trauma Cycles in the Evangelical Slavic Diaspora of Former Soviet Union Refugees. Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University, 2025. https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/1206.
  33. Smith-Christopher, Daniel L. A Biblical Theology of Exile. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002.
  34. Spiegel, James S. “Cultivating Self-Control: Foundations and Methods in the Christian Theological Tradition.” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care 13, no. 2 (2020): 193–210. https://doi.org/10.1177/1939790920918881.
  35. Tira, Sadiri Joy, and Tetsunao Yamamori. Scattered and Gathered: A Global Compendium of Diaspora Missiology. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2016.
  36. Van Vugt, Mark, and Nicolas Bastardoz. “The Nature of Followership: Evolutionary Analysis and Review.” The Leadership Quarterly 30, no. 1 (2019): 81–95.
  37. Zolberg, Aristide R. A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006.
Issue Cover

Downloads

Published

2025-12-18

How to Cite

Negrov, Alexander. 2025. “Leadership Perspectives Among Diaspora Evangelicals in the USA: The Interplay of Theology, Self-Discipline, and Spiritual Maturity”. Theological Reflections: Eastern European Journal of Theology 23 (2):103-30. https://doi.org/10.29357/2789-1577.2025.23.2.6.

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 2 (2025): Theological Reflections: Eastern European Journal of Theology

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Alexander Negrov

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

All articles published in the Journal are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

By submitting an article for publication in Theological Reflections: Eastern European Journal of Theology the author grants the editors the right to publish the article and distribute it in electronic and print form.

The author reserves all copyrights and the right to use the materials of the article in whole or in part for educational purposes, to write his own dissertations, to prepare abstracts, conference reports, oral presentations, etc., as well as post electronic copies of articles (including the final electronic version downloaded from the journal’s official website) on non-commercial web-resources without the consent of the editorial board and founders.