Humility in Worship Leaders: The Importance of a Commitment to Spiritual Growth and God-Centered Leadership

Researchers in the study of psychology of religion have begun to focus on religious practices and factors that contribute to spiritual transformation, including virtues, such as humility. Researchers of the present study sought to examine the relationships among humility, commitment to spiritual formation, and approach to worship leading in a study of exemplar worship leaders from diverse backgrounds. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to identify interview themes. NVivo9 was used to code interview transcripts using a modified Tolan coding method. NVivo10 was used to query data including generating dendrograms. Observed humility was associated with a God-centered approach and commitment to spiritual formation, while expressed humility was associated with challenges around authenticity and congruence. Differences in observed and expressed humility shed light on how humility may be authentically cultivated through continual spiritual practice that focuses on God, rather than intentional conscious effort to cultivate it oneself. Assessment of humility may be strengthened by methodologies that use process themes for observed humility.