ABSTRACT
The purpose of this qualitative descriptive multiple case study was to explore Christian organizational leaders' experiences in sustaining membership engagement and leadership sustainability when using advanced technology during the social and organizational disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. Servant leadership theory, virtual leadership theory, and crisis management theory provided the conceptual framework for this study. The research questions addressed how Christian organizational leaders sustained membership engagement and led their church organizations during the disruptive change of COVID-19. A combination of 10 semi-structured interviews, document review, and member checking was used for data collection. The results from the data indicated critical interventions for sustaining membership engagement: fostering and facilitating meaningful interactions virtually, adopting advanced technology based on the receptivity of members, selecting advanced technology based on perceived messaging, and offering hybrid services to mitigate low virtual attendance. The findings also indicated that Christian organizational leaders led by constructing success parameters that were the substratum for decision-making, emphasizing internal operational efficiency and effectiveness, and limiting the number of interventions made during the crisis because of leadership exhaustion. This study provided insight that could help church organizational leaders increase attendance to a multi-generational audience, expand membership engagement through in-person and technology, and be an effective source of tangible comfort and spiritual relief in their community. Which are all measurements for evaluating effective Christian churches. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)