Page 47 - tesis

authority of the founding pastor is very important, these churches develop very strong team ministries where the relationships among them are very close. Twelve associate pastors were interviewed [see appendix table 1.2]. The majority of the pastors are professionals, university graduates or have theological studies. They were much more open to discuss the questions about the investigation and questions about the social reality of the country which the researcher asked them.\u000Ac. Interviews with the lay people\u000APersonal interviews with Neo-Pentecostal lay people (NPL) were made. They were interviewed in different stages and periods during the investigation. These interviews were of an open nature so that they could express their ideas freely. The interviews were carried out during a period of an hour. Forty-seven lay people were surveyed of which fourteen were women and thirty-three men. More men were interviewed because the researcher found that men were more available to be surveyed. The women come to church with their husbands and children. It is not common to ask the wife for an interview. It is normal to approach the husband as the leader in the home. Also, women are reticent to give an interview to unknown people for various reasons. Finally, there was the difficulty of finding time to talk to the membership between services because of their tight schedule. Some of these churches celebrate three to five services every Sunday.\u000AThe lay people surveyed were chosen from the membership who attends Sunday services and special activities of these churches. Before doing the interview the researcher made sure that they belonged to the church he was visiting and that they had been in the church for at least a year. He was surprised to find that the majority of those interviewed had been in the church for at least five years and some had some responsibilities. They were not chosen only, because they were leaders but because they were lay people. Although the sample was small in comparison to the population of these churches, the\u000A34\u000A