Motivations to persist in a lifestyle of learning: A case study of Brazilian pastors

Human resources in this era are characterized by quick changes, high technology, and professional development. For this reason, these projects of continuing education seem to be a necessity in most fields of human activity, including the field of church ministry. Educational programs are usually developed on the basis of certain factors of motivation that pastors are assumed to have; but frequently there is a lack of a data about the motivations of the intended learners. The research problem is to gain a clear understanding of the motivating factors for Brazilian degree holding pastors to utilize formal and nonformal educational resources to actively extend their understanding and competencies as pastors and the formation of a lifestyle that includes the habit of study.; The procedure was divided in three defined parts. First, a questionnaire was applied to five post-graduate programs in the field of theological education in Brazil to define the population of the research. The researcher chose thirty people that were interviewed (sample) among the participants (population) on the basis of an ethnographic procedure. Lastly, the analysis of the data was developed.; The first step was this analysis is a description of the case study, including the population and the sample for the research. The second step was the analysis of the field notes using the ethnographic procedures. The domain analysis included notes related to factors of motivation and rationale for participating in programs of theological continuing education. The componential analysis included specific paradigms found in the notes. The correlational analysis took into account the six motivating factors as presented by Wlodkowski and how the field notes relate to them. Beside of this basic concern of the research, the study looks for other categories, common points and possible paradigms, and the correlation of those data to the precedent literature on the field.; Research applications and implications included some lessons that can be learned from it and will shed light on the planning process and on the review of formal and nonformal programs of theological continuing education.