<![CDATA[Declining and stagnant congregational attendance is a significant challenge faced by many churches in Indonesia, including the Batak Karo Protestant Church (GBKP). This quantitative study aims to analyze the direct influence of five dimensions of church management and leadership, namely planning, organizing, actuating, controlling, and pastoral leadership of the Pastor and Church Council, on the engagement and attendance of GBKP congregations in the Medan Kampung Lalang Classis. Data were collected from 249 respondents across three churches with different demographic contexts (urban, semi-urban, and rural) and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4 software. The results show that all five variables have a significant positive effect on congregational engagement and attendance (H1–H5 supported), with overall path coefficients ranging from 0.177 to 0.258. Pastoral and council leadership (β = 0.258; t = 5.092; p < 0.001) is the most dominant variable, followed by organizing (β = 0.228) and planning (β = 0.212). The model explains 45.3% of the variance in the dependent variable (R² = 0.453). These findings emphasize that the quality of pastoral leadership and systematic church management are key strategic factors in strengthening congregational participation. This study contributes empirical evidence to church management theory and provides practical recommendations for improving the quality of ministry in the GBKP context]]>
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