Newsletter Articles
Church Leadership
Kelly A. Fryer
When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “Why are you trying to do all this alone?” Exodus 18:14
I believe a radical reclamation of the priesthood of all believers is THE leadership issue in the church today. It is postmodern. It is emergent. It is characteristic of the U.S. context. It is the unfinished business of the Reformation. It is biblical. It is missional. It is absolutely essential if our congregations are ever going to become places where people, together, are learning to discern God’s purpose for them…and courageously following wherever the Spirit leads them.
Equipping and empowering God’s people, through Jesus Christ, to engage in ministry and mission both in the church and in daily life must become the primary focus of pastoral and professional ministry.
Are there other ways to approach leadership? You bet. Do the polity and politics of our denominations pose a challenge to this approach? Without a doubt. Are there cultural norms and traditions at work in our congregations that present obstacles and roadblocks? I’ve encountered them myself. Would it be easier to keep doing things the way we’ve always done it? Sure. Both pastors/professional church leaders and laity benefit from the kind of co-dependency that exists in the old hierarchical models. I’m not naïve. You shouldn’t be either.
But God is up to something! God is on a mission to save and bless and love the whole world. And each one of us is invited to be a part of that. In other words, this is God’s gig. Leadership might begin with getting out of the way just long enough to let the Spirit have her way with us. At any rate, it’s clear to me that we have some serious deconstructing to do. Maybe even some passionate debating. And it’s not entirely clear what the shape of things will be if we follow this path. There are a lot of authors out there offering up their views on that. A VERY short list of them is below.
I’ll narrow it down even more for you and give you my top 4 picks. You’ll notice, they’re all out of the secular world. Not that there aren’t good resources from within the church but, truthfully, a lot of the most interesting stuff actually happening in terms of leadership is happening OUT THERE…and, too often, we ignore it in here:
1. Before you do anything else, get yourself a subscription to Fast Company magazine at www.fastcompany.org. This is a magazine that comes out of the business world. You won’t agree with everything here. I don’t. But I come away from every single issue thinking new thoughts…and, actually, encouraged that so many people “out there” are working hard to run organizations that are healthy, respectful of people, and fun.
2. For the stout-hearted: Read Leadership by Peter Northouse (2004). This book traces leadership theories over the centuries and, helpfully, gets us past the idea that leadership is all about being “the great man.” Also, if you’re looking for all the best research on leadership issues…this book sums it up and presents it in as accessible a way as you’re going to find.
3. Jim Collins’ best-selling follow up to Built to Last, called Good to Great, is already a classic. For good reason. It’s worth a read just for the stories about Level 5 leaders.
4. Thomas Malone (2004) argues that the future of work is in treating people like they matter. From the business world, we’re hearing that democratic workplaces – where everyone knows they have something to offer and where structures allow them to offer it – are the way forward. Hmmm…what’s taking us so long to figure this out in the church???
A Reading List
Church Consultants/Leaders
Bandy, Thomas. Fragile Hope: Your Church in 2020, Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2003.
Callahan, Kennon L. Effective Church Leadership: Building on the Twelve Keys,San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1997.
Chaffee, Paul. Accountable Leadership: A Resource Guide for Sustaining Legal, Financial, and Ethical Integrity in Today’s Congregations, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1997.
DePree, Max. Leadership Jazz, New York, NY: Currency Doubleday, 1992 (secular book by Christian businessman).
George, Carl & Warren, Bird. The Coming Church Revolution, Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1994.
Greenleaf, Robert K. et al. Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness, Paulist Press, 2002.
Herrington, Jim, et al. Leading Congregational Change. Jossey-Bass. 2000.
Hunter III, George G. Leading & Managing a Growing Church.Abingdon. 2000.
Hybels, Bill. Courageous Leadership, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002.
Kanyoro, Rachel Angogo & Musimbi Anogogo (editors). In Search of a Round Table: Gender, Theology, and Church Leadership. World Council of Churches. 1997.
Leas, Speed. Moving Your Church Through Conflict. Alban. 1985.
------. Discover Your Conflict Mangement Style. Alban. 1998.
Mitchell, Kenneth R. Multiple Staff Ministries. Westminster. 1988.
Nowen, Henri. In The Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. Crossroad. 1993.
Parks, Lewis & Bruce Birch. Ducking Spears, Dancing Madly: A Biblical Model for Church Leadership. Abdingdon. 2004.
Shawchuck, Norman & Heuser, Roger. Managing the Congregation: Building Effective Systems to Serve People, Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1996.
Smith, Fred & Goltz, David L. Leading with Integrity: Competence with Christian Character, Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 1999.
Webber, Rob. Visual Leadership: The Church Leader As Imagesmith. Abingdon. 2002.
Woolfe, Lorin. The Bible on Leadership: From Moses to Matthew – Management Lessons for Contemporary Leaders, AMACOM, 2002.
Organizational/Business Authors
Bolman, Lee G. & Deal, Terrence E. Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, And Leadership, 2nd Edition, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1997.
Burns, James MacGregor. Transforming Leadership: A New Pursuit of Happiness, New York, NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003.
Collins, Jim. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap. . .and Others Don’t, New York, NY: HarperBusiness, 2001.
Covey, Stephen R. Principle-Centered Leadership, New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1990 (1991).
Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink. Little, Brown, and Co. 2005.
Goleman, Daniel et al. Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002.
Heifetz, Ronald A. & Linsky, Marty. Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002.
Kotter, John P. Leading Change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1996.
Kouzes, James M. & Posner, Barry Z. The Leadership Challenge 3rd Edition, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2002.
Kroeger, Otto. Type Talk At Work (REVISED): How the 16 Personality Types Determine Success on the Job. Delta (paperback). 2002. (To take a free on-line version of the myers-briggs personality test, visit http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm)
Loehr, Jim & Schwartz, Tony. The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal, New York, NY: The Free Press, 2003.
Malone, Thomas W. The Future of Work. Harvard Business School. 2004.
Maxwell, John C. Developing the Leader Within You. 2nd Edition, Thomas Nelson, 2000.
Miller, Arthur F. Jr. The Power of Uniqueness: How to Become Who You Really Are, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999.
Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 2004
Sashkin, Molly G. & Sashkin, Marshall. Leadership That Matters: The Critical Factors for Making a Difference in People’s Lives and Organizations’Success, San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2003.
Schein, Edgar H. Organizational Culture and Leadership 2nd Edition, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1992 (1997).
Senge, Peter M. The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization, New York, NY: Doubleday, 1990.
Terry, Robert. Seven Zones for Leadership: Acting Authentically in Stability and Chaos, Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black Publishing, 2001.
Wheatley, Margaret J. Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World, San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 1999.
Wills, Gary. Certain Trumpets: The Nature of Leadership, New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
Emerging Church Leaders
Gibbs, Eddie. ChurchNext: Quantum Changes in How We Do Ministry. Intervarsity Press. 2000.
Kimball, Dan. 2003. The Emerging Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
McLaren, Brian. 2000. The Church on the Other Side. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
© Kelly A. Fryer, 2005. Edited 2007. Permission granted for noncommercial use. All other rights reserved. For more information, contact A.R.E.: A Renewal Enterprise at <http://www.arenewalenterprise.com/> .
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Comments on this Entry:
Kelly, this is stellar. Your assessment of church leadership brings into crisp focus what a huge numbers of our articles and resources at TransformingChurch.com have been approaching. Thank you for your precise work.
Posted by: Roger Ganzel at September 6, 2007 04:59 PM
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