Assessing the State of Pastoral Ministry
David McAllister-Wilson recommends Jackson Carroll’s book about pastoral excellence that draws from sociological research and interviews with pastors. “Tend your career with care. Take the…
Browsing: Leadership
Articles
No Solitary Leaders
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., reveals that Paul Revere was not a lone actor, but an organizer, connector, and motivator involving about 60 others in his…
Church Leadership Holds Much in Common with Gardening
Robert Martin likens church leadership to gardening because it requires knowledge of the climate, vision, and hard work. I could have kicked myself. There I…
Leaders Stay Connected
Margaret Marcuson discusses the tension between individuality and togetherness for church leaders using the metaphor of a string quartet. Leaders straddle the tension between togetherness…
Women Leaders Changing the Church
Mary Clark Moschella reviews Back Talk! by Susan Wilhauck which distills insights from feminist theories to articulate a bold strategy to change the church. Backtalk!…
Women and Leadership: New Ways of Thinking
Ann Michel discusses how decades of ordination of women has led to progress with regard to the understanding of women’s leadership, but challenges remain. This…
Leadership Multiplication and the Way of Jesus
Dwight Zscheile believes that developing leaders is a priority in churches today and he writes about several dimensions of the work of leadership development. The…
A Church That Feeds Body and Soul
Michele McGrath describes the process of leading a congregation in defining a vision that captured the church’s true passion and identity around feeding others. After…
“Who is the Greatest?” – The Perennially Wrong Leadership Question
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., writes that authority is not about status; it is about what God’s will is for each of us and how faithful…
A Better Preacher in Thirty Seconds
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., writes that effective church leaders are constantly finding opportunities to help people to see things about themselves. Giving someone recognition is…
Leading in the Wilderness: Thoughts on 21st Century Pastoral Identity
Dwight Zscheile outlines how the paradigm of pastoral leadership has changes over the centuries, suggesting that today’s leaders must reclaim the task of leading through…
From Faithful Ministry to Fruitful Leadership
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., discusses excellence in pastoral leadership in terms of character, competence, and contribution. These are necessary for fruitful leadership. “What is your…
Coaching New Leaders
Steward Perry describes a simple process of on-the-job coaching to help new deacons get familiar with the ministry of visitation. Getting new people involved in…
Building Community in Churches with High Turnover
Jim Somerville draws from his experience teaching at a college to find a helpful approach to the coming and going of church members. Many communities…
Servant Leadership: Jesus & Paul
Ann Michel reviews Efrain Agosto’s book which suggests Christian leadership involves core New Testament values — service, humility, love, justice, suffering and sacrifice. Efrain Agosto’s…
Knowing the Pathways of Congregational Life
Margaret Marcuson advises pastors to learn the history and familiar ways of a church before introducing change because the patterns of the past will have…
Lovett Weems Recommends Books by Peter Drucker
The Effective Executive, originally published 1967 and still available in many editions The forerunner of countless management books, The Effective Executive is the best-known and…
Leadership and Racism
Leadership requires us to declare that racism is wrong, and we must work constantly to confront it and end it, according to Lovett Weems, writing…
Fruitful Leadership for a Mission-Shaped Church
The church calls results-oriented leadership fruitful leadership because it bears the seeds of God’s future, says Wesley Seminary’s David McAllister-Wilson. The Bible is replete with…
Important Lessons My Congregation Helped Me Learn
Richard Hunter shares lessons learned about how his style in addressing a problem could divide or unify the church in a common goal. Several years…
Developing a Strategy for Your Congregation
In his book, Leading a Local Church in the Age of the Spirit, Bishop Jonathan Gledhill writes about the primacy of vision and strategy which, once…
The Church of the Good Air
Rhonda VanDyke Colby writes about the congregation at Bon Air United Methodist Church making an imaginative turn from the church’s history to its mission in articulating…
Prayer and Fasting Leads to a New Mission and a “Mission Prayer”
While pastor of a church started in a rapidly growing area, Peter Moon describes how prayer and fasting led his church to a renewed sense of mission,…
Ten Commandments for Pastors New to a Congregation
Lawrence W. Farris has written Ten Commandments for Pastors New to a Congregation, a guide for clergy in their early months and years in a…
Death by Meeting
John Winn finds useful advice for churches and synagogues in the book Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni. The title alone is…
Ducking Spears, Dancing Madly: A Biblical Model of Church Leadership
Lovett Weems reviews Ducking Spears, Dancing Madly: A Biblical Model of Church Leadership by Lewis A. Parks and Bruce C. Birch. The authors look at Saul,…
Moving Established Congregations through Change
Tom Berlin of Floris United Methodist Church in Herndon, Virginia, shares a six-step process for helping a congregation change. 1. Learn the story of the…
New Life for a 100-year-old Church
A pastor who went to a 100-year-old church in serious decline tells a story of renewal that came about by focusing on strengths not what’s…
Basketball Coaching and Leadership
Douglass Lewis finds five insights on leadership in Phil Jackson’s book about coaching the L.A. Lakers. Last Christmas I received a copy of Phil Jackson’s…
Demographics and Leadership
Lovett Weems offers the example of the Girl Scouts USA who understood that continued viability depends on adapting to changes in national demographics. A community…
