Congregational Life Centre
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effective in their ministry
Leadership for Today - A Review & Reflection
By Monica Rosborough
This
book challenges church leaders to focus on helping their congregation to
follow its strengths and answer the call to be God's partner in mission
to the wider community. Once they have done that and stopped trying to block
the Spirit, God becomes a partner to be dialogued with, not an ancient superstition
to be locked in a closet and ignored like some distant cousin with poor
social skills.
The book examines church growth and leadership from an unusual perspective, not "what would Jesus do?" but what leadership styles and actions did Jesus demonstrate and implement in his short time of ministry. Somehow Jesus took 11 men (and some women, too!) and trained them into a core group of leaders who would not only survive persecutions but strike out into unknown territory, training new leaders and providing the basis for long-term sustainability in a program that revolutionized the societies it encountered, regardless of the costs to the leaders themselves.
The authors bring a wide range of experience to their writing. They have wide experience as church consultants and it is truly heartening to read the stories of congregations conquering their challenges. They talked to many leaders, asking what worked, what didn't, when mistakes were helpful, and when they were not. Throughout, the message is one of the need to listen and to reflect.
Eight aspects of Jesus' leadership are identified and we are given biblical stories that show Jesus using them. Jesus was spiritual, visionary, flexible, story-based, team-based, courageous, action-oriented, and authentic. Each of these is fully fleshed-out and explored in depth. At the end of each chapter there are reflections that lend themselves to group discussion, questions like, "If church leaders need to spend 80% of their time developing relations with others, what will you stop doing to make that time available?" I could see using this book as a study for potential leaders, and using the questions to facilitate group learning.
One of my favorite quotes was on what congregations had in mind when they talked about revitalizing their churches:
Initially people often ask us to help them grow, by which they mean "fill the sanctuary with people who will do what we are too old and tired to do and donate money to solve our budget crunch." What they need to hear is that growth comes only as we meet people's needs. The vampire school of evangelism - we need fresh blood in our congregation - does not work.
I had often heard that sentiment before from other congregations, but to hear it labeled as a vampiristic way of looking at recruitment was surprising. At first I chuckled, but then I realized that this is a serious problem our churches need to address. If newcomers are pounced on like the innocent traveler in a Bram Stoker vampire novel, they only become drained to the point of death. They in their turn look for a new victim to drain of their life, their blood, their enthusiasm.
Church should be about giving life, not taking it. Metaphors like this lead to an instant jump in understanding and make paradigm shifts much more compre-hensible. It also increases the chance that people will buy in to the idea that we should not immediately try to integrate newcomers into committee work as soon as they express an interest in church. However, the problem remains: how do we deal with the reality of shrinking congregations in a rapidly diversifying society?
This question comes up again and again throughout the book, and if it weren't for the rich selection of anecdotes from churches and leaders I would question the authors' conviction that there is hope for our struggling denomination. However, I have been to some of the congregations named and seen youth groups of twenty kids and worship space that is jam-packed with people. Lively worship and strong welcomes are becoming something seen not just in evangelical churches, but in the United Church as well. I know some of the leaders quoted in this book, such as Ross Smillie and Jope Langejan. This adds a sense of reality and possibility to what otherwise might seem like a fairy tale of optimistic hype.
It is one thing to look at the theory of congregational renewal; it is quite another thing to realize that the church next door has successfully transitioned into a mission-driven place. As a leader, I shift from the question, "is it possible to revive my church" to "what do I need to do to make this happen?" Renewal is not just a pipedream but a calling, a responsibility or even duty to God to take this church that has been entrusted to me and encourage it to grow into a healthy thriving community.
Monica Rosborough is a candidate for the United Church ministry and is currently a member of the staff of Chalmers-Castle Downs United Church in Edmonton.
Leadership for Today:Putting Jesus' Model to Work for You by Clair Woodbury and Joyce Madsen is available from the Congregational Life Centre, Edmonton for $24.95.
NOW available as an electronic download for Amazon Kindle from for $11.95. To purchase, go to the Kindle Store at www.Amazon.com/kindle and search in Kindle Books either by book title or author. If you don't have a Kindle, the Kindle Store has a free software download to turn your PC into a Kindle book reader. We have it on our PC and it works very well. This is also an inexpensive way to see if the Kindle would work for you.
Congregational Life Newsletter. February 2010. Volume 16 No. 3.