In this new section of this web site, you will find suggested resources - books, articles, web site's, seminars, conferences, etc - to help you grow in the practice of leadership.
Leadership - Clergy and Lay - is central and prerequisite if churches are to come back to the mission God has given you!
Discouraged? Thinking that it is impossible for your church to be the church God wants it to be?
Pray!
Get to better know Christ.
Lead out of a renewed attitude of servanthood!
Read and Reflect
Suggestion from a pastor: Comeback Churches: How 300 Churches Turned Around and Yours Can Too! Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson, (B & H Publishing:Nashville)
Another suggestion: The Truth About Leadership: The No-Fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know, James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
Here is one of John P. Kotter's: Buy In: Saving Your Good Idea from Being Shot Down by John P. Kotter and Lorne A. Whitehead.
Disciples lead. Leading requires learning - God, about yourself, and about what it takes to be a leader. What have you learned about being a leader lately?
As pastors, we have been encouraged to consider a number of ways to increase our learning.
- Read God's Word and Pray
- Read and reflect on other Christian leaders' writings (sermons, included)
- Pursue continuing education seminars, workshops, etc.
- Consider, as a church leader, what learnings would help you be more of a help to your church and to your pastor.
- When your pastor invites you to be part of a small group that is participating in a seminar such as one offered by the Great Rivers Region, accept the invitation.
- Consider, after a few years of pastoring, a D. Min. or other graduate degree
- Center for Excellence in Congregational Leadership
Before you choose any of these, seek out God's help to discern your gifts - active and latent. Then, with God, outline a plan for your development as a leader. (And, when God causes a teacher to connect with you as Moses found in his father-in-law, accept it as a gift.) Then you will be more intentional and more likely to choose the activities and courses that will best develop you as a leader.
Don't forget to seek out a mentor. There are many experienced and wise church leaders and pastors from whom you could learn much. Knowledge accumulation does not yield wisdom; discerned use of that knowledge does when that discernment comes by the direction of God's Spirit.
That leaves the most challenging act of all: Get started!