Ministry Leadership

"I'm tired of helping others enjoy God―I just want to enjoy God for myself." With this painful admission, Ruth Haley Barton invites us to an honest exploration of what happens when spiritual leaders lose track of their souls. Each chapter includes a spiritual practice to ensure your soul gets the nourishment it needs. Forging and maintaining a life-giving connection with God is the best choice you can make for yourself and for those you lead.

American Christianity tends to view disabled persons as problems to be solved rather than people with experiences and gifts that enrich the church. Churches have generated policies, programs, and curricula geared toward "including" disabled people while still maintaining "able-bodied" theologies, ministries, care, and leadership. Ableism--not a lack of ramps, finances, or accessible worship—is the biggest obstacle for disabled ministry in America.

Today, God is once again restoring His people and calling us to rise up and build. The story of Nehemiah speaks powerfully to this generation—teaching us to stand courageously, lead with wisdom, and work together in unity for the glory of God.

There are basic biblical principles for local churches in all times and cultural contexts. Stephen Gammon has studied this guidance throughout nearly five decades of ministry, growing up as a son and grandson of pastors, serving as an overseer of local churches, being a denominational leader and a military chaplain among diverse faith backgrounds, and through interdenominational connections regionally, nationally, and internationally. His life experiences have taught him that when church leaders know and apply basic and clear biblical principles of governance, positive results come.

In every position of power lies the potential for life-giving leadership or destructive corruption. Driven by sinful pride or opportunism, many people abuse their God-given influence, harming the ones they’re called to lead and contributing to an intense angst against authority. The answer to bad authority, however, is not no authority, but good authority—the kind that, according to Scripture, causes those under it to flourish. In this compelling guide from 9Marks, Jonathan Leeman shows that authority, done biblically, is not only good, but is essential to human flourishing.

Who are you when the teeth come out? For every true act of leadership, there is an equal and monstrous act of sabotage. Our leaders have been entirely routed by the agitated and the anxious. These emotional tyrannies manifest themselves in local libraries, HR cubicles, elder meetings, and at your Thanksgiving dinners.

While many aspects of leadership development are similar for women and men, women face different cultural expectations and have different experiences than their male counterparts. Anna Morgan's own experiences in pastoral ministry leadership launched her search for a holistic way to grow the skills, influence, and authority of women who are gifted and called as leaders. This book provides a positive, comprehensive research-based model for developing women in church and ministry leadership. Morgan identifies seven aspects of leadership development that form a woman over her lifetime.

Renowned Bible teacher and best-selling author Andrew Wommack reveals the ten key principles that changed his life and built a worldwide ministry. Using biblical examples and personal stories, he shows how these principles work for anyone who will trust God. They will help you reach your potential and fulfill the plans He has for your life.

Why do youth ministries crumble? And what is the cost to students, parents, volunteers and church staff? Is a sustainable youth ministry possible, even after a youth pastor leaves? Youth ministry expert Mark DeVries knows the answer is yes, because he helps build sustainable youth ministries through his coaching service called Youth Ministry Architects. So take heart: No matter what state the youth ministry at your church is in—in need of a leader and volunteers, full of battles and stress, large or small in number—it can be built to survive and to last for the long haul.

Logos Book of the Year. Meetings can sap our energy, rupture community and thoroughly demoralize us. They can go on forever with no resolution. Or they can rush along without consensus just to "get through the agenda." What if there was another way? Church boards and other Christian leadership teams have long relied on models adapted from the business world. Ruth Haley Barton, president of the Transforming Center, helps teams transition to a much more suitable model—the spiritual community that discerns God's will together.

After examining the lives of hundreds of historical, biblical, and contemporary leaders, Dr. J. Robert Clinton gained perspective on how leaders develop over a lifetime. By studying the six distinct stages he identifies, you will learn to recognize and respond to God's providential shaping in your life, determine where you are in the leadership development process, identify others with leadership characteristics, and direct the development of future leaders.

Leadership in Christian Perspective brings the best of leadership theory and research together with biblical reflection and examples of leadership in action. Organized around "nine empowering practices," it integrates solid research in leadership studies with biblical and theological reflection on the leadership ideas that are most compatible with Christian faith, making it an important resource for professors and students in leadership and pastoral theology courses, pastors and church leaders, and Christian business leaders.

Dangerous Calling reveals the truth that the culture surrounding our pastors is spiritually unhealthy—an environment that actively undermines the well-being and effectiveness of our church leaders and thus the entire church body. Here is a book that both diagnoses and offers cures for issues that impact every member and church leader, and gives solid strategies for fighting the all-important war that rages in our churches today.

Do you feel like you spend more time being a professional “fixer” than a spiritual leader? Are you struggling to rekindle the joy in your ministry? Do you feel called to “do things differently”, but are not sure what that means? Do you desire to step into your power, claim your strengths, and stop apologizing for having something world-changing to say?

In a world awash with leadership theories, workshops, and self-help formulas, why do so many leaders still falter under pressure? The Theology of Leadership offers a decisive answer: true leadership begins not with personality traits or management techniques, but with spiritual transformation. Drawing deeply from the riches of Orthodox Christian theology, Rev. Dn. Peter M. Danilchick presents a bold and refreshing vision of leadership grounded in obedience, integrity, service, sacrifice, and shepherding.

The Bible is clear that women as well as men are created in God's image and intended to serve him with their lives. But what does this look like for women in the church? Helping church leaders think through what a Bible-centered women's ministry looks like, this collection of essays by respected Bible teachers and authors such as Gloria Furman, Nancy Guthrie, and Susan Hunt addresses a variety of topics relevant to women.

For far too long, the church has tried to make disciples using a one-size-fits-all approach. Some churches advocate 1-on-1 discipling, others try getting everyone into a small group, while still others training through mission trips or service projects. Yet others focus all their efforts on...

If leadership is influence, then no leader has had greater influence on the world than Jesus Christ—and the distinct markers of His leadership style are practical, learnable skills that anyone can apply today. The Leadership Style of Jesus examines the strategies and actions modeled by Jesus and identifies eighteen principles of Christlike character every leader needs.

The Christian world has been rocked by the number of prominent leaders, in both church and parachurch organizations, who have been compromised by moral, ethical, and theological failures. This pace-setting volume addresses this alarming problem and offers Christian leaders valuable guidance in dealing with the inherent risks of their work.

These letters by a seasoned, influential pastor address a variety of ministry issues, as well as physical suffering, overcoming sin, learning to forgive, spiritual warfare, etc. We learn that a leader should be the chief servant and that right attitudes come only from a heart changed by an encounter with God.