The Missional Leader by Roxburgh and Martinez, has become one of my favorite reads so far in this class. It speaks to my sensibilities around reframing systems and organizations. Especially in the church. Albeit, I am still working in the medical field, as a new intern in a UMC church, I am finding a lot of positive examples to take away from this book that I am already seeing in my church site. The key words that stood out for me when interviewing with my supervising pastor was (and is) experimentation and creativity. As a church that is reframing itself, what a wonderful proactive way to look at your rebuild. At this time of history as we redefine church wihin the UMC denomination, how else can we possibly frame it? We have to be creative! We have to address the …show more content…
Folks are still grieving what was as two separate congregations (and they need to be allowed to lament), but a very apparent bubbling up of something new and dynamic. “It is emergent in the sense that it’s experimenting and discovering fresh ways of being God’s missionary people”. (Roxburgh/Martinez 41) Similarly, Churches, Cultures and Leadership by Branson and Martinez, had some wonderful gems of wisdom around leadership and church formation. “While there are numerous personal and societal forces that work against God’s initiatives, we believe that the primary call on churches, as we worship and study and serve and witness, is to live into that call as “sign, foretaste, and instrument” of God’s reconciling love”. (Branson/Martinez 61) Living Spirit serves free supper every Wednesday evening for the surrounding community. As the above aforementioned quote intimates, this is what it means to share the reconciling love of God. For a place that is small and still trying to get its land legs, is showing strong leadership and compassion by providing a good, healthy meal without requiring any
Part 1: Establishing Your Ministry Identity The first chapter “The First 100 Days” is one of the main things I wish I knew when
The thesis of the book Deep and Wide by Adam Stanley is simply put as making a church that the unchurched can’t resist to attend. This book may cause controversy in some Christian circles by leaving a traditional church view of the church’s purpose being for the churched, however, in this paradigm shift Stanley presents that the church’s purpose should be to reach the unchurched in order for people to receive the Gospel that would never step foot into a traditional church. Stanley has shown results with this mission and method by North Point Churches growth from its start with him as a church planter and senior pastor. Deep and Wide challenges the pastor to refocus and seriously convict them
I agree with Kitchens, Mead, and Roxburgh who all basically say in their own way that one change in ministry that we need to focus on more is the congregational life of the church. However, I think Mead explains it best when he says that the future church must be more intentional in the spiritual formation of its laity (Mead, location 919). According to Mead, the church is moving towards becoming a more missional institution that cares for the needs of the community. Therefore, oftentimes laity will be the ones on the front lines and will need the capacity to minister to people on their own without the help of clergy. In order to do this they will need more directed and intensive training to deal with...
Kelley, R.E. (1988). In Praise of Followers. In Wren, J.T. (Ed.). (1995). The Leader’s Companion (pp. 193-204). New York: Simon & Schuster.
This paper will profile Jeff Hawkins, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for PalmOne, Inc. examining qualities that Mr. Hawkins exhibits that make him influential leader. The paper will also examine details of the business strategy that make this man an exceptional innovator and his contribution to eBusiness technology.
The case studies on Willow Creek discussed several issues that were addressed by the leadership. Those issues included burnout of the leadership, overloaded ministries, and the need to expand the buildings for a growing membership. Willow Creek tackled the leadership burnout issue by sharing the teaching duties among several teaching pastors. The explosive growth of the church brought about additional issues such as overloaded ministries and a need for more physical space. The overstressed ministries were relieved by restructuring the leadership over the ministries. This restructuring brought about a means of organically producing additional leaders within the ministries themselves.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon explained there is nothing new under the sun, so it should not surprise anyone that many times that which appears to be new was conceived earlier. As the body of knowledge enlarges in a particular discipline, that expansion sometimes bumps into something previously revealed. Great men and women from times past have provided a very rich source of material for the development of theology of leadership. These individuals applied godly principles to form deep, yet practical theologies, sometimes even during the darkest periods of human history. Two of these individuals were Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Mother Teresa, whose theologies of leadership contributed greatly to shaping the concept of God-centered leadership. Their efforts resonate throughout the church today, and impact church leaders around the world.
Although written for church leadership, everyday church members would also benefit from understanding the concepts that Dawn is directing at God-empowered leaders. Ms. Dawn's work is predominantly scholarly, and she cites several other works at great length.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Satterlee Anita. (2013), Organizational Management and Leadership: A Christian Perspective. 2Ed. Synergistics International Inc. Raleigh, NC
Young, D. S. (1999). Servant Leadership for Church Renewal: Sheperds By the Living Springs. Scottdale: Herald Press.
The first book of Timothy describes a lot of essential management capabilities that any Christian Leaders should live by. By getting into the scriptures, and living by it individuals will soon see that as an innovator you have made positive changes because it will be obvious in the fruits that comes out of your life.
Bolger, Ryan & Gibbs, Eddie. Emerging Churches: Creating Christian community in postmodern cultures (Grand Rapids, MI) Baker Academic, 2005
His church is a “good sized” suburban church that has been around for 295 years. He describes the parishioners as having a “broad tent” of theological views. This congregation is open to new ideas and re-visiting the old. They appear to be carrying out intentional missional work in their community
Growth is key and greater essence in ministry but it comes through hard work and humility. The pastor/leader must admit in humility of his/herself-weaknesses and be prepared to change for the better. Seek divine counseling from those who have gone ahead of you in ministry, precisely your spiritual fathers and mothers as well as spiritual mentors. These are people who love you, and always pray for your success in ministry. I have personally been positively impacted by the chapter on professionalism in ministry as I was exposed to the private, professional, and public lives of the minister. Kathy Howard’s ten characteristics of a blameless life touched my heart. Even though I was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write this timely book, I equally had my fair share of its content. It takes a life of humility to read such a book because it comes at you right in the face like a mirror, indeed, it is a spiritual mirror to expose, encourage, and challenge all ministers for productive