Years ago, I was assigned to a ministry leadership role in my church. Taking the assignment very seriously, I was in a heated search for resources written by Christian leaders to help me shape and form my leadership style. I needed a solid Christian leadership book – Ideally one for Christian women leaders.
An Equitable Leader
I wanted those who labored with me in ministry to feel empowered, free, and comfortable in their choice to serve.
As a result of my search, I found books by corporate author Raymond Burby. Although he didn’t write from a Christian perspective, he actually taught me the value of being a peripheral leader.
I wanted to lead from a stance of shared power vs dictatorial leadership where people are simply told what to do.
We’re a team. Get with it! I’ve read Christian leadership book! C’mon!
Many people are not comfortable with this method of leading because it was (and is) in direct contrast to the traditional leadership approach.
Through the years, I’ve learned that only people who feel empowered and have strong personal identities thrive with peripheral leadership styles.
People with limited ability or who are insecure seem to prefer to be directly told what to do and micro-managed. Have you noticed this? Maybe there needs to be a Christian leadership book about that.
I also read books on team-building.
Did you know it can take existing groups up to nine months to bond with a new leader? I guess it’s like a process of learning the team learning the leader and the leader learning the needs of the team.
A Smart Leader?
A wise leader is tentative in action and cultivates relationships with the team. This way she/he can allow the group to organically form into a high-functioning unit. Again, it takes a productive group of people to operate in such a style. That’s why you have to pick your team carefully.
Let’s face it, some groups are higher maintenance and require a great deal of hand-holding. If you are leading such a group (or if even if you’re not) you will be blessed by Laurie Beth Jones’ book, Jesus CEO.
Have you heard of Laurie Beth Jones? She is a well-known author in the areas of Christian leadership development. I was thrilled when I happened upon her book.
OMG! It is awesome!
Written from the Christian perspective, it is an easy read and intellectual savvy. It gives a fresh perspective on Jesus and how he interacted with the people he led.
Jones does a stellar job of assessing, examining, and communicating the Lord’s leadership methodology in a free-flowing format.
She also discusses how Je managed groups, temperaments, and how he took care of himself as a leader. You must get this book!
I’ll go so far as to say every Christian leader should read “Jesus CEO”. You won’t be disappointed.
I am an Amazon affiliate. But, I owned this book long before.
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I have this book! my husband picked it up a few years ago and loved it, and I have yet to read it, but now it is on my MUST read list to read SOON, very soon, as I am working on some leadership things that this knowledge will come in handy….thanks Teri!
So has my husband. His library is incredibly vast. He just loves knowledge.
I’m so glad to hear that Chris’ school is cutting-edge. He’ll find those tools useful.
I bet you’ve found youth development research useful in ministry and life.
Knowledege is power! (I sound like an afterschool special) LOL
Hey Teri,
Chris had found corporate leadership books to be very useful in church leadership. He’s now working on his D-Min in Congregational Leadership and part of it involves some courses at the Kellogg School of Business. So, I think this is a really important topic. You are so right about relationship building! You have to invest in your people!