This paper is an attempt to do the impossible. In a handful of pages, I will dig into the Bible to build a theology of leadership, look at history to see important influences on the pastoral vocation, and build a personal structure for my call to the pastorate. Fittingly, this paper faces many of the challenges of ministry. The job description is massive in scope, the resources are scant, and the hope for success lies squarely on the work of the Spirit.
Before I begin building this theology, let me talk about myself for a moment. It is important for us all that we location in this conversation is clear. I grew up in a tight-knit, conservative, evangelical family. My father was an officer in the Coast Guard and my mother was mostly a stay-at-home mom. We moved often and that meant that there were many church communities we called home. There were many similarities in the churches we joined including a suburban setting, a strong commitment to the Bible, an emphasis on personal transformation and holiness, conservative politics, and congregational governance. The differences included churches on a spectrum from very charismatic to very rational, churches that were community minded and churches that were very insulated, and churches that were located across the country from Maryland to St. Louis to Seattle.
From a young age, I was deeply involved in the community of faith and that swiftly led me into leadership in the church. My sense of rootedness in the church and my success in children and student ministry leadership, led me to Seattle Pacific University to pursue training in theology and educational ministry, and from there to my first call in vocational ministry as a student pastor at Kent Covenant Church where I served for e...
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We recently had a church meeting to articulate changes that will affect the church’s future. This chapter came in handy because I was able to engage the congregation by asking the necessary questions to get their buy-in before actually setting the change in stone. Although I ready to implement the change, it was not executed until the congregation saw it the benefits and rewards. This practice is not always the best way, because time may or may not allow it.
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Toward the end of his book, Hunter shares a phrase with a similar intent of the four domains of Blanchard and Hodges. He writes: “Thoughts become actions, actions become habits, habits become our character, and our character becomes our destiny.” (Hunter, 1998, p. 167). With this quote in mind, Hunter affirms Blanchard and Hodges’s perspective of servant leadership. Both authors concur that by centering one’s life on the love of Jesus Christ, servant leadership will come naturally. When a leader puts their own selfish needs aside and places their trust in God, they will be empowered to spread Christ’s light to all those they meet. Leading in this way mirrors the way Jesus led because it calls for service as a way of
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It is apparent that the issues are similar at Willow Creek and New Hope, as both have experienced great growth. They are addressing these issues by adding additional services and by assignment of small groups or small ministries to meet their congregation's needs. They have been successful in addressing the issue based on each church's individual needs. Willow Creek has added services to accommodate the service seekers or the un-churched. New Hope attempts to match congregation member's needs through joining auxiliaries or other ministries of the church.
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 ... ...
In the book, Churches, Cultures and Leadership, the co-author Mark Lau Branson mentions a quote by the theologian Pat Keifert. The quote claims that we do not learn anything from “experience” but that “one learns only from experience one reflects upon and articulates.” He proposes five questions that are relative to the aforementioned claim and are categorized as practical theology. Michael Dash and Christine Chapman in the book The Shape of Zion, point out that the work of effective pastors is based on the challenge to “give the work of congregational development back to people without abandoning them.” The paper will focus on answering the claim by a German pastor and theologian named Dietrich Bonhoeffer “the group is the womb
Young, D. S. (1999). Servant Leadership for Church Renewal: Sheperds By the Living Springs. Scottdale: Herald Press.
Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity. 2nd ed. New York City, NY: HarperOne, 2010.