Leadership In Christian Education

Book Description: The collective work of twenty Christian leaders known for their expertise in Christian education, this book is an up-to-date, comprehensive resource on Christian education, with the emphasis on making disciples as Jesus instructed. This volume addresses spiritual formation for all age groups and gives guidance on how to develop an effective church discipleship ministry. The book shows church leaders how to provide for the spiritual formation of all age groups, including people with special needs, who are often neglected. The aim of the book is to forge a strong connection between what happens on Sunday and how people live every day. The goal is discipleship, stressing how to develop a congregation that is on mission rather than merely a group of people who convene on Sundays. The book contains a strong emphasis on missions as an integral part of church identity and activity. Church leadership must provide ways for growing and encouraging disciples in being on a mission for Christ. At the core of the book is Jesus' command to his disciples, including church leaders today, "Go . . . and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20, NASB). As we enter the third millennia of the Christian church, church leaders must learn and practice ways to truly obey Jesus' command. This comprehensive book provides guidance and inspiration for doing that. The Christian leaders who authored this resource also point to the urgent need to equip and involve lay people in all the work of the church. The authors call for church leaders to involve church members in planning, decision-making, and action rather than to promote, on purpose or by default, a spectator mentality. Citing Ephesians 4:11-12, the authors emphasize that a church's staff members exist to equip and deploy all believers in the mission and ministry of Christ. The book stresses guiding Christian leaders to move their church from a school-with-pews mentality to a place that heeds the biblical call to develop disciples. Instead of just maintaining members, church leaders must focus on making disciples in order for their congregation to be on a mission as a vibrant force for change in their community and around the world. WHO NEEDS THIS BOOK? University and seminary professors will find this volume a good choice for a textbook for preparing ministers for church ministry. It will also be a valuable tool for pastors, general staff leaders, and practitioners for the various age group staff and key volunteer leaders in the local churches.

Leadership in Christian Education explores three critical issues that Christian Education administration should focus upon: strategic thinking skills, leadership skills, and people skills. This book will provide help for church leaders in general, and specifically Christian education leaders, on how to differentiate between a growing church and a healthy church, the difference between sacred leadership (church leaders) and secular leadership (business leaders), and how to create a sense of urgency before an emergency. This book will prove to be a contemporary guide and ready resource on Christian education administration.

Leadership in Christian Education explores three critical issues that Christian Education administration should focus upon: strategic thinking skills, leadership skills, and people skills. This book will provide help for church leaders in general, and specifically Christian education leaders, on how to differentiate between a growing church and a healthy church, the difference between sacred leadership (church leaders) and secular leadership (business leaders), and how to create a sense of urgency before an emergency. This book will prove to be a contemporary guide and ready resource on Christian education administration.

Explores the idea of leadership in our culture today and in the past through theological evaluation, theory and practice, and examples of exemplary leaders.

If you are conscious but doubtful of the ubiquitous phraseology used to commend and present graduates of post-secondary education and boldly printed on the diplomas issued to adjudge their success usually proclaiming: "Found worthy in character and learning", then this book will be of immense interest. The disturbing distortion and crisis exhibited in the meaning and sense of Leadership as a subject has mainly provided adequate room for semantic gallantry in the effort to understand why Leadership must be perceived and situated within its proper purview. The culture of fragmentation and individualistic approach to life in what we generally agree to be today's civilized society has further denied learners, teachers and practitioners of leadership the opportunity to steer the general population in the right direction. The future thus seems to appear blurred or rather opaque in the minds of the new generation as to the need to appreciate as well as recognize the growth and continuity of the society with genuine love and compassion. The book features a multi-dimensional exploration of what Leadership means while highlighting why a rethink has become necessary in its definition for the benefit of today's world for both the old and the young. It also offers succinctly a direct display of the foundation and origin of Leadership to the reader thus making it worth his while. Amadi Osondu, who holds a doctorate degree in education with specialty in Christian Education has garnered several years of experience as a teacher at elementary, secondary and college levels. His multi-discipline educational background and training in the US includes a bachelor's degree in Accounting, an MBA as well as a Master of education degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, provided him the robust base and advantage to also practice in the business world where he served as an Accountant with a publicly quoted company with offices in New York and New Jersey. Dr. Osondu also plied his trade overseas for more than two decades in both the public and the private sectors of the economy. He presently lives in Houston, Texas.