Pastoral Leadership

Christ's sheep need shepherding. That's where you come in. With more than 60 years of ministry between them, Harold Senkbeil and Lucas Woodford have come to understand that everything in ministry--even administration, leadership, and planning--revolves around the ancient tradition of the care of souls. Pastors are entrusted with the care of a flock by the Good Shepherd and are called to be faithful to this task. But pastoring seems to be getting more and more difficult. Based on a sound theological framework, Senkbeil and Woodford present a set of practical tools for church leadership and strategy. Calling on their vast experience, they encourage pastors to protect, guide, and feed their flock as Jesus would, bridging the eternal wisdom of the word of God with the everyday practicality of hands-on leadership. Originally published as Church Leadership & Strategy, this revision includes a new chapter and litany.

Dozens of brief yet powerful entries for pastors about what it really means to be on-mission, spiritual warriors who lead the local church from a biblical point of view instead of a modern traditional one.

Sixteen respected men and women of God apply the biblical view of manhood and womanhood in areas that concern pastors-from the personal to the practical.

Focusing on pastoral leadership within local churches or groups of churches, Derek Tidball provides a comprehensive survey of the variety of ministry models and patterns found in the New Testament with applications for today's ministry.

In ascending to heaven, Jesus Christ gave the church the Great Commission to expand the gospel to all nations. Despite this biblical commission, it is still an unfinished task. As leaders of local churches, pastors play a crucial part in this endeavor. Pastoral leadership principles have varied widely throughout history, yet it is interesting to discover the similarities between pastoral leadership principles practiced by John Chrysostom (AD 347-407) in Antioch and Constantinople, and Won Sang Lee (1937-) in Washington, DC. Despite ministering 1600 years apart, both pastors share the same core values: care for people, Christ-like character, biblical preaching, and world missions. This suggests that continued emphasis on these principles will play a significant role in fulfilling the Great Commission, independent of time and place.

This book provides a model, based on Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, to help pastors lead in a manner that brings lasting change and maturity to congregational members. The project addresses the need for pastors to move beyond a transactional mindset to a transformational approach to leadership, and it provides a model for them to follow. Tim Gregory grounds the call to transformational leadership in a close reading of Paul, drawing out multiple dimensions of what that leadership should strive to develop in a faith community.

Pastoral Leadership Is . . . presents in dozens of brief yet powerful chapters a practical, Bible-based, and highly readable guide to leading the local church. This guidebook to the great adventure of being a pastor follows the directions God gave Moses in order to effectively shepherd Israel: Pray, Teach and Preach, Lead and Multiply. Believing the western world has traded the biblical model of pastoral leadership in favor of a traditional one, author Dave Earley writes to encourage pastors to become the spiritual warriors, missional leaders, and multiplying mentors God calls them to be. Each compelling entry is set up to finish the sentence that begins with the book’s title. For example, Pastoral Leadership Is . . . “Abandoning Your Life to the Call of God,” “Following Paul’s Example in Praying for Your Flock,” “Cooperating with the Holy Spirit,” “Leading a Church Full of Leaders,” “Resolving Conflict,” and more. Expecting a revolution, Earley says, “Instead of letting traditional church culture tell you who a pastor is and what he is to do, let God tell you through the Bible.”

For many congregations, change creates discomfort. Pastoral leaders are often expected to be experts who manage and control realities beyond their expertise, experience, and ability. That expectation, a product of modern approaches to leadership, views the pastor as responsible for maintaining the status quo. Transforming Pastoral Leadership responds to this context by challenging readers to rediscover key biblical themes around the shepherding metaphor as well as key theological themes steeped in our historical faith narratives. Readers are challenged to consider the origins of our dominant leadership practices and to reconsider how Christ's preeminence as the leader of his church requires us to reconstruct leadership practices that are faithful to his preeminence. To assist congregations, Transforming Pastoral Leadership suggests two processes that might help congregations discern God's missional promptings as they move forward into God's future and experience conflict as opportunities for transformation.