Organizational Leadership: Foundations and Practices for Christians
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
Kingdom leadership does not begin and end at the church door. Christians are called to conduct leadership in government, commerce, schools, neighborhoods, families, para-church ministries and a myriad other contexts. God has given us many gifts, and our responsibility is to be stewards of those gifts, and use them to do the King’s work. In that context, this comprehensive text explores key facets of leadership from a Christian worldview so as to equip people to conduct leadership more authentically than would be possible under alternative paradigms. The book begins with the seldom considered theological foundations of leadership while also tracing the historic roots of management, organization and leadership theories. All of this leads to a robust discussion of five essential challenges and practices--communication, negotiation, decision-making, financial stewardship and personal development. The combined efforts of these experts in the field provide a practical theology of leadership from a Christian worldview for emerging and established leaders. Here is the foundation needed for those who want to conduct leadership in a manner consistent with their faith in both religious and nonreligious organizational contexts.
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- Explores key facets of leadership from a Christian worldview.
- Introduces the seldom considered theological foundations of leadership.
- Provides a robust discussion of five essential challenges and practices.
- Preface
- Section 1: Theological Foundations for Christian Leadership
- Chapter 1: Called to Lead: How do I Know?, Timothy G. Dolan
- Chapter 2: Leadership in the Context of a Christian Worldview, Gayne J. Anacker and John R. Shoup
- Chapter 3: Towards a Biblical Theology of Leadership, Rick Langer
- Section 2: Theoretical Foundations for Christian Leadership
- Chapter 4: The Leadership River: Historical Currents of Management and Leadership Theory, John S. (Jack) Burns
- Chapter 5: The Sea of Complexity: Emerging Understandings of Management, Leadership, and Organizations, John S. (Jack) Burns
- Section 3: Key Skills and Practices in Christian Leadership
- Chapter 6: A Christian Context for Interpersonal and Organizational Communication, Ronald K. Pyle
- Chapter 7: Conflict and Negotiation, John S. (Jack) Burns
- Chapter 8: Decision-Making Theory, Strategies and Skills, John R. Shoup, Chris McHorney
- Chapter 9: Christian Leadership and Financial Integrity: Temptation, Transformation and Transparency, R. Scott Rodin
- Chapter 10: Sustaining the Leader, Timothy G. Dolan
- PostScript
- Contributors
Does Christian faith have anything to contribute to understanding the theory and practice of leadership? Most assuredly, yes! This book offers a much-needed practical theology on organizational leadership, providing perspectives and principles for readers to be ‘salt and light’ and ‘as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves’ in their formal and informal leadership roles.
—J. Stanley Mattson, founder and president of the C. S. Lewis Foundation and director of the C. S. Lewis Study Centre at the Kilns, Oxford, England
What I love most about this book is its weaving of Scripture, devotion to Jesus Christ, leadership history and theory, and grounded experience. Its authors provide a marvelous resource that can be read both as a primer and as an advanced study in leadership that is biblically responsible, developmentally accessible, academically engaging and practically valuable.
—Mark Labberton, president, Fuller Theological Seminary
While the list of leadership books seems to grow almost daily, very few of them will offer the scope and the synthetic approach that this volume provides. The ten essays in this book will assist readers in visiting the broad landscape of the Christian leadership genre and in sampling the best of secular resources. I will be excited to put this book into the hands of my students.
—Jim Singleton, associate professor of pastoral leadership and evangelism, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary