Organic Leadership: Leading Naturally Right Where You Are
Overview
What are the weeds that hinder the natural growth of godly leadership? Are programs, people, and money truly the signs of a successful church? Where can you find an unlimited source of leaders? How do you mentor leaders so that they multiply? In Organic Leadership, Neil Cole asks these questions and more, boldly challenging many of the ideas about leadership and church life that we all take for granted. Then he reveals how to grow leaders that multiply naturally.
Perfect for students, pastors, church leaders, and laypeople alike, the Logos edition of this volume is fully searchable and easily accessible. Scripture passages link directly to your favorite Bible translation, and important theological concepts link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of resources in your digital library.
- Challenges traditional ideas of leadership
- Presents ideas on how to grow leaders who will naturally spread leadership
- Section One: The Counterfeit Kingdom of Outside In
- On Being Institutionalized
- Slaves Are Made in Such Ways
- Pharisaism Today
- Still in the Dark Ages
- Bound by the Chain of Command
- Viewing Life through Faulty Lenses
- Parasites on the Body of Christ
- Section Two: The Inside-out Kingdom
- The Secret Source of Leaders
- Organically Grown Leaders
- Leadership Success
- Section Three: The Upside-down Kingdom
- The New “Up” Is “Down”
- Lead, Follow, and Get Out of the Way
- Downwardly Mobile
- Incarnational Leadership
- Section Four: The Side-by-Side Kingdom
- Knowledge Is Not Power
- The Secret to Leading Leaders
- Wax On and Wax Off
- Catalysts for Real Change
- Section Five: The Plugged-in Kingdom
- Embrace Death as If Your Life Depends on It
- Jesus and the Man-Purse
Top Highlights
“It is dangerous when the institution becomes the leader’s source of identity and purpose.” (Page 34)
“To many, if you do not come to the Sunday service, you are abandoning church. But that is not the truth. No one in the Bible attended such a church. Church is much more than a once-a-week service.” (Page 68)
“Pharisaism is when nonbiblical religious traditions, upheld by professional religious leaders, become at least as important as scriptural commands and practices.” (Page 69)
“Let me just state it clearly: attending a church service is not the same as being a church family. The church, according to the New Testament, means being involved with one another in an open, vulnerable, and interactive relationship. There is not a single biblical command to attend Sunday morning worship services the way we insist on today. It just isn’t there, and the verses that are used to support the idea are used out of context.” (Page 65)
“We simply must move from seeing church as a religious event to seeing it as a spiritual family. Without this context, this soil, leadership will emerge deformed—mutated by corrupt views of church and mission.” (Page 63)
It has been a very long time since I’ve read a book on leadership that moved me. Neil takes the person, the context, and God’s Word, and mixes them in a powerful way for a life of leadership.
—Bob Roberts Jr., senior pastor, Northwood Church, Keller, TX
Organic Leadership will trouble you—but more importantly, it will challenge you. And you should read it because the church could use some troubling and a new challenge.
—Ed Stetzer, visiting professor of research and missiology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
A prophetic call for a more discipleship-based, grassroots, and inspirational form of leadership in our time.
—Alan Hirsch, founding director, Forge Mission Training Network
You will find insights and tools to help you and your church expand your kingdom reach.
—Bob Buford, founder, Leadership Network
Neil Cole is the founder and executive director of Church Multiplication Associates, an organization that has helped catalyze the start of more than one thousand churches around the world. He is seen by many to be one of the key founders of what is known as the organic- or simple-church movement. Cole is the author or coauthor of several books, including Search & Rescue, and Cultivating a Life for God.