ChristianWeek

For 23 years, the Leadership Network has tried to "identify, connect and help high-capacity Christian leaders multiply their impact."

In 1996, the Leadership Network partnered with Jossey-Bass, an imprint of John Wiley and Sons, to launch Leadership Network Publications. The series produces "thoroughly researched and innovative concepts" aimed at addressing one or more of the following areas of ministry: "enabling effective leadership; encouraging life-changing service; building authentic community; creating Kingdom-centered impact; and engaging cultural and demographic realities."

With over 20 titles already published, there is something of interest for everyone—leadership transition, spiritual disciplines, emergent church, missional leaders and technology, to name just a few.

For example, Brian Bailey's The Blogging Church: Sharing the Story of Your Church Through Blogs (Jossey-Bass, 2007) opens the door to a staggering opportunity for worldwide impact at very little expense. Large or small, any church can go online.

The Blogging Church is a field manual, enabling anyone with a computer and an internet connection to begin publishing online. Bailey explains the world of blogging and provides great counsel for how to go about creating and maintaining a blog.

However, before you decide to add blogging to your ministry toolbox, Bailey says, you must answer three questions: "Is it a tool or a toy? What problems are you trying to solve? What is the return on ministry?" If you have good answers for these three questions, then your ministry should seriously consider blogging. Both the novice and seasoned blogger will find useful material here.

Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders by Reggie McNeal (Jossey-Bass, 2006) dispels a number of myths about leadership. McNeal contends that greatness properly understood is within reach of every leader who is willing to practice seven disciplines: self-awareness, self-management, self-development, mission, decision-making, belonging and aloneness.

But doesn't the Bible speak against aspiring to greatness? "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6). If by greatness we mean pride, then we do have a problem, but as McNeal says, "greatness in the kingdom of God is a journey toward humility…greatness in the spiritual world cannot be pursued without cultivating God-consciousness." Without doubt, a growing awareness of God's presence yields a greater sense of humility.

Choose greatness

McNeal pleads with leaders to choose greatness because great leaders bless people. And perhaps most important of all, great leaders are "not just given to great issues; they are given to people." Just as God loves people, great leaders pour their lives into people.

The Elephant in the Boardroom: Speaking the Unspoken About Pastoral Transitions by Carolyn Weese and J. Russell Crabtree (Jossey-Bass, 2004) addresses a problem no church can avoid, yet few have prepared for. Sooner or later, the pastor will leave. Wise are those leaders who prepare for the inevitable.

Weese and Crabtree are seasoned consultants with many years of experience in assisting churches and organizations with leadership challenges. The book opens with a discussion of the principles, costs and partici-pants in healthy transitions. Do not skip this section!

Every church is unique, yet every church finds itself embracing one of four culture types: family, icon, archival or replication. In part two of this book, each cultural type is explored. Readers will find helpful guidelines for making pastoral transitions in each of these contexts.

Strategic planning, expectations for the next pastor and preserving ministries in the transition are covered along with strategy for handling a crisis transition plan. The book concludes with a questionnaire leaders can give to the congregation. Along with providing critical insight about the state of the congregation, this tool will guide leaders in developing a transition plan that will enable the ministry to continue during the interval between pastors.

Given the cross-denominational composition of the Leadership Network, readers should expect a broad range of views and philosophies of ministry. (Translation: You will neither like nor agree with every writer or title.) Nevertheless—and I write as one who would always choose a Don Carson over a Brian McLaren—I recommend this series as worthy of your attention because of the material covered and the quality of writing.

David Daniels is book reviews coordinator for ChristianWeek and leads the ministry of New Covenant House in Toronto.