Deus Misereatur

Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence For Every Believer by J. Oswald Sanders My rating: 3 of 5 stars Sanders addresses the subject of leadership for congregations and on the mission field. His chapters are saturated with examples and anecdotes, as well as biblical examinations, exhortations and exegesis. The author draws from a wide variety of sources from John Wesley to Charles Finney to A.W. Tozer to Charles Hodge. His focus is sometimes on any leadership position within a church or Christian organization. At other times, he is zeroing in on Pastors of a congregation. The chapters are normally short (4 pages), though others are more extended (8 pages). But the reading is not heavy, as much as it is devotional and geared to reflection. This book might be a good resource for a leadership retreat. As a matter of fact, our elders and deacons are reading it in preparation for a retreat in late 2016. It is a worthwhile read. View all my reviews

The Keys of the Kingdom “ And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven ”” (Matthew 16.18-19). As I prepare for this Sunday morning’s sermon, I struggled with how to explain what Jesus is promising he will give to Peter and the Church the “keys of the Kingdom” (Matthew 16.19). In the present situation in the church in North America, we don’t often talk about the keys of the Kingdom, either because the subject is no longer important to a voluntarist country with voluntarist churches, or because we don’t understand the subject very well, or because it sounds too Roman Catholic, or a combination of all three. So what are the keys of the Kingdom? First off keys are about opening doors, and locking them shut; making things accessible and...

Teams That Thrive: Five Disciplines of Collaborative Church Leadership by Ryan T. Hartwig My rating: 4 of 5 stars It would be pretty safe to say that most Christian congregations are led or driven by some form of leadership team. Even in churches directed by a lone pastor there is very likely a body of people who in some way, formally or informally, participate in his or her leadership. Further, from my own experiences and conversations with fellow ministers, I think it is pretty normal that a majority of parish parsons would like to see the leadership team (Session, parish council, vestry, board of elders, etc.) become more efficient and effective. Ryan Hartwig, Ph.D., associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Azusa Pacific University, and Warren Bird, Ph.D., director of research and intellectual capital support for Leadership Network, have pulled together a plan to aid church leadership teams in becoming more competent and capable. It’s all found in their new 2...