Book Review: Church Leadership

Information about the book

Weems, Lovett H. Church Leadership, Revised Edition.  Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2010. (Cokesbury / Amazon)

Summary

From the back of the book:  In this Revised edition of the class work on leading congregations, Lovett Weems draws on the best new ideas and research in organizational leadership, yet always with his trademark theological grounding foremost in mind.  Anyone who guides the life of a congregation be they clergy or laity, will find Church Leadership an indispensable took with which to follow their calling to be a church leader.

This was one of the books assigned to the Conference CLM class I am teaching.  The group found it to be one of their favorite books of the 10 we are reading together. 

The book is structured in four parts: Vision, Team, Culture, and Integrity.  He speaks of leadership as a channel of God's grace and a gift from God.

Impressions

I would highly recommend this book.  Parts that especially appealed to me were:

1. The excellent descriptions and clarity around what leadership actually is.  "Genuine leadership is always values driven leadership."  There is an excellent section about authority and its source.
2. The vision chapter is especially well done, and as I read it, I was already applying it to our ministry where I work and to the churches we serve.
3. Our CLM class had a good discussion with a guest speaker regarding culture - how to respect the "culture" of a church as you enter its ministry.
4. The chapter about integrity is well done and would be useful for anyone in leadership.

To summarize, all of the book is good, well written, and helpful in ministry.  Two thumbs up!