We Need Leaders

Say it quietly, but lockdown had its plus side for readers. There were a number of books I got to read, which had been quietly rebuking me from the To Be Read pile. I notched up a Tolstoy, a Dostoyevsky and some Dante. A small tower of New Studies in Biblical Theology has eroded.

And yet, somehow the To Be Read pile has somehow grown taller still.  There are new areas of inquisitiveness, new sermon series to prepare, and those terrifying books which insist that they’re so important that they must be read.  First.  

Say it quietly, but lockdown had its plus side for writers, too. There have been fewer meetings, conferences, events.  It has been easier to rearrange blocks of sweet time for extended thought, and trying out how the words look in different order.  

Which means, right now, there is something of a glut.  They wrote.  And so they were published.

So why, knowing this, did I still push through with writing a book on Christian leadership, launching as lockdown eases?

Because many people would think that this must be quite a crowded market.  And it’s certainly true that if you find yourself in a Christian bookshop you’ll find more books in that area than you would for, say, the minor prophets.

But look more closely, and you’ll see why I thought it was possible to say something important, and relevant.

There are lots of how-to books, but they tend to be less well-developed in their theology. Great stories and quotes, but not integrated into the rounded life of a local church, with a rich biblical understanding.  And if they are models from megachurches as well, they don’t easily help the rest of us.

There are systematic theologies of ‘church’ (not so many on ‘leadership’), but they’re not the kind of thing you’d easily discuss over breakfast with your elders. Not if you were facing a budget crisis.

I can find lots on the priority of preaching, too - but they tend to leave the issue of application at an individual level, rather than a relational, corporate one.

And if I'm really honest, some of my favourite books on leadership weren’t written by Christians at all.

So, I wanted to plot a way through this maze.  Can we find a theology of leadership that is rich and biblical, co-ordinated with the way God speaks and acts? Is there a good way to learn from non-Christians, or is that the way of the world? How does leadership mesh with preaching - and is preaching leadership?

I think there’s a good path through, where preaching and leadership sit together with all the other ministries, to produce a healthy church life where we are ruled - together -  by God’s good Word. 

Chris's new book on leadership, The Gift, is available to order now. Below you'll find some other books he's written, edited and contributed to, to flesh out the kind of leadership he's talking about.