Browse Content: Books/Media

Leadership Bookshelf: An Annotated Bibliography

(FASTEN, 2007)

Resource Type: brief annotated bibliography

Audience: Church and ministry leaders wanting an introduction to a few key books regarding leading church-based transformational community ministries

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·  The Intentional Church:  Moving from Church Success to Community Transformation, Randy Pope (Moody, 2006)

Pastor Randy Pope from PerimeterChurch in Atlanta offers The Intentional Church, a book that guides churches to critical self-evaluation, Christ-centered mission, and mature leadership.  Pope’s central theme is helping churches become a “transformational church” – a church that follows Jesus’ call to engage in active spiritual warfare against Satan.  He cautions readers against what he says as common problems in the American Protestant church – too much focus on education (to the neglect of prayer, worship, and outreach) and too much focus on caring for the congregation (to the neglect of seeking the lost).  Pope encourages churches to leave behind the careful, defensive church that often prevails in America to become a church that transforms its people and its community in the name of Christ.

·  Leading the Team-Based Church:  How Pastors and Church Staffs Can Grow Together into a Powerful Fellowship of Leaders, George Cladis.  (Jossey-Bass, 1999).  www.josseybass.com.  $23.95

This Leadership Network book shows pastoral leaders how to become both more godly and effective.  The congregation’s health is dynamically affected by the health of the leadership, Cladis explains, and in this book he guides readers to reshape their leadership and achieve new vitality.  Leadership in the church should be modeled on the theological concept of the Trinity, which practically results in team-based leadership.  Cladis explains the theological background of his argument as well as how it is most effective in our postmodern world.  He then explains each of seven teams that congregations should form, including their role and the practical steps needed to create and strengthen these teams.