Leading the Congregation: Caring for Yourself While Serving Others (Revised)

by Heuser, Roger

• ISBN13: 9781426711398
• ISBN10: 1426711395
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-10-01
• Publisher: ABINGDON PRESS

Summary

A complete and definitive guide to the practice of church leadership - newly revised.

Author Biography

Roger Heuser (PhD, New York University) is Professor of Leadership Studies at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California. He has served as pastor, consultant, retreat guide, and adjunct professor in multiple settings overseas and in the United States, including Fuller Theological Seminary. Norman Shawchuck (PhD, Northwestern University) has authored over twenty books on the subjects of spirituality, leadership, and conflict. He has led a distinguished career as pastor, consultant, trainer of US Navy and Marine military chaplains, and professor at Garrett Evangelical Seminary, McCormick Theological Seminary, and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
The Dangers of Leading	p. 1
The Danger of Serving Sacrificially	p. 4
The Danger of Preserving the Institution for Its Own Sake	p. 8
The Danger of Leading Others through Change	p. 10
Defining Leadership	p. 12
Leading from Within
The Interior Attitudes of the Leader	p. 19
Childlikeness	p. 20
Humility	p. 24
A Desire to Serve	p. 26
Self-examination	p. 28
The Leader's Spirituality	p. 32
The Relentless Demands of Ministry	p. 33
Spirituality Supports Ministry	p. 35
Spirituality Renews Vision and Restores Energy	p. 37
The Spirituality of Jesus: A Model for All Religious Leaders	p. 40
The Three Elements of Jesus' Spirituality	p. 41
Spirituality for Religious Leadership and Ministry	p. 46
A Spirituality of Action and Contemplation	p. 47
A Covenantal, Communal Spirituality	p. 49
A Holistic Lifestyle of Spirituality	p. 51
The Examen of Consciousness	p. 52
The Means of Grace	p. 56
The Leader's Call	p. 60
Freedom to Respond to God's Call	p. 62
The Call to Leadership	p. 64
The Testing of the Call	p. 68
The Resistance and Acceptance of the Call	p. 70
The Madness of the Call	p. 72
The Leader's Vision and Ensuing Mission	p. 75
The Three Dimensions of Vision	p. 78
An "Upward" View toward God	p. 78
An "Inward" View of Oneself	p. 79
An Outward View of the Circumstances	p. 80
Mission: Turning Visions into Reality	p. 81
The Interplay of Light and Shadow	p. 85
Testing the Spirits	p. 86
What Spirit Does the Leader Project upon the Congregation?	p. 87
Five Shadows of Leadership	p. 89
Expressions of Neurotic Leadership	p. 92
The Dramatic Organization	p. 93
The Suspicious Organization	p. 96
The Detached Organization	p. 97
The Depressive Organization	p. 98
The Compulsive Organization	p. 99
Deep Change	p. 100
Discerning Priorities, Making Choices	p. 104
Discerning Priorities in Role Demands	p. 105
The Logic of Task Pursuit	p. 107
Connect Your Charisms with What the Congregation Needs Most to Fulfill Its Mission	p. 108
The Golden and Silver Threads	p. 109
Become Clear about Bedrock Priorities	p. 110
Communicate Your Priorities	p. 111
Manage Time in Light of Your Priorities	p. 111
Priorities of Urgency and Importance	p. 112
Utilize the Influence of Your Own Example	p. 114
Leading with Others
Team Ethos	p. 120
What is Our Shared Purpose?	p. 122
Who is on the Team?	p. 123
What are the Team's Guiding Principles?	p. 124
Team Formation	p. 132
What Makes a Team?	p. 133
Team Maturity: Stages of Formation	p. 136
Orientation to Team Purpose and Culture	p. 136
Conflict with the Leader and among Team Members	p. 137
Team Solidarity	p. 142
Individuality, Interdependence, and Team Effectiveness	p. 142
Teams Working through Conflict	p. 145
Constructive and Destructive Conflict	p. 147
Conflict's Social Construction of Reality	p. 148
Conflict Defined	p. 149
Dimensions of Conflict	p. 149
Conflict Threats	p. 150
Reactions to Threats	p. 151
Levels and Goals of Conflict	p. 152
The Conflict Cycle	p. 153
Stage One: Tension Development	p. 154
Stage Two: Role Dilemma	p. 155
Stage Three: Injustice Collecting	p. 155
Stage Four: Confronttation	p. 156
Stage Five: Adjustments	p. 157
Nonproductive Competition versus Productive Cooperation	p. 158
Antagonists	p. 159
Power, Rights, and Interests	p. 160
Conflict Intervention	p. 161
Develop a Relational Base	p. 163
Filter the Assumptions, Rumors, and Charges	p. 164
Establish Joint Collaboration for Problem Solving and Decision Making	p. 164
Form Covenants to the Agreements Reached	p. 165
Bringing Peace into the Room	p. 166
The Team's Emotional Processes	p. 168
Family Systems	p. 168
The Team's Emotional Processes	p. 170
Attributes of Emotional Gridlock	p. 171
Characteristics of Chronically Anxious Families	p. 172
Emotional Reactivity	p. 173
The Herding Instinct	p. 174
Blame Displacement	p. 175
The Quick-fix Mentality	p. 176
Poorly Defined Leadership or Failure of Nerve	p. 177
Self-differentiated Leaders	p. 177
The Leadership Team: Pastors and Boards	p. 182
The Roles and Responsibilities of Trustees	p. 184
The Guardian of the Institutional Mission	p. 184
Create a Continual Climate of Trust	p. 185
Empower Leadership and Ministry Teams	p. 186
Formulate Guiding Principles That Begin with Broad Values and Move toward More Specific Policies	p. 187
The Chairperson of the Board	p. 188
Primus Inter Pares-First among Equals	p. 189
Common Problems Confronting the Board	p. 190
When Members Are Underutilized	p. 190
When Members Are Incompetent or Immature	p. 191
When Trust is Replaced by Compliance or Control	p. 192
Ambiguity and Governance	p. 193
The Issue of Trust: Power and Authority	p. 193
The Ambiguity of Specialization versus Generalization	p. 195
The Ambiguity of Belief versus Criticism	p. 196
A Spirituality of Church Boards	p. 196
Leading Toward Transformation
The Spirituality of the Congregation	p. 206
The Western Model versus the Scriptural Model of Spirituality	p. 209
Espoused Spirituality versus Lived Spirituality	p. 211
The Leader's Experience and Example	p. 213
The Pastor as Spiritual Companion	p. 214
The Pastor as Knower of the Seasons	p. 215
The Prerequisites for Spiritual Formation	p. 218
The Balance between Solitude and Community	p. 220
The Means of Grace	p. 222
A Clear and Compelling Mission	p. 226
Mission Is Contextual	p. 229
The Local Church Mission and Its Environment	p. 231
A Creative Tension between Mission and the Environment	p. 233
The Apostolic Church: A Frontier Mission within a Hostile Environment	p. 234
The Church in Christendom: Ministering within a Friendly Environment Whose Mission Is a "Far Off" Enterprise	p. 234
A Current Challenge for Local Congregations	p. 235
Discerning the Congregation's Mission	p. 236
The Timeless and Timely Aspects of Mission	p. 237
Three Questions of Missional Clarity	p. 239
Who Are We?	p. 239
What Is Our Business (To What Purpose Has God Called Us)?	p. 241
How Do We Decide on the Right Mission Priorities and Get Them Done?	p. 243
Planned Abandonment	p. 245
The Vision We Share	p. 248
The Difference between Vision and Mission	p. 249
Three Ways of Imagining the Future	p. 251
The "Wishing" Congregation	p. 252
The "Dreaming" Congregation	p. 252
The "Visionary" Congregation	p. 253
Alignment through Shared Vision, Mission, and Core Values	p. 253
How Vision May Come to a Congregation	p. 255
A Spiritual Encounter	p. 255
A Divine Impulse or Blessed Hunch	p. 255
Seeing through a Need	p. 257
Bringing Together the Hopes and Dreams of the Members	p. 257
Practicing Foresight	p. 259
Shared Visioning Is a Process	p. 259
Spirituality is a Prerequisite for Vision	p. 260
Encourage the Call in Individuals and Find Common Ground in a Shared Vision	p. 261
Communicating the Vision	p. 263
Empowering People to Enact the Vision	p. 265
Vision Is Nurtured in a Climate of Trust and Communication	p. 266
Why Visions Do Not Succeed	p. 267
Transformational Change	p. 270
Orientation, Disorientation, and New Orientation	p. 272
The Nature of Change	p. 273
Patterns of Growth and Decline	p. 273
Coexisting Curves	p. 275
Environmental Change: Threats or Opportunities	p. 276
Types of Change	p. 277
Denial and Resistance	p. 279
Developmental, Transitional, and Transformational Change	p. 280
Transformational Change	p. 284
Wake-up Calls	p. 285
Chaos	p. 286
Death-Mindset Forced to Shift	p. 288
Re-emergence through Visioning and Learning	p. 288
Proactive Leaders in Transformational Change	p. 289
The Leader's Conscious and Unconscious Awareness	p. 289
Change Strategies	p. 290
Proactive Disciplines of Change	p. 292
Excellence	p. 292
Innovation	p. 294
Anticipation	p. 294
Epilogue: On Finishing Well	p. 300
Notes	p. 305
Author Index	p. 325
Subject Index	p. 327
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