Peter C. Brinckerhoff, Faith-Based Management: Leading Organizations That Are Based on More than Just a Mission. John Wiley and Sons, 1997.
Referenced in: Church Administration, General Manuals
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
Brinckerhoff presents a considerable discussion on the uniqueness of faith-based organizations, and then offers insight into effective board/staff relations, staff management, financial stewardship, leadership, marketing, vision/planning, and working with volunteers. The author has a strong interest in marketing and weaves it throughout the book. An abridged version was published, The Essentials of Mission-Based Management: The Key Elements of the Highly Acclaimed Book (Mission Based Publishing, 2002). I would suggest the abridgement to avoid the significant expense of the original. It is a quick-read, an excellent supplement to more definitive guides to church administration. Both volumes apply the insights from Brinckerhoff’s award-winning Mission-Based Management Series to the unique dynamics of faith-based non-profit organizations. The original Mission-Based series includes those listed below, some of which may have value for church administration depending on the issues faced.
- Mission-Based Management: An Organizational Development Workbook (Wiley Nonprofit Law, Finance and Management Series), 2nd Edition. Wiley, 2001.
- Mission-Based Management: Leading Your Not-For-Profit in the 21st Century (Wiley Nonprofit Law, Finance and Management Series), 2nd Edition. Wiley, 2000.
- Mission-Based Marketing: Positioning Your Not-for-Profit in an Increasingly Competitive World, 2nd Edition. Wiley, 2002.
- Financial Empowerment: More Money for More Mission. Wiley, 1998.
- Social Entrepreneurship: The Art of Mission-Based Venture Development. Wiley, 2001.
- Nonprofit Stewardship: A Better Way to Lead Your Mission-Based Organization. Fieldstone Alliance, 2004.
From the Publisher
The First and Only Complete Guide to Successfully Managing Faith-Based Organizations – Faith-Based Management. Written by a leading international expert on faith-based management, this book describes proven management strategies and techniques developed at some of the world’s most successful places of worship and faith-based service organizations. It also supplies you with a complete action plan for quickly implementing them in your organization. Peter Brinckerhoff begins by exploring the unique challenges faced by managers of faith-based organizations. He then identifies the seven key characteristics of a successful faith-based organization and provides you with clear, easy-to-follow guidelines on how to:
- Assess and examine your organization’s strengths and weaknesses
- Clearly define staff roles and responsibilities
- Delegate, evaluate, discipline, and motivate paid staff
- Find, train, motivate, and hold on to top-notch volunteers
- Generate budgets and financial reports and implement financial controls
- Improve your leadership skills
- Conduct sophisticated, cost-effective marketing campaigns that work
- Create strategic, business, and marketing plans
Editorial Reviews
“Brinckerhoff has captured the essence of faith-based management in his latest book. He has successfully integrated proven management concepts and ideas with the spiritual mission that distinguishes faith-based organizations. A must-read for volunteers and staff.” – Dana R. Todsen, ACFRE President and CEO Baptist Health Foundation, Inc. Birmingham, Alabama
“Faith-Based Management is a concise, accurate, and practical book. It will be a very helpful resource for leaders who are trying to unite faith and mission in today’s world.” – The Reverend Dr. John R. Buzza Hope Presbyterian Church and Community Ministry Center Springfield, Illinois
“Offers the fourth important contribution in Peter Brinckerhoff’s management series for not-for-profit executives. If mission, finance, and marketing are important to not-for-profits’ success, core values and beliefs are essential to the faith-based not-for-profits’ very existence. Peter once again challenges and provokes thoughtful reflection while providing the reader with a pragmatic prescription for improving the overall management of the faith-based organization. He challenges each of us to accept full responsibility for carrying out God’s work. He shows us a way.” – Reid S. Thebault President and CEO YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit
From the Inside Flap
Faith-based organizations differ radically from other not-for-profits. Balancing the tasks of managing staff, working with volunteers, providing services or spiritual assistance, and raising funds is a difficult and often frustrating endeavor. Faith-based organizations also have to operate in the secular world of funding, regulations, marketing, competition, and cash flow. All of these demands can tax even the best managers. Yet amazingly, until now, there were no professional resources geared exclusively to the concerns of leaders and managers of faith-based organizations.
The first and only guide of its kind, Faith-Based Management arms you with the knowledge and skills you need to successfully manage your place of worship or faith-based service organization. Drawing upon his many years of experience as a trainer and consultant who has worked with hundreds of organizations nationwide, Peter Brinckerhoff explores the unique demands and common pitfalls that beset faith-based managers. Writing in a congenial, highly accessible style, he identifies the seven major characteristics shared by all successful faith-based organizations and shows you how to assess the strengths and weaknesses of your organization’s management in each category. Using numerous real-world case studies and examples to illustrate his points, he describes proven faith-based management strategies and techniques that you can put to work immediately in your organization. And he provides clear-cut, easy-to-follow guidelines on how to manage for excellence in all crucial areas, including staff recruitment and management, financial stewardship, leadership, marketing, strategic planning, and more. Faith-Based Management is an indispensable hands-on resource for leaders, board members, managers of places of worship, faith-based service organizations, and faith-centered foundations.
About the Author
Peter Brinckerhoff is an internationally acclaimed author, trainer, and consultant to not-for-profit organizations. Since forming his consulting firm, Corporate Alternatives in 1982, Peter has helped thousands of not-for-profits become more mission-capable.
Peter is the author of seven books and two workbooks on topics relating to not-for-profit management. He is the only author to twice win the prestigious Terry McAdam Award from the Alliance for Nonprofit Management for “Best New Nonprofit Management Book.” Peter’s books are used in undergraduate and graduate programs in over 60 colleges and universities worldwide.
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