Jones, Heart, Mind, and Strength

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Jeffrey D. Jones, Heart, Mind, and Strength: Theory and Practice for Congregational Leadership. Alban Institute, 2008.

Referenced in: Church Leadership Foundations, Church Dynamics, Research

LifeandLeadership.com Summary

Jones does a good job describing the “what” and the “who” of congregational leadership in the new era. In terms of the “what,” he discusses the complex tasks that are required in leading congregations:

  • Various short-term and strategic-planning processes
  • An understanding of human personality, potential, and problems
  • The challenges and dynamics of change
  • The nature and management of conflict
  • The variety of effective leader roles and their appropriateness for different settings
  • Systems theory and its insights into organizational behavior
  • Cultural and societal dynamics and their impact on congregations
  • Group and congregational dynamics
  • Team and community building

The “who” of leadership is the deeper internalized self that is

revealed in what comes out of your mouth when you need to respond instantly, without the benefit even of personal reflection. It also becomes evident in the long haul, perhaps when there’s nothing dramatic going on at all—how you handle day-to-day interactions with members of the congregation, how the way you live Monday through Saturday reflects what you preach on Sunday.

Jones attempts to bring together the best of current theory into helping leaders integrate their “what” and “who” most healthfully. It comes out of Jones’ almost forty years of ministry experience, fourteen of which were in national denominational work, and several years of seminary teaching.

From the Publisher

Leadership, observes Jeffrey Jones, is never about you. What happens to you as a leader stems from a vast array of issues and dynamics over which you have little or no control.

Leadership, Jones also insists, is always about you—Christ’s disciple, part of the system, an individual with your own anxieties and a personal life that shapes both your personhood and your relationships.

Heart, Mind, and Strength is about dealing with the tension between these two realities. What we know is important. So is who we are—maybe even more so. Of course, admits Jones no book can tell us everything we need to know about leadership—the “what” of it. And certainly no book can shape our personhood—the “who” of leadership. Jones, however, shares both theoretical and practical insights that will inform the “what” and influence the “who” of your leadership in transformative ways. Jones organizes the book around the daily practices of leadership, treating it as both a skill and an art. Heart, Mind, and Strength will enhance your practice of ministry by providing well-grounded theory related to the practical concerns you encounter in the daily work of balancing what you know with who you are.

About the Author

Jeffrey D. Jones is the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Plymouth, Massachusetts. He also serves as Director of Distance Learning at Andover Newton Theological School, where he is Instructor in Church and Ministry, teaching courses in leadership and congregational life. He has served previously as a pastor in New Jersey and New York and as a national staff member of the American Baptist Churches, USA. He is the author of several books, including Traveling Together: A Guide for Disciple-Forming Congregations.


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