Cynthia Woolever and Deborah Bruce, Leadership That Fits Your Church: What Kind of Pastor for What Kind of Congregation. Chalice Press, 2012. Referenced in: Ministry Transitions Ministry Burnout, Preventing Minister Self-Care Minister Support Systems LifeandLeadership.com Summary Anything in The Columbia Partnership (TCP) Leadership Series is worth reading. This text is no different. It shares part
Karen A. McClintock, Shame-Less Lives, Grace-Full Congregations. The Alban Institute, 2011. Referenced in: Minister Self-Care Burnout in Church Leaders Leadership Development Through Spiritual Formation Church Leadership Strategies, Integrated Spiritual-Strategic I’ve read a lot of books on shame, both to help myself and others. Most are written from the perspective of helping individuals address the shame-based
Hal West, The Pickled Priest and the Perishing Parish: Boomer Pastors Bouncing Back. CrossBooks, 2011. Referenced in: Strengthening and Renewing the Ministry call LifeandLeadership.com Summary West offers encouragement from Isaiah’s vision of God, alongside his own seasoned insight, for boomer ministers (i.e. old enough to be “pickled”) to renew their call in a time when
James E. Hightower and W. Craig Gilliam, A Time for Change? Re-Visioning Your Call. Alban Institute, 2000. Referenced in: Ministry Transitions LifeandLeadership.com Summary This makes a unique contribution to literature on ministry transitions, speaking strictly to situations where ministers may migrate out of ministry into another career field. From the Publisher Many professional ministers struggle
David N. Mosser, Editor, Transitions: Leading Churches Through Change. Westminster/John Knox, 2011. Referenced in: Change, Leading Change and Transition Change, Receptiveness and Resistance LifeandLeadership.com Summary This is a rich anthology of seasoned wisdom on how preachers may help their congregations during times of confusing change, conflict, and life crises. It also addresses how congregational issues
Dean R. Hoge and Jacqueline E. Wenger, Pastors in Transition: Why Clergy Leave Local Church Ministry. Eerdmans, 2005. Referenced in: Ministry Burnout, Preventing and Overcoming Ministry Transitions and Interim Ministry Strengthening and Renewing the Ministry Call LifeandLeadership.com Summary Based on a survey of 900 ministers from five denominations (United Methodists, Presbyterian Church USA, Evangelical Lutheran,
William H. Willimon, Calling and Character: Virtues of the Ordained Life. Abingdon Press, 2000. Reference in: Ministry Ethics LifeandLeadership.com Summary This is by the same author as the modern classic, Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry. Chapter 12 of that book, “The Pastor as Character: Clergy Ethics” (pp. 299-314) is in some ways
Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society. Image Publishers, 1979. Referenced in: Pastoral Theology Strengthening and Renewing the Ministry Call LifeandLeadership.com Summary This classic from the late Nenri Nouwen presents a hopeful model of ministry that compassionately identifies with the woundedness of human nature. This refers not only to the fallenness
Reinhold Niebuhr and Martin Marty, Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic. Westminster / John Knox Press, 1991. Referenced in: Pastoral Theology Strengthening and Renewing the Ministry Call LifeandLeadership.com Summary This classic was first published eighty years ago, but it remains one of the most widely recommended books to help young ministers find meaning
Philip Yancey, Soul Survivor: How Thirteen Unlikely Mentors Helped My Faith Survive the Church. Waterbrook Press, 2003. Companion volume: Yancey, The Church – Why Bother? Referenced in: Strengthening and Renewing the Ministry Call LifeandLeadership.com Summary This is a helpful volume for church leaders who need to reaffirm their calling, perhaps because of a period of
