Becoming Colleagues: Women and Men Serving Together in Faith

by Carol E. Becker

Becoming Colleagues provides a powerful rationale for personal reflection and change, a call for systemic reform, and specific guidance for implementing change in the faith-based workplace. Through stories of mixed-gender teams in religiously affiliated settings-including congregations, agencies, educational institutions, and other faith-based nonprofit organizations-this book explores nine change factors critical to ensuring that men and women work together in mutually supportive ways. The proven principles revealed through these stories provide a new model for the workplace that is certain to help teams achieve success and satisfaction in their ministries.

Genres: Leadership

348 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2000

Reviews

[Amy Jacobsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been on my to read list for awhile. I found the interviews and case studies helpful and think tgr 9 criteria is something I will reference in the future.

[Bob Wolniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author examines characteristics of mixed gender teams in the non-profit world. Each chapter has a case scenario, then a process for further developing. Written in 2000, some parts of the argument seem a little dated in some contexts, such as arguing that we need to make space for women in leadership and that we are all victims of a strong culture of patriarchy. But overall the nine-criteria checklist which involves learning to reflect openly about how the team is functioning, about how teams work, recognizing our own cultural beliefs, naming our own vocational commitments and journey and those of others on the team, admitting our prejudices, talking together more often about gender traps, establishing clear boundaries, identifying personal power and authority differences between women and men, and modelling within the organization provides specific disciplines and activities to ensure a healthy environment of continued learning and blessing each other.