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Teams That Thrive: Five Disciplines of Collaborative Church Leadership
It's increasingly clear that leadership should be shared for the good of the organization and for the good of the leader. The path is littered with too many burned out best and brightest, too many beleaguered institutions and stunted organizations. The church is no exception: pastors are fried and congregations are stuck, and the work never lets up. But what does it actually mean to share leadership? And how do we avoid burning out whole teams instead of single leaders? How does team leadership bless and not frustrate a congregation? Researchers and practitioners Warren Bird and Ryan Hartwig have discovered churches throughout the United States of various sizes and traditions that have learned to thrive under team leadership. Through practical insights, compelling research and real-life stories, they help you overcome barriers and build teams of mutual support and meaningful, sustainable action. This empowering vision for church leadership culminates with five disciplines that can take your team from struggling to thriving together."
272 pages, Paperback
First published March 10, 2015
109 people are currently reading
293 people want to read
About the author
Ryan T. Hartwig
6 books2 followersRyan T. Hartwig, PhD (University of Colorado Boulder), is a higher education leader, communication professor, author, speaker, and consultant. Bringing a unique perspective as a teacher, researcher, and practitioner, he seeks to equip leadership teams and groups to thrive.
Currently, Ryan serves as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Vanguard University. Prior to his appointment at Vanguard University, he served as a professor and in various roles as a dean, department chair, and associate dean at Colorado Christian University and Azusa Pacific University. For over two decades, he has taught courses in group, organizational, and leadership communication, and has led, trained, and developed teams focusing on community development, discipleship, missions, leadership development, academic excellence, fundraising and marketing for over twenty years in universities and churches.
Ryan’s latest book, The Resilience Factor: A Step-by-Step Guide to Build an Unbreakable Team (InterVarsity, 2023), seeks to inspire and equip teams to move from floundering to flourishing through a series of 40 practical steps. Ryan’s first book, Teams That Thrive: Five Disciplines of Collaborative Church Leadership (InterVarsity, 2015), helps leadership teams grow stronger, healthier, and more productive. His second book, Leading Small Groups That Thrive: Five Shifts to Take Your Group to the Next Level (Zondervan, 2020) shows small group leaders, step by step, how to plan for, launch, build, sustain, and multiply healthy, transformational small group experiences where people grow spiritually together.
His academic scholarship has been published in the Journal of Applied Communication Research, Southern Communication Journal, and Group Facilitation, and the International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication, and recognized with several awards from the National Communication Association.
He frequently speaks to, trains, and consults with church and non-profit leaders at numerous universities, churches, seminaries, and nonprofit organizations, and writes for practitioner-oriented publications.
Ryan journeys through life with his wife and four children. They enjoy a full family life, replete with lots of pool time in the summer and skiing in the winter, and hanging out with family and friends. He loves the Broncos, fishing, shooting hoops, playing card and board games, and eating great food with friends!
Currently, Ryan serves as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Vanguard University. Prior to his appointment at Vanguard University, he served as a professor and in various roles as a dean, department chair, and associate dean at Colorado Christian University and Azusa Pacific University. For over two decades, he has taught courses in group, organizational, and leadership communication, and has led, trained, and developed teams focusing on community development, discipleship, missions, leadership development, academic excellence, fundraising and marketing for over twenty years in universities and churches.
Ryan’s latest book, The Resilience Factor: A Step-by-Step Guide to Build an Unbreakable Team (InterVarsity, 2023), seeks to inspire and equip teams to move from floundering to flourishing through a series of 40 practical steps. Ryan’s first book, Teams That Thrive: Five Disciplines of Collaborative Church Leadership (InterVarsity, 2015), helps leadership teams grow stronger, healthier, and more productive. His second book, Leading Small Groups That Thrive: Five Shifts to Take Your Group to the Next Level (Zondervan, 2020) shows small group leaders, step by step, how to plan for, launch, build, sustain, and multiply healthy, transformational small group experiences where people grow spiritually together.
His academic scholarship has been published in the Journal of Applied Communication Research, Southern Communication Journal, and Group Facilitation, and the International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication, and recognized with several awards from the National Communication Association.
He frequently speaks to, trains, and consults with church and non-profit leaders at numerous universities, churches, seminaries, and nonprofit organizations, and writes for practitioner-oriented publications.
Ryan journeys through life with his wife and four children. They enjoy a full family life, replete with lots of pool time in the summer and skiing in the winter, and hanging out with family and friends. He loves the Broncos, fishing, shooting hoops, playing card and board games, and eating great food with friends!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
December 2, 2017
Lots of good principles but much too long. Could have been about 50% this size.
November 11, 2015
I found this book helpful
May 16, 2015
It would be pretty safe to say that most Christian congregations are led or driven by some form of leadership team. Even in churches directed by a lone pastor there is very likely a body of people who in some way, formally or informally, participate in his or her leadership. Further, from my own experiences and conversations with fellow ministers, I think it is pretty normal that a majority of parish parsons would like to see the leadership team (Session, parish council, vestry, board of elders, etc.) become more efficient and effective. Ryan Hartwig, Ph.D., associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Azusa Pacific University, and Warren Bird, Ph.D., director of research and intellectual capital support for Leadership Network, have pulled together a plan to aid church leadership teams in becoming more competent and capable. It’s all found in their new 272 page paperback, “Teams That Thrive: Five Disciplines of Collaborative Church Leadership”. The authors have surveyed, investigated, examined and interviewed members of leadership teams in 253 churches, culled and packaged their findings, and now presented them for the public. Hartwig and Bird maintain that the aim of their book, “is about teams doing the most substantial leadership work for any church – that of making key strategic decisions – together as a team, and thereby shaping the direction and success of the church” (20).
“Teams That Thrive” is a very involved volume, working through the authors’ analysis, filled with “whys and wherefores,” and mildly technical. The fourteen chapters are grouped in five segments, each section building on the previous. Every chapter but the first ends with an “Expert Commentary” written by successful leaders and authors from a variety of backgrounds. And each chapter finishes off with reflection and discussion questions that are ideal for stirring up dialogue in leadership teams.
The first division of “Teams That Thrive” is concerned with quickly debunking leadership fables. But also it is focused on assisting the readers to more clearly evaluate how their church’s teams work. This evaluation challenges with valuable “who” and “how” questions. Hartwig and Bird make a clear, and repeated, distinction between groups and teams, and carefully walk through the various ways a church is led; everything from an organic/informal team, to the inner circle, to partnerships, cheerleaders, first responders and fire department, to thriving. Whatever way your team leads, for better or for worse, it will “shape the culture, direct the mission, establish the vision and model the values of your church” because “as goes the senior leadership team so go most other teams in your church” (33-4).
The second part of the book gives both a biblical reason for team leadership, and ten practical reasons for following this pattern. After surveying the Biblical material, Hartwig and Bird deduce that “the practice of multiple leadership – or teams – existed from the church’s birth” (48). They then turn their attention to numerous down-to-earth reasons for having a plurality of leaders; greater productivity, less stress, extra leadership development, more creativity, better decision making, enhanced accountability, fewer reasons to feel lonely, a larger sense of joy and satisfaction, builds a deeper trust among the congregation, and improves congregational leadership.
Part three of “Teams That Thrive” dives into the eight common reasons that teams fail and introduces the five disciplines that foster thriving teams. The authors see failure riding the rails where everything is a priority for leadership, the team lacks skill, no inspiration, undisciplined exertions, the absence of godly character, confusion about its purpose, heavy dependence on the lead pastor, and most importantly, communication practices that are seriously defective. As Hartwig and Bird describe, “the greatest predictor of leadership team performance was the amount of stress the team members experienced related to dysfunctional communication practices” (78).
Chapter six along with the fourth portion of the book covers the five disciplines that build thriving teams. To begin, teams must focus on purpose. The authors explain the 5cs of what a good purpose is and how to own it: clear, compelling, challenging, calling-oriented and consistently held (104). Once the purpose of the team is identified and possessed, it then becomes “the invisible leader of exceptional teams” (117). The next discipline is learning to influence differences in team members, specifically getting the right people to make up the right-sized team. Thirdly is the important step of relying on inspiration rather than control and how to get there. At the heart of this discipline is trust, and the best way “to build trust is to first be trustworthy” (156). Then the authors move to the importance of structuring the team’s decision making process. This requires two separate chapters that cover both making decisions while seeking God’s direction, and in the midst of conflict. Finally, “Teams That Thrive” unpacks the systems by which teams can continuously collaborate and build community.
The book wraps up with the last section, explaining six ways to ensure teams are not sabotaged, and how to catalyze your team’s growth. Here Hartwig and Bird quickly cover the five disciplines with a slightly different view in place, and then remind the reader of what they have been hammering on all along, that your “leadership team is the primary determinant of the health, effectiveness and impact of your church” (249).
One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that church revitalization and renewal methods come with assumed views of how to do church. “Teams That Thrive” is no exception. Almost every example of a church with a thriving leadership team is large, multi-staff, and thoroughly “contemporary”. Of course, that’s fine as it stands, but it does create some concern for ministers who, like me, have pastored smaller churches for years. The first is that most churches in America are less than 200 in membership, and therefore don’t likely have the resources, recruits or reverends to build a thriving team in the image Hartwig and Bird are promoting. Does this mean, then, that a smaller church’s leadership isn’t thriving? Which leads to the next issue: holding up bigger churches with their larger quantities of fiscal means and people tools as the model of magnificence all congregations should strive for. Finally, are only churches that are contemporary, rather than conventional or liturgical, able to have thriving teams? Neither author is saying these things. The questions arise from the overabundance of their examples which almost completely lean in one direction: large, multi-staff and thoroughly “contemporary”.
After spending 20 years in the U.S. Air Force as an enlisted man, sitting through numerous military leadership courses, and obtaining an undergraduate degree in human resources management, I can honestly say that much of what Hartwig and Bird describe and depict is familiar to me. There are loads of good things for ministry staff and leadership teams to pick up and take away from “Teams That Thrive.” Though it is involved and mildly technical, it is simple and straightforward. It would be an ideal book for elder boards, and other leadership teams to read, discuss, and take action on. This is a book worth obtaining and digesting.
Much thanks to IVP and IV Praxis for the free copy of “Teams That Thrive” used for this review.
“Teams That Thrive” is a very involved volume, working through the authors’ analysis, filled with “whys and wherefores,” and mildly technical. The fourteen chapters are grouped in five segments, each section building on the previous. Every chapter but the first ends with an “Expert Commentary” written by successful leaders and authors from a variety of backgrounds. And each chapter finishes off with reflection and discussion questions that are ideal for stirring up dialogue in leadership teams.
The first division of “Teams That Thrive” is concerned with quickly debunking leadership fables. But also it is focused on assisting the readers to more clearly evaluate how their church’s teams work. This evaluation challenges with valuable “who” and “how” questions. Hartwig and Bird make a clear, and repeated, distinction between groups and teams, and carefully walk through the various ways a church is led; everything from an organic/informal team, to the inner circle, to partnerships, cheerleaders, first responders and fire department, to thriving. Whatever way your team leads, for better or for worse, it will “shape the culture, direct the mission, establish the vision and model the values of your church” because “as goes the senior leadership team so go most other teams in your church” (33-4).
The second part of the book gives both a biblical reason for team leadership, and ten practical reasons for following this pattern. After surveying the Biblical material, Hartwig and Bird deduce that “the practice of multiple leadership – or teams – existed from the church’s birth” (48). They then turn their attention to numerous down-to-earth reasons for having a plurality of leaders; greater productivity, less stress, extra leadership development, more creativity, better decision making, enhanced accountability, fewer reasons to feel lonely, a larger sense of joy and satisfaction, builds a deeper trust among the congregation, and improves congregational leadership.
Part three of “Teams That Thrive” dives into the eight common reasons that teams fail and introduces the five disciplines that foster thriving teams. The authors see failure riding the rails where everything is a priority for leadership, the team lacks skill, no inspiration, undisciplined exertions, the absence of godly character, confusion about its purpose, heavy dependence on the lead pastor, and most importantly, communication practices that are seriously defective. As Hartwig and Bird describe, “the greatest predictor of leadership team performance was the amount of stress the team members experienced related to dysfunctional communication practices” (78).
Chapter six along with the fourth portion of the book covers the five disciplines that build thriving teams. To begin, teams must focus on purpose. The authors explain the 5cs of what a good purpose is and how to own it: clear, compelling, challenging, calling-oriented and consistently held (104). Once the purpose of the team is identified and possessed, it then becomes “the invisible leader of exceptional teams” (117). The next discipline is learning to influence differences in team members, specifically getting the right people to make up the right-sized team. Thirdly is the important step of relying on inspiration rather than control and how to get there. At the heart of this discipline is trust, and the best way “to build trust is to first be trustworthy” (156). Then the authors move to the importance of structuring the team’s decision making process. This requires two separate chapters that cover both making decisions while seeking God’s direction, and in the midst of conflict. Finally, “Teams That Thrive” unpacks the systems by which teams can continuously collaborate and build community.
The book wraps up with the last section, explaining six ways to ensure teams are not sabotaged, and how to catalyze your team’s growth. Here Hartwig and Bird quickly cover the five disciplines with a slightly different view in place, and then remind the reader of what they have been hammering on all along, that your “leadership team is the primary determinant of the health, effectiveness and impact of your church” (249).
One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that church revitalization and renewal methods come with assumed views of how to do church. “Teams That Thrive” is no exception. Almost every example of a church with a thriving leadership team is large, multi-staff, and thoroughly “contemporary”. Of course, that’s fine as it stands, but it does create some concern for ministers who, like me, have pastored smaller churches for years. The first is that most churches in America are less than 200 in membership, and therefore don’t likely have the resources, recruits or reverends to build a thriving team in the image Hartwig and Bird are promoting. Does this mean, then, that a smaller church’s leadership isn’t thriving? Which leads to the next issue: holding up bigger churches with their larger quantities of fiscal means and people tools as the model of magnificence all congregations should strive for. Finally, are only churches that are contemporary, rather than conventional or liturgical, able to have thriving teams? Neither author is saying these things. The questions arise from the overabundance of their examples which almost completely lean in one direction: large, multi-staff and thoroughly “contemporary”.
After spending 20 years in the U.S. Air Force as an enlisted man, sitting through numerous military leadership courses, and obtaining an undergraduate degree in human resources management, I can honestly say that much of what Hartwig and Bird describe and depict is familiar to me. There are loads of good things for ministry staff and leadership teams to pick up and take away from “Teams That Thrive.” Though it is involved and mildly technical, it is simple and straightforward. It would be an ideal book for elder boards, and other leadership teams to read, discuss, and take action on. This is a book worth obtaining and digesting.
Much thanks to IVP and IV Praxis for the free copy of “Teams That Thrive” used for this review.
May 11, 2020
Subtitled Five Disciplines of Collaborative Church Leadership, this practical book approaches the topic of team with a solid biblical focus. Touting the unique approach of the authors - a strong foundation in Scripture, extensive research, and background in academics, research, and observation - five key disciplines are presented to address teams that truly “thrive,” not just exist as a collection of individuals. Although the focus is specifically church leadership, there are solid insights that have application for any team situation. Team myths are stated and challenged. For example, teams must start with trust. The authors stress that trust builds through teamwork. Reasons why teams fail are also offered. A solid biblical basis for teams is presented and the importance of shared leadership is emphasized. The book is full of references from a variety of sources, and the appendix provides a list of top ten tips for thriving teams, directing the reader back to the chapters where each are present.
Here are the Five Disciplines that form the majority of the book:
1. Focus on Purpose, the Invisible Leader of the Team. The concept of a 5C purpose is stressed - Clear, Compelling, Challenging, Calling-oriented, and Consistently Held.
2. Leverage Differences in Team Membership
3. Rely on Inspiration More Than Control to Lead
4. Intentionally Structure Your Decision-making Process
5. Build a Culture of Continuous Collaboration
Each discipline’s chapter closes with expert commentary on the topic. The final chapters deal with ways to avoid team sabotage and ways to catalyze team growth.
An excellent, Bible-honoring guide to the development of effective team leadership.
Here are the Five Disciplines that form the majority of the book:
1. Focus on Purpose, the Invisible Leader of the Team. The concept of a 5C purpose is stressed - Clear, Compelling, Challenging, Calling-oriented, and Consistently Held.
2. Leverage Differences in Team Membership
3. Rely on Inspiration More Than Control to Lead
4. Intentionally Structure Your Decision-making Process
5. Build a Culture of Continuous Collaboration
Each discipline’s chapter closes with expert commentary on the topic. The final chapters deal with ways to avoid team sabotage and ways to catalyze team growth.
An excellent, Bible-honoring guide to the development of effective team leadership.
May 16, 2017
This is not the book I was looking for.
When I learned about Teams That Thrive, I thought it would help me teach our congregation how to transition from committees to teams and to function effectively within that new structure. I was wrong.
Teams That Thrive is written to senior leadership teams in churches with a lead pastor, ministerial staff leadership teams, and volunteers serving multi-staff churches in administrative roles. It is a book for the top tier of leadership in a church, "top-tier" meaning the group making all the most consequential decisions for a church.
More specifically, this book is written to the small group of people within a given church tasked with administrative oversight of the entire organization. I was hoping for insight into ministry teams and education teams made solely of volunteers and who are responsible for carrying out the work of the church.
Perhaps this book is helpful to larger and more corporate-style churches. Our church, and the vast majority of churches, are smaller than the target audience of this book.
When I learned about Teams That Thrive, I thought it would help me teach our congregation how to transition from committees to teams and to function effectively within that new structure. I was wrong.
Teams That Thrive is written to senior leadership teams in churches with a lead pastor, ministerial staff leadership teams, and volunteers serving multi-staff churches in administrative roles. It is a book for the top tier of leadership in a church, "top-tier" meaning the group making all the most consequential decisions for a church.
More specifically, this book is written to the small group of people within a given church tasked with administrative oversight of the entire organization. I was hoping for insight into ministry teams and education teams made solely of volunteers and who are responsible for carrying out the work of the church.
Perhaps this book is helpful to larger and more corporate-style churches. Our church, and the vast majority of churches, are smaller than the target audience of this book.
May 1, 2023
Two years ago, I was invited to leave my senior pastor position in a smaller church to join the executive staff of a larger church. Suddenly, every day was occupied with team ministry. I inherited some healthy practices, but am always looking for ways to make things better. This book discusses many principles of team ministry including structure, collaboration, conflict resolution, purpose statement, and decision making. The two minute tips scattered throughout the book are creative and practical. The appendix summary and downloadable assessment are both helpful tools to identify key team strengths and weaknesses.As the authors point out, “Many church leaders have not been specifically trained in how to run and grow teams and organizations. Too often the best seminary education breezes through the leadership and management skill training that are crucial to effective pastoral ministry, and leader ship of staff.” (73). This book will help you get pointed in the right direction.
May 23, 2017
I found this to be a really good book on how to improve the effectiveness of church leadership teams.
It was a challenging read with many insights and practical tips such as:
1. Focus on teams purpose, the invisible leader of your team.
2. If you find the team members looking at their phones periodically during your meetings it means that you're not keeping them engaged enough so they're tuning out.
2. Establish expectations for reading updates and reports emailed before the meeting. You won't take time for them to read them during the meeting.
3. Agendas clearly delineate the work for the meeting.
It was a challenging read with many insights and practical tips such as:
1. Focus on teams purpose, the invisible leader of your team.
2. If you find the team members looking at their phones periodically during your meetings it means that you're not keeping them engaged enough so they're tuning out.
2. Establish expectations for reading updates and reports emailed before the meeting. You won't take time for them to read them during the meeting.
3. Agendas clearly delineate the work for the meeting.
December 11, 2018
Full of pragmatic and helpful content. Easy to read, more difficult to apply and there are a a dozen “do this/don’t do that lists” maybe too many, it’s impossible to know every single thing in the moment. However. As your team navigates different seasons or roadblocks there are resources here to go back to and reread. If you already functioning as a strong team this book still has several key principles to bring even greater strength.
March 24, 2025
Great book overall, quite practical. I think a more appropriate title would be “Are we ready for Team Leadership?” It has many things to help someone think through and assess the effectiveness of their team. And a brief description of what Teams that thrive “look-like”. I was looking for something that gave deeper examples and stories that were the process in action. Tons of great principles just not what I thought it was when purchased.
June 11, 2017
This was a great book, but not one you can just cruise through quickly. We tried to take this on as a pastoral team and read in 1 month and then in 1 team meeting try to discuss the whole book. This is not the way I would recommend going through this book.
This book does a great job of discussing meetings. Take it slow, live out this book as you uncover items with your team/teams.
This book does a great job of discussing meetings. Take it slow, live out this book as you uncover items with your team/teams.
March 17, 2025
Probably a 4.5 but leans closer to 4 than 5, so that's my rating. Great insight and material, though sometimes a little over simplistic or redundant. Like many leadership books, it has a lot of repetition. That said, it is well structured with long term change and immediate quick fixes all thought to bolster long term change efforts. Very sound insights.
March 29, 2018
I enjoyed this book, especially the practical tips scattered throughout the pages. Would be good to read this with my team. The wisdom about colloborative decision making made it a worthwhile read for me!
September 23, 2018
Awesome book on church teams
This book has tons of helpful practical advice for churches to grow. Answers objections to team leadership and offers a compelling road map to get there.
This book has tons of helpful practical advice for churches to grow. Answers objections to team leadership and offers a compelling road map to get there.
October 20, 2020
Ryan and Warren provide excellent research and date to support their foundation for collaborative leadership. There was nothing earth shattering that sprang from the book, but should be an essential part of any church leadership "library" for success.
December 22, 2023
Solid read backed up with research on senior leadership in the church. I would pick up this book if I was involved in church leadership.Although, I wish academic language was used less and simplified. Overall, a meaty research backed book.
November 17, 2016
There are better books about team out there but if you want to quick summary this can give you some basic information.
February 21, 2019
Phenomenal book on church leadership, helpful and extremely practical.
April 21, 2022
Exceptional book on leading a Team..period!
Simple yet sophisticated enough to help you lead a team better. A very rare find indeed.
Simple yet sophisticated enough to help you lead a team better. A very rare find indeed.
October 21, 2022
This book is focused on male-led mega-churches. If you work in a smaller church or are not male, you will likely become frustrated with this book.
September 29, 2023
Read for a class. Better than most on church leadership.
March 31, 2015
I’m not going to lie to you… I really don’t enjoy reading on organizational leadership. I have a really hard time making my way through them. I would rather read a dense theology book any day. So for most of my career in ministry I have avoided leadership books like the plague – only reading them when I had to (i.e. forced by my leaders at the church I work at).
In my opinion, church leadership books were a necessary evil.
As lately, as me and my team are trying to move our college ministry forward into the future that God has for it, I have come to realize that leadership books aren’t actually a necessary evil. They just are necessary. But they aren’t just necessary – they are actually important.
Teams and ministries that truly thrive, and not just survive, are teams that believe collaborative leadership is important and they put in the hard work to get better as a team.
Teams that Thrive: Five Disciplines of Collaborative Church Leadership covers it all. It begins by making a case for why we should even read a book about leadership, then they make a case for why the biblical model for leadership is teams not individuals. Then they lead us to evaluate how our team is doing. Then they get to what I believe is the most important part of the book:
5 Disciplines of Teams that Thrive
• Focus on Purpose
• Leverage Differences in Team Membership
• Rely on Inspiration More than Control to Lead
• Intentionally Structure Your Decision-Making Process
• Build a Culture of Collaboration
It was the first discipline that really spoke to me the most. To a certain extent I already knew the other four (though they were good reminders). However I have never really thought of how vital it is to be able to articulate in a clear, compelling, challenging, calling oriented, consistently held way what your purpose as a leadership team is. As Bird and Hartwig say:
Without a 5C purpose, a team will never reach its potential or be able to set meaningful performance goals, which transform the broad purpose into specific and measurable performance challenges, focus the team on pursuing results, facilitate decision making and constructive conflict, and drive the development of an approach to get the work done. (105)
Clearly articulating your purpose will help narrow your team’s scope, it creates space for staff and volunteers to contribute at a high level, it compels people to contribute their best, it inspires and energizes the team, it clarifies the team’s unique contribution to the church, and it brings the team together.
As I look at our ministry, I realize that we haven’t clearly articulate our purpose as a leadership team. And now as a result of this book I see how important that actually is. One thing that I loved about this book was that it actually laid out some practical “2 Minute Tips” on how to take steps towards accomplishing these things and cultivating teams that thrive. These “two-minute tips” are invaluable. They really helped to get my creative juices flowing!
Overall – here are my thoughts – if you don’t really like leadership books… stop that right now. You need to at the very least consider how you might strengthen your organizational leadership. For the sake of your church, just do it! A great place to start would be Bird and Hartwig’s Teams that Thrive.
In my opinion, church leadership books were a necessary evil.
As lately, as me and my team are trying to move our college ministry forward into the future that God has for it, I have come to realize that leadership books aren’t actually a necessary evil. They just are necessary. But they aren’t just necessary – they are actually important.
Teams and ministries that truly thrive, and not just survive, are teams that believe collaborative leadership is important and they put in the hard work to get better as a team.
Teams that Thrive: Five Disciplines of Collaborative Church Leadership covers it all. It begins by making a case for why we should even read a book about leadership, then they make a case for why the biblical model for leadership is teams not individuals. Then they lead us to evaluate how our team is doing. Then they get to what I believe is the most important part of the book:
5 Disciplines of Teams that Thrive
• Focus on Purpose
• Leverage Differences in Team Membership
• Rely on Inspiration More than Control to Lead
• Intentionally Structure Your Decision-Making Process
• Build a Culture of Collaboration
It was the first discipline that really spoke to me the most. To a certain extent I already knew the other four (though they were good reminders). However I have never really thought of how vital it is to be able to articulate in a clear, compelling, challenging, calling oriented, consistently held way what your purpose as a leadership team is. As Bird and Hartwig say:
Without a 5C purpose, a team will never reach its potential or be able to set meaningful performance goals, which transform the broad purpose into specific and measurable performance challenges, focus the team on pursuing results, facilitate decision making and constructive conflict, and drive the development of an approach to get the work done. (105)
Clearly articulating your purpose will help narrow your team’s scope, it creates space for staff and volunteers to contribute at a high level, it compels people to contribute their best, it inspires and energizes the team, it clarifies the team’s unique contribution to the church, and it brings the team together.
As I look at our ministry, I realize that we haven’t clearly articulate our purpose as a leadership team. And now as a result of this book I see how important that actually is. One thing that I loved about this book was that it actually laid out some practical “2 Minute Tips” on how to take steps towards accomplishing these things and cultivating teams that thrive. These “two-minute tips” are invaluable. They really helped to get my creative juices flowing!
Overall – here are my thoughts – if you don’t really like leadership books… stop that right now. You need to at the very least consider how you might strengthen your organizational leadership. For the sake of your church, just do it! A great place to start would be Bird and Hartwig’s Teams that Thrive.
June 8, 2017
Teams are important. This is true not only in a ministerial context, but in any professional context. Several assumptions undergird this. One of those assumptions is that everyone has strengths and weaknesses and that being able to work with individuals who compliment your weaknesses, not only can make it easier on the individual, but can build a stronger entity.
There has been much written on teamwork and its application in a business context. Many of these writings have been helpful, subsequently, churches and other non-profit entities have learned from them. However, Hartwig and Bird convincingly argue that while businesses and churches do have similarities, they also have key distinctions making it difficult to compare, assess, and develop leadership in these two contexts eye-to-eye, per se. One significant difference, which Hartwig and Bird argue has significant impact on leadership development is that business tends to have a fiscal bottom line, that is, they need to make a profit. The fact that churches have a different bottom line, per se, makes leadership different in an ecclesiastical context.
Hartwig and Bird provide an excellent work based on a couple of different premises. First, they desire to establish a biblical framework for leadership teams. Relying on the exegetical expertise of a colleague, Sid Buzwell, they look at what leadership teams look like from a biblical perspective. They move on to introduce a survey they did on a variety of churches enquiring about leadership. With this survey, complimented with observations and group discussion, Hartwig and Bird argue that five key elements related to team leadership emerged:
1) Focus on purpose, the invisible leader of your team
2) Leverage differences in team membership
3) Rely on inspiration more than control to lead
4) Intentionally structure your decision-making process
5) Build a culture of continuous collaboration.
Hartwig and Bird provide excellent detail regarding what these look like in church leadership. In the last two chapters Hartwig and Bird provide some warnings as to elements that are common in ecclesiastical contexts that make these key elements difficult to produce. The second chapter provides some very practical ways that leadership in church contexts can make progress towards producing excellent leadership teams.
There has been much written on teamwork and its application in a business context. Many of these writings have been helpful, subsequently, churches and other non-profit entities have learned from them. However, Hartwig and Bird convincingly argue that while businesses and churches do have similarities, they also have key distinctions making it difficult to compare, assess, and develop leadership in these two contexts eye-to-eye, per se. One significant difference, which Hartwig and Bird argue has significant impact on leadership development is that business tends to have a fiscal bottom line, that is, they need to make a profit. The fact that churches have a different bottom line, per se, makes leadership different in an ecclesiastical context.
Hartwig and Bird provide an excellent work based on a couple of different premises. First, they desire to establish a biblical framework for leadership teams. Relying on the exegetical expertise of a colleague, Sid Buzwell, they look at what leadership teams look like from a biblical perspective. They move on to introduce a survey they did on a variety of churches enquiring about leadership. With this survey, complimented with observations and group discussion, Hartwig and Bird argue that five key elements related to team leadership emerged:
1) Focus on purpose, the invisible leader of your team
2) Leverage differences in team membership
3) Rely on inspiration more than control to lead
4) Intentionally structure your decision-making process
5) Build a culture of continuous collaboration.
Hartwig and Bird provide excellent detail regarding what these look like in church leadership. In the last two chapters Hartwig and Bird provide some warnings as to elements that are common in ecclesiastical contexts that make these key elements difficult to produce. The second chapter provides some very practical ways that leadership in church contexts can make progress towards producing excellent leadership teams.
April 8, 2016
If you are looking for a book on leading teams especially with a focus on church-settings this is one of my top recommendations.
There is much of this book that can be immediately applied to a team you lead in a ministry setting. If you are looking to achieve greater clarity of purpose for your team, a better collaborative environment, determine who should or shouldn’t be on your lead team, trouble-shoot areas where your team may be underperforming to potential, help a team that is not good at communicating and resolving conflict, learn the best ways to resolve conflict in your team, help your team get better at making decisions (while learning faster decision making is not always better) than this is the book for you!
It challenged my views both as a team leader and as a team member. What I have observed is when a church is smaller it is easier to collaborate with others in various areas however, as a church grows it is normal to move into areas of specificity and take a less collaborative approach. While in many ways this is a good thing for top leadership teams this can also be harmful.
Read my full review and summary here: I also wrote a couple posts on top lessons to be learned from this book you can find here as well.
http://joemcfadden.org/2016/04/07/tea...
There is much of this book that can be immediately applied to a team you lead in a ministry setting. If you are looking to achieve greater clarity of purpose for your team, a better collaborative environment, determine who should or shouldn’t be on your lead team, trouble-shoot areas where your team may be underperforming to potential, help a team that is not good at communicating and resolving conflict, learn the best ways to resolve conflict in your team, help your team get better at making decisions (while learning faster decision making is not always better) than this is the book for you!
It challenged my views both as a team leader and as a team member. What I have observed is when a church is smaller it is easier to collaborate with others in various areas however, as a church grows it is normal to move into areas of specificity and take a less collaborative approach. While in many ways this is a good thing for top leadership teams this can also be harmful.
Read my full review and summary here: I also wrote a couple posts on top lessons to be learned from this book you can find here as well.
http://joemcfadden.org/2016/04/07/tea...
July 1, 2015
I had more or less sworn off leadership books for the last few years. I picked this one up because of the focus on leadership teams and because of some recent changes in the church leadership team of which I'm a part. I was not disappointed. While the book clearly angles toward the church-growth side of things which is, at this point, anathema to me, it does present some helpful perspective on team leadership. I found the early chapters of the book most helpful; the last five, which tease out the five disciplines, less so.
September 17, 2015
I found this book clear and compelling. With valuable research, Hartwig and Bird articulate a vision for change leadership that establishes a direction and guides change through strong team leadership. The book is practical in guiding leadership teams towards new culture. I am glad I read this book.
November 20, 2015
Great for lead pastors seeking to make their core leadership team more effective. I wish the book would have spent less time on why doing leadership as a team is a good idea and I didn't really connect with the way the book itself was laid out. Other than that though, it has some really good information and principles that any church leaders can apply.
September 11, 2016
This book serves as both an introduction to team leadership as well as a more in-depth look into the characteristics of successful church's senior leadership teams. Even though it's written from the perspective of SENIOR leadership teams, this book is helpful for any leadership teams that are composed of Christians.
March 16, 2016
Useful insights on building a winning team
This book makes a strong case for modifying the approach churches take to pastoral leadership. A team approach could be just what is needed to propel your congregation to new heights and freshen and energize your staff and members.
This book makes a strong case for modifying the approach churches take to pastoral leadership. A team approach could be just what is needed to propel your congregation to new heights and freshen and energize your staff and members.
August 21, 2015
A lot of great content that I hope to put into practice with our teams at church.
January 7, 2016
Impacting
This book went from suggested to on the list to required reading. A must for anyone in church leadership. Thank you.
This book went from suggested to on the list to required reading. A must for anyone in church leadership. Thank you.
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