Leadership Mosaic: 5 Leadership Principles for Ministry and Everyday Life

by Daniel Montgomery, Jared Kennedy

There's a leadership crisis in the church.

Every leadership model claims to have all the answers to the challenges of leadership. Each perspective emphasizes certain qualities, and we search desperately for answers in the absence of clear direction. But there's no simple leadership formula that meets every need we have in life and ministry.

Challenging the conventional wisdom about what makes for a good leader, Daniel Montgomery calls us to a countercultural perspective on leadership rooted in our Creator. He presents a new framework for leadership, not just a beckoning to further pragmatism, relentless productivity, or a reactionary cultural fad. He helps us see leadership as a mosaic of five characteristics--conviction, creativity, courage, collaboration, and contemplation--reflective of the very image of the triune God.

Armed with this perspective, we will be able to see, strive after, and celebrate the great and complex vision of leadership God has called us to--for the flourishing of our homes, churches, and workplaces.

Genres: Leadership, Theology

256 pages, Hardcover

Published October 31, 2016

About the author

Daniel Montgomery is founding pastor of Sojourn Community Church, a multi-site congregation with three campuses in Louisville, Kentucky and one in New Albany, Indiana. Sojourn began in 2000 with about sixty people and has grown into a community of nearly four thousand. Daniel now serves Sojourn as pastor of teaching, leadership, and church planting. He has served on a leadership task force for the Southern Baptist Convention and on the board of directors for the Acts 29 church planting network. In 2011, Daniel cofounded the Sojourn Network to multiply churches in North America and beyond. He is the coauthor of Faith-Mapping (Crossway, 2013).

Reviews

[John Sagherian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished reading “Leadership Mosaic: 5 Leadership Principles for Ministry and Everyday Life” by Daniel Montgomery and Jared Kennedy. There are so many books on leadership out there, you might ask do we need another one? I found this book to be thoughtful, Biblical and practical, though sometimes I thought it was making leadership more complicated than necessary. Still, it’s worth the read as it explains the 5 principles of leadership: Conviction, Creativity, Courage, Collaboration and Contemplation, and ties them to the Trinity. I especially like what it says about the Collaborative Leader. I echo what Paul David Tripp says on the back cover, “… I wish I had this book forty years ago!”

[Joel Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Triune God is represented more truthfully by a team of leadership. This one notion will itself critique the Western desire to find its one gifted leader, an unfortunate perpetuation of the great man myth. In fact, “the complexity of the world is a witness to the complexity and greatness of our God,” (p. 22) which is to say that a complex God has given way to a complex world that cannot be guided by narrow leadership but, rather, a complex one. This is the essence of Mosaic Leadership. The author unpacks five perspectives on leadership that he believes to be “rooted and redeemed in our doctrine of God.” (p. 27) In an effort to be practical, the author also suggests a leadership skill set for each person to grow in.

Not a typical leadership book.

[Matthew Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fair. Honestly just seemed like more of the same in this recent slew of books on leadership. Nothing new was presented nor nothing overtly helpful.

Two questions I walked away with were: Did he really read all of the books and articles footnoted? And has he really read all the books suggested st the end of his book?

[Rand Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

The chapters on courage and collaboration stood out to me (and the rest fell flat). My guess is that you might be attracted to the chapters that best fit your leadership style...which is a shame since the author builds a case for the full mosaic.

The charts, figures, and tables were great. The summary material and exercises were good as well. An extensive bibliography is included.

[Daniel Markin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt less excited about leadership after reading the book. It lacked urgency and drive to become a greater leader, and replaced it with a floating sense of being a leader. Love the cover art though. Aesthetic is 5/5.

[Michael Watt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first word that comes to my mind about this book is, “Wow!” Next to Paul David Tripp’s book, “Dangerous Calling”, no book has challenged me, comforted me, and convicted me more about leading others on mission than Daniel’s and Jared’s book, “Leadership Mosaic.” Leadership books can be big on vision, but lack on practicality. Others can be heavy on application with little talk about vision and philosophy. This book challenges leaders to dream and to trust God for the future but admonishes us to remain faithful to the tasks currently in front of us. The authors remind us that faithfulness and conviction now leads to creativity and opportunity in the future. Daniel and Jared remind us that great leaders live in light of and in communion with the triune God. The book lays out five competencies that are essential in biblical leadership: Conviction, Creativity, Courage, Collaboration, and Contemplation.

As a classical educator, I found the first section of the book very refreshing. One of the mistakes that we as leaders make is to only focus on the subject of leadership, but by doing this we fail to observe the people we’re leading, the world we’re leading in, and where we are called to lead people to. The authors call us to enjoy God and to enjoy His creation along the path of leadership.The authors draw from a rich well of literature written by believers and unbelievers alike. They remind us that God has created all things for His glory and that he displays his common grace in all fields of study.

If you are looking for a book that is not overly practical or overly philosophical on the subject of biblical leadership, you definitely will enjoy this book. You will be challenged to strengthen your conviction, to expand your creativity, to step out in courage, to joyfully collaborate with others, and to contemplate what God is doing in you and through you all for His glory and the sake of the redemptive mission He is accomplishing through His people.

Note: I received this book as a review copy from Crossway.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

What makes a good Christian leader? Montgomery offers five traits of any such successful leader.

First, they are convictional. They embody what they believe. They seek to follow the Word and will of God by practicing what they preach.
Second, they are creative. Not as in "artsy" but as in "imagining the way forward." This is associated with "vision," which seems more highly desired than anything else in leaders these days.
Next, they are courageous. They take risks. They try to see where God is already working, and seek to join him.
Fourth, they are collaborative. They know how to manage others well. They both support and challenge the team.
Lastly, they are contemplative. They listen to God. They don't get burned out. They celebrate.

A lot of this may sound like mumbo-jumbo, and no leader will be able to wear all five of these hats perfectly, but there's still a lot in this book to take to heart. Montgomery was a church planter, and so his illustrations and examples are skewed in that direction, but his thoughts on leadership are still valuable. I certainly don't agree with all of his church-planting principles, yet this book is inspiring none the less.

Also one of the best-produced books I've seen in a while. The paper and slipcover are excellent. Art is really neat.

[Bobby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really good content. The best part of this book for me was that it was written in such a way that it makes it easy to use it as a resource later on.