Life-giving Leadership

by Karen Hodge

Jesus modeled a different kind of leadership. His leadership brought life to His followers, and our leadership should too. But how can our leadership be life-giving when it can so easily be life-taking? Susan and Karen challenge us Think biblically and lead covenantally Find our confidence in Christ, not ourselves Set our purpose on eternal goals instead of specific tasks Reflect Jesus, not agendas Lead with prayer & wisdom Seek covenantal community Submit to God and the complementarian leadership of the church Life-giving leadership is grounded in God’s Word, filled with the purpose of glorifying God, relationally driven and decidedly different than anything the world teaches us about leadership. Practical, inspiring and filled with stories of women, like you, who want to know how to lead in a way that reflects Christ. Karen serves as the Coordinator for PCA Women’s Ministry, where she seeks to connect women and churches to one another and to sound resources. Susan is the former PCA Coordinator for Women’s Ministry and served as a consultant to CDM. Susan is the author and co-author of several books for women’s ministries and children.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction

196 pages, Perfect Paperback

Published September 12, 2018

Reviews

[Grace Batterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated this book on proper life-giving female leadership in the church and in women’s ministry, while still staying true to Biblical submission and a complementary view of male and female roles. Each chapter used a Biblical example of a good leader, and included stories of real women either demonstrating life-giving leadership or life-taking leadership.

[Michael Philliber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I was pleased with "Life-giving Leadership" by Karen Hodge, coordinator of the PCA's Women's Ministry, and Susan Hunt, former Coordinator. The book is written from the complementarian perspective (biblically, men and women are equal before God while fulfilling different roles that are fairly sex-specific) in contrast to the egalitarian angle (men and women are equal before God and there are no sex-specific roles in Scripture). Hodge and Hunt seek to present tangible ways women can pursue life-giving leadership in contrast to life-taking leadership.

Though the material feels forced in places, nevertheless the authors stay consistent in striving to think biblically and live and lead covenantally in a complementarian context (15, 19). They follow this train of thinking through the nine topics of confidence, calling, clarity, character, submission, compassion, community, discipleship and Scripture. They rightly recognize that leading covenantally is relational and committed to generational ministry (55). This concept was something I learned in my 20-year military career. As we were taught in the Air Force, and experienced, there are two levels of leadership. There's the formal, organizational leadership, but then there's the informal, influential leadership. And that informal leadership is just as potent - and sometimes more so - than the official leadership.

"Life-giving Leadership" is written for women and by women, and is ideal for a women's ministry team as they think through their purpose. But Hunt and Hodge present tons of thoughtful perspective that's ideal for men as well. In fact I would say the material would be useful and instructive for pastors and elders to think through their own leadership: is it life-giving or life-taking. I recommend the book.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to read it for a class. There’s a lot of good stuff in it, if you’re a woman who is a christ-follower that is readying herself to lead/help in a ministry. If you’re not some of those things, you may not like this book.

I liked the questions at the end of the chapters- it helped set the information in my head better. Also, a lot of the text was encouraging and helped open my eyes to my own sin and temptations, as well as aiding me on what to do in certain circumstances. I found the scenarios helpful and realistic.

I wasn’t sure of the purpose behind the one page letters, and I’m still a little confused on some of their examples of leadership, which in some instances in the book I would simply say “image-bearer” (the example they used of Naaman’s slave girl, being an example), so I’m not sure what to make of that- that leadership is about serving and taking initiative and pointing others to Christ? The book is definitely about life-giving, Christ-seeking leadership, where people and the gospel are the focus. There’s bold sentences in the pages to help gather the takeaway for the section, which I really liked too!

If you’re looking to serve/lead in a certain ministry, I’d say this is an excellent book to work through.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great to read together with a women's Min team!

[Judy Fruscione · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book for our Women of Faith Ministries leaders. Discusses one chapter per month at our meetings. Good discussion and convicting and also encouraging.