The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World

by Alan Roxburgh, Fred Romanuk, Eddie Gibbs (Foreword)

In The Missional Leader, consultants Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk give church and denominational leaders, pastors, and clergy a clear model for leading the change necessary to create and foster a missional church focused outward to spread the message of the Gospel into the surrounding community. The Missional Leader emphasizes principles rather than institutional forms, shows readers how to move away from “church as usual,” and demonstrates what capacities, environments, and mindsets are required to lead a missional church.

Genres: Leadership, Church, Christianity, Theology, Christian, School

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Slade Hogan]

It has some good ideas. However, it is not very well-written. I was bored most of the time, and I felt like I was just trudging along through the book. Would not necessarily recommend. There are plenty of other books on missional leadership. If you are highly technical in nature about leadership, then you might like it.

[brett e smith]

Ok book; some good points and tips; too model focused for my taste.

[Andrew Fox]

This book caught my imagination from the outset as it addressed my leadership and the congregation I serve. This balanced approach divided into two sections of missional leadership and the missional leader was well written for the pastor who wants to bring his / her congregation into a missional focus. I was thrilled to read that it was no repackaging old paradigms 1 but searching for a new language to communicate basic theology with the immediate neighborhood. The comparison of continuous and discontinuous change was a new concept for me and helped bring focus into some of the conflict I have seen in congregational life. Throughout the material the congregation was not dismissed or referred to in a neglectful and negative manner.

The concept of looking at the incarnation of Jesus in a fresh light inspired my own imagination. As the authors state, "More than just doctrine to be confessed, it is the key to understanding all God's activities with, through, in, and among us." Building on this fresh outlook I was challenged by the Spirit of God among the people with God's future also among the people. The material qualified these statements by comparing organizational change to culture change. The authors further explained what this means in terms of the leader. Once more, my imagination was caught by this inspiring approach. I agree that the idea of a leader in the biblical narrative should not be borrowed from the corporate world with goals and targets, but a cultivator of the soil (congregation) cultivating awareness, understanding, co-learning networks, and fresh ways of engaging scripture with new habits.

The three-zone model of missional leadership was consistently referred to from chapter three. At first, I found it difficult to approach this style of `engineers' drawings to describe the action, response and reaction of missional leadership and the congregation. It was not until chapter five that I was able to fully grasp this approach that change does not happen in a straight line. The five elements of sailing the winds of change added clarity. Awareness, understanding, evaluation, experimentation and commitment placed a practicality into the unknown journey of being a missional leader. I enjoyed the references to Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas asking about the telos and their conclusion that our end is God; therefore, he is also our source. This was a brilliant concept for missional leadership in navigating through the messy life of a congregation. Once more, this made complete sense in recalling previous chapters. If we start with the end, who is God, and work our way back to the now it releases security, assurance and a huge imagination. I have understood my own future in two ways: God does nothing until I am doing something, and, I will do nothing until God does something. The author's idea to start with God adds a third understanding to how God works in my life. He brings my future to me. He brings my congregations future to them. Both are done through people.

Being self aware, in chapter seven, caused me the greatest thought and reflection. As the authors state, "Leaders who have not plumbed the depths of their own self-awareness have neither the resources nor security to cultivate an environment of awareness within the congregation." I have spent more time journaling and reflecting on this thought in my own ministry context after reading the book. It became the sounding board for all other ideas of the missional leader and his / her character throughout the remaining material.

My conclusion is that I need to practice the daily offices 13 in my life beyond the morning devotion and journal I keep. I want God to speak to me through people, and through me to people.

[Sam]

Not a very helpful book. While the subject of a missional approach to leadership and ecclesiology is helpful and needed, the approach the authors take is dismal. All the ancedotal illustrations of people and churches are entirely vague which does not capture the attention. In addition, they often say that listening and not having a strong "vision," or "action plan" is key to missional leadership. However, they then proceed to provide 6 simple steps or 3 ways in confusing charts and diagrams as to how to incorporate missional leadership. I really took a spoiling the Egyptians approach to this book. Some material is helpful, most had to be drudged through. I suppose that's what happens when you have a pastor and psychologist co-author a book. Needs some serious editing. Complex sentences. Vague writing. Unclear missional proposals.

I really found this review helpful in expressing my view; http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-rev...

[Aeisele]

I really liked this book. It sort of fits with my basic conception of pastoral leadership. They argue against the predominate conception of leadership as setting out a vision, creating strategies, and getting buy. Instead, they say, "leadership is not about enlightenment but cultivation of an environment that releases the missional imagination of God's ordinary people" (29). Perhaps I'm sort of hyper-protestant point, but from my own experience I really do think ordinary people in the church are where the mission will happen.
Most of the book is explaining the character needed to engage a congregation to change toward a missional model, and then the Missional Change Model itself (awareness, understanding, evaluation, experimentation, and finally commitment are the steps).
On the whole, I find it a much more credible conception of ministry that the visionary-man-of-action model.

[Chauncey Lattimer]

This is an excellent followup to the book edited by Darrell Guder entitled Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. One should be able to identify with their definition of a missional church - "a community of God's people who live into the imagination that they are, by their very nature, God's missionary people living as a demonstration of what God plans to do in and for all of creation in Jesus Christ." The book gives excellent "how to" discussions for implementing the Missional Change Model, which is the heart of the text.

[Floyd]

Excellent guide on the pastor leading his congregation on the missional journey! I was impressed with the approach of the leader/pastor meeting with people one-on-one to listen to their stories and then leading them to "reconnect with the biblical story in a way that enables them to discern what God is doing among them." Instead of a top down approach of strategy and planning, the author advocates a bottom up approach in which the leader works with people as they together carry out experiments in the community resulting in change.

[Bill Habicht]

This is the first book I've come across that really gets to the heart of why the church of the 21st century isn't as "successful" as in the past. It provides not only insights that enable understanding of the current situation of the church, but also a framework in which to re-vision church in authentic ways. It's a must read by pastors and lay-leaders alike.

[James]

I quit the book. After 5 chapters of laboring through it was just way to technical and not practical enough for me. I personally am a time snob when it comes to books and after 5 chapters of not having much that I was walking away with that I didn't already know or have read I decided to give up on this book. I think there are other books out there that get to the point much faster.

[Rod White]

These people have the best ideas! I wish they hadn't written them in such academic/sterile language! If you don;t want to get stuck in a rut of the past church while the world gallops into the future, this might help you.

[Susie]

Discusses the needs for growth and change in churches toward becoming more outwardly-centered. Also gives very helpful advice for leading the change process.

[James Mclean]

Wow! this book talks about what the church exists for. read it!

[Doug]

Great book especially for churches looking to revitalize. however, their approach to creating community in smaller groups has great insight.

[Deb]

lessons for me and for my congregation (and dare I say, my denomination: PCUSA)

[Noah Stepro Stepro]

Great for an established church to rethink through "mission"

[Paul Pascoal]

Por favor. Leiam este livro. I'm completely overwhelmed with the quality of this proposal. Wise and biblical!

[Rocco]

Zeer sterk boek over Missionair leiderschap.
Roxburgh is een autoriteit op dit gebied en het boek heeft me boeiende inzichten gegeven.

[Anthony Parrott]

This book is pretty technical and most of it is very specific in its application. However chapter 5 and forward is very helpful for any church leader.

[Jt]

okay