Pressing Toward the Marks of Ministerial Leadership: Theoretical Frameworks and Workshop Exercises

Have you discerned a call to ministry? Are your gifts for leadership up to par? Pressing Toward the Marks of Ministerial Leadership is intended to help you broaden and deepen your awareness of what it means to be an effective ministerial leader in the 21st century. Chapters in this book provide an overview of theoretical frameworks and practical principles that have stood the test of time and are descriptive of what occurs in most organizational settings. Thought-provoking workshop exercises at the end of each chapter address the needs of adult learners and foster critical thinking, effective communication, and creativity, along with the ability to sustain effective and ethical relationships in evolving congregational settings. Examples in this book grow out of the author's experiences since 1980 as a researcher, leader, administrator, teacher/professor, ordained minister, and change agent. Major topics include the nature of your call to ministry, methods for theological reflection, and elements of Christian worship. Further, the book examines theoretical frameworks for leadership, administration, communication, and teaching, along with other processes associated with serving at the helm of an organization. As a result of reading this book, you will become better at problem-solving, analysis, spiritual self-empowerment, promoting justice, and developing critical consciousness about the linkages among faith, leadership, and service in your organizational setting.

This book will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, including administrators and collegiate faculty in religious studies programs, both ordained and lay clergy, seminarians and other students in religious studies programs, pastors, evangelists, Christian educators, ministers of music, youth ministers, parish nurses, chaplains, counselors, program administrators, and chairs in a range of ministries in congregational or non-congregational settings.