Because I focused on team ministry in my
doctoral studies, have taught the team approach to ministry, and appreciate
George Barna’s expertise and understanding of our world, I took special note of
this book. I read it with enthusiasm and was not disappointed. The background
research and practical ideas make it perhaps the best book on this subject that
I have read to date.
In the eleven chapters
Barna deals with timely and challenging issues crucial to ministry today. A
February 21, 2002 article in U. S. A. Today focused on the high rate of
burnout, dropout, and failure in the ministry. The article cited statistics to
show that the clergy has a higher “firing” rate than NFL coaches, and it
delineated the negative effect this has on congregations.
The Power of Team
Leadership addresses those issues.
Barna gives statistics and draws conclusions that underscore how pastors are set
up for failure based, in part, on some church growth philosophies and a consumer
approach to ministry. He reminds us of the biblical truth ofHe
the priesthood of all believers; church members are not only recipients or
consumers of ministry, but should be doing ministry as well. “Leaders are only
successful if their followers succeed.”
Barna points out that
while quality of leadership is indispensable to ministry, we tend to expect too
much of individual leaders. “The problem is not that we do not have enough good
leaders, but that we have an errant expectation about what a leader is called to
do.” He raises the question that I have asked many local church leaders over the
years, “Is your church led by a superstar leader or a leadership team?”
While the Bible
addresses the topic of leadership, Barna points out that we often force a
conclusion about leadership that we call biblical. By using examples like Moses,
Nehemiah, Jesus, and Paul, he shows how the Bible endorses the value and
significance of team-based leadership.
Having consulted with
and trained church leaders who desire to move to a team-based philosophy and
practice of ministry, I believe this book will challenge readers to think in
this direction and help them implement that paradigm. I agree with Barna that
humanly speaking a church cannot grow without good leadership facilitation.
Barna is on target when he says that a team-based leadership approach more
easily focuses everyone on God than the solo leadership model which tends to
focus the spotlight on individuals. Churches and organizations that are built on
the superstar model demonstrate this.
The key to vitality (or
re-vitality) in a church is to implement the team-based approach to leadership.
No other model is as effective in utilizing the gifted people that God has put
together in the church.
Every church officer
ought to read this book. If you are not already practicing the team-based
approach to leadership, read it quickly. Pray about its potentials and
possibilities. It will re-ignite the flame in your church because as the Apostle
Paul says, “The church grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its
work” (Eph. 4:16).
- Charles Dunahoo, CEP
Coordinator
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