Leading Team Based Church

Few responsibilities bedevil church leaders like that of managing a church staff. Faced with staff tension, rivalry, and dramatically high turnover rates, leaders often discover that the reality of day-to-day life in the church office bears little resemblance to their preconceptions regarding how a church should operate. Concerned that fallout from conflict might soon seep into a thriving congregation, church leaders begin searching for solutions that will help them revitalize their staff and ultimately invigorate their congregation. Seeking guidance, they look to themselves, and to God, for answers-answers that can be found embedded in the essence of Christian theology. In Leading the Team-Based Church, George Cladis issues a clarion call for ministry teams to embrace a fresh leadership model that is not based on hierarchy, but on a process of collaboration that mirrors the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He reminds us that today's cultural environment-where authority has basis in trust, innovation reaps rewards, and spirituality takes root in life and work-has matured past the need for the hierarchy of traditional church leadership where the pastor had the final say. Through down-to-earth stories from his own experience and those of clergy in both mainline and evangelical churches, Cladis offers an exciting alternative to the traditional forms of church leadership, enabling pastors, congregational leaders, and staff to breathe new life into their ministries and unleash the full potential of the entire ministry team.