Building Effective Boards for Religious Organizations: A Handbook for Trustees, Presidents, and Church Leaders

Through their admirable energy, dedication, and leadership, religious board members sustain our world's most invaluable organizations. This in-depth handbook offers essential insights from respected veterans of religious and nonprofit work on governing an organization with a religious mission. Drawing on years of research, consulting, and hands-on religious nonprofit work, the authors show how board members can clearly define their roles and mission, transform hierarchical structures into models of collaborative leadership, and organize for greater impact.



From congregations and seminaries to soup kitchens, hospital chains, and social service agencies, Building Effective Boards for Religious Organizations examines both the nature and nurture of religious boards. Interfaith in scope and brimming with real-life examples, it skillfully demonstrates how a religious board can escape common problems, and how understanding the full depth of the organization's mission can help it best fulfill its intended purpose.

THOMAS P. HOLLAND, Ph.D., is a professor and director of the Institute for Nonprofit Organizations, University of Georgia School of Social Work. He has done extensive research and consulting on strengthening board effectiveness and is the author of many books, including Improving Board Effectiveness (1997). DAVID C. HESTER, Ph.D., is professor of Christian education at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Along with Dr. Holland, he was the recipient of a Lilly Endowment grant to study and evaluate board development programs at seminaries throughout the United States.