The Collaborative Leader

Loughlan Sofield and Donald Kuhn offer recommendations on how those in formal ministry might examine their own approach to leadership and how they meet the needs, expectations, and challenges of their people. Highlighting the comments of those who say that what they do in the workplace is not recognized or supported as ministry, the authors argue persuasively that the church is overlooking a powerful resource. Sofield and Kuhn urge church leaders to listen to the different voices in their own parishes and institutions, contending that they will find in these people dynamic, if sometimes unheralded, witnesses of the Christian message who daily carry the good news to the marketplace.

How can church leaders (ordained, religious, or lay) be more competent and dynamic? The Collaborative Leader: Listening To The Wisdom Of God's People identifies and interviews forty-two lay Christians who are outstanding leaders in diverse fields like medicine, politics, business, and education, and who truly live their Christian values in the marketplace. Their responses can perhaps best be summed up in one word: collaboration. These "wisdom people" stress that the primary tasks of a leader are to listen, establish a vision, respond to needs, and empower others to use their gifts and abilities. They emphasize that the collaborative leader is above all, a person of character who seeks to develop qualities such as integrity, generativity, compassion, and hope. Building on the insights of the wisdom people, Sofield and Kuhn offer recommendations on how those in formal ministry might examine their own approach to leadership and how they meet the needs, expectations, and challenges of their people. They urge church leaders to listen to the different voices in their own parishes and institutions, contending that they will find in these people dynamic, if sometimes unheralded, witnesses of the Christian message who daily carry the Good News to the marketplace. --Midwest Book Review