Four Essential Loves: Heart Readiness for Leadership and Ministry

How does one determine the readiness of any candidate for leadership in ministry? Whether considering vocational ministry leadership or a position on a local board of elders or deacons, without question, knowledge and skills are essential. But an individual's readiness for leadership and ministry cannot be assessed solely on the basis of academic transcripts or impressive statistics found in a pastor or lay leader's annual report. While embracing knowledge and skill as essential to effective leadership and ministry, the author demonstrates how these dimensions are inadequate unless rooted in that which is less quantifiable, namely, heart-readiness. But what does heart-readiness entail or look like in the life of a leader in ministry? In a word that is grossly overused and profoundly misunderstood, love-and more specifically, love for the right things, in the right way, for the right reasons. This book is intended for those being trained in the bible college or seminary classroom but also for lay leaders already engaged in virtually any ministry context as well. Readers are encouraged to consider and cultivate four essential loves: love for God's Word, for Christ's church, for one's neighbor, and for oneself.

William R. McAlpine (PhD, Aberdeen University, Scotland) has pastored in Canadian churches with the Christian and Missionary Alliance for over fifteen years and presently serves as Professor of Practical Theology at Ambrose University College in Calgary, Alberta. He is the author of Sacred Space for the Missional Church (2011).