And Lead Us Not Into Dysfunction: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Church Organizations and Their Leaders

Dysfunction. Anyone who has sojourned through congregations or denominations would agree that these are not immune to dysfunction. These holy organizations often eschew the standards upheld by secular organizations. It matters not that those "profane" or "worldly" processes accomplish those organizations' missions and serve humanity well--all within sound ethical boundaries. Consequently, many church organizations deny themselves the best practices of better organized entities. Their leaders think they have nothing to learn from secular leadership theory and practice. They fail to realize that not every leadership or organizational practice portrayed in the Bible is healthy or appropriate for our times. And Lead Us Not Into Dysfunction pursues the conviction that church organizations and their leaders can perform far better than they do. The book explores the causes of anything from mediocrity to dysfunction in church organizations, and outlines several helpful measures that congregations and denominations may embrace to secure organizational and leadership health. This book is a must-have for every pastor, church leader, denominational leader, seminarian, and leadership and organizational dynamics student.

Michael P. Friday is an organizational leadership specialist, serving Transition Ministries, American Baptist Churches, USA as an interim pastoral specialist. He is interim senior pastor of the Union Baptist Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has pastored congregations in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Connecticut, Nebraska, and New York. He has degrees from the University of the West Indies, the United Theological College of the West Indies, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Eastern University.