Leadership Training Part 2 - The Church and Her Mission

At Village Seven, we take leadership development seriously. Men who may be called to serve as elders or deacons go through 9 months of classroom instruction as well as a one year apprenticeship. In an earlier post, I listed some of the articles that the men read on gospel foundations. Here, I am listing some of the resources that we use for understanding how the church ministers in its particular context in such a way that it is faithful to her biblical mission. In my opinion, no one has been more thoughtful or theological in his thinking on this subject than Tim Keller. As a result, most of the resources have been produced by him.

Center Church by Tim Keller. For some, this might read like a textbook, but it is incredibly rich. In this book, Keller not only lays out his philosophy of ministry, but gives leaders the tools for developing their own.  I found the Kindle version hard to read. This is one that you will want to read in print. There are video discussions of most of these chapters on Vimeo.

How Do Word and Deed Ministry Fit Together? by Tim Keller. The title of this article says it all. Very helpful for those in leadership.

Missional Church by Tim Keller. Keller wrote this article years ago, long before he wrotes Center Church. I found it very helpful.

Reading Scripture Missionally by Christopher Wright. Unfortunately, I cannot find a link to this article online. However, Wright has written several books along this theme. In this article, he shows that the mission of the God is not ancillary to the mission of the people of God, but is seen throughout Scripture.

Insourcing by Randy Pope. Randy shows how equipping disciples for mission is key to the church's mission.

The Burden of Change by John Frame. This is a short article on how and why church leaders must be change agents.

Leading Change by John Kotter. This book is the standard text on how to lead change in an organization. Those in officer training are not required to read the book, but we do review the outline of it. A good summary of the book can be found here.

Leadership and Church Size Dynamics by Tim Keller. Church size affects how a church operates. Since Village Seven is a large church (at least by PCA standards). This is important to understand for those coming from smaller churches.

No Man Left Behind by Pat Morley and David Delk. We do not use this book in our Officer Training, but we have used it with our staff and other leaders. The book is not just about how to minister to men, but how to develop sustainable ministries. It provides a very helpful model.