Having become involved in certain areas of leadership in my life, I jumped at the opportunity to read this book, "Shepherding God's Flock" edited by Benjamin Merkle and Thomas Schreiner. This book is a compilation of multiple essays consisting of chapters that examine biblical leadership in the New Testament, historical developments of leadership in the Roman Catholic Church (more on that later), church leadership models across several denominations, and practical considerations for church leadership in our time.
This book is a moderately "academic" read. For example, it goes into in-depth historical developments of leadership in the Catholic Church over several chapters, which is fine for a history book, but somewhat off-topic for a book focused on church leadership. Perhaps I mistakenly expected more practical application as opposed to church history. The history portions are enjoyable and enlightening though they may be out of place.
The first four chapters of this book, which examine church leadership through simple examination of the relevant New Testament texts represents the good "academic" portions of this book. The implicit points of application that arise out of the theological examination of church leadership in these chapters are particularly helpful. For example, in his examination of the Pauline epistles, Thomas Schreiner states, "Orthodox doctrine, Paul insists, leads to love, and hence orthodoxy is immensely practical" (p. 91).
The final chapter caps the book off with multiple practical considerations for forming and "doing" church leadership in this age.
Overall, I would recommend those in church leadership read this book to mainly firm up their doctrine of church leadership. Some of the history is a little irrelevant in my opinion. It is also worth noting that most of the authors represented in this volume are coming from a credobaptistic, elder-led, congregation-ruled perspective.
I received this book for free from Kregel Publishers in exchange for an unbiased review.
This book is a moderately "academic" read. For example, it goes into in-depth historical developments of leadership in the Catholic Church over several chapters, which is fine for a history book, but somewhat off-topic for a book focused on church leadership. Perhaps I mistakenly expected more practical application as opposed to church history. The history portions are enjoyable and enlightening though they may be out of place.
The first four chapters of this book, which examine church leadership through simple examination of the relevant New Testament texts represents the good "academic" portions of this book. The implicit points of application that arise out of the theological examination of church leadership in these chapters are particularly helpful. For example, in his examination of the Pauline epistles, Thomas Schreiner states, "Orthodox doctrine, Paul insists, leads to love, and hence orthodoxy is immensely practical" (p. 91).
The final chapter caps the book off with multiple practical considerations for forming and "doing" church leadership in this age.
Overall, I would recommend those in church leadership read this book to mainly firm up their doctrine of church leadership. Some of the history is a little irrelevant in my opinion. It is also worth noting that most of the authors represented in this volume are coming from a credobaptistic, elder-led, congregation-ruled perspective.
I received this book for free from Kregel Publishers in exchange for an unbiased review.
Thanks for your information. I appreciate your blog post, beautifully expressed and well written.
ReplyDelete