Oriented Leadership: Why Every Christian Needs It
This is a book every bishop, priest, parish council member and lay leader needs to read. Even better, the book should be used for workshops and training in group settings. Although good theology, liturgy, pastors and lay people are plentiful in the Orthodox Church, its history, especially in North America, has shown that its organizational life is woefully inadequate if left either to secular models or models inherited from a Byzantine and tsarist authoritarian past. Oriented Leadership is a pioneering effort to bring together theology and practical reflection on leadership, organization, accountability, administration, planning and management. Beginning with a Trinitarian vision of a communion of persons, McKibben and Williams outline in many practical ways how it is possible to make hierarchy and conciliarity complementary aspects of a leadership based on mutual service and accountability. If you are disillusioned with organizational church life, or simply frustrated at the gap between theology and administration, then this book will be a source of hope. --[Fr. John A. Jillions is Associate Professor of Eastern Christian Studies and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada. He is also Vice-President of the Canadian Council of Churches and past Dean of Annunciation