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Christian Leadership Resources
Church and ministry leadership resources abound to equip, train, and provide ideas for today's church and ministry leaders to help them lead more effectively. Below you will find a variety of resources covering a spectrum of issues leaders might face or practices they could implement.
Clicking on many of the links below will take you to articles on other sites or to one of our affiliate bookstores. While seeking to choose sites and books that are doctrinally sound the Ministry Tools Resource Center makes no claim to total endorsement of any listing.
Links to other sites will open in a new page to allow you to keep the list available to look at additional leadership resources.
Click on a link of interest or scroll down for the entire list of resources.
Administration:
- Book: Business Management in the Local Church by David Pollock
- Book: Church Administration: Creating Efficiency for Effective Ministry by Robert Welch
- Book: Church Administration, Effective Leadership for Ministry by Charles A. Tidwell
- Book: Church Administration Handbook, Third Edition: Revised and Updated by Bruce P. Powers
- Book: Church Operations Manual: A Step-by-Step Guide to Effective Church Management by Stan Toler
- Book: Feeding and Leading: A Practical Handbook on Administration in Churches and Christian Organizations by Kenneth O. Gangel
- Book: Leadership Handbook of Management & Administration by James D. Berkley
- Book: Management Essentials for Christian Ministries by Michael Anthony
- Resource Kit: The Church Administration Kit: Resources for Daily Operations by Gene Grate
- Article: Church Leadership Skills
Boards, Committees, Meetings:
- Book: Leading Leaders by Aubrey Malphurs
- Book: Meetings That Work: A Guide to Effective Elders' Meetings by Alexander Strauch
- Book: Nailing Down a Board: Serving Effectively on the Not-for-Profit Board by Charles Ryrie
- Article: Church Board Meetings Reflecting What You Say You Want?
- Article: Healthy Church Boards
- Article: Ideas to Revitalize Church Board Meetings
- Article: Making the Most of Meetings
- Article: Responsibilities of the church board
- Article: Working Together
Change:
- Article: First Things First When It Comes to Implementing Change
- Article: Four principles for leading the change resistant church
- Article: Not Everything Changes in a Changing World
- Article: Steps for Leading Change
Church Health and Church Growth:
- Book: Becoming a Healthy Church by Stephen A. Macchia
- Book: Effective Church Growth Strategies by Joseph Walls, Gene A. Getz
- Book: Growth by Accident, Death by Planning: How Not to Kill a Growing Congregation by Bob Whitesel
- Article: A Christ-like Church: God's Heart for the Church to Be Holy
- Article: A Christ-like Church: Holiness, Not Legalism
- Article: A Christ-like Church: Holiness, Not By Leaders Taking a Hands-Off Approach
- Article: Alignment with the Truth Required for Christ-likeness
- Article: Importance of Truth to Christ-likeness
- Article: Church Health: Doing Right Things, Doing Things Right
- Article: Disciplemaking: Whose Responsibility is It?
- Article: How Ready Are We?
- Article: Stay Out of the Church Growth Quicksand
- Article: Healthy Church Organization
- Article: Spiritual Principles of Church Health
Communication:
- Book: Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication by Andy Stanley, Lane Jones
Conflict Management and Dealing with Criticism:
- Book: Antagonists in the Church - How to Identify and Deal with Destructive Conflict by Kenneth C. Haugk
- Book: Caring Enough to Confront by David Augsburger
- Book: Firestorm: Preventing and Overcoming Church Conflicts by Ron Susek
- Book: Resolving Disputes in Christian Groups by Marlin E. Thomas
- Book: The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict by Ken Sande
- Book: Transforming Conflict In Your Church: A Practical Guide by Marlin E. Thomas
- Book: Well-Intentioned Dragons: Ministering to Problem People in the Church by Marshall Shelley
- Book: When People Throw Stones: A Leader's Guide to Fielding Personal Criticism by Blaine Allen
- Article: A Crash Course in Conflict
- Article: Basic Principles
- Article: Conflict Diagnosis: Are you Hot or Cool?
- Article: Handling Conflict
- Article: How to Handle Criticism - 7 biblical and practical steps
- Article: Obstacles in Becoming More Purposeful
- Article: The Escalating Stages of Unresolved Church Conflict
- Article: The Pastor's Role in Managing Church Conflict
- Article: The Slippery Slope: Staying on Top of Conflict
- Article: Transforming Your Church: Cultivating a Culture of Peace™
- Article: Understanding Church Conflict: A Bible Study
- Article: Unity Prohibited by the Need for Control
- Article: When Resistance from Others Hinders Pursuit of God's Purposes
Core Values:
- Book: Ministry Nuts and Bolts by Aubrey Malphurs
- Book: Values-Driven Leadership: Discovering and Developing Your Core Values for Ministry by Aubrey Malphurs
Decision-Making:
- Article: 5 Decision-Making Questions Ministry Leaders Should Ask
- Article: Evaluating Alternative Options
- Article: Making the Tough Calls
- Article: Ministry Decision-Making
- Article: Role of Feelings or Instincts
Delegation:
- Article: Delegate or Die!
- Article: Delegation Skills
- Article: Interdependence Blocked by Leaders Doing Too Much
- Article: The delegating process
Developing Leaders:
- Book: Developing the Leader Within You by John Maxwell
- Book: Mentoring Leaders: Wisdom for Developing Character, Calling, and Competency by Carson Pue
- Book: The Leadership Baton: An Intentional Strategy by Rowland Forman, Jeff Jones, Bruce Miller
- Book: The Making of a Leader by J. Robert Clinton
- Site: Train Church Leaders
- Training Tool: The EQUIP Leadership Series: Contagious Leadership Kit
- Training Tool: Who Am I as a Leader with CDROM
Developing the Next Generation of Leaders:
- Article: 3 Practical Ideas on How to Develop Students Into Leaders
- Book: Ministry by Teenagers: Developing Leaders from Within by Youth Specialties
- Resource: Leaders are Learners - Student Edition
by Doug Fields
Evaluation:
- Article: Constructive "What Ifs" for People in Ministry
- Article: Defining Effective Ministry
- Article: Evaluating the Ministry
- Article: Glorifying God in Ministry: Both Results & the Process Matter
- Article: How to do a year-end evaluation
- Article: Leader - Organization Fit (pdf)
- Article: Leadership Ministry: Critique
- Article: Ministry Assessment
- Article: Ministry Assessment: A Tool to Assess Your Ministry Situation (pdf)
- Article: Strategic Analysis: SWOT
- Article: The Party's Over - Debriefing after an Event
- Article: Turning Performance Evaluation Into Contribution Analysis
Examples to Follow:
- Book: Excellence in Leadership: Reaching Goals with Prayer, Courage, and Determination by John White - from Nehemiah
- Book: Lead Like Jesus by Ken Blanchard
- Book: The Book on Leadership by John MacArthur - 26 principles in the life of the Apostle Paul
- Book: The Good Book on Leadership: Case Studies From the Bible by John Borek, Danny Lovett, Elmer L. Towns
- Article: Great Leaders Of The Bible And How They Led
- Article: Jesus' Leadership Style
- Article: Nehemiah : A Visionary Leader
Facilities Management:
- Book: Planning and Building Church Facilities by Gwenn McCormick (might be able to find used)
- Article: Estimate Space Needs for Parking, Worship, and Education (pdf)
Financial Management:
- Book: Basic Accounting for Churches by Jack A. Henry
- Book: Basic Budgeting for Churches by Jack A. Henry
- Book: Business Management in the Local Church by David R. Pollock
- Book: Money Matters in Church: A Practical Guide for Leaders by Aubrey Malphurs, Steve Stroope
- Book:Zondervan Church & Nonprofit Tax & Financial Guide by Dan Busby
- Article: ABC's of Church Budgeting
- Article: Choosing the right people
- Article: Financial accountability in church administration
- Article: The Basics of Budgeting
General Leadership Helps:
- Book: Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels
- Book: Leadership 101, What Every Leader Needs to Know by John C. Maxwell
- Book: LeadershipNext: Changing Leaders in a Changing Culture by Eddie Gibbs
- Book: Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders
- Book: Spiritual Leadership: Moving People On to God's Agenda by Henry T. Blackaby, Richard Blackaby
- Book: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell
- Book: Who Runs the Church? 4 Views on Church Government by Steven B. Cowan, Stanley N. Gundry, Paul E. Engle & Steven B. Cowan, eds.
- Article: Church Leadership Basics
- Article: Church Management: Combining the Spiritual and the Organizational
- Article: Leadership Defined
- Article: Ministry Leadership Resources Abound
Legalities:
- Book: Nonprofit Law for Religious Organizations: Essential Questions & Answers by Bruce R. Hopkins, David Middlebrook
- Book: Safe Kids: Policies & Procedures for Protecting Children in the Church by Blake Caldwell
- Article: 7 Building Blocks of the 21st Century Church
Personality of the Leader:
- Book: Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: The Paradox of Personal Dysfunction by Gary L. McIntosh, Samuel D. Rima Sr.
- Article: Hindrance of Personality in Pursuing God's Purposes
- Article: Leaders with Trust Issues
Prayer:
- Book: Leadership Prayers Richard Kriegbaum
- Book: Partners in Prayer John C. Maxwell
- Article: 8 Reasons to Pray for Your Ministry
- Article: Not By Programs . . . But By a Spirit of Prayer
- Article: Prayer for Vision
- Article: Role of Prayer in Determining & Pursing God's Purposes for the Church
- Article: The Prayers Of A Leader
Project Management:
- Article: Project Management in the Church
Purpose of the Church:
- Book: Church Purpose Ministry Manual by Ministry Tools Resource Center
- Article: What is the Church's Purpose?
- Article: Actively Pursuing the Church's Purpose?
- Article: Not Leading Purposefully?
- Article: Benefits of Following the Church's Purpose
- Article: Do You Have a Written Church Purpose Statement?
- Article: How to Use & Be Driven by a Church Purpose Statement
- Article: Tips for Using & Being Driven by Your Church Purpose Statement
- Article: Obstacles in Becoming More Purposeful
- Article: Practical Outworking of the Church's Purpose
- Article: God's Purpose for the Church - Help Breaking Through Barriers
Qualities, Character, Attitude of the Leader:
- Book: Leading with Love by Alexander Strauch
- Book: Leadership from the Inside Out: Examining the Inner Life of a Healthy Church Leader by Kevin G. Harney
- Book: Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership by Gary L. McIntosh, Samuel D. Rima
- Book: The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader by John C. Maxwell
- Book: The Difference Maker: Making Your Attitude Your Greatest Asset by John C. Maxwell
- Book: The Servant Leader by Ken Blanchard, Phil Hodges
- Article: 5 Signs Ministry Leadership Has Turned Abusive
- Article: 5 Signs Ministry Leadership Has Turned Christ-like
- Article: All Authority is His - Leaders with Authority Issues
- Article: Christ-likeness: Focus Must Be On Christ
- Article: Christ-likeness: Grace and Truth
- Article: Christ-likeness: Integrity
- Article: Church Leadership Qualities
- Article: HE is "The Authority" Not You
- Article: Hindrance of Laziness
- Article: Leaders with a Sense of Superiority
- Article: None of Us Have Arrived
- Article: Not Staying the Course?
- Article: Pastors & Ministry Leaders: Lead by Example
- Article: Servant Audit (pdf)
- Article: Unity Prohibited by Defensiveness
Relationship Building:
- Book: Becoming a Person of Influence: How to Positively Impact the Lives of Others by John C. Maxwell
- Book: Relationships 101, What Every Leader Needs to Know by John C. Maxwell
- Book: Winning With People by John C. Maxwell
- Article: Developing Your Discernment: How to read the people you lead
- Article: Failure to Show Value of All by Lack of Affirmation
- Article: Level Five Accountability: Developing a Trusted Relationship
- Article: Loving Unlovable People
Safety Issues:
- Article: Safety Measures in the Church: Trust God or Take Precautions?
- Book: The Missing Ministry: Safety, Risk Management, and Protecting Your Church
Staffing:
- Resources: Variety of Book & Internet Resources
- Training: Staffing Ministry Training
Strategic Planning:
- Book: Advanced Strategic Planning: A New Model for Church and Ministry Leaders by Aubrey Malphurs
- Article: Advanced Strategic Planning Method (pdf)
- Article: Characteristics of Strategic Leaders
- Article: Developing a Strategic Plan for Your Church: What to do - and what not to do
- Article: Is Strategic Planning Biblical?
- Article: Strategic Analysis: SWOT
- Article: Strategic Planning for Christian Organizations
- Article: Strategy: a biblical perspective
Team Building:
- Book: Doing Church as a Team: The Miracle of Teamwork and How it Transforms Churches by Wayne Cordeiro
- Book: Sticky Teams by Larry Osborne
- Book: The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player
- Book: The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork by John C. Maxwell
- Book: The Power of Team Leadership: Achieving Success Through Shared Responsibility by George Barna
- Book: Transform Your Church with Ministry Teams by E. Stanley Ott
- Article: A Team Health Check
- Article: Good Leaders Are Good Teammates - geared to children's ministry but point apply elsewhere
- Article: Interdependence Blocked by Blind Trust
- Article: Ministry Teams as a Shepherding Venue
- Article: Team Building
- Article: What makes a good team leader?
Time Management:
- Article: Hindrance of Time Constraints in Pursuing God's Purposes
- Article: Time Management
- Books: Books on Managing Our Schedules Wisely (general time management, not from leadership perspective)
Vision Casting:
- Book: Developing a Vision for Ministry in the 21st Century by Aubrey Malphurs
- Book: Ministry Nuts and Bolts by Aubrey Malphurs
- Book: The Power of Vision by George Barna
- Book: Transitioning by Dan Southerland
- Book: Turning Vision Into Action by George Barna (out of print - may be able to find used on Amazon.com)
- Book: Visioneering by Andy Stanley
- Article: Developing a Vision
- Article: Mission and Vision Statement
- Article: Nehemiah : A Visionary Leader
- Article: Prayer for Vision
- Article: Vision Forming
- Article: Vision Killers (pdf file)
- Article: Writing Vision Statements
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