Biblical Leadership

Developing CHurch Volunteers

We live in an age where examples of authentic biblical leadership are hard to find. This relevant and important book will help you to grasp a New Testament picture of leadership that is person-centered and team-centered.

Whether you are a pastor, Christian education director, youth worker, children's director, teacher, or other ministry leader, this book will help you grow in self-perception, skills, and vision as a leader.

Called To Lead

Understanding and Fulfilling Your Role as an Educational Leader

Twenty different practitioners representing years of cumulative leadership experience present twenty separate topics related to Christian school leadership. This book addresses vitally important themes such as:

• How our present-day culture impacts Christian schools
• How boards and administrators can work together
• How leaders build effective teams
• How leaders can make wise decisions

"This book should be in the hands of all Christian School adminstrators and board members whose important roles will be enhanced by it's priciples."

Dr. Ted Engstrom
President
World Vision

Coaching Ministry Teams

Leadership and Management in Christian Organizations

In competitive sports we prize teamwork. We know that a mature team will usually beat an astounding collection of individual players. The burden of creating such esprit de corps falls to the coach and the team of leaders he has assembled. After all, a team without a coach cannot win. But what happens when the coach himself does not understand the dynamics of teamwork?

In a similar manner, every leader of every church is a coach of sorts, with a ministry team responsible for the life of the church. The question put to you as a pastor is this: Are you a team player? Even more to the point: Whose team are you building?

"I've made a lifelong study of leadership. There are many names for the leader: shepherd, pastor, president, chairman, coach. All these are leaders who gather individuals around them to form a team. My longtime friend and colleague, Dr. Kenneth O. Gangel, has been doing this for years. Therefore he knows much about teamwork. In several different ministry positions he has built teams that functioned smoothly and effectively. What are the keys to team building? Dr. Gangel has insightfully answered that question in this volume."
—Dr. Charles Swindoll

Communication and Conflict Management

Churches thrive on communication; they are stifled by conflict. Renowned Christian educator Kenneth O. Gangel joins his colleague Samuel L. Canine to bring good news to the church - communication skills can be learned and conflict can be managed. The church need no longer hide conflict nor excuse itself for poor communication, but can instead acknowledge where it has problems and seek transformation.

The authors offer scriptural strategies for overcoming conflict and for building trust in relationships - even relationships among deacons or between deacons and pastors. Drawing from recent studies in the social sciences, Gangel and Canine show the church how to manage strife and foster dialogue so that the church can flourish.

Chapter titles include "Learning To Listen," "Power in Conflict Management," "Negotiation and Bargaining in Conflict Management," "Organizational Causes of Conflict," "Coalitions in Conflict Management," "Managing Conflict Destructively or Constructively," "Stress: Cause And Cure," and "The Workaholic Syndrome."

This book is a valuable resource for training church leaders. It is also an important resource for those who are already pastors, for whom the issues are daily realities and not just academic theory. Through its use in churches and seminaries, the book is designed to lead God's church through its conflicts to renewed vigor in ministry and growth.

Surviving Toxic Leaders

Since Jean Lipman-Blumen's The Allure of Toxic Leaders shook the corporate world in 2005, countless articles, books, and Internet blogs have appeared on the topic.

Despite such interest and response, no study of toxic leadership had appeared from a Christian point of view until this volume, Kenn Gangel's Surviving Toxic Leaders.

Gangel begins by showing that toxic leadership existed throughout biblical history. Making generous use not only of biblical material but also of contemporary leadership literature, Gangel names the causes and cures of power abuse, cheating, bullying, laziness, and dictatorial behavior in today's leaders.

Readers will benefit from Gangel's leadership experience and expertise. He has been a pastor, a college dean, a seminary vice president, and a college president. Gangel currently edits The Seal, a review of leadership literature.

Practical and personal, Surviving Toxic Leaders abounds with stories of real people and their situations. Everyone who has ever had "trouble at work" will benefit from Surviving Toxic Leaders.

Team Leadership in Christian Ministry

"Team leadership is the exercise of one's spiritual gifts under the call of God to serve a certain group of people in achieving the goals God has given them toward the end of glorifying Christ." How is your church or organization governed? Does it have an authoritarian, top-down administration? Is the ministry vision developed by a few top officials, with little input from staff or volunteers? Today the definition of an effective leader has changed. No longer does the model leader manage like the Lone Ranger—either do it his way or no way. Today the model leader shares responsibility with fellow team leaders and seeks to serve them. In this complete revision of his earlier work, Building Leaders for Church Education, Dr. Gangel carefully lays a biblical foundation for the team leadership model. This leadership is not dogmatic control or personality worship. It has no room for political power plays. Instead, it is Paul gently nurturing young Christians in his epistles. It is Barnabas willingly thrusting others into situations where they develop their own gifts. It is Christ, choosing not one, but twelve men to carry on His ministry. It is servant leadership. With examples, illustrations, and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, Dr. Gangel prods and encourages the reader to move beyond the safety net of autocratic leadership into the rewarding, effective practice of leading with and through others.

"Once every few years, or perhaps once in a decade, I read a book that has a profound impact on my life and ministry. Without a doubt Team Leadership written by Dr. Kenneth Gangel is that kind of book."
- Dr. Paul Cedar, Chairman/CEO Mission America