Best christian leadership books according to redditors

We found 61 Reddit comments discussing the best christian leadership books. We ranked the 27 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Top Reddit comments about Christian Leadership:

u/Iron_Rod_Stewart · 20 pointsr/exmormon

That's a topic big enough for a two-volume treatise, but in the context of my comment, here goes:

Leaders in SLC have little interaction with lowly members like me, but listening to their semi-annual talks, the emphasis is overwhelmingly geared toward believing and acting in certain way that outwardly shows devotion, and never being satisfied with your current standing with God, as opposed to being happy with who you are and being assured that the church is place for everyone.

As for the local leaders, for a long time I told myself that as long as I was wanted within my local congregation, it didn't matter what the leaders in SLC wanted. When I began limiting my attendance and participation, local leaders of my congregation did not seek me out socially at all, nor were they at all reassured when I told them that things in my life were going well. They were too caught up on my various "statuses" which are tracked by the church headquarters: whether I was attending all my meetings regularly, whether I was paying tithing, whether I had a temple recommend.

The nail in the coffin was when my most immediate local leader, known as the "Elder's Quorum President", begged me to agree to teach the Elder's Quorum lessons. I told him that I didn't care for the content of the lessons, to which he replied, in an exasperated tone "well will you at least attend? We're down to only about four people each week!"

In other words, he was apparently far less interested in my unorthodox insights, or in my extensive experience as a teacher, than in having just another warm body in attendance. This was evidenced by his unenthusiastic request that I teach lessons contrasted with his impassioned plea for another ass-in-the-seats, so to speak. That was the moment my last lingering interest in formal involvement with the community evaporated.

I experienced similar conversations with my local bishop and his counselors, but the above example was the most obvious one.

u/declawedboys · 16 pointsr/OpenChristian

The book mentioned in the article is free as an eBook on Amazon. It’s a real solid read, especially for the price of free.

u/mistiklest · 15 pointsr/Catholicism

If you want an actual Orthodox point of view on this, instead of a Catholic view of the Orthodox view, read The Primacy of Peter. It contains the referenced article by Fr. Nicholas Afanassieff. Further reading might include You are Peter, by Olivier Clement, and Eucharist, Bishop, Church by Metropolitan John Zizoulas.

There's also the excellent His Broken Body by Fr. Laurent A. Cleenewerck, which should basically be required reading for anyone remotely interested in the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

There's also Primacy in the Church (Volume 1), which will be coming out on Jan 31st. It contains the essay often recommended by /u/LeonceDeByzance, The Meaning and Exercise of “Primacies of Honor” in the Early Church by Fr. Brian Daley, SJ, which I haven't had access to until now, and am quite interested to read. The rest of this anthology looks similarly excellent.

u/Nonconsensual-Rhoda · 11 pointsr/exmormon

I was reading posts in the archives on this sub. I believe it is referenced from The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power by D. Michael Quinn

“Sept 7, 1859 - Salt Lake City clerk records sale of twenty six year old "negro boy" for $800 to William H. Hooper. Until federal law ends slavery in U.S. Territories in 1862, some African-American slaves are paid as tithing, bought, sold and otherwise treated as chattel in Utah.”

u/shnooqichoons · 7 pointsr/AskFeminists

Women were among his disciples, which I understand was unusual for a Rabbi at that time. I recommend Sarah Bessey's Jesus Feminist for further reading.

u/nocoolnametom · 7 pointsr/exmormon

Here are the best sources on the history of female ordination in the Brighamite tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. You'll probably find many references here to journals and other avenues of further research.

u/smithaustin · 5 pointsr/latterdaysaints

If you have any interest in books (sorry--that's my jam), Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings is a fantastic collection of essays, sermons, some blog posts, and other writings by Mormon women about feminism. It has the benefit of being easily digested in small chunks that stand alone pretty well, so you can skip sections that don't interest you as much or jump to some areas that really speak to you.

I actually think the book Women at Church: Magnifying LDS Women's Local Impact might be another great option for what you're looking for. It's by a very believing Mormon woman who until a few years before writing the book had worked for the church (I think in PR if I remember right) and it basically has two halves: first, explaining to Mormon men (and many women) who don't see any problems with sexism in the church why faithful members feel that there really is (and they're not crazy); and second, laying out suggestions that could be implemented at the local level that wouldn't be against any church policies but which could alleviate some of the problematic aspects of Mormon culture w/r/t sexism.

A few other book options to consider: Mormon Women Have Their Say Essays from the Claremont Oral History Collection; Mormon Women: Portraits and Conversations (covers everyone from a Utah housewife who started a major charity to a woman who fought the Marcos regime as a communist guerrilla in the Philippines!); Educated: A Memoir (a memoir about growing up in a seriously dysfunctional Mormon family but going on to achieve awesome stuff); literally anything written by Chieko Okazaki (or even listen to some of her talks in General Conference to the worldwide church)--she is beloved by literally every Mormon woman I've ever met, liberal or conservative; and Carol Lynn Pearson has written some great stuff about women and Mormonism, like The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men and (if you're into one-woman plays) Mother Wove the Morning. Many of these have Kindle editions if you don't like hard copies.

Anyway, hope some of that might sound interesting to you. Good luck!

u/gnurdette · 4 pointsr/Christianity

Your reading assignments (well, no, you don't have to read them all, but once you get started you might not want to stop)

u/bertrude_stein · 4 pointsr/exmormon

As a man, I won't presume to speak authoritatively on this topic. I will say that when DW and I were TBM, our radical feminism was kept in check by the logic of Valerie Hudson Cassler, who is active LDS and a public feminist. My wife and I no longer buy VHC's arguments, but maybe reading her will give you insight into this mindset. I'd recommend her articles at squaretwo.org (such as this one), her book Women in Eternity, Women in Zion, and talks she's given at FAIR.

You might also consider reading and listening to Neylan McBaine (here, here, and here), Julie Smith (esp. her chapter in this book), Rosalynde Welch (here), Ashmae Hoiland (here), and Joanna Brooks et al. (here).

I know that's a lot, but I find feminism endlessly interesting. I don't think you'll be disappointed if you put in the work to better understand these complex issues.

u/WalkingHumble · 3 pointsr/Christianity

>Should I show next week?

Absolutely. And the next week and the next and the next. This is why I always recommend to those starting a small group, do something you'd be doing anyway.

So if no-one shows, use it as prayer time, bible reading, devotional, etc.

>And no one shows, how late do I stay?

Whatever time the group is set to start and finish at. Seems odd, I know, why not just bail once it is clear no-one is going to turn up, but a small group is a commitment and people need to know if you say 7-8, you mean 7-8, not 7-7:10.

Think of that time less as a commitment to the group and instead as a commitment to God, you're devoting that time to Him.

Always close out by saying a prayer over an empty chair. Pray for God to bring someone to fill it, someone that you can introduce and invite to the group. Do this with the group once you have one, make them involved and a part of the growth of the group.

Grab a copy of Dave Early's 8 Habits of Effective Small Group Leaders (cheaper ebook version), I got introduced to it recently but it is now required reading for our small group leaders and it'll really help, I promise.

u/terevos2 · 3 pointsr/Reformed

When my church did our study for implementing deacons, we only lightly referenced Acts 6 because we were not sure that it was talking about deacons. It may have been talking about something like deacons, maybe proto-deacons.

So we more based our definitions around what this book argues for: a Minister of Mercy. I HIGHLY recommend this read.

u/JustinJamm · 3 pointsr/TrueChristian

The ECC made this shift to honor and embody the scriptures, not to pacify the world. There's no way the ECC is going to reverse that doctrinal position, even to pacify fellow believers who make the statements you just said.

Note: Sarah Sumner makes a collection of excellent rebuttals to this in Men and Women in the Church.

---

My own view is that the wording in 1 Timothy 2 suggests rather strongly that Paul was correcting a specific heresy: that Eve was created first, that therefore Adam was eternally subject to a vertical "student-teacher" (or even "prophetess-brute") relationship with Eve, and that Man should relate to Woman accordingly.

This especially makes sense given the locale (Ephesus), the center of Artemis worship. Paul consequently refutes this teaching and establishes that women are to learn (just as men are), not to set up "Woman" as the "Teacher of Man."

---

Likewise, since in the Greek there is no indefinite article used, it is arbitrary to translate the passage "I do not permit a woman to teach or authentein a man," and could just as easily be translated, "I do not permit Woman to teach or authentein Man." This actually makes more rhetorical sense since it uses Man and Woman as archetypes in the same way Adam and Eve are treated (as archetypes for all men and women) in the same passage.

Notice my response is to depend on honoring scripture -- in all detail, original language and context -- not to base this on "what the world around us will think" or a warm-fuzzies love concept.

u/ff42 · 3 pointsr/exmormon

A very in-depth and fully documented look at the early church can be found in D. Micheal Quinn's Origins and Extensions of Power books.

u/SuperBrandt · 2 pointsr/latterdaysaints

>Neylan McBaine

Fixed it for you.

And yes, it was in the amazingly required reading of "Women at Church"

u/kerrielou73 · 2 pointsr/exmormon

If you haven't studied "anti-Mormon" sources, you can't claim you aren't any of those things, because that's part of it. The constant reminders to only get your information from the church. That is one of the biggest elements of indoctrination, brainwashing, and sheltering.

They're preventing you from doing thorough research and frankly, it's not our job to digest all of for you. The problems with the church are so numerous there is no way anyone is going to be able to lay them all out for you in a comment on a reddit post. Asking us to tell you why we left is not evidence you weren't indoctrinated if you refuse to go do the study yourself.

Most active members have no idea just how much information there is and that no, it is not spun. Here's a little bit of the history on why and how the real history the church is now trying to manage finally came out. There is a couple in Provo who have a Christian ministry basically dedicated to taking down the Mormon church. Around 1990 they published a pamphlet that talked about some serious stuff the vast majority of members didn't know, like Joseph's Smith polygamy. Normally the church wouldn't respond to these things, but they felt the claims were worrisome enough (getting questions from members) they needed to publish a response, so they invited two BYU historians into the archives (you know the ones in the mountain) to study ALL of the historical documents they had and write a refutation debunking the Tanner's claims.

For about two years Michael Quinn and Dan Vogel studied every document and took photos of each one, with the church's blessing. Problem was, not only did what they find back up the Tanner's claims, but the actual history was much worse (things like Polyandry). They did write a rebuttal, but it was rejected by the Q15 and they were told not to publish anything at all, ever. More than twenty years later the essays on lds.org the church finally published to at least be a little bit honest are right out of Vogel and Quinns essays. By being a little bit I mean, if you not only read the essays, but then follow the footnotes, well. It's not good. The Saints book is the same way. It doesn't out and out lie, but talk about out of context and leaving out very important information if it's too faith challenging. It's still not fully honest. Not even remotely. Shouldn't the church have to be as honest as they expect the membership?

Being historians, not publishing and keeping it all a secret didn't sit well with them and they published anyway. In fact, Dan Vogel made all those facsimiles of all those documents, thousands and thousands of them, available to any other scholar wanting to pour through them and publish their own findings. For their trouble they were excommunicated as part of the September Six (google it).

Many (maybe most on church history) of the anti-Mormon books out there directly source these documents and you can even get them yourself. Dan Vogel published all of them in several volumes called, "Early Mormon Documents." The goal was to publish all the source material he and Quinn had collected without editorial comment. I'm not sure how much more objective it can get or how any Mormon can claim the stacks of books that came out of these are not sourced or dishonest.

If you want a summary list of the major issues, and it's a long one, you should download the free pdf version of the CES letter on cesletter.org. Then read the rebuttals over on Fair Mormon. Then read the rebuttals to the rebuttals.

When I left, a nice summary didn't exist, so I had to read books and boy did I read a lot of them. I happened to start with Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, which is well sourced out of the RLDS archives, but I also read Grant Palmer's, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins. Incidentally, he was another BYU professor excommunicated for publishing the irrefutable truth. Keep in mind, these people were active members. They were not trying to tear down the church. They simply felt it was morally wrong to continue to have blatant and significant inaccuracies in teaching manuals, in conference talks, in Seminary, in well......everything.

My reading list (those I can remember at least):

Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith

An Insider's View of Mormon Origins

Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet (A Biography)

No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith

The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power

Mormon America: The Power and the Promise

If you still think everything other than what is directly published by the church are anti-Mormon lies or tricks, well I can help you there at too. How deep have you gotten into Journal of Discourses? It's almost worse than anything written by an anti-Mormon. So much worse than a couple of troublesome quotes. I also re-read the D&C while reading Teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith in tandem. It was a lot harder to swallow that way to say the least and both of those are obviously considered faithful study.

​

If you want to claim you aren't brainwashed or indoctrinated you have to do the work. Saying "I posted on Reddit and no one convinced me," or the other favorite, "people much smarter than me have already studied all that and say its fine," are not valid arguments. They're lazy cop outs.

​

Good luck on your search for truth. I encourage you to study it out from ALL sources, including faithful sources you haven't yet studied.

​

edited to add: Forgot one of the most important. In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith

edited edited to add: If you want something a little more biased for the church you can even just read Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. If you're going to read the D&C and Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith at the same time as I did, I recommend at least reading this one first. It's going to be much clearer if you've read at least one of the biographies and Rough Stone Rolling was published by Deseret Book.

u/turris_eburnea · 2 pointsr/TrollXChromosomes

And then there's this book, about which I hear great things.

u/notacrackheadofficer · 2 pointsr/MensRights

Women's spiritual groups claim that women are reincarnated women, and none of them could have possibly been male in the infinite past.
The infinite power is a perfect goddess of creation, and Gaia is the perfect mother earth, both of whom have this problem with forcing women to put up with this toxic malke intrusion into their pure female infinity.
Hre are some best selling popular books that are ''must reads'' in feminist circles. They cover the spiritual superiority of the female, and how she will take control and lead everyone, because female spirituality rules, or some crazy bullshit.
https://www.amazon.com/Politics-Womens-Spirituality-Founding-Movement/dp/0385172419
That one has been like a feminist bible for 36 years.
https://www.amazon.com/Women-Spirituality-Transformative-Leadership-Where/dp/1594733139
Most men have never glanced at these popular propaganda screeds.
Hindus and Buddhists have a different view of reincarnation than American and UK feminists do.
''The Karma of Women’s Suffering

In Buddhist societies where women are not allowed to be fully ordained as monks, women are often told by monks that having been born a woman is a result of bad karma. In order to render this problem, the only thing that women can do is to accumulate a lot of merit in this life, so that in their next life they will be born a man, and then they can become a monk if they choose to. This way of thinking makes women feel inferior and that they are to blame for the outcome of their lives. It makes them more willing to accept whatever gender-based violence that they experience, since it is seen as a direct result of their unlucky fate in having been born a woman.

When a woman asks for guidance from a monk when the husband is the cause of her suffering (such as instances where he has another woman, is physically or mentally abusive to her, gambles their money away, drinks alcohol, etc), the monk’s main advice is for her to be patient and compassionate. Often times, the monk will say that karma is the cause of her suffering, so she has no choice but to accept and deal with the situation, and continue to be kind to her husband so that one day the karmic force will subside and everything will be fine. We found that this kind of thinking is not only the belief of the monks themselves but that it is also prominent among the followers of Buddhism in Southeast Asia, including women…. It is one of the factors that keeps a woman in a marriage even though her life may be in danger, and it explains why neighbors and community leaders choose not to intervene. ''
https://kyotojournal.org/the-journal/society/karma-women/
http://www.buddhazero.com/women-are-from-hell/
See: Buddha statues in 99% of feminist households.
https://feminisminindia.com/2017/09/19/paradox-goddess-worship/

u/newBreed · 2 pointsr/Christianity

This book is a good book to read.

u/Madmonk11 · 2 pointsr/Reformed

They should be able to be ordained deacons.

Get a library going.

Book

Book

Book

These are just a few. Madigan and Olsek are probably the most intense.

u/curious_mormon · 2 pointsr/exmormon

This one, this one, and then this one. In fact, read those even if you don't go.

u/renaissancenow · 2 pointsr/Christianity

If you're interested in some other perspectives, you may like Jesus, Feminist by Sarah Bessey, or A Year of Biblical Womanhood' by the inimitable Rachel Held Evans.

Pretty much every Christian leader I respect is a committed feminist. Not least my wife, who is an exceptionally gifted elder, teacher and pastor.

u/FreedomFromNafs · 2 pointsr/MuslimNoFap

That's a great idea. In addition to Quran, I've started reading Leadership Lessons from the Life of Rasoolullah. I'm just 2 chapters in, but it's very educational so far.

It's freely available on both Amazon and the Play Store.

What books would you recommend?

u/meyerjv87 · 1 pointr/LCMS

>Basically I was asking: "Since every single Lutheran Church where I live ordain women, and I don't feel like putting myself under the authority of women, can I don't go to a Lutheran church instead, where the Sacraments may or may not be administered to you guys' satisfaction?"

I have no idea where you live, but I have a VERY hard time believing this one. I know people who live here in the US who drive over an hour to get to an LCMS church. Is it a peculiar dedication? Yes, and quite admirable. I would be happy to even find a church for you, but I would need a location from you.

As to the question of interpretation, NO. Individuals do not interpret scripture. We place ourselves at its feet and learn from it, exactly as Peter lays out: scripture isn't meant for each man's interpretation, but rather it is an inspired text that speaks clearly where it needs to.

As to Apostolic Succession, it is "claimed because the laying on of hands is still part of our ordination, and our pastors have claim this back to the reformation, and therefore beyond. This is merely to say we are an apostolic church, as we confess in the creed, "one holy, christian, and apostolic church."

When it comes to the topic of ordination, the synod, through its use of the seminaries, chooses who is fit for ordination. However, Augustana 14 states very plainly that it is the call by which a Pastor is rightly able to live out his role as ordained. To state succinctly, it is a hybrid between ecclesiastical order and congregationalism, although that descriptor isn't the best. To gain a full understanding of this, C.F.W. Walther's Church and Ministry will be enlightening.

u/amazon-converter-bot · 1 pointr/FreeEBOOKS

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u/Soldier4Christ82 · 1 pointr/TrueChristian

Hope Unseen by Scotty Smiley




https://www.amazon.com/Hope-Unseen-Story-Active-Duty-Officer/dp/1451672918















This is is a really good book. The author is the first blind active-duty soldier in the Army who lost his sight as a result of a car bomb. He and his wife are Christians and in the book he tells about battles that God has brought he and his wife through as well as victories he has had since he has lost his sight.

u/futilehabit · 1 pointr/Christianity

You're not alone! I've deconstructed a lot of the ridiculous fundy beliefs that I was raised with but Jesus is far too compelling to let go of. It's amazing how much bad theology isn't clearly reflected in scripture (which is also plainly fully of errors). You may find some support and refuge in places like:

The Liturgists Podcast and community

Books like Shameless or Jesus Feminist or God and the Gay Christian

Progressive churches (which you might locate more easily using Church Clarity)

Subreddits like /r/openChristian or /r/gayChristians

I'm sorry for all the ways that the church and cultural Christianity has been confusing and hurtful. If you ever want to chat some time feel free to send me a message. <3

u/hot--Koolaid · 1 pointr/exmormon

Michael Quinn wrote a book about this- "Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power." It's expensive but our library (in SC) had it. Also the recent (fantastic) interview of Christins Jeppsen Clark on Mormon Stories Podcast gets into some details of how excommunications happen, how GAs operate. (Her dad was a close friend of Packer and a GA.)

u/irresolute_essayist · 1 pointr/Christianity

The book "The Crucifiction of Ministry" by Andre Purves I found really good.

It's sort of written toward burned-out ministers (which I'm not). But I nonetheless found it fascinating and made me think more about what my pastor does everyday.

u/Mithryn · 1 pointr/mormon

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you...And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

(1) They shall sound like they say truth

And through covetousness shall they with afeigned words make merchandise of you

(2) Through covetous behavior (such as building a mall, planting tobacco, becoming governor or mayor, heck crowning yourself king, putting loans on memberships heads, changing a non-profit church into a for-profit corporation, paying off personal lones, etc.) they will turn the members into "Merchandise"

For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness

(3) People who turn the grace of god into lust which might include 14 year old brides, and two sets of 16 year old sisters married two days apart from each other (link is only to one set)

Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

(4) They'll speak evil of politicians and the government. Luckily the church has NEVER spoken ill about federal marshals, or political leaders.

But these speak evil of those things which they know not

(5) Such as decrying homosexuality or DNA evidence without ever studying it.

Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

(6) Again they prophesy for money such as Balaam did; and if you sit on the board of directors of 14 private companies as soon as one becomes prophet, one might see that as being similar to Balaam. Gainsaying of Core means that they have influence over the membership but fight actual prophesy.

clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

(7) They will be prophets who don't prophesy (when was the last time a GA prophesied a prediction of the future), seers with no seerstones, revelators who don't reveal. Business men in Prophet's clothing.

Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

There you have it, a clear explanation that the current Brighamite church is apostate, straight from Peter.

Feel free to wrest the scriptures.

u/TheVacuumExpert · 1 pointr/TwoXChromosomes

It is my understanding that the concept was purposed by Loren Cunningham and David Joel Hamilton in their book "Why Not Women." I couldn't find it without a pay wall.

u/lilmsmuffintop · 1 pointr/OpenChristian

Why Not Women? is a pretty good book about women in ministry. Only problem is that it has two authors. One of them, Hamilton, engages in careful exegesis of the passages that have traditionally been interpreted as restricting of women's roles in spiritual authority and family relations. The other author, Cunningham, spends most of his space in the book grandstanding and rambling incoherently about the homosexual agenda and the evils of feminism. So yeah. While they're ostensibly aimed at the same goal, only one of the authors really offers anything of substance. So stick to Hamilton's chapters if you read this one

u/FatalConfusion · 1 pointr/pastors

The Leadership Dynamic: A Biblical Model for Raising Effective Leaders https://www.amazon.com/dp/1581349432/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_CMyJBbM5BNXNZ

u/persistentrain · 1 pointr/Philippines

maraming ganyan according to this book published by the ateneo!

u/Bsquared91 · 0 pointsr/Reformed

[This](Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication (North Point Resources) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1590525140/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_yWKLxb1SY2VNY) was the best I've read! I highly recommend it if you are looking to deliver a powerful sermon that your audience will remember and apply throughout the week.