Leaders are readers, but the choices can be overwhelming. While every church leader should take in a fair share of theology, devotional, and leadership books, there is helpful material in other genres that can be tremendously beneficial for congregational or denominational leaders. We kicked around a number of titles, and even asked for your opinion at the COLLIDE Blog. After lengthy debate, we narrowed down our choices to those we believe are the best. Without further ado, here is our top five.
Story: Substance, Structure, Style,
and The Principles of Screenwriting
By Robert McKee
Robert McKee is somewhat of a legend, having taught the principles of storytelling to countless aspiring creatives over the course of many years. Those who have read Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years have been exposed to the ideas in Story. Overflowing with insight into the human condition and exactly what it is about stories that captivates us, this book is a masterpiece.
While McKee’s work has the world of film in focus, we can see this book being applicable to any arena in which a story well told can powerfully engage and change an audience. For those who regularly teach, write, or preach, McKee’s exposition of the dynamics of story is of great value. Having grasped the history and the development of the storytelling art, McKee’s description of plot, character development, conflict, and more provides numerous insights for church leaders whose principle responsibility consists in telling God’s story of faithfulness and love for the world through the people of Israel and ultimately in and through Jesus Christ.
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed
by Social Technologies
By Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff know the world of web technology well. In Groundswell, Li and Bernoff provide us with insight into platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other web tools and how to use them effectively. The groundswell is defined as, “a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.” This book, published by Harvard Business Press, is one we can see being immensely helpful for churches looking to innovate and utilize web 2.0 technologies.
Web-based tools have opened up ways for people to easily connect, and through those connections ideas, images, and services spread quickly. Much of what Li and Bernoff say will make perfect sense to the social media veteran. The value in this book is that Li and Bernoff explain social technologies systematically, and provide case studies and research data that demonstrate what effectiveness looks like.
For church leaders that might not be as familiar with social media, or who are working diligently to move their people toward using these technologies more effectively for ministry, this book contains plenty of hard data that could bolster the case for actively using social technologies to connect with those to whom the church ministers. Bernoff and Li provide helpful guidance on how to develop a web-based strategy that fits the character of your organization, how to leverage different platforms for collaboration with those inside and outside your church, and how, most importantly, the overall power of the groundswell is changing the way the world works.
Made to Stick
By Chip and Dan Heath
Chip and Dan Heath’s Made to Stick is an easy, incredibly lucid read on why certain ideas hang with us. In Made to Stick we are introduced to six principles that give an idea “stickiness.” Those elements are simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotional appeal, and a narrative dimension—ideas that stick tell us stories. The Heaths provide examples from the world of marketing, business, and politics that show these principles at work, resulting in a compelling, thick description of the best way to package and present ideas that are memorable and easily communicable.
Church leaders convey a number of important truths that they want to see “stick.” When we look at the ministry of Jesus, we can see how the parables contained the elements of “stickiness” listed above. His ideas were simple, concrete, credible, emotionally appealing, had unexpected twists, and were commonly embedded within a story. Made to Stick provides grist for the mill for church leaders creating modern day parables, whether it be in the form of teaching or in creating unique visuals or melodies that convey an important theological concept we want our people to grasp.
The War of Art
By Steven Pressfield
Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art is one of our favorites. This book has been incredibly popular among creatives, foremost because Pressfield names so clearly the true challenge to creativity. The challenge, which Pressfield acknowledges all creatives know, is not the work itself, but sitting down to do the work. He calls this the Resistance. He names the enemy, and gives us strategies to combat it. He defines for us the meaning of being a professional, rather than an amateur, and paints a picture of what it means for someone to master their craft, producing art that matters.
While there are certainly some facets of Pressfield’s presentation that the perceptive Christian theologian will most certainly find lacking or worthy of critique, the overall thrust of the book is fantastic. Art isn’t recreation. It is work. To excel at one’s craft, whether it is music, writing, preaching, teaching, drama, photography, or any other form of expression, a great deal of discipline is required. Pressfield, again and again, describes for us the power of the Resistance, the force which keeps us from taking up the work. His acumen concerning the difficulties of creating great art helps us more accurately perceive the roadblocks to productivity, name them, and ultimately triumph in our endeavors.
This book is a gallant war cry for those whose crafts require creativity. And since the best church leaders have learned to tap the wells of their own creative gifts, we think this book is inspiring, encouraging, and insightful in ways that can help us communicate gospel truth in a cogent and clear manner through multiple avenues of expression.
Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
By Seth Godin
Seth Godin is a must read, and his books are treasures. Countless people from all fields read Seth’s Blog (http://sethgodin.typepad.com), and while his writings typically promote ideas about business and marketing, it is hard not see how the principles Godin expounds apply to countless endeavors, including church ministry and leadership.
Godin has written plenty of useful books, but among all of his books we read and considered for our top five, Tribes rose to the pinnacle of our list. In Tribes, Godin contends that we are all leaders. All of us. And today’s world, faced with myriad challenges, needs each of us to step up and lead a movement of lasting change, whether your cause is eradicating world poverty, providing clean water, or, in our case, turning around a struggling local church, or maybe even an entire denomination.
Godin defines a tribe as “a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea.” It’s likely you have a network of friends and associates. It’s likely you have some kind of influence among your peers. And it’s likely that you are passionate about some idea. It may be sharing the Christian message, it may be some particular justice initiative. Whatever it is, gather your tribe, cast a remarkable vision, and lead a movement. We need you to lead us. Read this short book full of big ideas to help you get started.
That concludes our list. Got an opinion? Criticism can be sent to me at simp.benjamin@gmail.com. I like to hear from readers, and am always up for debate.