Does your church have a mission statement? Is it concise or very vague? Do you know how to build up your church’s leadership? Dr. Jeanne Porter King has developed this handbook, Building a Church Full of Leaders, to help each congregation not only write a clear mission statement but develop a strategy to empower and equip a church full of leaders. Dr. Porter King has included reflection questions at the end of each chapter that give every reader food for thought regarding their perspective on their church. As a reader, you will discover what your church does really well and what areas your church may be struggling with. Dr. Porter King gives many examples from both large and small congregations. On page 46, Dr. Porter King states that visionary leaders start with the end in mind. “Visionary leaders take time to listen to God to understand where God wants to take the people of the church or ministry.”
Building a Church Full of Leaders is divided into three sections. The first, which lays the foundation for the other two, is about strategic organizing. In the first nine chapters, Dr. Porter King helps the reader understand the importance of identifying the gifts of each person in a congregation as well as main areas of administration. She asks the reader to think through whom leads worship, who is in charge of evangelism, etc. She asks the reader to think about how these individuals are executing their leadership roles and identifying areas in which they can grow.
The second section is about spiritual formation. Chapter 11 explores eight dimensions of the spiritual walk using the spiritual walk inventory. Through the spiritual walk inventory as well as other reflection questions, the reader examines areas in which they are passionate about, and his or her roadblocks when it comes to their own walk as a believer and their role in a church congregation.
The third and final section is about skill building. After the reader has identified what works well in their congregation and their own walk with the Lord, this last section helps the reader build upon what they have identified about their congregation and about themselves. If you as the reader have identified an area of weakness you would like you or your congregation to work on, Dr. Porter King makes suggestions on how to overcome these weaknesses. The appendix to the book is full of sample position descriptions and resources to help the reader build a church full of leaders.
