Lately Rev. Dr Ian Robinson has been reading and reflecting on…
Rethinking Leadership: Building Capacity for positive Change
Peter Kaldor, Naomi Nash and Sophie Paterson
Gone are the days of heroes and soloists in fixed roles. Traditional approaches to leadership belong to more settled and predictable times. This book invites us, with excellent research and wide background, to examine first the nature of the complex change we are in and what we are now seeking or needing. To take us though the groundwork, the authors tell stories and lead us through a mosaic of possibilities, dimensions and foundations. Among the thousands of leadership books on the market, this one stands out as grounded, accessible and anchored in the real life of communities. The authors were recently in shared roles in the New River Leadership. Kaldor was formerly the founding director of the National Church Life Survey.
![]()
Facing Decline Finding Hope – new possibilities for faithful churches
Jeffrey D Jones
A few large churches that newly appear do not make up for the reality of many more steadily declining churches. Anxiety and shame have become a part of the identity of those churches. They tried everything they were asked to try, tried harder at what they used to do, and now see no hope. Jones takes us into the identity question and bridges biblical and contemporary language to face the honest truth about where we are at, to set aside the survival or doom mentality, and to shape a future. This book is for church leaders. Jones is a professor of leadership and ministry at Andover Newton Theological School.
Leading in a Culture of Change
Michael Fullan
In these times of challenge, a variety of studies in various sectors are sharing the discoveries of what makes effective change-leadership. Fullan, formerly a professor of Education, has pioneered many major projects that turned around ailing education systems. He expands here into the community and business sectors to highlight the core pursuits of change-leadership. That core is not based on executive authority but on ‘relationships, relationships, relationships’. It is practical, researched, developmental and a healthy corrective to leadership theories that are inappropriate to the church’s people and purposes. Fullan takes us much closer to a workable, nuanced dynamic.
Rev. Dr Ian Robinson is the Alan Walker Lecturer in Leadership, Evangelism, Apologetics and Mission. His own books include Makes You Wonder – Exercises that Grow Capacity in Faith Sharing and Hot Gospel: A Call and a Plan for Eco-Missiology.
