We are delighted to announce that Ken Willard, Director of Discipleship, Leadership, and Congregational Vitality for the West Virginia Conference, has co-authored a new book called “Church Ecology.” This book is a great resource for identifying and teaching potential leaders.
In the introduction, Bishop Sandra Steiner Ball says, “… Church Ecology: Creating a Leadership Pathway for Your Church is a resource that will spiritually ground you in a process to create a leadership pathway that fits your church and its context of ministry and mission.”
“Similar to nature’s ecosystem, the health of a church’s ecosystem is influenced by many things… Healthy leaders lead healthy churches, and healthy churches grow.” (Church Ecology, page 11)
In Church Ecology, Willard and co-author, Kelly Brown, layout a practical step-by-step approach to creating a leadership pathway that is grounded in scripture and prayer.
Their creative, reflective process and practical suggestions invite all who participate to remember who they are in Christ.
They invite us to be curious about current leadership development processes, curious about what those processes could be, curious about the journey – past, present, and future – and curious about past, present, and future capacity for fruitfulness.
They also remind us that a leadership pathway for a community should not be built or created by one person, but a diverse small group of persons who are passionate about growing a healthy and generative church ministry, outreach, and witness.
Church Ecology invites us to anticipate and prepare for future leadership in the church. Instead of leaving the development of church leadership up to happenstance, Ken and Kelly invite us to anticipate and to prepare for future leadership through an intentional process of creating a leadership pathway that empowers us to live a healthy, balanced life with Christ and one another as the church.
Developing a leadership pathway serves to open up endless possibilities for us to be one with Christ, one with each other, and one in God’s transforming ministry to all the world – not just for the moment but for the future.
To order Church Ecology from Amazon, follow this link.