Customer Reviews

On Church Leadership (Book You'll Actually Read)

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you are a pastor who is sympathetic with the leadership philosophy of Mars Hill, Mark Driscoll, and the Acts 29 Network, you will love this book. It is a concise treatment of elders, deacons, women in ministry and more. If you have people asking how your church does leadership, and this book accurately describes your polity, then you will find it to be a great tool to give to people who would not take time to read Alexander Strauch's book on eldership. I plan on using this as a starting point for elders in process and the more curios lay leaders. Mark's new RE:Lit label with Crossway will no doubt become a great brand for our time.

This series "a book you'll actually read" will be a great series to give to your busy laypeople who don't have time for a 300 page treatment on one of these topics. Pastors will also find Mark's style refreshing, to the point and completely Jesus centered.

I really hate to say anything negative about this series, as Driscoll and Mars Hill have had a big impact in my life, and because I think the series really fills a gap for short but packed treatments of important topics. But the reality is that when you get the books in the mail and then compare their physical size with their cost, you might feel slightly annoyed. The books are small, thin, short, and paperback. Think of this as a really long pamphlet.

No doubt, Mark had nothing to do with the cost. That's a publisher's choice. Hopefully, crossway will drop the price to something more appropriate like $6.99, with a bulk option of 5 packs or something.

Still, I bought all four, and will buy any further books in the series. Driscoll is always worth the time and money.

Mark Driscoll, founding pastor of Mars Hill Church, Seattle, has a gift for teaching. And he uses it. This is a small book - the author has in mind that it will not take more than an hour to read it - but it's a big contrubution to every christian person having questions about christians leadership. It may be controversal, because the Bible is, but Driscoll is honest, clear and,just, gifted.

There are several aspects to this short book that I wanted to highlight.
First, its short and to the point.
Second, its well documented; foot notes abound.
Third, the author covers opposing opinions and explains where those opinions are coming from.
Fourth, I appreciate the humor with which the author writes. It has a bit of an edge to it and I find it oddly refreshing.
In conclusion, its a fascinating peak at unique church government system. You really can get through it in about 90 minutes. If it intrigues you as it did me, then you can sink further hours into cross-referencing the foot notes.

Like most of the other Driscoll books that I've read, a review of this book depends on whether I'm in a mood to be more aware of the Biblical accuracy of the opinions (which is impressive, with many footnotes and thorough explanations) or the smug and provocative tone in which they're presented. This is a small book which, while almost criminally overpriced, is well worth a read. Driscoll explains the roles of elders, deacons, and church members themselves, and he presents a membership covenant that should help new churches seeking to develop their own. I was also impressed at the humble way that, within certain bounds, Driscoll leaves doors open for different churches to adapt his ideas about leadership to their needs.

Of more concern, though, is the way that Driscoll addresses the controversial issue of women in leadership. His ultimate argument is based on the idea that gender roles are defined in Scripture, which is just fine, but he presents his observations in such a condescending way that even I (a complementarian, like Driscoll, with respect to church leadership) wanted to put as much distance as possible between myself and his views. I know that Driscoll has a reputation for provocative humor, and that's how he draws people in to hear the truths that he then explains well, but it's the kind of "Women naturally like choosing helper jobs" pat-on-the-head stuff that I wish he could put aside to avoid needless controversy for this otherwise helpful little book.

I am currently in the midst of a church leadership team trying to restructure how we've done things. During one of my quiet times I felt strongly to check out some of Mark Driscoll's works on the subject. This book was short and concise. It was super helpful gave much information without a lot of fluff.

To be blunt, the book is a good read, it has some insightful information in it but to charge $10 for something a little bigger than a Mister Men book is just wrong. Sorry, but nickel and dime-ing people for something this size is greed. Shame on you crossway.

I will focus this review on what I feel is an important facet of Mark Driscoll's misguided machismo attitude. As other have pointed out, and you will see throughout his Acts 29 church network, Mark does not believe women should be allowed to have leadership role in the church. He has no problem with them serving in more "subservient" roles, but they are not allowed to occupy any kind of actual leadership position in the teaching or guiding aspects of the church.

You will find teachers like Mark Driscoll pointing to what Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:8-10 as proof the women should not have ministry leadership, but I believe this interpretation is based on a incomplete picture of scripture, a flawed view of NT leadership, and a poor translation of the text.

The clear context of the passage is Paul directing the believers how to live in unity with one another and peacefully before the watching world. He directs the men to control their anger. He then addresses the women, in the above mentioned context. First, to not dress inappropriately - this was a cultural thing by all accounts, whereby perhaps some gentile women were dressing seductively for their day - not a good example to the watching world. But secondly, and the point of contention here, as some would say, he directs women to not speak or teach or otherwise be in some kind of leadership authority over a man. I believe this is a poor translation of the actual scripture.

The exact word here that Paul uses for "authority" here in the Greek is "authenteo." It is only used once in the scripture and only here. It means to forcefully exerts ones will or power over another. Every other time we see the word "authority" used by Paul in scripture it is "exousia" - which is a kind of inherent authority or granted power as given by one in authority. Every time Paul talks about his authority as an apostle and teacher he always uses "exousia" - i.e. his authority as bestowed upon him by the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is not talking about the same kind of authority in regards to women here people! Look at the context. Look at the very vivid and specific word selection here. He is calling both men and women to live in peace with one another. Men should not be prone to anger and dissension. Likewise, women should not be bossy, controlling, and seeking to assert their own will over any men.

I believe that this passage really has nothing to do with ministry leadership in the church. The Greek in this passage connects the teaching (didasko) and authority (authenteo) together as a women who seeks to be controlling and manipulative, and thus I do not see how it is exclusively talking about not having a gift or role of teaching of any kind in the Body. Likewise, in order to defend this interpretation, you would have to ignore the numerous and obvious exceptions through scripture where women had a lead role in the local church as prophets and teachers of the Body.

I appreciate that men like Mark Driscoll have a passion for the defense and knowledge of scripture, but in this I believe they are dead wrong and are helping perpetuate an ugly and hellish tradition. It also does not help that Mark comes off as completely arrogant and condescending. I think he believes that this makes him more "manly" as he is obviously concerned about the passive role of the modern male in American churches - however, it makes him appear immature and childish.

It may be useful to note that John Piper, noted Reformed teacher and pastor, has been coming alongside Mark and trying to help temper him a bit I suppose. However, his theology on church leadership is in fact no different, only his tone and tactful approach. To read more about the role of women in leadership, look at this article: [...]

This little book is a very good overview of church leadership structure. It outlines key Biblical positions and gives a concise explanation of each. This book is by no means comprehensive but the purpose was to give the big picture of church leadership- a purpose which this book fulfilled.

Purchased this book thinking it was on Leadership in general; I like it but some readers may prefer a more secular approach. I believe it has application in all walks of life.

I liked the book. It was short and easy to read. The author did a good job in explaining a complex subject.