Customer Reviews

Winning On Purpose: How To Organize Congregations to Succeed in Their Mission (Convergence Ebook Series)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I now rank "Winning on Purpose" among the top 10 books on church organizational life that I've read. The foundational premise is that Christians are to make disciples of Jesus. The way a local church organizes for ministry can hinder or assist in that mission.

Kaiser dares to suggest that pastors, church boards, and the membership of the church are to be accountable for the mission. Accountability does not restrict or lay guilt on these persons, but in proper relationship to one another frees them to lead and serve in ways that will give them every opportunity to fulfill their God-given mission.

The author does a good job of describing the limitations of how many traditional churches are organized. He is even better at defining and describing Accountable Discipleship through an organizational structure that can be adapted to a variety of traditions. It may well be the limitations of publishing did not allow him to go into more detail about how to move from a traditional, ineffective organizational model to the effective model he promotes. I would benefit from more suggestions about how to lead a church (as quickly as possible) from the former to the latter.

Nevertheless, "winning on Purpose" should be taught in seminaries and continuing education seminars. It should not just on the book shelf of any pastor or church leader, but in their hands and a matter of urgent prayer and discussion in churches that have a desire to grow -- and a willingness to do what it takes to make disciples.

I love the book in and of itself. It is very clear and concise as to both theory and process for pursuing the Accountable Leadership process.

My one bug with the book is that there is little in the way of any Biblical study and underpinning to this. I find that too bad because it is a good organizational model that can be demonstrated from Biblical principles. It would have been immensely helpful to have more on that end.

That does not diminish my rating since what the book proposes to do it does very well. I highly recommend this book to church leadership both staff and lay leaders.

In Winning on Purpose, I found a pretty decent strategy to coach and nurture a church along the path toward God's vision for the church as recorded in Revelation 7--a multitude from all nations and tribes and peoples and languages gathered in worship.

Lyle Schaller says, "Leadership is figuring out what needs to be done and then doing it." This book will help pastors who want to pursue a multiracial future but aren't sure how to get there.

Kaiser begins with an argument for accountable leadership. The book moves through formative missional verses, including the Olivet Discourse, which ground the missional church in the justice and mercy of God. Throughout the book, Kaiser uses soccer as a metaphor for accountable leadership. The book is worth a read for this analogy, if nothing else. It gives a very relevant backdrop to the idea of winning on purpose; here's a little taste: "Plays exist for wins, not the other way around. The purpose of a play is to score. If a team does not score goals, it makes no difference how well or how cleverly they are able to execute plays. By not scoring a goal, the team has ultimately failed" (p. 58).

The book is organized around four key questions.
* Do we really want to win?
* Do we understand the game?
* Do we know what position to play?
* Do we have the right equipment?

The tools section of this book is chock full of real tips and tools for real leaders; there is even a guide to develop accountability assessments. For instance, Kaiser says a board that meets more than once each quarter will be tempted to manage rather than govern. I believe it was George Bullard, writing for the Alban Institute, who first articulated that pastors are there to lead, boards are there to govern, and staffs are there to manage. Kaiser gives real, implementable flesh to the bones that Bullard provided through his research.

I did find Kaiser's definition of diversity a little challenging. "For starters, a team is a community of servants who share the same mission and vision (unity) and are responsible for different roles (diversity) in fulfilling it" (p. 83). It's interesting to see a non-ethnic, non-cultural use of the word "diversity." On the other hand, it is another reminder of George Yancey's thought that "the multiracial church is not an ends to a mean," but rather a container to unleash the reconciling work of God here on earth.

I found this book to be both exciting and challenging. It is based upon some serious success in the American Baptist Church of the West where turn-around has become the norm. You might want to also read Paul Borden's "Direct Hit" which gives you some background to this success. Borden provides the story, Kaiser in this book provides the nuts and bolts of why to and how to give your church the "win."

Simply a must read for church boards. Avoid the pitfalls of typical church boards and enable a pastor to lead, boards to govern, staff/volunteers to manage and put your members into ministry. What more could you want? Kaiser teaches the system that allows it to happen.

"Winning on Purpose" is a "leadership?" style that is a sure fire anti-growth model. It fails in at least the following areas:

1) Authority -- This puts the pastor into a position of leading by virtue of position. This is the least effective and most vulnerable authority. The strongest is granted authority, which is what every pastor should strive for and is most effective in every organization, but particularly in a volunteer organization.

2) Priesthood of All Believers -- This model flies in the face of the Priesthood of the congregation by assuming that only the pastor has the final say on everything and negates the right and duty of parishioners to hold the pastor accountable to his office and the Confessions.

3) Kingdoms of the Left and Right -- The pastor is supposed to lead in the Kingdom of the Right and is specifically charged with being a steward of the mystery and held accountable for his shepherding of the flock. By giving the pastor executive control over the Kingdom of the Left, his service on the Right will be judged and confused with his service on the Right. Example--Controversy over the color of the walls being painted causes diminished respect and ability to seek confession and absolution from the pastor because you are mad at him!

4) Volunteer Organizations -- Everybody in your church can leave but the pastor. Everything in the secular side of the church is/should be being done by volunteers. When the pastor assumes authority over everything, people will tend to stand back and wait for him to act or instruct. Soon, they are either uninvolved or leave and you are left without any followers.

5) Leadership Principles -- A pastor has unique duties that only he has a call and preparation to perform. All successful leaders know that they should do what only they can do and delegate the rest. By taking on duties that can (and are better) performed by others he cultivates a very small circle of effect. It works in a very small organization, but dilutes his effect in pastoral duties to where he will either be worn out or the church never grows.

6) Motivation -- In case this guy didn't notice, NOBODY manages this way in our culture anymore. If people don't feel that they have a say in running the church and that their belonging matters, they either become inactive or leave. We live in a world where most people see themselves as leaders. Telling people what to do, rather than creating a common vision that all have had an opportunity to be a part of and then using that to create mutually agreed upon plans that coordinate the Left and the Right Hand invigorates and motivates participation.

7) Ownership -- As in motivation, ownership is critical to keeping people. What is often missing in churches is a deliberate process to integrate them into the church by ascertaining what motivated them to join and then using that as a basis for their participation. So, if music is it, then choir, band, worship committee, etc is where they first need to be connected, if academics, then connect to Bible studies, if fellowship then food, gatherings, greeting, follow-ups, etc.

8) Modeling Serving -- No one learns to catch a ball by watching others do it. They need instruction that is hands-on. Likewise, if we want to create disciples then we need to put them out in the playing field with training, mentoring, guidance, feedback and encouragement. Serving is not just doing what you're told but having the vision and training to go out and do it!

Main Idea of the Text:

The book deals with focusing on the dysfunction in the structure of congregations by providing a model to develop that will allow the congregation to get everyone on the team working in the same direction.

The Three Top Ideas of Greatest Benefit:

1. The best idea is truly defining the reason to exist. Too many congregations go through the motions, but have little understanding of what the outcome should be. Congregations are constantly in a mode of practice but never go to the game. We practice with more teaching, more events, but game day never arrives. This is because congregations do not know what the goal is.

2. The second best idea, which is a transformational idea in most congregations, is concerning boundaries. This was one of the best sections in the book because I have seen the two types of leadership, which are permission based, and empowering based, and both of these methods do not work. The boundary method seems to be a breakthrough for congregational leadership.

3. The third best idea is changing the perception that staff is a liability on a congregation. Congregations are hesitant on paying a minister a top salary because of the feeling of this being a waste of money. But a top minister is worth the money because he can pay for himself. Congregations do not realize that a bad minister will cost them more money than the cost of a good one.

The Three Ideas of Major disagreement:

1. First of all, I wish the author did a section on the churches of Christ. Much of the organization that the book gives goes directly against the organizational structure of churches of Christ.

2. Second of all, in an established congregation, a lot of those in a leadership position would be opposed to any discussion or revisit to the by-laws of a congregation. It would seem to take years before an in-coming minister would gain the trust and authority to go into a review of the by-laws of a church. The book assumes too much control on the pastor's part.

3. The dynamic of the board and the senior pastor is very different than it is in the churches of Christ. Usually the elders of the congregation do not function as protectors of the minister, but instead are his bosses. Members always feel free in complaining to the elders and the elders discipline the preacher. It would be nice for more protection from more elderships within the church. Often these guys do not provide protection because sometimes elders are still debating if they like the minister or not.

The Recommendation of the Book:

This book was not as good as the others so far because of the complicated nature of the last part in dealing with denominational structures, but the information on establishing boundaries in congregations was worth the price of the book.

This is an excellent book for any church leader. I will definitely be using this book as a resource for years to come. Book was delivered in a timely manner and in excellent condition.

One wonders how churches in the future will succeed if the don't change the way they operate. Lots of good information, suggestions.

This is a great book if you are in a church which needs some stimulation.
Research has been done and it is very encouraging and eye opening to some of the problems that occur in all types of churches. It gives name to some of the issues and is very helpful.