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Leading Christian Communities
How to cultivate a thriving Christian community in a disconnected culture What does it mean to be a Christian community? And what does it mean to lead one? How does a pastor address today’s challenges, from lack of faith in institutions, to conflict in the church, to the tension between tradition and innovation? C. Kavin Rowe addresses these topics and a multitude of others in this collection of keen essays. Bite-size and conversational, yet deeply rooted in Scripture and recent pastoral theology, the essays in Leading Christian Communities reflect on the shaping of Christian leaders for the flourishing of their communities. Pastors and seminarians, as well as all those involved in church ministry, will find inspiration and insight in these pages.
144 pages, Paperback
Published June 13, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 5, 2024
Nice collection of informal essays on various Christian leadership topics (written with a deep background of biblical scholarship).
July 11, 2023
Leading Christian communities is not easy. I know, I've led them. We are human beings with all the baggage that goes with that. Christian communities can be as difficult to lead as any other. When we look at the Bible we discover that the early Christian community was anything by perfect. Nevertheless, these early communities are part of our story. It's not just the New Testament, but the Old Testament as well, that provides words of wisdom and guidance. Thus, Scripture is worth studying when it comes to discerning the nature of leadership in Christian communities.
This book by C. Kavin Rowe offers a series of essays and reflections that have been collected, some of which speak more directly at leadership than others. Rowe is the George Washington Ivey Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School. He is also the vice dean of the faculty at the seminary. Thus, he has both experience as a biblical scholar and institutional leadership.
The essays are drawn from writings produced over more than a decade. They are published as originally written. Rowe has divided the collection into four parts. Part 1 focuses on "The Acts of the Apostles and Thriving Communities." Part 2 speaks more directly to Christian leadership. Then moving on to Part 3, he discusses the concept of "Traditioned Innovation." This term intrigued me after reading Andy Root's recent books, which raises questions about innovation. Perhaps "traditional innovation" can serve as a more balanced understanding. Finally, Part 4 contains two essays under the heading of "Christmas and Easter." These concluding essays are the least connected to the question of leadership, though they do focus on the larger story of Jesus.
Rowe has written previously on the Book of Acts, so it's not surprising that he has written about leadership in the Book of Acts. When it comes to the existence of thriving communities in the Book of Acts, he focuses on six elements. These are first laid out in the first chapter "The Pattern of Life n Thriving Communities," and then explored in more detail in the following six chapters. These patterns that he notes include networking, visibility, room for the week, incorporating disagreement, understanding why the community exists, and finally the assumption that suffering will be part of being part of a thriving community. He writes in the opening chapter that "to learn from Acts how to think about thriving communities requires us to nurture an imagination that tries to think about a total pattern of life." As such the qualities he notes here are different strands that taken together help "constitute a particular way of being in the world" (p. 10).
Part 2 is the longest piece of the collection and it includes fourteen chapters that run the gamut from the importance of humor to recognizing the reality of the vanishing neighbor. One thing that he does note here is that hierarchies and institutions are necessary parts of the conversation when it comes to Christian leadership. Concerning hierarchies, not all are the same, and thus the important point here is those hierarchies that lead to the good. As for institutions, he reminds us that most of our significant experiences take place within institutions, including the church. That, of course, leads to a conversation about power, and again not all forms of power are the same.
Part 3 focuses on "Traditioned Innovation." The question explored in the chapters found in this section centers on how we live into the future in light of the past. I've written a bit about this in my book Called to Bless: Finding Hope by Reclaiming Our Spiritual Roots. With that in mind, he begins the section with a chapter laying out the biblical story of creation, fall, election, redemption, and consummation. He views Pentecost as an expression of Traditioned Innovation, in that the event, as expressed by Luke, draws upon Jewish tradition. As part of this conversation, he also looks at the differences in the Gospel, which he believes is somewhat overblown. That is, a bigger deal is made about the differences than is necessary. He also takes note of how the New Testament can be seen as a traditional innovation of the Old Testament. Here he invites us to remember that the NT builds on the Old, in essence fulfilling its promise. With that in mind, he lifts up the concept of Jesus as king, especially as the fulfillment of the promise of David.
Finally, there are the two chapters that remind us that Easter and Christmas are interconnected. We need both to have the full story. I agree there.
There are interesting ideas present in these essays. They touch on similar topics, sometimes more focused on leadership than others. I wonder why they were not updated for this book --- in several places, he speaks of "new" books that are at least a decade old. While he is a professor at Duke, there is a traditional bent to the essays. Perhaps we should expect that from Duke, which is in many ways a centrist school.
This book by C. Kavin Rowe offers a series of essays and reflections that have been collected, some of which speak more directly at leadership than others. Rowe is the George Washington Ivey Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School. He is also the vice dean of the faculty at the seminary. Thus, he has both experience as a biblical scholar and institutional leadership.
The essays are drawn from writings produced over more than a decade. They are published as originally written. Rowe has divided the collection into four parts. Part 1 focuses on "The Acts of the Apostles and Thriving Communities." Part 2 speaks more directly to Christian leadership. Then moving on to Part 3, he discusses the concept of "Traditioned Innovation." This term intrigued me after reading Andy Root's recent books, which raises questions about innovation. Perhaps "traditional innovation" can serve as a more balanced understanding. Finally, Part 4 contains two essays under the heading of "Christmas and Easter." These concluding essays are the least connected to the question of leadership, though they do focus on the larger story of Jesus.
Rowe has written previously on the Book of Acts, so it's not surprising that he has written about leadership in the Book of Acts. When it comes to the existence of thriving communities in the Book of Acts, he focuses on six elements. These are first laid out in the first chapter "The Pattern of Life n Thriving Communities," and then explored in more detail in the following six chapters. These patterns that he notes include networking, visibility, room for the week, incorporating disagreement, understanding why the community exists, and finally the assumption that suffering will be part of being part of a thriving community. He writes in the opening chapter that "to learn from Acts how to think about thriving communities requires us to nurture an imagination that tries to think about a total pattern of life." As such the qualities he notes here are different strands that taken together help "constitute a particular way of being in the world" (p. 10).
Part 2 is the longest piece of the collection and it includes fourteen chapters that run the gamut from the importance of humor to recognizing the reality of the vanishing neighbor. One thing that he does note here is that hierarchies and institutions are necessary parts of the conversation when it comes to Christian leadership. Concerning hierarchies, not all are the same, and thus the important point here is those hierarchies that lead to the good. As for institutions, he reminds us that most of our significant experiences take place within institutions, including the church. That, of course, leads to a conversation about power, and again not all forms of power are the same.
Part 3 focuses on "Traditioned Innovation." The question explored in the chapters found in this section centers on how we live into the future in light of the past. I've written a bit about this in my book Called to Bless: Finding Hope by Reclaiming Our Spiritual Roots. With that in mind, he begins the section with a chapter laying out the biblical story of creation, fall, election, redemption, and consummation. He views Pentecost as an expression of Traditioned Innovation, in that the event, as expressed by Luke, draws upon Jewish tradition. As part of this conversation, he also looks at the differences in the Gospel, which he believes is somewhat overblown. That is, a bigger deal is made about the differences than is necessary. He also takes note of how the New Testament can be seen as a traditional innovation of the Old Testament. Here he invites us to remember that the NT builds on the Old, in essence fulfilling its promise. With that in mind, he lifts up the concept of Jesus as king, especially as the fulfillment of the promise of David.
Finally, there are the two chapters that remind us that Easter and Christmas are interconnected. We need both to have the full story. I agree there.
There are interesting ideas present in these essays. They touch on similar topics, sometimes more focused on leadership than others. I wonder why they were not updated for this book --- in several places, he speaks of "new" books that are at least a decade old. While he is a professor at Duke, there is a traditional bent to the essays. Perhaps we should expect that from Duke, which is in many ways a centrist school.
January 30, 2024
As I read through Leading Christian Communities, the thought I kept coming back to was that the content seemed better placed in a magazine or blog. After finishing the book, I did some research and, sure enough, that was exactly the case. The content of Leading Christian Communities originated in the Faith and Leadership blog from Leadership Education at Duke Divinity where Dr. Rowe serves as vice dean for faculty and professor of New Testament. Of the 28 essays that appear in the book, all 28 are printed verbatim on the Faith and Leadership blog. Whenever material like this gets adapted from one source to another, the questions I ask are “To what purpose?” and “How is the adaptation unique?” The answer to the former is that Eerdmans is publishing three volumes of Rowe’s essays, of which this is the first. But the answer of uniqueness is something different. Rowe does not add to or reflect upon his writing in any way. Leading Christian Communities is simply a physical printing of something previously only available digitally (and for free, I might add!).
I offer that critique to both make folks aware that they can sample Rowe’s writing on the Faith and Leadership blog before deciding if they enjoy it so much as to purchase it, but also because the origin of these essays explains its structure, format, and tone. Leading Christian Communities is a book that feels academic, but really isn’t. It’s written by a professor at Duke and academic in tone, but the brevity of the essays and the general lack of sources (even when sources are used, Rowe doesn’t always cite them) belie its casual nature.
As the series didn’t originate from the idea that Rowe would write a book on Christian leadership, Leading Christian Communities also suffers from a lack of cohesion. While the content is able to be structured under four main parts—(1) The Acts of the Apostles and Thriving Communities, (2) Christian Leadership, (3) Traditioned Innovation, (4) Christmas and Easter—the groupings definitely feel manufactured rather than organic.
However, my criticism of this book is solely in its existence as a book in the form in which it’s been published. In terms of content—knowing Rowe’s original genre for publication—Leading Christian Communities offers some solid insights. The brevity of each essay (fewer than 1,000 words per essay, I would guess) prevents Rowe from diving into any one topic deeply but does allow him to spur the reader’s mind toward thinking about the topic. I wish that there had been some effort to build upon or expand the essays—to add discussion questions or practical exercises—or even just to utilize materials that cohered in a better way. In the end, unless you really don’t like reading on screens (in which case, I doubt you’d be reading this review), just go read it on the website.
I offer that critique to both make folks aware that they can sample Rowe’s writing on the Faith and Leadership blog before deciding if they enjoy it so much as to purchase it, but also because the origin of these essays explains its structure, format, and tone. Leading Christian Communities is a book that feels academic, but really isn’t. It’s written by a professor at Duke and academic in tone, but the brevity of the essays and the general lack of sources (even when sources are used, Rowe doesn’t always cite them) belie its casual nature.
As the series didn’t originate from the idea that Rowe would write a book on Christian leadership, Leading Christian Communities also suffers from a lack of cohesion. While the content is able to be structured under four main parts—(1) The Acts of the Apostles and Thriving Communities, (2) Christian Leadership, (3) Traditioned Innovation, (4) Christmas and Easter—the groupings definitely feel manufactured rather than organic.
However, my criticism of this book is solely in its existence as a book in the form in which it’s been published. In terms of content—knowing Rowe’s original genre for publication—Leading Christian Communities offers some solid insights. The brevity of each essay (fewer than 1,000 words per essay, I would guess) prevents Rowe from diving into any one topic deeply but does allow him to spur the reader’s mind toward thinking about the topic. I wish that there had been some effort to build upon or expand the essays—to add discussion questions or practical exercises—or even just to utilize materials that cohered in a better way. In the end, unless you really don’t like reading on screens (in which case, I doubt you’d be reading this review), just go read it on the website.
March 8, 2024
Kavin Rowe is one of the wisest New Testament scholars we have, so his reflections on the elements and thoughts and convictions that are involved in leading Christian communities are expectedly worthwhile. These are short pieces originally posted on Duke’s online Faith and Leadership publication, so there are limits to this book’s riches. But they give us time with and good reminders from someone who is not only a great interpreter of the New Testament but also a committed believer in Jesus and his kingdom who wants to serve the church by sharing his wisdom.
May 14, 2024
This little collection of essays is the most robustly theological treatment of Christain leadership I’ve come across. There are plenty of books that prescribe for pastors and Christian leaders leadership models well-tested by CEOs and the like, but there are few that offer the theological vision Rowe offers here.
December 30, 2024
Small book but full of many themes. Sometimes repetitive but other times I wish there was more explanation and depth.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews