Team Leadership in Christian Ministry

Kenneth O. Gangel's Team Leadership in Christian Ministry (Using Multiple Gifts to Build a Unified Vision) is a thorough (25 chapters, 465 pages) treatment of shared leadership from an author of more than fifty books.

Gangel does a good job of anchoring his model for team leadership within a Biblical framework. He makes a case for team leadership as the only Biblical model (although at times he protests too much, and doesn't thoroughly treat apparent Biblical evidence to the contrary, but on the whole his point is well made).

The book is organized into three parts: Foundations of Team Leadership, Roles of the Team Leader, and Functions of Team Leadership. together to make decisions, set goals, resolve conflicts, mentor new leaders, create training programs, and plan for the future. He tackles The Team Leader as Administrator, Organizer, Decision Maker, Group Facilitator, Board or Committee Chair, Conflict Manager, and more. And he seems to be at his best (and most comfortable, perhaps) when discussing planning and organizing (which is also the areas in which he gets most practical and--for this reader--most helpful).

While much of the book is more general and theoretical than I would have liked (understandable, perhaps, considering the scope of the subject), Team Leadership in Christian Ministry is both thorough and helpful.