As understanding and awareness of abuse has grown, many revelations of church leaders abusing their power have come to light. How did the church get here? Is there a way we can address both individual and institutional failings to counter the misuse of power and, more importantly, prevent it in first place?
Powerful Leaders? exposes and explores how leaders are tempted away from a biblical model of leadership into illegitimate – and in the worst cases abusive – use of authority and power. Director of Living Leadership, a charity that focuses on healthy leadership and church culture, Marcus Honeysett traces how leaders move along a spectrum of healthy to unhealthy uses of power and position and offers practical wisdom for countering and preventing harmful leadership.
Drawing on his years of experience in the local church and working with leaders and congregations, Honeysett unpacks how to spot danger signs of abuse in the church and provides advice on what to do if you see or are under unhealthy leadership. He also explores why people don’t blow the whistle and encourages critical self-examination in existing leaders to ensure they maintain a healthy use of power – and offers guidance to help leaders improve their skills and move back towards healthy, biblically-based leadership.
For anyone concerned about improving safeguarding in the church, Powerful Leaders? will prove a valuable resource. It challenges and equips both those in leadership and those in a position to hold leaders accountable, and will empower them to take the necessary steps forward to create healthier church cultures in which everyone can thrive.
Daftar Isi
Introduction
Part 1: Biblical Patterns of Healthy Leadership
Chapter 1: Servant leadership for the good of others
Chapter 2: Healthy authority
Part 2: The Slippery Slope
Chapter 3: Introducing the slippery slope
Chapter 4: From formal to informal power
Chapter 5: From Legitimate to Illegitimate Power
Chapter 6: From serving others to serving self
Chapter 7: The most serious abuses of power and position
Part 3: What Next?
Chapter 8: What next for victims and survivors?
Chapter 9: What next for whistleblowers?
Chapter 10: What next for leaders?
Chapter 11: What next for churches?
Chapter 12: What next for cultures and tribes?
Afterword: The peaceful fruit of righteousness
Tentang Penulis
Marcus Honeysett is Director of Living Leadership, teaching extensively in churches and training insitutions on leadership and Bible teaching. He helps plan and deliver the church leaders’ track at Word Alive in partnership with FIEC and Oak Hill, and speaks regularly to groups of leaders and church leadership teams. His previous books include
Fruitful Leadership,
Meltdown and
Finding Joy, all published by IVP.