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.
C. Kavin Rowe is the George Washington Ivey Distinguished Professor of New Testament and vice dean for faculty at Duke Divinity School. His previous books include Early Narrative Christology, World Upside Down: Reading Acts in the Graeco-Roman Age, One True Life: The Stoics and Early Christians as Rival Traditions, and Christianity's Surprise: A Sure and Certain Hope.
The Christian Century "For more than a decade, New Testament scholar Kavin Rowe has written thoughtful reflections on Christian ministry for Faith and Leadership. In this collection of those essays, Rowe frequently engages in winsome New Testament interpretation." "Kavin Rowe approaches leadership with the convictions that there's nothing inherently different about today from the challenges faced by the early church, that the Holy Spirit through Scripture and tradition has given us everything we need to thrive amid today's predicaments, and that being the body of Christ is the most exciting and rewarding adventure any of us could wish for. These assurances make for compelling reading and healthy renewal." --Samuel Wells vicar, St Martin-in-the-Fields visiting professor of Christian ethics, King's College London "This wonderful book brings Kavin Rowe's brilliant exegesis to bear on crucial questions of Christian leadership. These concise, highly readable essays stir our imagination and inspire us to more faithful and noble engagement." --L. Gregory Jones president, Belmont University "Kavin Rowe, one of our finest theological interpreters of Scripture, now gives us our best theological justification for specifically Christian leadership. Beginning with the Acts of the Apostles as authorization for our leadership, Leading Christian Communities is a lively, practical, contemporary exploration of the theological rationale for church leadership. Rowe encourages Christian leaders to lead as if God matters. It makes all the difference to innovative, transformative leaders that Jesus Christ is God with us (Christmas) and has risen for us (Easter). Even amid the challenges of the present moment, Christian leaders can be hopeful and bold because, as Rowe repeatedly reminds us, we're not working alone." --Will Willimon retired United Methodist bishop professor of the practice of Christian ministry, Duke University author of Leading with the Sermon: Preaching as Leadership
