Lively book on leadership

TRAINING LEADERS
By Paul Williams
EP Books. 153 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978 1 783 972 890

‘If you want to prepare for gospel ministry,’’ a pastor once told me, ‘Bible college is the last place you ought to go!’

This was surprising, because Alec had been the Principal of a theological college himself. But he wasn’t running them down, just encouraging me to learn the ropes in the local church before doing residential training.

Using Paul’s second letter to Timothy, Paul Williams shows how the apostle did on-the-job training, through example (doing life and gospel ministry with his trainees) as well as one-to-one teaching (verbally and in his letters). 2 Timothy, in William’s hands, becomes a leadership textbook.

I once attended a course on Christian leadership that didn’t mention the Bible at all and was really aimed at turning pastors into better managers! Now, there is a place for that in the church (in Scripture, ‘management’ is called ‘stewardship’). But Williams’ book lays deeper foundations, into the bedrock of Scripture itself. It takes us into territory avoided by much leadership literature: the call to suffer and sacrifice for the gospel; being vulnerable; trusting God.

This is a lively and very readable book that keeps us very close to the heart of what it means to be a Christian leader. It is short too, and that will help many budding leaders who are not (yet!) great readers. Whether you are an administrator or a pastor you should read this book.

I’m always looking for new material to use to train leaders here in Sunderland. I was seriously thinking of writing something myself for a group that begins in the New Year. I’m happy to say that Paul Williams has saved me the trouble – I’ve a dozen copies of Training Leaders already on order!