Quietly Courageous: Leading the Church in a Changing World

The changing dynamics of contemporary church life are well-known, but what’s less well-known is how leaders can work most effectively in this new context. In Quietly Courageous, esteemed minister and congregational consultant Gil Rendle offers practical guidance to leaders—both lay and ordained—on leading churches today. Rendle encourages leaders to stop focusing on the past and instead focus relentlessly on their mission and purpose—what is ultimately motivating their work. He also urges a shift in perspectives on resources, discusses models of change, and offers suggestions for avoiding common pitfalls and working creatively today.

Table of Contents:
Contents PART I: GOOD LEADERSHIP IS NOT ENOUGH 1 Nashon’s Quiet Courage 2 The Change That Demands Quiet Courage PART II: THE ASSUMPTIONS 3 A Word about How: Assumptions about Change 4 A Word about Enough: Assumptions about Resources 5 A Word about Structure and Process: Assumptions about Fear, Organization, and Democracy 6 A Word about Learning: Assumptions about How Leadership Is Formed PART III: THE TEMPTATIONS 7 The Temptation of Playing It Safe: Nostalgia 8 The Temptation of Christian Empathy 9 The Temptation of Tiredness PART IV: WHERE DO WE START? 10 Telling the Story That Will Get Us through the Wilderness 11 Lessons in Style Notes Bibliography About the Author

About the Author :
Gil Rendle is former senior vice president for the Texas Methodist Foundation as well as former senior consultant and director of consulting for the Alban Institute. As an ordained minister with a PhD in organizational and group dynamics, he has worked with congregations across denominations for more than thirty years. He is the author of a number of books, including Holy Conversations: Strategic Planning as Spiritual Practice for Congregations.

Review :
Gil Rendle is on a very short list of our wisest guides in the practice of leadership in the United Methodist Church. And for those of us tempted toward a nostalgia that is avoidance, an empathy that is unhelpful, and a weariness that is escapist, he urges us to engage with courage and conviction. Quietly Courageous is the summation of decades of persistent attention and deep learning about how we have come to this place, and who God calls us to be in service to the mission. Quietly Courageous reveals that we ‘are not the product of things gone wrong but rather of the world grown different.’Rendle brings his prophetic powers of observation to bear on the assumptions and temptations standing between us and more effective leadership. The reader emerges from this book with a fresh framing of where we stand, how we got here, and what needs to happen next. Gil Rendle has more than a bit of quiet courage as he engages the challenges facing pastors and congregations in this new mission age. He pulls apart the norms and practices that have become our shackles. Seeing the wilderness as an opportunity, Rendle then leads the reader into a reflection that allows humble movement toward God’s imagined mission. Gil Rendle compassionately turns us away from our preoccupation with feeding old anxieties about how to lead our organizations. He walks with us toward a newfound courage to be discovered within the deep waters of yet unimagined possibilities From time to time a book reaches out to introverts and says “you need to read me.” This is such a book. [This] book provides a new way of leading in the culture in which we live. It relates more to biblical leadership than to leadership in the last century. However, it also relates to the role of current cultural leadership as much as biblical leadership.