Anxious Church, Anxious People: How to Lead Change in an Age of Anxiety

by Jack Shitama

Overview

The key to effective church leadership is the ability to be a non-anxious presence.

This is not a technique. It is a way of being. It is deceptively simple, but tremendously difficult. Yet, if you are willing to take the journey, you can lead change in even the most challenging contexts. Read this book and you will understand:

• The process that keeps churches anxious and stuck.
• How leadership through self-differentiation gets churches unstuck.
• How to develop as a non-anxious presence so you can lead change anywhere, but especially in an anxious church.

Anxious Church, Anxious People is based on a family systems approach to congregational leadership. It is for church leaders who are willing to learn more about themselves and their family of origin so they can be a non-anxious presence. It will resonate with those who have tried everything else and realize that they cannot change others, but can only change themselves. It makes family systems concepts accessible and practical through the use of examples from personal experience.

The author has used this approach to leadership in his 26 years of ministry as a pastor, board chair and ministry executive. It has enabled him to lead significant change in the local church, a regional ministry and a denominational professional association. He has been teaching, mentoring and coaching congregational leaders for the last 15 years to help them to do the same.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940155644811
Publisher:	Charis Works Inc
Publication date:	05/08/2018
Sold by:	Draft2Digital
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	541,397
File size:	233 KB

About the Author

Jack Shitama has been leading change in ministry settings since 1991. He has led growth in small churches. He guided the transformation of a professional association. He proposed and executed a plan for the sale and replacement of a beloved denominational institution. Jack is an ordained United Methodist minister and the founding Minister-in-Residence of the Center for Clergy Excellence in Centreville, MD. Jack and his wife, Jodi, have four adult children and one grandchild. They live with no kids and no pets on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Learn more at www.christian-leaders.com. Contact him at [e-mail].

Table of Contents

Chapter 1-An Anxious Society

Chapter 2-Leadership through Self-Differentiation

The Non-Anxious Presence

Doing Your Own Work

It's Process NOT Content

Chapter 3-Unlocking Emotional Triangles

Understanding Emotional Triangles

Triangles and the Church

Self-Differentiation as the Key

Chapter 4-An Anxious Church

Reactivity

Herding

Blame Displacement

Quick Fix Mentality

Lack of Well-Differentiated Leadership

Chapter 5-The Importance of Vision

Why Vision Matters

Vision as Self-Definition

A Few More Thoughts about Vision

Chapter 6-Dealing with Stress

The Inevitability of Stress

Self-Differentiation Reduces Stress

Chapter 7-Sabotage and the Moment of Truth

Two Types of Crises

The Inevitability of Sabotage

The Moment of Truth

Chapter 8-The Necessity for Self-Regulation

The Yeager Heresy

The Conflict of Wills

Feedback and Chronic Conditions

Integrity in the Moment of Choice

Chapter 9-Managing Anxiety

Presence vs. Technique

The Power of Vulnerability

When Anxiety Strikes

Chapter 10-Managing the Relationship System

Charisma and Consensus

Togetherness vs. Community

Work with the Motivated, Not the Symptomatic

The Power of Staying in Triangles

Chapter 11-Doing Your Own Work

What to Expect

The Genogram

The Family Timeline

The Importance of Stories

You Can't Do This Alone

It's Your Move

Appendix

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Notes