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Powerful Leaders?

When Christian Leadership Goes Wrong

Marcus Honeysett

5.0

5.0

Powerful Leaders?

When Christian Leadership Goes Wrong

Marcus Honeysett

Quantity

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.

  • Title

    Powerful Leaders?

  • Author(s)

    Marcus Honeysett

  • ISBN

    9781789743227

  • Format

    Paperback

  • Publisher

    IVP

  • Topic

    Church, Leadership

  • Pages

    128

  • Published

    02/01/2022

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Overall rating

5.0 based on 1 review

Powerful Leaders?

I am thankful that Marcus has written this book. We desperately needed an honest and sober look at church leadership, and this is a superb starter for 10. Written with his usual clarity, simplicity (but never simple!), humility and Christocentric sensibility, this is a must read for all church leaders and those involved in church/mission/para church leadership of all stages. The reason the book is so good is because Marcus has reflected over years of teaching and supporting leaders in a variety of contexts. Thus he understands the underlying problems, not just the presenting symptoms, and has an ability to consider the nuances of church leadership. Also, he avoids 2 unhelpful things: 1, he doesn’t use the term ‘spiritual abuse’ (explained in an appendix) – rather he uses terms that are more understandable and not open to debate (such as coercive power). 2, he wisely avoids telling the stories of scandals such as Hybels, Driscoll, Smyth, etc. This means that I cannot just go ‘well, I am not them!’. Rather, by avoiding the big names, you cannot easily excuse yourself. I need to re–read this book. I need to think through a couple of sections deeply. I hope others will now use the same concept and language of ‘the slippery slope’ to teach, apply and write further and more specifically into different polities.

Jonathan Thomas

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