Charismatic Leadership and Missional Change: Mission-Actional Ministry in a Multiethnic Church: 43 (American Society of Missiology Monograph)

Too often the solution sought by many struggling churches is to make the homerun hire--to find the charismatic leader who will take them to the promised land of growth and vibrant ministry. While this strategy occasionally pays off it has overwhelmingly failed as seen in the hundreds of churches across the United States that close their doors annually. Is it possible that there is another way forward for those seeking to lead local congregations into missionally vibrant ministry especially those located in multiethnic urban areas? In Charismatic Leadership and Missional Change one churchs journey from a struggling primarily Anglo congregation of less than 100 members to becoming a missionally vibrant multiethnic church of more than 700 attendees with no clear ethnic majority documented. The charismatic leadership style that drove this change is discussed and critiqued as well as the adaptive challenges that have arisen in the church because of it. An alternative approach--interpretive leadership--is proposed as a different pathway forward in response to these challenges. The result the author suggests will be to empower the diverse everyday people of God to participate in Gods mission in exciting and surprising new ways.