A Book You'll Actually Read On Church Leadership

Well, its book review time. I know my book reviews have been few and far between recently. I have three excuses. One, my reading has slowed down, but is quickly picking back up again. Two, I’ve been reading still but have been to spread out book wise and haven’t finished much, I’m finishing those now. Thirdly, I just haven’t gotten around to actually blog the books I have read. Phew, now I feel vindicated.

Now onto the meat. This little vignette of a book is by Pastor Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Now the problem with blogging about Driscoll is that most people already have an opinion. Some people don’t like him, other people love him. I generally fall in that second group. This book is about church leadership and the roles of elders, deacons, men, women, etc.

Driscoll does a great job of laying out the three main views, Egalitarian, Complementarian and Hierarchical. If you don’t know, Egalitarian is the liberal view meaning men and women are partners together in ministry and all offices are open to men and women. Gender is not relevant in teaching or authority positions. Complementarian is the moderate view and means that men and women are partners. All ministries in the church are open to all qualified people with the exception of the office of elder. Hierarchical is the conservative view and means that women are not permitted to do much of anything except teach children and other women.

I appreciate this book because he shows the three main views and of course tells you his opinion, he’s Driscoll, what else would you expect? He is a complementarian and does a fantastic job of defending that view. This is also where I land in this argument if you are wondering. I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in reading a short book about church leadership and the roles of men and women in the church.