Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Hamilton, MA MC 631 Ministry Leadership Syllabus: Summer, 2015

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1 Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Hamilton, MA MC 631 Ministry Leadership Syllabus: Summer, 2015 June 1, June 5, 2015 James Singleton, Th.D. Alan T. Baker, D.Min. 3 Sem. Hours jsingleton@gcts.edu I. Course Description: This course equips students for the arduous task of leading within the local church, social sectors and beyond. It provides a foundation and overview of the nature of leadership and its essential value as a core competency for pastors, leaders of Christian ministries, chaplains and missionaries. Students will be introduced to various leadership terms and themes as they integrate their learning into a coherent and cohesive personal leadership style. They will evaluate effective management and leadership skills of select biblical and post-biblical leaders and refine their personal management style. Students will explore leadership as a core ministry competency providing greater confidence in their pastoral identity, purpose, and ethical decision-making. Throughout the course, students will examine the biblical and theological foundations of leadership that comprise the core of pastoral ministry. Additionally, the course will develop a professional comprehensive range of biblical-theological knowledge, skills and abilities for ministry and organizational management. The emphasis is to develop a solid foundation of leadership theory with the expectation that the student will have an emerging opportunity to navigate and lead a local church or para-church organization. II. Course Relationship to the Curriculum The course (MC 631) is an elective in each major and is ideally taken by students who are at least in the middle of their seminary studies. The course takes into consideration previous studies in exegesis, theology, history, and practical theology and challenges students to consider how their studies actually are applied in places of leadership. III. Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes: At the conclusion of this course each student will be able to a. Define leadership and Christian leadership. b. Understand the personal characteristics and ethical decision-making required from a leader. c. Identify the spiritual & moral pitfalls common to Christian leaders. d. Understand the people and the congregations/organizations that you are trying to lead. e. Determine the non-negotiables for your organization. f. Articulate vision and develop core capabilities for your organization. g. Develop methods in communicating your vision to the people you lead. h. Strategize for the realization of your vision and develop measurable outcomes. i. Understand effective conflict-resolution strategies. j. Practice shaping organizational culture. IV. Required Course Textbooks: 1. Allender, Dan B. Leading With a Limp. Colorado Springs: WaterBook Press, (ISBN: ). 1

2 2. Cloud, Henry. Boundaries for Leaders: Why Some People Get Results and Others Don t. New York: Harper Collins, (ISBN: ) 3. Collins, Jim. Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great. New York: Harper Collins, Ford, Kevin G. Transforming Church: Bringing Out the Good to Get to Great. (Carol Stream, Ill.: Tyndale, 2007) (ISBN: ) 5. Lencioni, Patrick. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, (ISBN: ). 6. MacDonald, Gordon. Building Below the Waterline: Shoring Up the Foundations of Leadership. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishing, (ISBN: ). 7. Nouwen, Henri. In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, (ISBN: ) V. Other Recommended Course Textbooks: 1. Blackaby, Henri T. Spiritual Leadership. Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2001, (ISBN: ) 2. Bonem, Mike. In Pursuit of Great and Godly Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, (ISBN: ) 3. Lowney, Chris. Heroic Leadership. Chicago: Loyola Press, (ISBN: ) 4. Malphurs, Aubrey. Look Before You Lead: How to Discern and Shape Your Church Culture. Grand Rapids: Baker, (ISBN: ) 5. Osterhaus, James, Joseph M. Jurkowski, and Todd A Hahn. Thriving Through Ministry Conflict. Grand Rapids, MI.: Zondervan, 2005 (ISBN: 13: ) 6. Patterson, Kerry. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012, (ISBN: ) 7. Watkins, Michael. The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, Expanded and Updated. Boston, MA. Harvard Business School Press, 2003, (ISBN: ) VI. Course Format and Requirements: 1. This one-week intensive class will meet daily June 1 to June , for five seven-hour sessions for a total of 35 hours for lectures and regular discussion. Course requirements also include reading, writing, reflection and interviews. There will be periods for discussion as time allows. Attendance at all lectures is required. 2

3 2. Reading assignments should be finished on time. There is no substitute for reading broadly in the area, and hence, recent books and monographs will be mentioned in class with the expectation that you will supplement the assigned texts with collateral reading whenever possible. 3. Reading and Book Reviews Two-page double spaced review for each REQUIRED course textbook Recommended that students read and complete the 1st writing assignment and turn it in on day one; official due date is end of class week. Send completed Book Reviews in MS Word format by 5 p.m. on June 5, 2015, to alan.t.baker@gmail.com. Late Book Reviews will receive a 3% per day deduction penalty. 4. Two analytical and integrative essays, each eight pages in length, will be submitted. a. The first essay, Theology of Leadership essay, is due the next Friday following end of class (7 days June 12, 2015): 8 full pages double-spaced, fully documented sources. This is 25% of final grade. Send completed Theology of Leadership essay in MS Word format by 5 p.m. on June 12, 2015, to alan.t.baker@gmail.com. Late Theology of Leadership essays will receive a 3% per day deduction penalty. b. The Interview Research & Reflections essay is due second Friday following end of class (14 days June 19, 2015): 8 full pages double-spaced, fully documented sources. You will interview two clergy leaders on their philosophy and style (one serving a church and another in an institution as a chaplain, missionary or para-church leader). This is 25% of final grade [12.5% research and 12.5% reflections & integration-25% total]. Send completed Interview Research & Reflections essay in MS Word format by 5 p.m. on June 19, 2015, to alan.t.baker@gmail.com. Late Interview Research & Reflections essays will receive a 3% per day deduction. ** ALL PAPERS, INCLUDING LATE PAPERS, ARE DUE BY MIDNIGHT JUNE Note on Analytical and Integrative Essays: The purpose of the written assignment is to develop your integrative and analytical reasoning abilities. In these two assignments I expect that you will be able to account for the theological underpinning of leadership and in the interview process arrive at a better understanding of your own theological position. Critical analysis involves the ability to state your thesis and justify your reasons both for and against a particular line of argument. Critical evaluation entails demonstrating which line of argument is stronger and supportable by your research. In these papers, more attention should be given to analysis than to evaluation. Strive to discover how the elements of leadership are connected, and, as far as possible, test your theology of leadership against your interview research. Your analysis should identify and reflect your cultural, and ideological context. The specific approach you take with the essays is left to you, but part of the assignment is to defend the importance of your thesis as you integrate your required readings into your research. Papers will be judged in terms of thoroughness of treatment and precision of thought. Reliance upon secondary sources, or upon editors opinions, instead of original thinking arising out of your own wrestling with the topic, is discouraged. A reliance on primary or secondary sources that does not acknowledge one's dependence on those sources is plagiarism, and when detected, will result in a failing grade. Other sources may be consulted, but theological reflection should begin on the basis 3

4 of first mastering the assigned texts and lectures and then carefully exegeting the document upon which your essay is based. In writing the paper, quotations or paraphrases of material must be referenced with a citation, but citations of page numbers of the book or document may be put in the text of the paper itself enclosed in parentheses. Essays should be eight full typed pages in length, double-spaced with oneinch margins and twelve-point type. Send these documents in MS Word format to alan.t.baker@gmail.com. Day 1: OVERVIEW OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT Discussion of leadership philosophy project Definitions of leadership Leadership triangle: responsibility, accountability and authority Discovering authority and exercising authority based on influence Functional and positional leaders Movements Leadership and management healthy organizational development Day 2: YOU AS THE CLERGY-LEADER: LEADERSHP FROM THE INSIDE OUT Jesus and leadership Reflections on Matthew 23 The soul of the leader Cultural anthropology and Biblical anthropology Cultivating the spiritual life of the leader Incentive-based accountability Credibility and access Character and competency Leading from below Working with your supervisor Day 3: CHURCH AND INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE Bounded sets and center sets Tribes Church analysis introduction Organizational governance: Legislative and executive leadership Determining boundaries, roles and responsibilities Measurements: qualitative and quantitative metrics Organizational clarity Building competencies, capabilities and capacity Day 4: THE PEOPLE YOU LEAD Developing trust Achieving commitment Leading with a limp Building a culture of teamwork Developing your team Overcoming the 5 dysfunctions of a team Five practices of excellent teams The value of necessary conflict Introduction to the necessary conflict model 4

5 Day 4: THE PEOPLE YOU LEAD (continued) Thriving through ministry conflict Crucial conversations Working with boards, peers, supervisors, subordinates Day 5: THE VALUE OF STRATEGY Four dynamic organizational states Matching strategy to situation Leadership and church size dynamics Developing organizational vision, mission and core capabilities Strategic planning Finding your element and vision casting Leader as vision-caster Developing alignment: Strategy Structure Systems Staff Culture Building capacity Exercising the tools of planning, phasing, scaling, prioritizing and experimenting Putting it all together Grading Scale: A = ; A- = 91-93; B+ = 88-90; B = 85-87; B- = 81-84; C+ = 78-80; C = 75 79; C- = 71-74; D+ = 68-70; D = 65-67; D- = 63-64; F Graded Events Book Reviews 25% Class Participation 25% Theology of Leadership Paper 25% Interview Research & Reflections 25% Course Workload Class - 35 Hours Readings and Reflections - 45 Hours Interviews - 20 Hours Theology of Leadership - 30 Hours Total 130 Hours VII. Academic Integrity Policy: Students are expected to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity with regard to their own work. Obtaining assistance in the form of support, editing, or discussion from a Graduate Assistant or one s peers is allowed for vignette assignments and papers. Plagiarism is using others ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source of that information. To avoid plagiarizing, you must give credit whenever you use: Another person s idea, opinion, or theory Any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings Any pieces of information that are not common knowledge Quotations of another person s actual spoken or written words Paraphrase of another person s spoken or written words 5

6 Plagiarism, regardless of intent, is the presentation of words or ideas of another as one's own. When sentences, ideas, conclusions, examples, and/or organization of an assignment are borrowed from a source (a book, an article, another student's paper, media, etc.) without acknowledging the source, this constitutes plagiarism. Plagiarism and cheating will result in academic penalty, which may include failure of the assignment or of the course. Further disciplinary action may also result. If a student self-reports impropriety or cheating, the situation can be better assessed and ameliorated on a case-by-case basis. VIII. Lateness Policy: In an effort to develop high professional standards, no late work will be accepted unless they are in accord with academic policy for late submissions AND prior arrangements with the professor have been made. All requests for extensions must be made via (or otherwise in writing) at least one week prior to the due date for the work. No late work will be accepted unless the circumstances are dire and unusual. In order to make up work you first must have an excused absence with appropriate documentation from a physician, an attorney, or a law enforcement agency. If you miss a class, for whatever reason, you are responsible for finding out from a classmate what material was covered and what homework was assigned. Do not me concerning what you missed; consult the course schedule or speak with a classmate to obtain notes or assignment information. Additionally, you cannot submit assignments late because you missed the class period when the assignment was given or when the assignment was due. ed coursework due dates will be based on the time stamp of the sent with the attachment. Revised March 22,