Logos Book of the Year Meetings can sap our energy, rupture community and thoroughly demoralize us. They can go on forever with no resolution. Or they can rush along without consensus just to "get through the agenda." What if there was another way? Church boards and other Christian leadership teams have long relied on models adapted from the business world. Ruth Haley Barton, president of the Transforming Center, helps teams transition to a much more suitable model—the spiritual community that discerns God's will together. In these pages you will discover personal and group practices that will lead you into a new way of experiencing community and listening to God together. Ruth Haley Barton (Doctor of Divinity, Northern Seminary) is founding president of the Transforming Center, a spiritual formation ministry to pastors and Christian leaders. A trained spiritual director (Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation), teacher and retreat leader, she has served on the pastoral staff of several churches, including Willow Creek Community Church. A sought-after teacher, preacher and consultant to leadership teams, she is currently adjunct professor of spiritual transformation at Northern Seminary. Educated at Wheaton College, Northern Seminary and Loyola University Chicago Institute for Pastoral Studies, Ruth is the author of numerous books and resources on the spiritual life, including Invitation to Solitude and Silence, Sacred Rhythms, Longing for More and Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership (all InterVarsity Press), An Ordinary Day with Jesus: Experiencing the Reality of God in Your Everyday Life (coauthor, Willow Creek Resources), and an online resource titled eReflections, spiritual guidance via email. She also contributes regularly to Conversations: A Forum for Authentic Transformation.

Introduction: The Heart of Spiritual Leadership
Part One: Becoming a Community for Discernment
1. Learning to See
2. Beginning with Spiritual Transformation
3. Leaders Who Are Discerning
4. Community at the Leadership Level
5. Values that Undergird Community
6. Practices for Opening to God Together
7. Practices for Listening to Each Other
8. A Covenant That Protects Community
Part Two: Practicing Discernment Together
9. Get Ready: Preparing for the Discernment Process
10. Get Set: From Decision Making to Discernment
11. Go! Discerning and Doing God?s Will Together
12. But Does It Work?
Gratitudes
Appendix 1: Leader's Guide
Appendix 2: A Biblical Perspective on Spiritual Transformation
Notes
Resources

Publicado por: IVP Formatio