Interested in church leadership? In changing not only conversation in our culture, but the way we converse? Ever wonder why changing leaders or programs often does not change results?
Episcopal Church executive Dr. Kay Collier McLaughlin has the answers and she’s sharing them in her new book, Becoming the Transformative Church.
“In all human relationships, from family to friendships to organizations, there is one thing that matters,” said McLaughlin, “and that how one person’s behavior impacts another. When all of the foundational theories and all of the advice books are culled down to the most basic issue, it all has to do with how we treat each other. Not how we think we treat each other. Not how we mean to treat each other. But how the other party or parties experience our behavior.”
“You must remember that what you decide has an impact on other people, whether you understand it or not, whether it makes sense to you or not. So you have to be prepared to accept the consequences for the impact your behavior has on others.”
Becoming the Transformative Church:
Beyond Sacred Cows, Fantasies, and Fears
Kay Collier McLaughlin Foreword by Stacy Sauls 978-0-8192-2883-3 $24.00 Paper 6 x 9 240 pgs —Review copies, excerpts, and interviews are available on request from the publisher–
Why is this book any different than any other book on leadership and/or church management?
“ I have seen the church at its best and its worst, and it has been reflecting on these experiences through the windows of leadership development theories that has enabled me to continue to live and work, worship in, and love what Bishop Tutu once called our ‘very messy but loveable’ institution,” said McLaughlin.
“My book is a call for action, a brutally honest statement of the behavioral issues facing the church as an institution, and a look at possible responses on a church-wide systemic basis. I am not aware of any similar books which sought input from a broad cross-section of clergy and vetted this data across foundational leadership methodologies and gateways within the church structure.”
As writer, leadership development professional and insider in the church system, Dr. McLaughlin may be uniquely qualified to write this particular book. She is Deputy for Leadership Development, Transition Ministries, and Communications for the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington (KY) and has been involved in church leadership for 40-plus years. Simultaneously, she has worked as a trainer and consultant in the field of leadership development since 1968, working in religious, educational and corporate systems.
“I am the fifth generation of my family to call the Episcopal Church my home. I have served on the Standing Committee, the Executive Council, as President of the Diocesan Episcopal Church Woman, a delegate to Triennial, a vestry member, choir member and Sunday School teacher. I am a licensed Lay Eucharistic Minister and Lay Preacher. I have been in the process of candidacy for holy orders as an aspirant and I have sat on pre-Commission on Ministry Standing Committees reviewing such candidates. I have worked under three Bishops of the Diocese of Lexington, two Interim Assisting Bishops, and been fired by one clergy.
She also has covered 13 General Conventions for the Episcopal Church and has three published books to her my credit. She holds a doctorate degree in Counseling Psychology and has utilized qualitative research methods in her dissertation, plus an Alban Institute book on ministry with single adults, and an unpublished study about abuse in athletics.
As church-wide discussions continue about the Emergent Church, attracting young people, financial survival, corporate structure, relationships with the Anglican Communion and other ongoing issues, this book endeavors to look at the behaviors and patters that continue to derail the Church from a systems perspective, and offer concrete examples as to how intentionality in leadership based on shared foundational theories has the potential to empower our church to be the transformative entity God called it to be.
It is expressly written for diocesan deployment officers (transitional ministries), priests, deacons, wardens and vestries, bishops, and lay professionals.
Books can be ordered through any member store of the Episcopal Booksellers Association or your favorite local bookstore; direct from Cokesbury customer service at 800-672-1789, or through Cokesbury.com or any online bookseller.
Founded in 1918 and headquartered in New York City, Church Publishing Incorporated is the publisher of official worship materials, books, music, and digital ministry resources for the Episcopal Church, plus a multi-faceted publisher and supplier to the broader ecumenical marketplace. Publishing imprints include Church Publishing, Morehouse Publishing, and Seabury Books. Additional CPI divisions include Morehouse Church Supplies, a provider of church supplies and clergy shirts, and Morehouse Education Resources, which produces lectionary-based curriculum and faith formation programs.
