There are so many books out there on the topic of church leadership. Most of the are written by men who’ve been in ministry for years and they want to pass on the baton. in a way, Rico does that with this book. He draws on his own vast experience of ministry to help the reader think about how to be a faithful leader.
This book isn’t only for pastors though. Whilst Rico uses the title of pastor most in the book, he makes it clear in the introduction that it is for any kind of leader in the church. You could lead a Sunday school class, lead a ministry, lead a small group, or pastor a church of 500+, this book was written with you in mind.
In four echoey chapters Rico speaks about what true success is, and maybe most importantly, what it is not. He spurs the reader on to keep fighting sin daily and the importance of accountability amongst leaders. Rico then speaks about the importance of leading yourself, taking the initiative and evaluating everything in your life and ministry. Finally, Rico encourages the reader to serve the church and to glorify God, not self, in it all.
I think that this book could be helpful for the reader, it certainly is a helpful reminder of many good truths that every leader needs reminding of regularly. In all honesty though, as I was reading I found myself asking “is this saying anything new?” I don’t think it is. Don’t get me wrong, we all need to be reminded of key truths about how we can be good and faithful leaders and Rico is a great writer.
Faithful Leaders is an easy and quick read, it’s full of the Bible and it is birthed out of years of ministry experience. Whilst the book doesn’t necessarily say anything new, it is a good reminder of Gods grace for every day in the lives of His people. Grab your own copy here and let me know what you think.
Here are some of the quotes that I found interesting, encouraging and challenging…
“Failure is being successful at the wrong things; and success for the pastor is standing before his Shepherd one day, after a life of cutting the word straight and living with clean character, and hearing those precious words that will sustain his joy for eternity: “Well done, good and faithful servant””
“When I sun, I am functionally believing that God cannot see — or I am functionally ignoring the reality that I am committing spiritual adultery. But he sees all of me, and he calls my son what it is. Be sure that your adultery will find you out. If I were to remember each time I am tempted to live for my glory rather than for God’s that what I am being tempted to do is to commit spiritual adultery, I imagine I would resist temptation much more successfully.”
“Often we act as though rest is not really an option. And it isn’t, but not in the way we think. Rest is not an option. It’s a command of God, and so it’s a necessity for us.”
“The pulpit can so easily be turned into a throne, from where power is used to control and coerce.”
“We need to embrace the ordinariness of much of our calling — because our calling is to serve, not to be seen. And after all, it is in fact all seen by the only eyes that matter, and in his sight no act of service for Jesus’ cause is truly “ordinary”.”
Rico Tice is Senior Minister (Evangelism) at All Souls Church, Langham Place in London. Born in Chile before being educated in England, Rico spent a year working at a church in inner city Liverpool and then studied history at Bristol University (where he was captain of the rugby team). He went on to graduate from theological college at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. Rico is a passionate evangelist, and the Founder of Christianity Explored Ministries. He is a regular speaker at missions and evangelistic events around the world, and is the author of Honest Evangelism and Capturing God.
*** I received this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. This does not change the way I rate the book, my views are my own. ***
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