Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership - review

Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership by Ruth Haley Barton offers guidance as to to how to seek God in the midst of ministry. The problem Barton addresses is that if Jesus were talking to "Christian leaders today, he might point out that it is possible to gain the world of ministry success and lose your own soul in the midst of it all." (p 13) The solution? "The More that we are looking for is the transformation of our souls in the presence of God." (p 14)

Some excerpts:

If we stay in solitude long enough, we become safe enough with ourselves and with God to say, yes this is how I am. We are able to surrender our to who we are - our limitations, our clinging and grasping and possessiveness, our selfishness and our fear. (p 52)

The practice of "turning aside to look" is a spiritual discipline that by its very nature set us up for an encounter with God. (p 62)

In the church [calling] can be little more than a pious euphemism for doing what we feel like doing. (p 79)

Ambivalence about the rigors of the spiritual journey is a predictable part of any true journey, and it is helpful for us as leaders to know this so that we don't take it too personally. A wise leader can help people understand their ambivalence as a very normal response to the challenges of the journey rather than an excuse to run back to what feels more secure. (p 95)

There are, however, some concerns. A full page Braveheart illustration (pp 96-97) doesn't really happen as Barton describes it. Sabbath-keeping is assumed as a spiritual discipline (p 122), but little support on how Barton comes to this conclusion. Lacking is an acknowledgment how she defines Sabbath-keeping, how various traditions use this term, or how this practice relates to the New Covenant. Barton also has some curious uses of Scripture, for example, Psalm 4:4-5 where "offering right sacrifices" is equivalent to staying faithful to our spiritual practices (p 125) and the idea that Jesus let Judas to stay hoping to the very end that Judas would make a different choice (p 185).

In order to fully appreciate what Barton was trying to take her readers through, I read only one chapter at a sitting. The selected quotes in the middle of the pages were relevant and new, not just a highlight of what Barton had already written. I enjoyed the book and the refreshing insights Barton gives.