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Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry, By Ruth Haley Barton alt

Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership

Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry

Transforming Resources

Expanded Edition

by Ruth Haley Barton
Afterword by Leighton Ford
Foreword by Gary A. Haugen

Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership
Ebook
  • Length: 240 pages
  • Published: April 03, 2018
  • Imprint: IVP Formatio
  • ISBN: 9780830874170
Other Formats:

Spiritual Practices for Burnt Out Leaders

"I'm tired of helping others enjoy God—I just want to enjoy God for myself."

With this painful admission, Ruth Haley Barton invites spiritual leaders into an honest exploration of what happens when they lose track of their souls. Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership weaves together contemporary illustrations with penetrating insights from the life of Moses to help ministry leaders care for their own souls so that they may in turn minister well to others.

Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership explores topics including:

  • responding to the dynamics of calling
  • facing the loneliness of leadership
  • leading from your authentic self
  • cultivating spiritual community
  • discerning God's will together

Each chapter includes a spiritual practice to ensure your soul gets the nourishment it needs. Barton shows that forging and maintaining a life-giving connection with God is the best choice you can make for yourself and for those you lead.

What's New in the Expanded Edition

This expanded edition includes the popular "How Is It with Your Soul?” assessment for leaders and a flexible six- or twelve-week guided experience for groups.

Start Your Journey to Spiritual Health

Don't wait to transform the way you approach leadership. Discover how to lead from a place of spiritual health with Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership.

REVIEWS

"For those of us who lead, there are many fine books to hone our skills. But too few excavate our souls. Too few tell us stark truths, and serve up strong tonic, and give us hope and courage in the face of our calling’s hardships and loneliness and moments of sheer tedium. Too few teach us how to seek and find God in the maze of committee work and the darkness of criticism and the heartbreak of betrayal. This book does all that, and well. Ruth Haley Barton has kept company with Moses, a ‘pragmatic’ and ‘visionary’ leader who found that, unless God went with him, there was no place worth going. Ruth’s insights will at the very least strengthen the soul of your leadership. For some, it may make the difference in whether you finish the race at all."Mark Buchanan, author of The Rest of God and pastor of New Life Community Church, Duncan, British Columbia
"In a landscape littered with leadership books that tinker at the margins of what really matters, Ruth Haley Barton offers us practical guidance to the core of life-changing leadership: spiritual authenticity and health. Strengthening the Soulof Your Leadership lays bare the ancient truth that great leadership comes from the inside out, and provides a helpful road map for examining and seeking God’s transformation of that largely unexamined inner core from which true leadership proceeds. This is a powerful resource for me and my own leadership team."Gary Haugen, president, International Justice Mission, and author of Good News About Injustice
"In the same spirit in which Henri Nouwen wrote The Return of the Prodigal Son, Ruth Haley Barton has captured the soul of Moses and has revealed him to us as a seeker of truth, wisdom, and vulnerability."Glandion W. Carney, Chaplain of the Christian Legal Society
"A weary, waiting world cries out for God-shaped leaders who would serve more than be served, who would find power by laying down power, who would lose their lives for others. In her reflections on the life of Moses, God’s radically human and holyfriend, Ruth Haley Barton has given us not only a portrait of what sacrificial and redemptive leadership looks like, but has provided practice for getting there. This is a book to read alone and together. It will encourage and empower us to seek God more deeply, to listen for and embody our innate callings, to stay faithful to our solitary and even lonely journeys in community, and to love God for the long haul."N. Gordon Cosby, cofounder of The Church of the Saviour, Washington, DC
"[This] book has become for me a companion on the way. . . . The author’s style is warm and accessible. I like her insights into the inner life of the leader. . . . I am deeply grateful for the helpful practices she describes and recommends. But what draws me even more is that Ruth writes with realness and integrity out of her own intimate experience of the inner journey of a leader. . . . Reading this book will surely help you to be attentive to the God who is the strength of your soul, andthe heart of your leadership."From the foreword by Leighton Ford, founder of the Arrow Leadership program and author of The Attentive Life
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Read an Excerpt

CONTENTS

Foreword by Gary A. Haugen
Introduction
1. When Leaders Lose Their Souls
2. What Lies Beneath
3. The Place of Our Own Conversion
4. The Practice of Paying Attention
5. The Conundrum of Calling
6. Guiding Others on the Spiritual Journey
7. Living Within Limits
8. Spiritual Rhythms in the Life of the Leader
9. Leadership as Intercession
10. The Loneliness of Leadership
11. From Isolation to Leadership Community
12. Finding God's Will Together
13. Re-envisioning the Promised Land
Afterword by Leighton Ford
Discussion Guide
Appendix: How Is It with Your Soul?
Gratitudes

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BONUS MATERIAL

This book has a corresponding video curriculum from the author available at
Seminary Now

Download the Press Kit.

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ABOUT Ruth Haley Barton

Ruth Haley Barton

Ruth Haley Barton (DD, Northern Seminary) is founder of the Transforming Center, a ministry dedicated to strengthening the souls of pastors, leaders, and the communities they serve. Trained at the Shalem Institute and the Loyola University Chicago Institute of Pastoral Studies, she is a seasoned spiritual director, teacher, and retreat leader who has served on the pastoral staff of several churches. Ruth is the author of numerous books on the spiritual life, including Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, Sacred Rhythms, and Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest.

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