The interplay among God, work, family and the individual presents complex joys and challenges. What does it mean for our priorities that God’s call lures us into relationship -- with God, with one another and with the whole of creation?

Our resources, while not exhaustive, will allow you to explore this topic more fully. The foundational resources are important for the development of consequential leaders. The formational resources are of a different sort. These are meant to spark your imagination by introducing you to stories and ideas that have surprising insight into the practice of Christian leadership.

Foundational Resources

• All for God's Glory: Redeeming Church Scutwork by Louis B. Weeks – This book explores ways in which churches are engaged and can engage in practices of administration that deepen care and build a healthy congregational community. (For further reflection, see Louis B. Weeks’ column Martyrdome of the mundane and other F&L content.)
• Ambition in Ministry by Robert Schnase – An exploration of the interplay between ambition, success, achievement and competition in ministry. (For further reflection, see videos of Robert Schnase on Leading from the third row and What’s Christian about Christian leadership?)
• The Call by Os Guinness – A modern classic that helps one find and fulfill his or her central purpose in life
• Callings edited by William Placher – An anthology of some of the greatest writing on vocation in the Christian tradition
• Covenant Colleagues – This website at Candler School of Theology offers continuing education and support for female clergy
• Forgetting Ourselves on Purpose by Brian Mahan – An exploration of the connection between vocation, ethics and ambition
• The Fund for Theological Education – Calling Congregations, an initiative of FTE, produces a journal for leaders who nurture vocation
• God at Work by Gene Veith – A look not at what we are doing with our time and career but what God is doing through us
• The Godbearing Life by Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster – Moves the discussion in youth ministry away from programming and toward a faithful relationship with God. (For further reflection, see a profile of Kenda Creasy Dean.)
• Leading Lives That Matter edited by Mark Schwehn and Dorothy Bass – An anthology of writers across a broad spectrum of traditions answering the question of what we should do and who we should be
• Open Secrets by Richard Lischer – A memoir of a pastor’s first small church in rural Illinois in the late 1960s and early ‘70s. (For further reflection, listen to Power for ministry, a sermon by Richard Lischer.)
• Pastor by William H. Willimon – Covers all aspects of being a pastor. Also consider A Reader for Ordained Ministry and Calling & Character (For further reflection, see F&L content by Will Willimon.)
• Pastoral Theology by Thomas Oden – Explores the identity of the pastor using a classical model that takes into account tradition, reason, experience and Scripture
• Program for Theological Exploration of Vocation – This program website supports church-related, liberal arts colleges and universities in establishing or strengthening vocation programs
• Saint Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care translated by Henry Davis – An exploration of the inner and outer lives of a pastor and the people who the pastor will be called to counsel
• The Scope of Our Art edited by L. Gregory Jones and Stephanie Paulsell – Essays by theological teachers on the shape of their vocation
• This Odd and Wondrous Calling: The Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers by Lillian Daniel and Martin B. Copenhaver - The authors explore many aspects of the pastoral life in a series of essays that offer an honest look at their lives as working pastors. (For further reflection, see excerpts from the book: What shall I call you? and Money off the shelf. Also see F&L content by Lillian Daniel and Martin B. Copenhaver.)
• Vocation by Douglas Schuurman – A theological exploration of discerning our callings in life
• Wabash Center – A website for the center, which supports teachers of religion and theology in higher education

Formational Resources

• Breathing Space by Heidi Neumark – The memoir of a Lutheran pastor in the South Bronx
• Gilead and Home by Marilynne Robinson – These novels tell the stories of a pastor and his family in small town Gilead, Iowa, over several generations
• How to Be Good by Nick Hornby – A novel about an imploding modern marriage that turns out to be a catalyst for a transformed life
• Moby-Dick by Herman Melville – A classic tale that helps explain the birth of American “religion”
• The Pope's Daughter by Caroline Murphy – Tells the story of Felice della Rovere, the daughter of Pope Julius II born when he was a Cardinal, and how she became a national and international broker for her father
• The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester – The Oxford English Dictionary contains several thousand entries from Dr. W. C. Minor, an American Expatriate and Civil War veteran, who wrote them from his cell in the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum