The Gospel Shaped Leader: Leaning on Jesus to Shepherd His People

This book will challenge the way you serve and lead God's people. It will help you see the importance of allowing others to serve with you and not under you.

Society and our human nature is constantly influencing what we think it means to lead. That inaccurate image is then muddied by our own past experiences (bad and good). As a result, its easy for us to only take a partial picture of what leadership looks like from the Bible and fill the rest in with our own image for what we look for in leaders.In an incredibly timely book, Scott Thomas exegetes the WHOLE Bible's picture of leadership through the lens of the Gospel. His humility and vulnerability through these pages is palpable and demonstrate that Scott is attempting to live out the Gospel-oriented focus the book proposes. Packed full of inline scriptural citations, its clear that what's presented comes from the Word of God. At the same time, Scott leverages wisdom from other sources (filtering them through scripture for their value) to help make sense of leadership is talked about in the world and its contrast to the scriptures.If you are a Christian who isn't in a leadership role, this book will grow your discernment of leaders in your life.If you are a Christian in any form of leadership role in your church/job/family/organization/etc, with or without a title, this book will serve as both an encouragement and a guide to faithfully executing on the call to leadership the Lord has placed on your life.

The book addresses core issues that can be overlooked, forgotten, or ignored. In Gods providence, be knew I needed the book at this particular juncture in life and ministry. I strongly recommend this book for elders shepherding the church.

The Gospel Shaped Leader is not another “how to” book for ministry leadership founded on various business principles and practices. This is a book that is at its heart soul-shaping, and leads readers towards introspection and evaluation in four main areas of not just leadership but life as a follower of Jesus: self-awareness, self-management, relational awareness, and relational management. It is a comprehensive look at Christian leadership based on the gospel of Jesus Christ that is worth reading for any Christian leader. The more gospel-shaped leaders, the better—both for God’s glory and our good.

This is probably the best book I've ever read on Christian leadership. Thomas does a good job writing for anyone involved in church/parachurch ministries. And virtually all of his ideas and principles apply directly to Christians working in the world. He writes so earnestly, you can't help but be emotionally drawn in as well. He has failed, he has hurt and been hurt, and he shares openly about those experiences, what he has learned, and how he leads differently now. And he does exactly what the title suggests, basing it all explicitly on the gospel of God. Read this with our pastoral team at Village Bible Church. Highly recommended!

I read and loved every area of this book to help motivate on becoming a leader for Christ. This book is not only applicable for people who are called to be leaders but applicable to anyone who is willing to serve the Lord in ministry. This book not only helped me to learn how to lead others as Christ led the disciples but also how we are to become role models ourselves. What I loved most about this book is that we are never truly alone and need others in our lives to guide us as we walk alongside others in this long and narrow journey for the gospel. Highly recommend it and was glad it was a gift by a person who I consider a friend.

This book is quite different from others I have read on leadership. Thomas realized the current leadership model is not working. He suggests daily examination because leaders cannot direct others if they cannot properly direct their own lives. Rather than arrogance and manipulation, he advocates gospel wisdom in guiding themselves and others. He gives twelve principles to evaluate gospel leadership, giving good suggestions for action. Thomas is open and honest about his own leadership failures. He writes from experience.By far, my favorite section in this book was the one on humility. “Gospel-shaped leaders must make a comfortable home for humility in their lives and give pride a daily eviction notice.” (1882/2737) That attitude, Thomas notes, is contradictory to today's celebrity culture in the church. Refuse to take credit for what God is doing, he suggests. My goodness. Wise words that would prevent many church disasters. What a challenge, to be free of self-importance, as Jesus was. (1966/2737) This chapter alone makes this book necessary reading for every Christian leader.This is a very good book for leaders who desire to reflect the gospel in their lives and their leadership. You'll read about sacrifice, self-awareness, God's purpose, submitting desires to the Holy Spirit, rest (Sabbath), insights into relationships like love and humility and grace. Thomas' teaching is full of wisdom and insight and practical suggestions for putting it into practice. It is a great book to be read and studied by church boards.I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

What a great read this was!! I will need to go back through and sit with the questions at the end of the chapters, but I found myself assessing where I am as a leader, and where I need to be to best be utilized by God for kingdom work. Stressing the importance of sacrifice, integrity, repentance (AAA!), and rest (and more) are all paramount to gospel-shaped leadership.I appreciate the authors vulnerable honesty on areas of his past that he wished he had approached differently; I think people will be able to relate to an author who doesn’t claim to have it 100% together all the time. I truly believe that this book is a valuable tool for any man or women who is currently in, or seeking, a leadership role, both inside and outside of the church.