Paul and His Team: What the Early Church Can Teach Us about Leadership and Influence
Overview
What can we learn about leadership and influence from Paul?
Most Christians know something of the apostle Paul’s life and ministry, but what about the incredible team of influencers he assembled and mobilized? Who were they, and how did Paul lead this team to accomplish God’s purposes? Even more, what can we learn from their successes and failures, and how can we imitate their qualities?
These are the questions that inspired Ryan Lokkesmoe, PhD, to write Paul and His Team. Like a church-ministry version of Team of Rivals, it reveals important principles about leadership and influence by showing how this early ministry team:
- Adapted to cultural, doctrinal, and interpersonal challenges
- Found common ground with their audiences
- Led new believers toward maturity
- Stayed united despite differing opinions
- Equipped others for the work of the ministry
- Conducted their lives with self-discipline
- Built and maintained strategic partnerships
- Navigated sensitive cross-cultural situations
- Persisted through difficulty, frustration, and fractured relationships
- Persevered when ministry was discouraging
- Developed leaders to replace them
Whether you are in a position of leadership or are simply a passionate follower of Christ, you are an influencer that God is using to build his church. And while Paul and His Team certainly reveals a lot about Paul’s character as a leader, it also highlights both prominent and obscure members of his team to offer a textured portrait of the early church’s influence in spreading the gospel.
Key Features
- Examines the team that Paul assembled to help establish the early church
- Explores principles of leadership and influence through Paul’s ministry ideals
- Features group discussion questions in each chapter for further study
Contents
- Introduction: Finding Our Future in the Past
- The Quest for Common Ground
- Watch the Burden
- Offstage Leadership
- More Than a Ceasefire
- Worthy Conflicts
- Genuine Collaboration
- Kingdom Diplomacy
- Relational Stewardship
- Relentless about Reconciliation
- Trust in the Fog
- Fade to the Background
- Conclusion: Our Peculiar Posture
Praise for the Print Edition
Build bridges, be voices of reconciliation, seek common ground, stay focused on your mission as Christ’s ambassadors: Paul and His Team offers practical advice to advance the gospel, rooted in solid biblical teaching for both pastors and lay leaders. Helpful questions at the end of each chapter make this an excellent group study book.
—Lynn Cohick, New Testament department chair at Wheaton College
Ryan Lokkesmoe explores the real-life implications of how the body of Christ is supposed to work together to fulfill the Great Commission. In a day and age where there is far too much emphasis upon upfront leaders and not enough on the power of a team, Ryan offers a helpful contribution that is both accessible and scholarly. If you are a leader or part of a leadership team, you will find his insights helpful.
—Larry Osborne, pastor and author, North Coast Church
Popular-level leadership manuals abound. Many Christian manuals exist as well, often prooftexting principles initially derived from sources other than the Bible. Ryan Lokkesmoe carefully studies Paul and his coworkers, fully abreast of the highest levels of scholarship, and discovers principles that really are in Scripture! But he wears his learning lightly and writes with the heart of the church planter that he currently is. Easy to read and highly recommended.
—Craig L. Blomberg, distinguished professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary
Product Details
- Title: Paul and His Team: What the Early Church Can Teach Us about Leadership and Influence
- Author: Ryan Lokkesmoe
- Publisher: Moody
- Publication Date: 2017
- Pages: 209
- Resource Type: Topical
- Topic: Early Church
About Ryan Lokkesmoe
Ryan Lokkesmoe, PhD, is the lead pastor of Real Hope Community Church in the Houston area. He earned his master’s degree in New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and his doctorate in New Testament at The University of Denver. Ryan is the author of Blurry: Bringing Clarity to the Bible (CLC Publications), and has written small group curriculum for LifeWay as well as articles for the Lexham Bible Dictionary. Ryan previously served as the Small Groups Pastor at a multi-site church.