Powerful Leaders? When Christian Leadership Goes Wrong
Ebook
Overview
As understanding and awareness of abuse has grown, many revelations of church leaders abusing their power have come to light. How did the church get here? Is there a way we can address both individual and institutional failings to counter the misuse of power and, more importantly, prevent it in first place?
Powerful Leaders? exposes and explores how leaders are tempted away from a biblical model of leadership into illegitimate - and in the worst cases abusive - use of authority and power. Director of Living Leadership, a charity that focuses on healthy leadership and church culture, Marcus Honeysett traces how leaders move along a spectrum of healthy to unhealthy uses of power and position and offers practical wisdom for countering and preventing harmful leadership.
Drawing on his years of experience in the local church and working with leaders and congregations, Honeysett unpacks how to spot danger signs of abuse in the church and provides advice on what to do if you see or are under unhealthy leadership. He also explores why people don’t blow the whistle and encourages critical self-examination in existing leaders to ensure they maintain a healthy use of power - and offers guidance to help leaders improve their skills and move back towards healthy, biblically-based leadership.
For anyone concerned about improving safeguarding in the church, Powerful Leaders? will prove a valuable resource. It challenges and equips both those in leadership and those in a position to hold leaders accountable, and will empower them to take the necessary steps forward to create healthier church cultures in which everyone can thrive.
In Powerful Leaders? Marcus Honeysett explores why Christian leaders come to abuse their position and power - and what we can do to prevent it.
Introduction
Part 1: Biblical Patterns of Healthy Leadership
Chapter 1: Servant leadership for the good of others
Chapter 2: Healthy authority
Part 2: The Slippery Slope
Chapter 3: Introducing the slippery slope
Chapter 4: From formal to informal power
Chapter 5: From Legitimate to Illegitimate Power
Chapter 6: From serving others to serving self
Chapter 7: The most serious abuses of power and position
Part 3: What Next?
Chapter 8: What next for victims and survivors?
Chapter 9: What next for whistleblowers?
Chapter 10: What next for leaders?
Chapter 11: What next for churches?
Chapter 12: What next for cultures and tribes?
Afterword: The peaceful fruit of righteousness
- Title: Powerful Leaders? When Christian Leadership Goes Wrong
- Author: Marcus Honeysett
- Publisher: IVP
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2022
- Pages: 176
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781789743456, 9781789743227, 1789743222, 1789743451
- Resource ID: LLS:9781789743456
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T22:42:07Z
Marcus Honeysett is Director of Living Leadership, teaching extensively in churches and training insitutions on leadership and Bible teaching. He helps plan and deliver the church leaders' track at Word Alive in partnership with FIEC and Oak Hill, and speaks regularly to groups of leaders and church leadership teams. His previous books include Fruitful Leadership, Meltdown and Finding Joy, all published by IVP.
Reviews
1 rating
Andy Shudall
1/8/2025
There are books you read, nod along to, and put down. And then there are books like Powerful Leaders?—the ones you wrestle with, reflect on, and find yourself returning to long after you’ve read the final page. Marcus has done something remarkable here. He’s written a book that’s not only timely but profoundly necessary for leaders in the church today. He doesn’t merely call out the problems of leadership gone wrong; he calls us in—to accountability, to Christ-centred leadership, to lives marked by integrity and humility. Honeysett writes with a warmth that invites you in and a clarity that holds no punches. His deep love for the church and commitment to its flourishing are evident in every chapter. He refuses to offer shallow platitudes or quick fixes. Instead, he draws us into a deeply biblical reflection on what it means to wield influence in a way that reflects Jesus. This isn’t a leadership manual or a list of best practices—it’s an invitation to examine ourselves before God and consider how we steward the authority entrusted to us. One of the great strengths of the book is how Honeysett speaks directly into the challenges faced by churches and leaders today: the pressures of ministry, the lure of control, and the very human temptation to centre ourselves rather than Christ. He doesn’t shy away from difficult truths, but he communicates them with grace, pastoral wisdom, and the steady hand of someone who has clearly walked this path himself. But let me warn you—this book will challenge you. Honeysett’s words will comfort where needed, but they’ll also disturb where we’ve grown complacent. You’ll be called to honest self-examination, to reconsider how you lead, serve, and influence. Be ready to be changed. Be ready to encounter Jesus afresh as the only truly powerful leader, the One who calls us to follow in His way. Whether you’re leading a church as a pastor or elder, serving in a team, or simply leading and influencing those around you, Powerful Leaders? is essential reading. With warmth and deep gratitude, I commend this book to you—it has the potential to spark transformation, not only in you but in those you serve. Read it, reflect on it, share it, and be prepared to lead differently.