How Your 21st-Century Church Family Works

How Your 21st-Century Church Family Works
Author: Peter L. Steinke
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 157
Release: 2021-11-27
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1538149141

The first edition of How Your Church Family Works was written nearly thirty years ago, and the reach and velocity of change in the last three decades poses a new challenge for churches. Thirty years ago, churches functioned in a fairly stable environment and focused on growth an expansion. The tide has turned now, though, and supplanted increase with decline. Bowen family systems theory—on which How Your Church Family Works is based—has not changed, but its application has to be revised for the twenty-first century. How Your 21st-Century Church Family Works, the second edition of Peter Steinke’s landmark book, addresses the radically altered landscape of church sustainability with new introductory and concluding chapters bookending updates throughout the now-classic text. Core chapters of the book feature fresh examples of emotional process that are more exemplary of the current scene. One key addition is a new trigger of anxiety for churches—the change process. Change threatens the familiar and stable and suffers from negative connotations of endangering tradition. Where gradual change has been the norm for so long, churches now see a blistering pace of disruptions, some of which have forced change too early or too late, or sometimes in unproductive directions. How Your 21st-Century Church family works embraces the anxiety caused by change, transforming it from a source of anguish to a font of opportunity.

How Your Church Family Works

How Your Church Family Works
Author: Peter L. Steinke
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2006-11-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1566995515

Drawing on the work of Bowen and Friedman, and on his own many years of counseling experience, Peter Steinke shows how to recognize and deal with the emotional roots of such issues as church conflict, leadership roles, congregational change, irresponsible behavior, and the effects of family of origin on current relationships.

A Door Set Open

A Door Set Open
Author: Peter L. Steinke
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2010-08-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1566994551

We resist change less when we associate it with mission and fortify it with hope. So argues longtime congregational consultant Peter Steinke in his fourth book, A Door Set Open, as he explores the relationship between the challenges of change and our own responses to new ideas and experiences. Steinke builds on a seldom-explored principle posited by the late Rabbi Edwin Friedman: the 'hostility of the environment' is proportionate to the 'response of the organism.' The key, Steinke says, is not the number or strength of the stressors in the system--anxiety, poor conditions, deteriorating values--but the response of the individual or organization to 'what is there.' Drawing on Bowen system theory and a theology of hope, as well as his experience working with more than two hundred congregations, Steinke makes the case that the church has entered an era of great opportunity. Theologian and sociologist Ernst Troeltsch said the church had closed down the office of eschatology. Steinke reopens it and draws our attention to God's future, to a vision of hope for the people of God. The door is set open for exploration and new creation.

Generation to Generation

Generation to Generation
Author: Edwin Friedman
Publisher: Guilford Press
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2011-06-17
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1609182367

An acclaimed, influential work now available in paper for the first time, this bestselling book applies the concepts of systemic family therapy to the emotional life of congregations. Edwin H. Friedman shows how the same understanding of family process that can aid clergy in their pastoral role also has important ramifications for negotiating congregational dynamics and functioning as an effective leader. Clergy from diverse denominations, as well as family therapists and counselors, have found that this book directly addresses the dilemmas and crises they encounter daily. It is widely used as a text in courses on pastoral care, leadership, and family systems.

When the Church was a Family

When the Church was a Family
Author: Joseph H. Hellerman
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2009
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0805447792

A study of the early Christian church in the Mediterranean region and its emphasis on collective good over individual desire clarifies much about what is wrong with the American church today.

Uproar

Uproar
Author: Peter L. Steinke
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2019-02-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1538116545

If “these are the times that test men’s souls,” never more than for the leader’s ability to think clearly, to be present calmly, and to challenge effectively. It’s a time when leaders cannot be as anxious as those they serve; otherwise, the system is leaderless. Anxiety flows down like water from a leaky pipe. To lead effectively we must understand the impact of powerful emotional forces on people’s behavior, especially in anxious times. Uproar: Calm Leadership in Anxious Times helps leaders understand the powerful impact that emotional processes have on the people they lead. Peter Steinke, bestselling author of CongregationalLeadership in Anxious Times draws on decades of work on system conflict and personal experiences to share real stories of challenges leaders have faced and how understanding the power of emotions has dramatically influenced their success. In this book, readers will observe important leadership characteristics such as separating oneself from the surrounding anxiety, making decisions based on principle and not instinct, taking responsibility for one’s own emotional being, staying connected to others including those who disagree with you, being a non-anxious presence, focusing on emotional processes rather than the symptoms they produce, knowing people naturally influence one another, and recognizing leader and follower as complements. At the end of each chapter, there is a Leader’s Notebook, a short section to illustrate, enrich or engage your thinking about leadership. As Steinke suggests, being anxious causes you to lose perspective, and leaders do their best thinking when they are not overly stressed and can think about options, doing their best work when they work on themselves. So where are you in your leadership journey? No matter where you are—beginning, middle or end— this book will be one the most significant leadership books you’ll read.

Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times

Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times
Author: Peter L. Steinke
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2006
Genre: Christian leadership
ISBN: 9781566993289

Anxious times call for steady leadership. When tensions emerge in a congregation, its leaders cannot be as anxious as the people they serve. To remain effective, congregational leaders must control their own uneasiness. This takes self-awareness and confidence to manage relationships and influence behaviors. Knowing how to deal with anxiety and how to work throug complex challenges can lead a congregation to new insights, growth, and vitality. Anxious times hold not only the potential for loss but also for creation, important lernings, and changes that will strengthen the congregation. With this new book, internationally respected consultant Peter Steinke goes deeper into the requirements of effective congregational leadership. Born from the wisdom of Steinke's distinguished career, this new volume will both enlighten and embolden leaders. Steinke inspires courage in leaders to maintain the course, unearth secrets, resist sabotage, withstand fury, and overcome timidity or doubts. His insights, illustrations, and provocations will carry leaders through rough times, provide clarity during confusing times, and uplift them in joyous times.

Healthy Congregations

Healthy Congregations
Author: Peter L. Steinke
Publisher: Alban Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2006
Genre: Church controversies
ISBN: 9781566993302

Steinke takes readers into a deeper exploration of congregations as emotional systems. He outlines the factors that put congregations at risk for anxiety and conflict, ten principles of health, how congregations can adopt new ways of dealing with stress and anxiety, and how spiritually and emotionally healthy leaders influence the emotional system. (Back cover).

Creating a Healthier Church

Creating a Healthier Church
Author: Ronald W. Richardson
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 188
Release: 1995-12-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781451417777

An introduction to the Bowen Family Systems Theory and its applications both to church life and to the role of leadership in creating a healthier church, this book explains the complexities of congregational emotional life in understandable language.