I'm getting ready for my last class of the summer and I'm really excited about it. I've read through all of the articles and most of the books already. I've got two books to read this next week. It's a leadership class about managing change and transition. This is the second class I've been able to take that directly relates to what I'm doing in ministry and these classes are a lot more fun than the others. Like my June class this is a week-long intensive class. It's being taught by Tom Tumblin who is certainly qualified to teach this sort of content.
If you're looking for some books about leading change here's the reading list for the class.
- Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within by Robert E. Quinn
- Diffusion of Innovations by Everett M. Rogers
- Leading Congregational Change by Jim Herrington, et al.
- The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World by Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk
- Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change by William Bridges
We're in the process of making some changes at SUMC and launching several new ministries. It's been helpful to have real world examples of the situations described in the books. I also like the fact that the reading list includes articles from Fast Company which I've thought was a great resource for a long time.
The class involves doing some interviews with church leaders that have gone through a major change iniative recently. I've got a couple of ideas of leaders to interview. What are your thoughts?