i was dreading reading this book for RA training, and i have no idea why, because it was a delightful book. it had some great one liners and gems throughout.

This book is very short and easy to read. Nouwen occasionally has some great thoughts, but half the time, they are built on a mishandling of Scripture. I don’t disagree with his three main principles, but how he gets there. For example, he uses Jesus’ first temptation in the desert to try and explain how Jesus was being tempted to be relevant and that we struggle with the same temptation. I can agree Christianity’s purpose is not to be remain relevant, but faithful to the word of God, but I don’t agree that Jesus’ first temptation was about relevancy. Anyways, you could read this “book” in about an hour or two if you wanted. Some decent ideas and principles, some really weird, but all in all it’s just okay to below average.

Love this book.

Simple yet dense. Yearly read definitely. Nouwen knows how to say much without much fluff. I really enjoy his writings. Looking forward to the next book of his to read.

This little book is a sermon manuscript with a prologue and epilogue, but wow…. A sermon that every leader needs to read and internalize.

“One thing is clear to me: The temptation of power is greatest when intimacy is a threat. Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead. Many Christian empire-builders have been people unable to give and receive love.”

Update: August 10, 2022

Fourth visit to the well: still refreshing.

"I am convinced that the Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self" (29-30).

"The question is not: how many people take you seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show me some results? But: Are you in love with Jesus?" (37).

"It is not enough for the priests and ministers of the future to be moral people, well trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and able to respond creatively to the burning issues of their time…The central question is, Are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire to dwell in God's presence, to listen to God's voice, to look at God's beauty, to touch God's incarnate Word, and to taste fully God's infinite goodness?" (43).

"Dealing with burning issues without being rooted in a deep personal relationship with God easily leads to divisiveness because, before we know it, our sense of self is caught up in our opinion about a given subject" (45).

"When you look at today's church, it is easy to see the prevalence of individualism among ministers and priests...Stardom and individual heroism, which are such obvious aspects of our competitive society, are not at all alien to the church" (55-6).

"We keep forgetting that we are being sent out two-by-two. We cannot bring good news on our own...whenever we minister together, it is easier for people to recognize that we do not come in our own name, but in the name of the Lord Jesus who sent us" (58-9).

"Ministry is not only a communal experience, it is also a mutual experience... [Jesus] wants Peter to feed his sheep and care for them, not as professionals who know their clients' problems and take care of them, but as vulnerable brothers and sisters who know and are known, who care and are cared for, who forgive and are being forgiven, who love and are being loved" (60-1).

"How can we lay down our life for those with whom we are not even allowed to enter into a deep personal relationship? Laying down your life means making your own faith and doubt, hope and despair, joy and sadness, courage and fear available to others as ways of getting in touch with the Lord of life" (61).

"Confession and forgiveness are the concrete forms in which we sinful people love one another... Often I have the impression that priests and ministers are the least confessing people in the Christian community...How can priests or ministers feel really loved and cared for when they have to hide their own sins and failings from the people to whom they minister and run off to a distant stranger to receive a little comfort and confilation?" (64-5).

"Ministers and priests are also called to be full members of their communities, are accountable to them and need their affection and support, and are called to minister with their whole being, including their wounded selves" (69).

"One of the greatest ironies of the history of Christianity is that its leaders constantly gave in to the temptation of power... Even though they continued to speak in the name of Jesus, who did not cling to his divine power but emptied himself and became as we are. The temptation to consider power an apt instrument for the proclamation of the Gospel is the greatest of all" (76).

"What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life...The long painful history of the church is the history of people ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led" (78-9).

"Jesus has a different vision of maturity [than independence]: It is the ability and willingness to be led where you would rather not go" (81).

"The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross... [Not passive or weak leadership] but leadership in which power is constantly abandoned in favor of love" (81-2).

"Most Christian leaders today raise psychological or sociological questions even though they frame them in scriptural terms...it is essential to be able to discern from moment to moment how God acts in human history and how the personal, communal, national, and international events that occur during our lives can make us more and more sensitive to the ways in which we are led to the cross and through the cross to the resurrection" (86-7).

"The task of future Christian leaders is not to make a little contribution to the solution of the pains and tribulations of their time, but to identify and announce the ways in which Jesus is leading God's people out of slavery, through the desert to a new land of freedom. Christian leaders have the arduous task of responding to personal struggles, family conflicts, national calamities, and international tensions with an articulate faith in God's real presence" (87).

"Theological reflection is reflecting on the painful and joyful realities of every day with the mind of Jesus and thereby raising human consciousness to the knowledge of God's gentle guidance" (88).

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Update: April 11, 2019

After reading this book for the third time I had to bump my rating from four stars to five. This book always gets me where I need to be got. Reading it is like a drinking deep from a cup of crisp, cool water.

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August 11, 2018

Nouwen is the man. Super helpful book for anyone in any form of Christian leadership.

A short but powerful book. You could read it in less than an hour.

I have a lot of issues with the term “leadership” especially the way it’s used in Christian circles. It often masks or sanctifies a bunch of qualities that might be good and useful for business but would likely make Jesus look like a bad ‘leader.’

While Nouwen does use the term “Christian leadership,” his exposition and challenge to Christians (particularly those coming out of seminaries) is spot on and much needed. His three principles and practices will not contribute to more influence, or success in converting others, nor even “to make a little contribution to the solution of the pain and tribulations of their time” but rather aim to draw you into an intimate, mutual, sacrificial way of service and love that is in line with the heart of Jesus’s own life and ministry.

I actually read this book twice as I sat with it on the beach these past couple of days. I would read each little chapter (probably 4-6 pages each of large type in my version) first just to get a sense of it and let it hit me in the ways it needed to, then go through again to underline, meditate, and rest with what Nouwen was saying. This was an excellent book and a wonderful experience - both affirming and convicting, daunting and welcoming. It's strange to say this, but this little book overwhelmed me more than anything else I've read this year. Though short, it packs a powerful punch, and I strongly recommend it to all, but especially those in positions of ministry or other Christian leadership.

This is the second book of Nouwen's I've read, and I'm excited to add to that total several Nou titles over the coming months.

(Get it? Did I do good? Can I sleep inside today, father?)

-Sam

Thanks, echo.

I had to read this for a group in my church, There are some biblical truths in this book, however nothing new or unordinary. In this book he makes some cringy/questionable statements like "we have to be mystics" "we have to be the incarnation" and abandons some definitions of words similar to Rob Bell. Like bad definition of what a mystic actually is or what theology is. He also claims theologians find it hard to pray. If you want an excellent book on Christian leadership I would not recommend this book, he seems very confused on what terms mean, different denominations, etc. Perhaps pick up an Albert Mohler book on leadership,

Life changing, the most influential book (outside the Bible) I have ever read and may ever read.

Some of my favorite quotes…

“Jesus has a different vision of maturity: It is the ability and willingness to be led where you would rather not go.”

“What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life.”

“One of the greatest ironies of the history of Christianity is that its leaders constantly gave in to the temptation of power-political power, military power, economic power, or moral and spiritual power-even though they continued to speak in the name of Jesus, who did not cling to his divine power but emptied himself and became as we are.”

Nouwen skriver godt om hvordan hans opphold i et bofellesskap for psykisk-utviklingshemmede endret tankene han hadde om kristent lederskap.

- Behovet for å være betydelig kommer i veien for å se mennesker, møte dem der de er og formidle Guds kjærlighet

- Lederskap handler i stor grad om å lære seg å selv bli ledet!

- Jesus sendte ut disiplene to og to! «Hver gang vi står i tjeneste sammen, blir det enklere for folk å se at vi ikke kommer i vårt eget navn, men i Herren Jesu navn, han som har sendt oss».