EMQ » July–September 2023 » Volume 59 Issue 4
Latin American Voices on Leadership: Their Emergence and Growth
By Lisa Marie Anderson-Umana
BookBaby, 2022
198 pages
US$19.95
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Reviewed by Duane H. Elmer, professor emeritus of educational studies and international studies at Trinity International University and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
There are many books on Christian leadership, all of which claim to produce competent ministry leaders. Many are based on an author’s own experience rather than the experiences of a broader population. However, Latin American Voices on Leadership by Lisa Anderson-Umana provides us not with her opinion, but her culturally embedded research findings. Her doctoral work with a carefully monitored and rigorous research methodology has produced results representing the authentic voices of Latin Americans.
Anderson-Umana is a US-born missionary who has served in Latin America for over 40 years, primarily as a trainer. In this research, she addresses a specific and crucial question: By what processes does a Latin American person come to embody the virtues and attributes needed for leadership?
Based on leaders’ stories, several leadership emergence processes were observed. First, an older and experienced leader accompanied the emerging leaders at a pivotal stage of their lives, naming and calling out their God-given gifts (chapter 3). Second, a person provided opportunities for them to serve, often by “tossing them into the water,” usually soon after their conversion to Christ (chapter 4).
Receiving support, challenge, and assessment from others (chapter 5) and becoming self-taught, especially through the habit of reading (chapter 6), were additional processes that helped them develop into mature leaders. Shockingly, no leader mentioned formal training courses, seminars, or lectures as a notable means of development.
These leaders emerged, not within formal or nonformal educational settings, but in an informal, highly relational, organic context. This discovery must influence all of us who claim to be involved in leadership development.
Using their own stories, Anderson-Umana explains how Latin American culture both helps and hinders these processes. She gives practical examples of warning signs and subsequent corrective or redemptive actions. Each chapter closes with reflective activities guiding readers to explore God’s work in their lives and direction for the future.
Hispanics everywhere will benefit, but this is especially true for Latin American missionaries being sent out to minister cross-culturally. The book’s insights will help them understand how leaders emerge. It will also help them be intentional about raising up leaders in their own ministry. A Spanish version of the book is available.
The author has spent many years in leadership development, with success and failure, while always learning, listening, seeking advice, and humbling herself to be a more effective trainer. This book overflows with disciplined learning from her over 40 years of experience.
EMQ, Volume 59, Issue 4. Copyright © 2023 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.
