Healthy Leadership for Thriving Organizations: Creating Contexts Where People Flourish

EMQ » April – July 2025 » Volume 61 Issue 2

RReviewed by Daniel R Sick, PhD Candidate at LBC Capital Seminary, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and intercultural life and leadership coach, who served 20 years as a pastor and teacher in diverse cross-cultural settings. 

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Whether organizational leadership occurs within a cross-cultural environment or not, the challenge is always to create a healthy environment. In his four-part book, Healthy Leadership for Thriving Organizations, Justin Irving touches on the most critical elements of organizational leadership that can be applied in any setting. 

The book’s first half is divided into three parts that address the mindset and setup of the organization. Naturally, the book initially defines organizational leadership and the wisdom leaders must display. Irving says that God encourages humans to govern the world in a way that restores a thriving environment. In other words, a thriving organization is not merely one that does well but one in which people can flourish as initially intended in creation.  

In the second part, he dives deeper into the topics of self-leadership and character, emphasizing that these are matters of the heart. Even here, Irving goes deeper by introducing the need for the gospel’s effect on the heart. From this relationship with God, the leader will now be able to develop integrity and a humble heart, thus fostering a leadership style that develops other people.  

Irving uses the book’s third part to discuss creating a team that supports the organization’s mission and culture. Once a team has been formed, equipping it is equally important. By quoting a well-known saying, “Train people well enough so that they can leave; treat them well enough so that they don’t want to” (98), Irving emphasizes that mistakes and grace should be part of the team environment.  

With deep insight, Irving crafts the second half of the book as a how-to reference for creating a thriving organization. In chapter seven, he notes that a leader must clearly communicate his convictions and intentions. In chapter eight, Irving dives deep into an organization’s strategy planning system. The book’s last two chapters address the topics of change: change due to crisis and the voluntary notion of planning change.  

In this book, Irving relies heavily on the voices of several hundred high-level leaders, such as CEOs and church leaders, whom he interviewed for this project. The second source is the Bible, providing many snippets of wisdom. The third source is Irving’s experience as an administrator and professor at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and then as chair and professor of the Department of Leadership and Discipleship at Southern Seminary. The author’s argument for using these three sources is simple: leadership requires wisdom from a pool of sources rather than one individual. 

Each chapter wraps up with an invitation to reflect upon the content. These several-page recommendations are not merely a chapter summary but offer in-depth action steps to implement the chapter’s wisdom, regardless of background or level of leadership. The book and the reflection sections are appropriate for both Christian and non-Christian contexts, as well as multicultural settings, making the application of the book possible in multifaceted ways.       

For Further Reading

Teamwork Cross-Culturally: Christ-Centered Solutions for Leading Multinational Teams by Sherwood G. Lingenfelter (Baker Academic, 2022). 

Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power by Andy Crouch (IVP Books, 2013). 

Teams that Thrive: Five Disciplines of Collaborative Church Leadership by Ryan T. Hartwig and Warren Bird (IVP Praxis, 2013).   

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EMQ, Volume 61, Issue 2. Copyright © 2025 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.