EMQ » April–June 2019 » Volume 55 Issue 3
By Clay Scroggins
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017
230 pages
USD $22.98
Reviewed by Bob Bagley who has been a missionary with Global Partners since 1981 and currently resides in Johannesburg, South Africa where he serves as Global Partners’ Africa Area Director.
By the very nature of their calling, missionaries tend to be highly motivated to become change agents wherever God has called them. It is not surprising that missionaries frequently experience significant frustration in pursuing their calling when they lack the position or authority which they feel is needed to bring about the change they envision. Mission structures and leaders might even inhibit a missionary’s pursuit of a deeply held vision. For example, this may happen when missionaries try to give deference to national leaders in partner churches; they may feel stifled and helpless to move ahead with what they believe God has called them to do because of existing structures.
From its title, one would think that Clay Scroggin’s book would be an ideal resource for such frustrated missionaries. However, Scroggins, site pastor of North Point Community Church in Atlanta under Andy Stanley, writes from a North American ministry context for North American leaders. So how relevant and transferrable will his advice be to missionaries serving in cross-cultural ministry in other parts of the world? It turns out that he is much more relevant than I expected when I first picked up the book.
Scroggins begins by exploring our identity in Christ and how that shapes our capacity to influence others whether or not we hold a position of authority because, “Leading well without formal authority has less to do with your behavior and far more to do with your identity” (39). Building on that foundation, Scroggins then proposes four behaviors essential to leadership: 1) Lead yourself by modeling followership, monitoring your heart and behavior, and making a plan; 2) Choose positivity, demonstrated by enthusiasm for your work, humility before those in authority, and unity with your associates; 3) Think critically by shifting from thinking as an employee to thinking as an owner, from stacking your meetings to scheduling thinking meetings, from being critical to thinking critically, and from giving others a grade to giving them a hand; and 4) Reject passivity by training “yourself to choose what’s not getting done, plan time for future planning in the margins of your calendar, and then respond to what is most pressing for your boss” (164). The book finishes with practical advice for challenging those in authority in ways that will build bridges or relationship rather than walls of distrust (184). In short, Scroggins encourages all leaders to make themselves and those around them better people regardless of their position.
The general principles are valid cross-culturally, but the practical advice in the latter chapters would seem to be more culture specific. Scroggins’ writing style makes generous use of pop cultural allusions, which may not communicate to people from other backgrounds.
Younger missionaries struggling with working under the constraints of organizational or national church authority structures will find the book encouraging and helpful. But even those at the top of organizational structures will find much to challenge their thinking.
For Further Reading:
Bonem, M., Patterson, R., and Hawkins, G. Leading from the Second Chair. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005.
Elmer, D. Cross-cultural conflict: Building relationships for Effective Ministry. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
Lingenfelter, S. Leading Cross-Culturally: Covenant Relationships for Effective Christian Leadership. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2008.
