If these are times that test our souls, it is truly a time for church leaders to think clearly, to be present calmly, and to challenge effectively. This is a time when leaders cannot be as anxious as those they serve, otherwise, the system is leaderless. Anxiety flows down like water from a leaky pipe. To lead effectively we must understand the impact of powerful emotional forces on people’s behavior, especially in anxious times.
Uproar: Calm Leadership in Anxious Times helps leaders understand the powerful impact that emotional processes have on the people they lead. Peter Steinke, bestselling author of Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times, draws on decades of work on system conflict and personal experiences to share real stories of challenges leaders have faced and how understanding the power of emotions has dramatically influenced their success.
In this book, readers will observe important leadership characteristics such as separating oneself from the surrounding anxiety (“self-differentiation”), making decisions based on principle and not instinct, taking responsibility for one’s own emotional being, staying connected to others including those who disagree with you, being a non-anxious presence, focusing on emotional processes rather than the symptoms they produce, knowing people naturally influence one another, and recognizing leader and follower as complements.
Peter L. Steinke’s other books, promoted by the Alban Institute, have helped greatly to make Bowan and Friedman Family System Theory applicable for broader audience, especially for church congregations. One of those is…
How Your Church Family Works: Understanding Congregations as Emotional Systems
In this book, Peter Steinke shows how to recognize and deal with the emotional roots of such issues as church conflict, leadership roles, congregational change, irresponsible behavior, and the effect of family of origin on current relationships. Discover why working relationships may be “stuck” in certain behaviors. Psychologically sound, theologically grounded, and practically illustrated with case studies, How Your Church Family Works will help you better understand how your congregation works and how to keep it healthy.
Hear Peter Steinke on a youtube video. A nice introduction to emotional system theories, along with the importance of HOW we respond to situations with high anxiety.
Read an interview with Richard Blackburn, director of the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center, on the topic of how national-level anxiety can affect congregations.