Once upon a time, Moses had had enough. Exhausted by the challenge of leading the Israelites from slavery to the Promised Land, Moses cried out to God, "e;What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? . . . If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me"e; (Exodus 11:11, 15). If that sounds hauntingly familiar to you, you may be the senior pastor of a contemporary church. The burden of Christian leadership is becoming increasingly unbearable--demanding skills not native to the art of pastoring; demanding time that makes sabbath rest and even normal sleep patterns seem extravagant; demanding inhuman levels of efficiency, proficiency and even saintliness. No wonder pastors seem and even feel less human these days. No wonder they burn out or break down at an alarming rate; no wonder the church is missing the mark on its mission. In Creating a Missional Culture, JR Woodward offers a bold and surprisingly refreshing model for churches--not small adjustments around the periphery of a church's infrastructure but a radical revisioning of how a church ought to look, from its leadership structure to its mobilization of the laity. The end result looks surprisingly like the church that Jesus created and the apostles cultivated: a church not chasing the wind but rather going into the world and making disciples of Jesus.

Tables, Illustrations and DiagramsForewordIntroductionI: The Power of Culture1. What Is Missional Culture and Why Does It Matter?2. How Culture Works3. What's Going on in the Culture of the Church You Serve?4. Polycentric Leadership and Missional CultureII: A Leadership Imagination That Shapes Culture5: Facing Today's Challenges6: Hearing the Story7: Deepening Theological Roots8: Embracing Emotional Health9: Relinquishing the Need to ControlIII: The Five Culture Creators10: Jesus the Archetypical Culture Creator11: Apostles [Dream Awakeners]12: Prophets [Heart Revealers]13: Evangelist [Story Tellers]14: Pastors [Soul Healers]15: Teachers [Light Givers]IV: Embodying a Missional Culture16: The Cultural Web and the Neighborhood Church17: Cultivating Missional Environments18: Cultivating an Equipping Ethos19: Polycentric Leadership at WorkAppendix A-Equippers and Their RolesAppendix B-Equipper Candidate Reference FormAppendix C-Equipper Candidate InterviewAcknowledgments