Perfectly Ordinary

Author Marcus Throup
Publisher Canterbury £14.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781786225856

This relatively short accessible book is about Christian leadership, for those in, or preparing for, leadership as well as those training or mentoring them. The focus is ordained ministry rather than lay, and the context is primarily Anglican. Throup specifically addresses the issue of unhealthy models of leadership and how they can lead to spiritual abuse. He characterises types of spiritually abusive leaders as overprotective, egocentric or narcissistic. These and their manifestations he defines and pictures vividly and starkly. I wondered if there are not perhaps more nuanced, less obvious but equally harmful, variations to be considered. Characterising all manifestations as the work of ‘showmen’ enamoured by the spectacular, he urges leadership that is unspectacular, authentic, humble, pastoral, prayerful, faithful and Christ-centred. A longer book might have considered abusive lay leadership, or how a managerial emphasis on quantification, centralisation and hierarchy in the institutional church may unwittingly devalue the ‘perfectly ordinary’ leadership of the title. Nonetheless the book is insightful and incisive A concluding section on self-care for leaders is typically thoughtful, sealing a recommendation.

Reviewed by PETER WRIGHT

Christian leadership