Build a Collaborative and Sustainable Ministry Structure

The work of the church is more than any one person can handle, and God never intended for one pastor to do all a church's ministry alone.

Discover a communal andbiblical model of missional leadership in You Were Never Meant to Lead Alone. In this book, E. K. Strawser seeks to recover the shared leadership model of the early church, offering a practical and inclusive alternative to hierarchical andpatriarchal church leadership structures. This book invites pastors, church planters, and ministry leaders to rethink how leadership can empower the entire body of Christ. By identifying the gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, this book provides a vision for leadership that fosters collaboration, inclusivity, and spiritual flourishing.

In this book, Strawser



- Explores how shared leadership can be integrated into the structure of a church;

- Expands on the fivefold diversity of leadership: apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers;

- Highlights how different gifts and leadership styles suit various aspects of ministry;

- Expands ministry beyond paid staff, promoting inclusivity regardless of gender, race, or culture;

- Addresses real-life power dynamics and temptations leaders face; and

- Offers practical, sustainable structures to multiply leaders for the benefit of the entire community.

This book argues that for the church to truly reflect the fullness of Christ, it must embrace the sharing of power. If you're ready to reimagine ministry and build mature leadership in your church, start with You Were Never Meant to Lead Alone.



E. K. Strawser (DO, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine) is the co-vocational lead pastor of Ma Ke Alo o (which means "presence" in Hawaiian)—non-denominational missional communities multiplying in Honolulu—and a community physician at KeOla Pono. She is the founder of `Iwa Collaborative, a consulting and content-developing firm to empower kingdom-grounded leaders to navigate change, grow adaptive capacity, and foster local flourishing. Prior to transitioning to Hawaii, she served as adjunct professor of medicine at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and of African Studies at her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania (where she and her husband served with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship), after finishing her Fulbright scholarship at the University of Dar es Salaam. She is the author of Centering Discipleship, and she and Steve have three seriously amazing children.







David E. Fitch (PhD, Northwestern University) is the B. R. Lindner Chair of Evangelical Theology at Northern Seminary. He is also the founding pastor of Life on the Vine Christian Community, a missional church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.He is the author of Faithful Presence, from which this book is abridged.







Alexia Salvatierra is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. For over eleven years she was the executive director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE). She teaches and trains people throughout the United States in the principles and methods of faith-rooted organizing.



Foreword by Alexia Salvatierra

Prologue



Part One: The Shift from Hierarchical Leadership to Sharing Leadership

1. The Nature of Leadership

2. Sharing Leadership Requires Maturity

3. Mature Leaders Are Disciples First

4. The 4 Hs: Marks of Mature Leaders



Part Two: Sharing Leadership in Ephesians 4

5. Revising the Delineation of Leadership from Ephesians 4

6. Reframing Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd, and Teacher Leaders

7. Relying on APEST for Sharing Leadership

8. Recalling APEST for All Types of Sharing Leaders



Part Three: Sharing Leadership in Real Life

9. The Power of Sharing Leadership

10. How to Start Sharing Leadership

11. How to Structure Sharing Leadership

12. How to Sustain Sharing Leadership



Epilogue

Afterword by David E. Fitch

Acknowledgments

Notes