Leading Faithful Innovation: Following God into a Hopeful Future

What might God be up to amid the seismic changes the church and our culture are undergoing? What opportunities will congregations encounter if they rediscover and follow God's leading? Leading Faithful Innovation offers a practical, hands-on approach to addressing this challenge, a process that culminates in the hope that comes from following the Spirit.

Dwight Zscheile, Michael Binder, and Tessa Pinkstaff build on Scripture, theology, and the latest leadership and change theories to guide church leaders on a journey toward grassroots, participatory spiritual growth. This faithful innovation begins with a three-step process: listening to God and to each other, acting so we can learn, and sharing our stories in community. Real-life stories and supportive spiritual practices make each step toward effective change accessible and actionable.

The book then examines how these steps change the culture of a church, establishing a new, biblically grounded way of being church. The authors present leadership practices that invite readers to redefine their leadership identity, accept the loss of their role as the primary driver of their congregation, and discover new hope and possibility. These topics are again fleshed out with real-life stories and undergirded by suggested practices.

Throughout the book, the authors demonstrate that faithful innovation is not another program or an add-on to what readers are already doing. It is a path to a new normal. It is an ongoing way of following God that allows the Spirit of God to drive the energy among the people of the church.

Dwight Zscheile is vice president of innovation and professor of congregational mission and leadership at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. An Episcopal priest, he is author of Participating in God's Mission: A Theological Missiology for the Church in America (with Craig Van Gelder), The Agile Church: Spirit-Led Innovation in an Uncertain Age, People of the Way: Renewing Episcopal Identity, and The Missional Church in Perspective: Mapping Trends and Shaping the Conversation (with Craig Van Gelder) and editor of Cultivating Sent Communities: Missional Spiritual Formation. A graduate of Stanford University (BA), Yale University (MDiv) and Luther Seminary (PhD, Congregational Mission and Leadership), he has served congregations in Virginia and Minnesota. Dwight's experience growing up in a secular home in California has shaped his commitment to helping the church cultivate Christian community across populations and generations in today's world.

Michael Binder is assistant professor of congregational mission and leadership at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Michael's teaching focuses on starting new congregations, leading change in congregations, and practicing Christian witness and evangelism amidst secular cultures. He is a founding pastor of Mill City Church in northeast Minneapolis and continues to serve there. He has worked as a consultant with hundreds of congregations and denominations in the U.S. and Canada. Michael is a graduate of Carleton College (Northfield, Minnesota), Bethel University (MDiv), and Luther Seminary (PhD, Congregational Mission and Leadership).

Tessa Pinkstaff is a project manager and grant writer at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her work focuses on innovation in the church, including training experiences for pastors and judicatory leaders seeking new ways to lead their ministries. Tessa is passionate about spiritual practices as a means for developing an intimate relationship with God. She teaches introductory workshops and multi-week courses on the practices, and she also leads a weekly scripture meditation webcast for pastors in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Tessa is a graduate of Bethel Seminary with a Master of Arts in Ministry, and she is pursuing a certificate in spiritual direction from Christos in Lino Lakes, Minnesota. She has a BA in clinical psychology from the University of Northwestern-St. Paul.