Spiritual Maturity: Preserving Congregational Health and Balance

Thomas' book is an insightful look at the path to spiritual growth and development. He clearly articulates the nature of conflict within congregations (although his model is applicable to any organization) and provides critical thinking about how to address such conflicts in a way that is meaningful and courageous. I found his discussion about people who function as victims and saviors by doing a dance of immaturity to be very provocative. His call for principle-based leadership, while not new, is very refreshing in a congregational context and challenges those of us who have congregations centered around charismatic leadership to abandon our cults of personality.This book will be most helpful to congregations that have not fully understood or articulated their mission, vision and values. It will provide a very capable framework and guidelines to begin those discussions so that ministry can go forth as a "healing modality" in our broken society.