Why a Church Reads a Business Book Together
An invitation to read Patrick Lencioni's The Advantage alongside our Leadership Board this summer.
A pastor inviting a congregation to read a business book together. I know how that sounds.
For the next five months, the McPherson First Leadership Board is reading Patrick Lencioni’s The Advantage, a book about organizational health. Every other Wednesday, starting today, I’m publishing a companion post here on Substack so the rest of the congregation, plus anyone outside the church who’s curious, can read along with us.
The reasonable question is, why? Why would a church take time it could spend on prayer and discipleship and service, and instead spend it on a framework written for executives?
Here’s my answer. Organizational health is not a worldly distraction from spiritual work. It is part of spiritual work. The people of God have been doing this work for thousands of years. We just called it faithfulness.
The Church Has Always Done This
Read Acts 6 and you find the early church doing organizational health work. The Hellenist widows were being neglected in the daily food distribution. The system was breaking down. So the Twelve called a meeting of all the disciples, named the problem, and asked the community to choose seven trusted leaders to share the work. The text matters. “It isn’t right for us to set aside proclamation of God’s word in order to serve tables. Brothers and sisters, carefully choose seven well-respected men from among you. They must be well-respected and endowed by the Spirit with exceptional wisdom. We will put them in charge of this concern.” That is not a corporate restructuring. That is the body of Christ figuring out how to keep its promises to its most vulnerable members.
Read Exodus 18 and you find Jethro pulling Moses aside. “What you are doing isn’t good. You will end up totally wearing yourself out, both you and these people who are with you. The work is too difficult for you. You can’t do it alone.” Jethro then proposes a tiered leadership structure: leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Moses listens. The work continues, and Moses survives.
Read 1 Corinthians 12 and Paul describes the church as a body with many parts, each with a distinct function, each indispensable to the whole. That is ecclesiology, yes. It is also a working theory of how a healthy organization operates.
Lencioni gives us modern language and a clean framework. The church gives us ancient practice and theological depth. They belong together. When a community of faith asks who we are, how we behave, what we do, how we will succeed, what matters most right now, and who must do what, that community is not borrowing the world’s questions. The community is asking the questions it has always asked, in language a wider audience can understand.
Why the Leadership Board Is Reading This
Our Leadership Board affirmed two answers on April 22, 2026, by unanimous voice vote.
Mission: To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
Values: Love boldly. Serve joyfully. Lead courageously.
Those are the first two of Lencioni’s six questions. Why do we exist, and how do we behave. The other four questions, what do we do, how will we succeed, what is most important right now, and who must do what, are still in front of us. We will work them through over the summer, one Board meeting at a time, with the book as a shared text and scripture as the deeper ground.
This is not a strategic planning project. This is the slow work of clarity, the kind of work that makes everything else possible.
The Shape of the Journey
The Board reads in five sections, one per month, May through September. Each Board meeting includes a discussion of that month’s reading, with theological framing and scripture anchors built into the agenda.
The Reading Together series here on Substack runs alongside that. Eleven posts in total, every other Wednesday through October 7. Each post pairs a written reflection with a 3 to 5 minute video. The text and the video do different things. The text develops the theological frame. The video carries the personal pastoral voice. They complement each other; they do not duplicate. You can read the post without watching the video, or watch the video without reading the post, but the richer experience is both.
Two audiences are welcome here. McPherson First members, friends, and staff, who get a window into the work the Board is doing and shared vocabulary for how we plan and communicate together. And anyone outside the church who is curious about what happens when a faith community takes organizational health seriously. Pastors, lay leaders, board chairs in nonprofits, anyone wrestling with the same questions in a different setting. You are welcome here.
Two things I’m not promising. I’m not promising this will always feel inspiring. Some of these conversations get into meetings, accountability structures, and language discipline. That is the point. And I’m not promising tidy conclusions. The Board is doing real work in real time. The posts will reflect that.
What I am promising is theological depth, real field notes from inside a working congregation, and an honest invitation to think alongside us.
How to Read Along
Three ways to engage.
Pick up a copy of The Advantage at the McPherson First church office. Limited copies are available for free pickup, first come, first served.
Order your own copy. The book is widely available in print, ebook, and audio.
Or just read the posts. The posts are designed to stand on their own. You’ll get the theological frame and the field notes whether or not you read the book.
By October, I plan to compile the eleven posts and the field notes from our Board meetings into a companion guide that other churches can use. That work is being done in the open, on this Substack, with you reading alongside.
The first reading post lands here on Wednesday, May 20, when the Board takes up the introduction and the case for organizational health. Watch for it.
For now, the invitation is simple. Come with us.