Picking Up the Pieces - by Kathleen McShane & Elan Babchuck (Paperback)

About the Book

Kathleen McShane and Elan Babchuck argue that empire-inspired leadership models hollow out faith institutions and exhaust their leaders. In Picking Up the Pieces, the authors offer a leadership model based on the conviction that power shared is power multiplied. The book offers a hopeful, practical, and sustainable way forward for all God's people.

Book Synopsis

While the exodus dates back thousands of years, religious organizations continue to operate in the shadows of the pyramids--the symbol of empire--that the Israelites once toiled to build. The reason is understandable, given that pyramids are remarkably stable structures. Pyramids lend an orderliness to organizational relationships in our churches and synagogues.

However, Kathleen McShane and Elan Babchuck argue that such leadership models reflect syncretic cultural traditions more than our theological convictions. These patterns elevate the structure of the pyramid above the people. They reward the consolidation of power at the top at the expense of the freedom of those below. They constrain creativity and elevate efficiency at the cost of human dignity.

In Picking Up the Pieces, McShane and Babchuck argue that these leadership models are not the way of the gospel. Therefore, today's religious leaders need a more generous model. They need a leadership model where power is shared rather than hoarded, and where every person can stretch toward the fullness of their God-given gifts, regardless of where they land on an organizational chart.

Through an innovative exploration of Moses's biblical narrative, the authors suggest that Moses's leadership failures were because he, too, was shaped by empire. The authors notice Moses's stumbles and corrections and the ways he picks up the pieces of broken leadership templates to guide his people toward their liberation. Picking Up the Pieces also offers stories of contemporary innovators and boundary-stretchers who grapple with failed experiments of religious leadership.

This book offers a provocation to religious leaders to exercise institutional power more generously. The book will speak to leaders who are ready to shift from organizational patterns that demand over-functioning and instead share power so that power multiplies. It will help leaders help their people fully engage in the life-giving promise that awaits them.

Review Quotes

"As ancient Israel tells it, Pharaoh, with his absolutism, certitude, speed, and control, is over and done with. Except that, as these wise authors know, Pharaoh continues to reappear in new forms. These alert and discerning authors--one a Christian and one a Jew--see that Pharaoh's mode or leadership has too long dominated both church and synagogue with the practice of top-down, all-knowing, all-controlling leadership. By teasing out the biblical text and citing compelling contemporary embodiments, these authors advocate and celebrate an alternative form of leadership in religious communities that is marked by openness, collegiality, and forward-anticipating restlessness. This is practical theology at its best. The book is a primer for how to bring our leadership practices into sync with our core tale of emancipation. The model of Moses both permits and requires our departure from Pharaoh and his leadership. These authors know how and where to look for such a generative alternative." --Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary

"Never more needed, this book is a gift to all who read it and a gift to the world when its readers live into its message. This book is half faith-based wisdom literature, half management-science handbook for transformation in a turbulent age, and 100 percent visionary map to loving and leading more creatively and more effectively." --Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, president, National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership

"Picking Up the Pieces is a revelation. Elegantly written and warm as a cup of coffee, it is the heart-gift of two friends, faith leaders writing for all of us with flocks to lead. McShane and Babchuck can't help themselves--they are playful and provocative preachers, looping us into a journey that they themselves are on. But make no mistake: this book boldly rewrites the script that frames pastoral ministry. You'll see your leadership with new eyes after you read these pages. For me, it was just in time." --Kenda Creasy Dean, Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church, and Culture, Princeton Theological Seminary, and author of Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church and Innovating for Love: Joining God's Expedition through Christian Social Innovation

"Any time a rabbi and a Methodist minister get together on a project, you can expect something special. But this book is something extra-special: to-the-heart, wicked smart, and right-on-time wisdom for ministers, rabbis, and leaders of all shapes and sizes. We could wish this book on every religious leader, every seminarian, and every leader engaged in vital change-making work." --Brian D. McLaren, author of Faith after Doubt

"Picking Up the Pieces challenges the reader to examine long-held assumptions about vision, power, control, and effective leadership. A compelling read that weaves Scripture, midrash, and case study--making an artful argument for a different leadership model in a new era." --Susan Beaumont, consultant and author of How to Lead When You Don't Know Where You're Going: Leading in a Liminal Season

"Picking Up the Pieces is a beautiful, grace-filled, open-hearted, challenging, and wise meditation, not only on leadership but on being human. This book will illuminate, enchant, and transform readers' ability to wander, with courage and compassion, our disruptive and unnerving times toward an ever-elusive promised land." --Rabbi Irwin Kula, president emeritus, National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership