Joseph Handley / 28-August-2023

Author Interview by MissioNexus

Author Interview: Joseph W. Handley, Jr.

Missio Nexus • July 25, 2023

Missio Nexus’ leadership thoughtfully summarize books, giving you the Leader’s Edge to help inform, stimulate and provoke profitable discussion. The Author Interview is an informal conversation with the author to to give you more insight to the book.

Author Interview

*Polycentric Mission Leadership: Toward a New Theoretical Model for Global Leadership**

By Joseph W. Handley, Jr.

Fortress Press, 2023 • 191 ebook pages

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Summary

This book’s goal is “to find a better approach to leadership in a world where everything—from supply chains to political conflict to the church—is global” (page 22). With this goal in mind, the author proposes what he calls the Polycentric Mission Leadership model, which has six key themes that characterize strong leadership: collaborative; communal; diverse; entrepreneurial freedom; relational; and charismatic. The assessment of this polycentric model is conducted primarily in the context of the Lausanne Movement through qualitative interviews with key leaders. Using various resources and findings about polycentric leadership, the book argues that this model of leadership may provide a fresh approach that leads to creative solutions in the world of mission today.

This interview was reposted with permission. It was first published by MissioNexus on July 25, 2023 and originally appeared here: https://missionexus.org/ai-polycentric-mission-leadership-handleyjr/

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Joseph Handley

Joseph W. Handley, Jr., Ph.D. (@jwhandley) is the president of A3. Previously, he was the founding director of Azusa Pacific University’s Office of World Mission and lead mission pastor at Rolling Hills Covenant Church. He also serves on the International Orality Network leadership team and on the advisory teams for the Nozomi Project, BiblicalTraining.org, and DualReach as well as the board for ReIgnite Hope.

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