The cover of Angie Ward’s Uncharted Leadership contains a picture of a topographical map—the type I’ve used for years to navigate in the woods—crumpled into a ball. While it hurts my heart a little, the image perfectly suits the contents of this book. How do you lead when, in the words of Jeff Tweedy:

I have no idea how this happens
All of my maps have been overthrown
Happenstance has changed my plans
So many times my heart has been outgrown. (“You Are My Face”)

The theoretical underpinnings of this book come from Heifetz’ adaptive leadership theory. This approach to leadership was popularized in Christian circles by Tod Bolsinger in Canoeing in the Mountains. The idea is simple, the implications profound. There are two types of leadership problems in the world: technical problems that can be solved with the implementation of existing tools, and adaptive problems that require new approaches.

Uncharted Leadership contains twenty case studies of complex ministry problems, each rooted in some adaptive problem. After each brief case study, Ward offers a series of questions to help readers think through the issues. These studies are real, each one ending with an epilogue that shared what happened after the crisis.

This is an invaluable resource for ministry formation. I used some of these studies in a pastoral leadership small group with students. The studies were engaging and elicited strong opinions. My only caution is that most of the studies are geared toward larger American contexts. I would welcome a sequel to this book that focused on “small church” problems.

Ward, Angie. Uncharted Leadership: 20 Case Studies to Help Ministry Leaders Adapt to Uncertainty. Zondervan Reflective, 2023.