Written by Susan Willhauck and Jacqulyn Thorpe

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The authors offer an alternative to traditional hierarchical models of authority and power by proposing a web of leadership, circular, interdependent, and founded on a consensual style of decision-making and organization.  They provide detailed, practical steps for congregations to achieve this transformation into a style of leadership that involves equal sharing in mission and ministry. ($15.00).  Call toll free: 1-800-672-1789 to order or visit www.cokesbury.com.  Also available on Amazon.com.

Book review in Interpretations, Volume 56, Number 2, April 2002 by Judith B. Bailey, Taylorsville Baptist Church, Doswell, Virginia

From the first century, the Christian community has debated how to organize itself for ministry. The hierarchical model that has prevailed, this book contends, not only results in injustices for women and other "marginalized" people but also has "de-capacitated"  the church in its mission and ministry. (p.9). A new model of leadership is needed, one that embraces all those at the margins, one that fits the leadership styles of increasing numbers of clergywomen.  

Drawing on social research, biblical models, and their own experiences, the authors present the metaphor of the web as an alternative models of leadership.  Web leadership is a way of thinking and acting that could effectively address important issues of spiritual unity, diversity, education, and church polity. In structure the web is circular rather than pyramidal, interconnected, with permeable and ever-changing borders.  Power is shared in a community that is organized around spiritual gifts and realized in diversity.  Leaders connect from the center outward rather than downward, with emphasis upon participatory relationships. The web is both a metaphor and a process, a way of leadership that is not limited to women but utilizes " the female advantage" (p. 19).

In their final chapters, "The Web and Pedagogy" and "The Web: How and Why It Could Work," the authors provide practical suggestions for implementing their vision of web leadership through education and ministry of congregational groups, clergy and laity.  This book offers creative, hopeful thinking coupled with concrete ways to bring about changing in the church.  Willhauck and Thorpe demonstrate their considerable experience and knowledge as educators whose commitment to web leadership is exemplified by their collaborative writing and by their decision to list their website address for readers' responses.

Reviews from Amazon.com of The Web of Women's Leadership.  

Leaders have long realized that hierarchical models of ministry and organizations have little place in the church. For congregations dedicated to the principle that all God's people are called to share equally in mission and ministry, the notion that "some are more equal than others" is absurd. Yet, in spite of this awareness, churches often default to hierarchical structures of authority and organization, with decisions and initiatives coming "from the top" and passing down "through the ranks" with, at best, mixed results. In this book the authors propose an alternative model: the web of leadership. Unlike traditional hierarchical understanding, authority and power in the web are circular and interdependent. The principle tools of effective ministry are access and dialogue. Where it comes into contact with the world, the web is flexible and resilient; it is able to adapt faithfully to change and engage in new ministries and forms of outreach, because it is anchored to and in constant conversation with the center. The source for this understanding of authority and ministry is the tradition of women's leadership in the church. The Web of Women's Leadership calls for women in the church leadership to recognize the potential of female styles of authority and ministry and lay claim to them as a wave to move beyond the hierarchical models that have dominated our understanding of how the church practices its mission and organizes its life. It offers detailed, practical steps for how to work with laity, other clergy, and congregational leadership groups to achieve this transformation in the way the church organized itself for ministry.

Reviewer: Rev. Walt Westbrook (see more about me) from Clarksville, VA USA
This is not a long book, but it is a big book. It is rich with ideas that are ancient and post-modern, all cast in a new way. And as if the ideas were not exciting enough, this book offers very practical suggestions for shifting from a pyramid-shaped hierarchical model for church (and other) organizations to a web-shaped model that flattens the pyramid and spreads the power throughout the web. The authors address the issue of how leadership can work in the new millennium, in an age of sharing information and sharing power. The hierarchical model of organization and leadership is no longer viable, especially in the church and in education. The top-down, exclusive, oppressive style of leadership that has been the norm in the church, government, commerce and the military is simply not going to be able to operate successfully in the future (except maybe in the military).

The web as a design model for leadership is not brand new with the authors. But, the thoroughness with which they discuss the nature of web organization and leadership versus the old style gives them some claim to the development of the concept.

The web is homegrown and grassroots. It is empowering, even for those at the margins. It encourages true community, which hierarchy impedes. Leaders emerge from all parts of the web, as situations develop and gifts are discovered. The web assumes God's generous nature. We find abundance in the diversity of community, not the scarcity hierarchical models often claim.

The web is inclusive (as community must be), and rejects uniformity and conformity for the spiritual unity which is diversity. The temptation for one group to oppress another group is eliminated since oppression really requires hierarchy.

The authors aimed this book at women in ministry, both clergy and laity. But, it would be a mistake for male clergy and laity to pass it by. One of the goals of the book is the revitalization of the Church through the paradigm shift from hierarchy (which means "rule by priests") to the web, which reflects the way Jesus Christ lived and worked during his earthly life.

Jesus was certainly a relational leader, meeting people where they were and loving them as they were, while trying to help them fulfill their potential as disciples. Women were very important to Jesus, and to the earliest churches. It wasn't until the end of the first century that the male-dominated hierarchy began to develop.

The big problem with the web model is that leading from the center is harder than leading from the top. Being inclusive, embracing (not just tolerating) diversity, and being a leader in relationship with all the members of your church, or all the students in your class, or all the employees in your company, is just a great deal of work. But, not only is the final result worth the extra effort, it is the only way to go.

I am very impressed with Susan Willhauck and Jacqulyn Thorpe. They are clear and focused thinkers as well as innovative and exciting educators. They present a new way of being the Church (or school or business) that is going to be monstrously difficult to sell to the people in power. But, their sustained argument is biblically grounded and very reasonable. It is radical in the original sense of that word: back to the roots. It is clearly a viable, sound and effective direction for the Church to make its way into the 21st century. I believe that this book is just the beginning of the field of literature that we will see develop in the coming decades, that will try to make sense of being the Church in the post-modern era. It is certainly a good start.

I'll close with a great quote from Charlene Ellis that opens the book: "You just have to find a way to stop doing what's stupid." Amen!

Two Christian educators, both women, one African-American and one white, have teamed up to pull together a wide range of critique, reflection, insight and prescription for the church's ministry. Jacqulyn Thorpe and Susan Willhauck draw on years of experience in the church, shared friendship and professional expertise, and something of a love/hate relationship with the church that makes their work provocative as well as evocative. Their book invites readers into the work of imagining and living out web leadership--living interconnected relationship of people, opportunities and resources.

The book begins with a critique of the ways in which the current hierarchical "command-and-control" structure of the church has "de-capacitated" its relationships and ministries. The authors then scan an array of literature related to the metaphor of "web" for church structure and process. They present a broad umbrella over-view of possibilities for church life and work drawing on the image and energy of a web-type structure, which they describe as both metaphor and process. They explore possibilities for everything ranging from staff relationships, ministry of clergy and laity, church structure at every level, small groups, Christian education, worship, scripture study, women's leadership and social justice ministries.

The book would be a good starting point for someone unfamiliar with the web as new leadership paradigm for the church. It points to many references and resources for further exploration and study. It provides food for thought for heads of staff, district superintendents, Christian educators and even church business administrators. With its United Methodist focus, it would be of interest to those looking towards the 2004 General Conference deliberations on our Transformational Directions and the variety of proposals addressing general church structure.

On the local level, this book would be of interest to Lay Leadership Committees and pastors, working together towards new models of shared ministry. It encourages work with spiritual gifts and the empowerment of the whole laos and kleros for ministry and the work of the church in the world.

As women who have felt the pain and frustration of marginalization and disempowerment in the church, the work of Thorpe and Willhauck also gives voice to those whom the established church might otherwise ignore. The word hierarchy, the authors remind, means "the rule of priests." They assert that hierarchical structures foster "a climate of uncertainty, suspicion and rumor." Their insights provide much food for thought, at this time when the Catholic church is examining proposals for a more horizontal and transparent structure and greater lay involvement in clergy review and decision-making.

The authors' style models dialogue and interaction. Their book is intended to prod and entice faithful reflection, new thinking and new behaviors. They invite response from their readers and encourage responses to their website. If the book at times seems a bit disjointed and uneven, it is because this is a work in progress, a new style emerging in part through the still relatively new leadership of women, lay and ordained. While the book does contain some detailed "how-to" instructions, particularly in its chapter on 'The Web and Pedagogy', it is overall more of sign-post than a detailed operations manual.

At this time when books on leadership and leadership styles abound, this book encourages important critical reflection on just what kind of leadership will be both faithful and transformative.