“Every Christian non-profit leader should read one management or business book a month. The best book on the topic is Strategic Leadership, Planning, and Management for Christians . . . . Deacon Danilchick has written a book that is winsome, spiritual, and practical. That is rare and wonderful. This book is very practical. The practicality often comes from sources many of us think hopelessly impractical: the Bible, Jesus, and other spiritual writers. Danilchick knows better, because he has seen business drift without spiritual wisdom and churches unable to apply that wisdom. The highest praise I can give such a book is the wish, at the end, that I could have worked for more bosses like Danilchick and that he led every church meeting I have attended!” Dr John Mark Reynolds, former Provost, Houston Baptist University; Senior Fellow of Humanities at The King’s College in New York City; President, The Saint Constantine School.
“I have known Protodeacon Peter Danilchick for many years and have repeatedly benefited from his insights. He is a gifted person who combines extraordinary competence and achievement in the secular world with devoted Christian service on every level of church life, from parishes to patriarchs. This book distills his vast and varied experience in practical and inspiring ways that will be of immediate benefit to anyone interested in how to better lead, plan and manage in churches, church organizations and charitable institutions. But it will also help Christians who have or aspire to leadership roles in the wider business world and who want to figure out how to better work as Christians in those settings. Most importantly, he shows humility to be the root of leadership success anywhere. It is amazing how much good can be accomplished when ego and self-promotion are set aside in favor of noticing, engaging, empowering, and lifting others up. There is no other book like this.” †TIKHON, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada; Primate of the Orthodox Church in America
“While there are lots of stories, anecdotes, books, and papers from the business world in this area, a book that can be easily read, understood, followed and used as a reference from a Christian perspective, is sorely lacking. This book will fill that void. The book is written by a protodeacon with years of experience, study, and learned knowledge in the field, much of it learned on-the-job in the private sector and within the Orthodox Church, supplemented by didactic learning along the way. The thesis of the book is that leadership requires finding out what the will of God is and then using the tools of leadership, planning and management to implement that will, be it in a secular setting or within the Church or one’s daily life. The author provides practical approaches to discerning the will of God and then provides approaches to implementing it using the tools of planning and management. The author writes with an interesting and informative mix of personal experiential anecdotes, well annotated knowledge, and practical approaches to accomplishing the goal of implementing the will of God. While being readable and practical, this is a scholarly book that is well referenced and annotated. Additional reading is recommended in several key areas. The audience of this book has many levels. It should be required reading for all seminary students, priests, parish leaders, board members, church council members and the church hierarchy. This book should also appeal to the Christian laity who are in positions of leadership, as well as those seeking guidance in their daily lives. ” Frank B. Cerra M.D., Emeritus Professor and Dean; former Senior Vice President for Health Sciences and Services, University of Minnesota.
“Living ‘in the world’ while not being ‘of the world’ is the fundamental spiritual challenge for every disciple of Christ. Yet, it is a task that Orthodox Christians are prone to resist, opting instead for ‘spiritual’ or ‘liturgical’ escapes. This book paves the way toward a better understanding and experience of how ‘the way of the world’ should be brought to conform to and coincide with ‘the will of God.'” Rev. Dr John Chryssavgis, editor Primacy in the Church.
“This book brings together scriptural and theological reflections together with a long and rich personal experience to offer pearls of wisdom and insight about the ministry and practice of leadership for Christians today.” V Rev. Dr John Behr, Dean, St Vladimir’s Seminary
“Peter Danilchick’s book, Thy Will Be Done: Strategic Leadership, Planning, and Management for Christians, is a classic for all Orthodox churches and church organizations, hierarchs, other clergy and laity, as well as non-Orthodox Christians and secular organizations. My personal experience as an initiator and leader of many projects in the law and in the Church affirms the validity of Protodeacon Danilchick’s wisdom set forth in the book’s pages. He is detailed in his suggestions, providing a clear and wise path to follow for the family, secular work, and work in the Church. This includes advice regarding centering one’s work on following Christ with strong faith, asking for God’s grace, exercising servant leadership, humility, love and patience in our interrelationships with others. Leadership, he makes clear, also includes having vision, making everyone become an “owner” of the project, building a good team to implement the vision and plan, the need for serious strategic planning and management, as well as the details of how to fundraise, and many other such things. Protodeacon Peter’s advice is backed by clear and extensive quotes from Scripture, the divine liturgy, and patristic and monastic writings, as well as specific examples and stories from his tremendous practical experience. It would be a wise organization that makes sure each board member, executive director, and other lay leader has a copy of this book and reads it.” Dr Charles Ajalat, J.D., D.C.L., former Chancellor, Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese.
“We are indebted to Protodeacon Peter Danilchick for providing the Church with his own “strategic leadership,” most especially via his book Thy Will Be Done. Gathering as those responsible for the good governance of the Body of Christ—either by ordination, election, or appointment—leaders and members of diocesan and parish councils (as well as other ecclesial bodies and organizations) are charged to direct the worldly affairs of the Church as good stewards of the “talent” entrusted to them, the goal being the discerning of God’s holy will for their every decision and action—in other words, doing the necessary work of Martha while simultaneously following the blessed example of Mary. While it may be presumed that all involved with these groups will do so with good intentions and selflessness, the “how” of their accomplishing the “what” can often be problematic. Protodeacon Peter, himself an abundantly gifted Christian leader, now shares with us his experience and insight about accomplishing the “how” in accordance with the holy gospel, thus guiding his fellow Christians along the path of strategic leadership, planning, and management.” †Bishop Basil of Wichita and Mid-America, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese.
“The stated purpose of the book is ‘to help leaders of churches and other organizations to address leadership issues appropriately in an effective, harmonious, and ultimately Christian way. It will also help individuals working outside the Church in secular occupations to exercise Christian leadership in what may be an agnostic or even anti-Christian environment.’ Based on a lifetime experience of top-level management in a major world corporation as well as a deacon in the Orthodox Church, Protodeacon Danilchick’s book endeavors to bring examples from the Bible and the writings and words of saints, to frame and illustrate the key questions that a Christian manager should strive to answer. Starting from the very basic issues of what makes a leader, he follows with the definition of Christian leadership. He stresses the need for strategic planning and working together with others to define and achieve the common goal of “seeking the will of God and doing his will in practice”. The book defines five requirements of what “God really wants from us” and frames the answers with examples from the lives of Prophets and Saints. The author defines the goals of Christian leadership: ‘Christians need to have a fundamental understanding of leadership, namely, that the foundation of Christian leadership is the person of Christ.’ He then turns to the practical implications for Christian leaders on how to meet these goals and what they should do. He moves on to discuss the aims and processes of strategic planning and how to apply them in the context of the Church. The chapters on strategic management are standard for most lay organizations but provide a comprehensive plan for those in the Church that have not been exposed to industry’s standard practices. In addition, as in the other chapters, this is seen and explained from the personal experience and perspective of someone who has served on boards of lay and Church organizations. Altogether the book provides an interesting perspective on what a Christian leader should do and how he or she should do it. It is a ‘must read’ for those that lack management experience and have to work with others in a leadership sense. With its many relevant and learned examples from scriptures, I also believe that the book will serve as an inspiration to all Christians who are in leadership positions in lay organizations.” Dr Duccio Macchetto, former Associate Director, Space Telescope Science Institute (Hubble Project), Emeritus Astronomer; European Space Agency.
“Okay, maybe I’m just showing off, or trying extra hard to show that we are ecumenically-minded. St Vlad’s is a very classy, somewhat academic publishing house from the legendary Russian Orthodox Press. They are known for doing handsome trim-sized paperbacks of many of the church fathers. (And, in that same series, some not-so-ancient; they just published a set of previously unpublished pieces by Alexander Schmemann called The Liturgy of Death.) This new book, Strategic Leadership, Planning, and Management is written by an Orthodox protodeacon who is also a retired corporate executive. It is commonplace these days to hear our best congregational leaders saying that we ought not merely borrow the management theories and practices of the world and adopt them in the church. Whether worldly Wall Street business theories are adequate even for Christians in business is itself a good question, but whether any of that is appropriate for congregational leadership and strategic church planning is equally burning. This author, of course, says mostly no. We must draw on church history, or theology, or spirituality, and the wisdom of the Orthodox faith to frame how we think about parish management and congregational leadership, thinking faithfully about HR management, fundraising, running meetings and such. Not every book on parish life relates – on the back cover in large type, no less! – “the hesychastic fathers” and “compliance with tax regulations.” I haven’t read this yet, and don’t know if Deacon Danilchick is adept at integrating faith and thinking well about this topic. But his angle of vision and his interest in pre-modern ways would give him a leg up on this stuff. I thought the Episcopal pastors would dig this, but maybe they didn’t realize its utter uniqueness in the genre.” Byron Borger, Hearts & Minds Books.