The Plurality Principle: How to Build and Maintain a Thriving Church Leadership Team (Gospel Coalition)

“In his concern to promote healthy churches and healthy pastors, Dave Harvey ensures that we understand leadership plurality and have a healthy, functioning team of elders in the local church. I’m not aware of another book that deals with this topic. The Plurality Principle is very practical and very helpful!”

“Dave Harvey gives us another fantastic book. The Plurality Principle is enjoyable, biblical, and memorable. The fact that it is a quick read makes it all the more useful.”

“God’s design for the church has always been a plurality of elders—but that doesn’t mean plurality is easy. Dave Harvey knows this, and he has provided this straightforward guide to help you cultivate effective plurality in leadership.”

“It is one thing to believe in the necessity of a plurality of elders but quite another to understand what that means! Dave Harvey does an excellent job of explaining it. He has put into words the reality I have wanted to share with fellow pastors as the dean of a church-based seminary—the type of fellowship that should exist within a team of elders. I thank God for this precious brother and the light he sheds on our path.”

“Every once in a while you encounter a book you wish you’d read years earlier. Having inherited elder teams in three different churches, I can testify that Dave Harvey’s book would have been gold during those transitions. If you are a young pastor, save yourself the heartache of confusion and conflict. If you are a seasoned leader, it could be time for a biblical tune-up. The health of your church, your leaders, and your own soul might just depend on it.”

“Church leadership is the most perilous job out there, needing nothing short of the on-the-ground, forged-by-fire wisdom Harvey offers. From how elders can care for pastors to how elders and pastors can function together in practical, flock-sensitive, and Christ-honoring ways, this book guides elder teams through one of the most important needs they face: how church leadership teams can thrive in the complex challenges of real people, widely varying contexts, and treacherously subtle dangers.”

“Dave Harvey has done a great service for all who love the local church and have been called by God into leadership. He carefully explains why God calls local churches to be overseen by a plurality of leaders. And he steers us around the reefs and barriers that have left some church boards shipwrecked and their churches torn in pieces. By God’s grace, healthy plurality in leadership not only is possible but can be glorious!”

“The Plurality Principle will be of great help to any church eldership seeking to lead and care for the people entrusted to them. Dave Harvey has zeroed in on the key principles and has put very useful feet to them. This book will serve our eldering deliberations in the years ahead”

“Being a pastor or elder is no small task. That’s why I’ve found Dave Harvey’s book so helpful. With a compelling vision and clear manner, Harvey makes the practice of developing a healthy plurality of elders both understandable and desirable. If you are planting or leading a local church and you want to see a healthy church last far beyond your leadership, pick up and implement this book. It may be the most humbling thing you will ever do, but also the strongest way you will ever lead.”