On this episode of The Alabaster Jar, Dr. Scot McKnight joins Dr. Lynn Cohick, Kelly Dippolito, and Sareen Musselman to discuss women and ministry, toxic church culture, and strategies for transforming toxic patterns into healthy cultures in churches. The conversation focuses on defining tov (Hebrew word for “goodness”) as rooted in ordinary life and how it can manifest in church culture.

The episode delves into the traits of a narcissistic leader, introduces strategies for transforming toxic church patterns, and emphasizes the importance of centering empathy, truth-telling, and theology.

Episode Breakdown:

0:00 - Goodness in church culture and ordinary life
4:25 - Narcissistic leadership in churches
9:36 - Leadership and organizational culture in a church setting
14:25 - Assessing toxicities in churches and institutions
19:23 - Church culture and ownership
25:25 - Toxic culture in churches and seminaries
30:13 - Gender roles in Christianity and Jesus' treatment of women

Episode Resources:

A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing by Dr. Scot McKnight

Pivot: The Priorities, Practices, and Powers That Can Transform Your Church into a Tov Culture by Dr. Scot McKnight

Organizational Culture and Leadership by Edgar H. Schein & Peter Schein

Episode Sponsor:

The Alabaster Jar is brought to you by The Center for Women in Leadership, a newly formed 501©3 nonprofit organization whose purpose is to equip women in a context that is biblically rooted, theologically robust, and ethnically diverse to thrive as leaders in the academy and the Church. Follow them on Instagram @leadershipwithoutapology.