If The Atlas Factor resonated, these two books go deeper into the same territory, from Lance's earlier groundwork to his more recent, systems-level application.
UnLeader is Lance's earlier, more foundational challenge to CEO-style church leadership. If The Atlas Factor is the fully developed argument, this is where he first laid out the problem, and it makes a natural first stop.
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Written with Rob Wegner and Alan Hirsch, this book applies a decentralized "starfish" model to churches and organizations. It serves as the practical, systems-level companion to the theology in The Atlas Factor.
Get the bookThe voices Lance draws from and has been in direct dialogue with for years. If you want to understand where the shared, decentralized, Jesus-centered framework comes from, start here.
This is the foundational text on "Apostolic Genius," which explains how the early church grew explosively without centralized, hierarchical leadership. It is dense but essential, and it is widely considered the cornerstone of the whole missional movement.
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Frost and Hirsch call the church to innovation and mission for the twenty-first century. This early, influential book lays the groundwork for everything else in this section.
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Neil Cole paints a grassroots, practical picture of decentralized church multiplication. He is one of Lance's closest dialogue partners in this space.
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Practical and pastoral, this book focuses on what shared, incarnational community actually looks like day to day.
Get the bookSome readers come to The Atlas Factor after a painful experience with hierarchical or controlling church leadership. These books speak more directly to the wound itself, and to the healing that follows.
This is probably the most accessible starting point in this category. McKnight and Barringer focus on forming a goodness culture that resists abuses of power rather than just naming the problem.
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Chuck DeGroat is a therapist who has spent more than twenty years counseling both wounded congregants and pastors with narcissistic patterns. His book is compassionate but clear-eyed.
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Kruger takes a close, careful look at how spiritual abuse shows up specifically in preaching and pastoral authority.
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Diane Langberg offers a trauma-informed look at how power gets misused in Christian settings, and how it can be redeemed rather than simply avoided.
Get the bookThese titles go back to the roots of the leadership conversation itself, before the modern missional movement and before the corporate models The Atlas Factor pushes back against.
Sanders is referenced directly in The Atlas Factor. First published in 1967, this is widely considered one of the first serious Christian leadership texts, and it remains a touchstone almost sixty years later.
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Strauch offers the most thorough study available of the New Testament model of shared, plural eldership. It is more traditional in its conclusions than Lance's work, but it provides a rigorous biblical and theological foundation.
Get the bookEverything on this list is a next step. The first step is the book that started the conversation.
Get The Atlas FactorSome links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through one, Lance may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, and it goes straight back into this work. Recommending a book here is never contingent on that.