Among the most helpful and widely acclaimed resources for addressing church conflict and the quality of church life is Richardson's groundbreaking volume Creating a Healthier Church (Fortress Press, 1996). His application of family systems theory to congregational life has enormously clarified its operative systems and especially its emotional system.

In this sequel, Richardson employs the same methodology to address the roots of personal issues that may hinder pastors' ability to function effectively as leaders within their congregations, and may in fact cause them deep difficulties. He especially addresses pastors' own families of origin, a major but often hidden component in how they function emotionally in their congregations. When anxiety arises, unresolved familial issues and old family patterns return, often unhelpfully. Richardson explores these patterns, how they operate in church situations, and how pastors can do their own family-of-origin assessment. His volume will become a standard tool for analysis of patterns in ministerial behavior and developing strong personal effectiveness....

Are you the oldest, middle, youngest, or only child? Discover how your sex and position in the family affects your personality, career, relationships, and parenting.

Are you the "take charge" type? Do you charm people into doing what you want? Do you need time alone, or are you the life of the party? You are the way you are partly because of your position in the birth order of your family. Between each birth the family undergoes reshaping. Oldest children, youngests, middles, onlies, and twins develop distinctive personality traits because each experiences the family in a different way.

Birth Order and You explains how your birth order has affected your personality and your relationships. It includes such topics as: What effect your sex and the sex of your siblings has on your characteristics, How understanding birth order can make you a better parent and partner, Why your parents treated you and your siblings differently, What you can do to help offset the negative side of your birth order....