BOOK REVIEW: "Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs" by Steve Cuss

LEADING FROM A NON-ANXIOUS PRESENCE IN MINISTRY

Ministry leadership can feel like standing in the middle of a storm, navigating conflict, managing expectations, responding to crises, and carrying the emotional weight of your team, congregation, or classroom. In Managing Leadership Anxiety, Steve Cuss offers practical tools and deep wisdom to help leaders identify the source of their anxiety and lead from a calm, grounded place.

For church workers, this book is a game-changer. Cuss, a former trauma and hospital chaplain turned pastor, understands the complexities of spiritual leadership and equips leaders to respond rather than react.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • “Anxiety shrinks the power of the gospel because it presents a false gospel - one of self-reliance rather than abiding in Christ.” (p 15)

    When we lead from anxiety, we end up trying to control rather than trust. This is a timely reminder that our peace as leaders must come from Christ, and not from our own performance.

  • “The people we lead will only be as free as we are.” (p. 8)

    Church workers often focus on freeing others through the gospel, but if we are entangled in anxiety, perfectionism, or people-pleasing, our leadership becomes limited.

  • “Anxiety always wants something. It cannot be still.”

    Recognizing what your anxiety wants, whether that be approval, control, or certainty, can help you pause and surrender that worry to God instead of spiraling.

  • “The goal is not to eliminate anxiety, but to become a non-anxious presence in the midst of it.” (p. 36)

    This is deeply relevant in times of conflict or crisis in a congregation or school setting. Calm leadership creates stability and builds trust.

HOW I’M APPLYING IT TO MINISTRY

After reading this book, I am working to name what drives my own anxiety. Am I trying to be impressive? Am I fearing someone’s disapproval? Is my identity too wrapped up in my work? I’m also learning to breathe, slow down, and ask clarifying questions when tensions rise.

WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK

This book is especially valuable for:

  • Pastors navigating congregational stress or internal conflict

  • School leaders facing staff anxiety, parent concerns, or leadership fatigue

  • Anyone in ministry who feels emotionally overloaded or under-equipped to lead through tension

FINAL THOUGHTS

Managing Leadership Anxiety is deeply practical, compassionate, and conveys biblical wisdom. Cuss offers a roadmap toward healthier leadership and deeper spiritual freedom. His tools help church leaders recognize how anxiety shows up, and how to choose calm, Christ-centered leadership instead.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 
 

Purchase your copy of Managing Leadership Anxiety and let us know how you apply what you learn in your ministry context!

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LEARNJessica AlbersBook Review, LeadershipComment