







































Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(1),  Summer 2019 

Kuperus, Book Review  57 

Book Review 

 

Rooting for Rivals: How Collaboration and Generosity 

Increase the Impact of Leaders, Charities, and Churches 
By Peter Greer and Chris Horst with Jill Heisey 

 
Reviewed by Tracy Kuperus 

 
 

 
 

Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2018. $16.99 

 

 

In this engaging, well-written book, Peter Greer and 

Chris Horst do just what the title of their book states, 

viz. encourage leaders of faith-based charities and 

churches to replace competition with collaboration in 

the pursuit of Kingdom work. Greer and Horst are 

excellent storytellers. They draw on a wealth of 

examples from faith-based organizations to illustrate the 

point that “rooting for rivals” is possible and that 

partnership and radical generosity among like-minded 

organizations are freeing in the advance of God’s 

Kingdom.  

Greer and Horst begin their book by setting the 

stage. The landscape facing faith-based organizations in 

the United States includes a short shelf-life for the 

majority of non-profits, a competitive, dog-eat-dog 

culture, and declining trust in churches and organized 

religion. These trends together contribute to faith-based 

organizations often viewing each other as rivals. But 

Greer and Horst argue that partnership (and radical 

generosity) is not only the correct posture for faith-

based organizations as it mimics Christ’s call for unity 

among believers, it is also beneficial for faith-based 

organizations. When collaborating, these partnerships 

“leverage each other’s respective strengths and fulfill 

their mission more effectively than they ever could” 

(24) if they worked independently.  

Most of the book is spent on contrasting generous, 

open-handed leaders with those who are lone rangers. 

Greer and Horst argue that leaders who root for their 

rivals believe in a world of abundance and focus on the 

Kingdom, as opposed to leaders who believe in a world 

of scarcity and focus on clan (67). A two-by-two matrix 

is presented and four quadrants delineated with the 

seven spiritual virtues and vices displaying themselves 

in faith-based organizations based on how they view the 

world (in terms of scarcity/abundance) and their 

primary focus (clan/Kingdom) (78).        

For example, the vice of greed displays itself when 

leaders adopt a scarcity and clan-based worldview. 

Leaders of this mindset convince the staff of their faith-

based organizations that there are simply not enough 

resources, time, workers, and so forth to go around. 

The scarcity mindset runs rife among faith-based 

leaders as organizations seek to secure more for their 

clan, even when leaders know, deep down, that other 

organizations have greater needs (111). Faith-based 

leaders, in such circumstances, mimic the rich fool in 

Luke 12, who continuously lays up treasures for 

himself. So how should leaders of faith-based 

organizations respond to other faith-based 

organizations? With generosity of time, praise, and 

‘best practices’ strategies. Greer and Horst go on to 

provide examples of organizations that have embraced 

‘open sourcing’ with their rivals and the unexpected 

benefits in doing so. 

The third focus of the book is its plethora of advice 

to leaders of faith-based organizations interested in 

turning vices into virtues. Among the bits of wisdom 

woven throughout the book are the advice that faith-

based organizations should be willing to publish failed 

reports (to nurture the virtue of humility, 102) and to 

thank donors seven times for every ‘ask’ (to build the 

virtue of contentment, 168). In a chapter on pride and 

humility, Greer and Horst pose five questions that are 

worthwhile for leaders and staff members, perhaps even 

board members, of every faith-based organization to 

answer as they relate to the vice of pride.  



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(1),  Summer 2019 

Kuperus, Book Review  58 

This book is most valuable for practitioners 

working as leaders of faith-based non-profits and 

churches. Although we are told that the latter is the 

audience for the book, in truth, the audience is 

narrower. Evangelical (mainly white) leaders of non-

profits based in the United States will find much that 

resonates in this book, but those who are outside this 

demographic might find portions of the book to be 

judgmental. For example, references to “an unreached 

country half-way around the world” (12) can be just as 

jarring as the phrase ‘undiscovered lands founded by 

European explorers’. If we have steered away from the 

latter phrase, shouldn’t we also eliminate the former?    

Moreover, readers might wonder why the authors 

don’t highlight organizations like the Accord Network 

or CCDA, the ultimate team players in the field of faith-

based global development and community 

development. Sharing time, resources and ‘best 

practices’ epitomizes these organizations – rivalry is not 

the only story among faith-based organizations. Or what 

about the book downplaying (overlooking?) the issue of 

duplication? Generosity and partnership among rival 

organizations are radical, but what if consolidation 

among the numerous micro-enterprise organizations 

serving the Global South occurred? True, unnecessary 

duplication is hardly the mark of faith-based 

organizations alone. Secular non-profits working 

domestically and internationally are also burdened by 

this reality. The wheels of advancing God’s Kingdom as 

it pertains to organizational duplication turn slowly. 

Despite these shortcomings, Rooting for Rivals 

offers plenty of insight for leaders of faith-based 

organizations in the United States. Pursuing Kingdom 

success, not just organizational success, is the calling 

that Greer and Horst outline for their readers. Is it hard 

work? Absolutely, but a focus on collaboration and 

generosity is an affirmative response to Christ’s call for 

unity. It also leads to healthier faith-based organizations 

in the long run – a direction that many faith-based 

organizations would do well to embrace. 

 

 
 

 

 

 

Tracy Kuperus is a professor of Political Science at 

Calvin College and the director of Calvin’s 

International Development Studies program.  Most 

of her research focuses on Southern Africa.   

 

Author email:  tlk5@calvin.edu  
 

 

 

mailto:tlk5@calvin.edu

