Here are two highly recommended books on social action, both from the practical point of view. The first is from the Midwest Academy, a Chicago-based social change activist school that since the 1970s has been training organizers for communities, unions, women's groups and other social movements.

Organizing for Social Change: Midwest Academy: Manual for Activists by Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall and Steve Max.

The Activist's Handbook: A Primer Updated Edition with a New Preface by Randy Shaw

"[I]f the fundamentals of good work excellence and ethics are in harmony, we lead a personally fulfilling and socially rewarded life."
Good Work: Where Excellence and Ethics Meet
Howard Gardner, Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, William Damon
Paperback 2002 / Hardcover 2001

Many religious organizations have adopted Carver Policy Governance® as a model for their boards. The Policy Governance® model is, according to its originators, "the world’s only complete, universal theory of governance—a conceptually coherent paradigm of principles and concepts (not of structure)." It is not simply a quick-fix for part of the organization -- it changes the whole organization. The theory "informs board planning, mission, committee work, agenda control, budgeting, reporting, CEO evaluation, management relationships, fiduciary responsibility, and all other aspects of the board job."

Some key books using Family Systems Theory to look at congregational life and development:

Healthy Congregations: A Systems Approach
Peter L. Steinke - 1996

How Your Church Family Works: Understanding Congregations as Emotional Systems
Peter L. Steinke - 1993

Creating a Healthier Church: Family Systems Theory, Leadership and Congregational Life
Ronald W. Richardson - 1996

Edwin H. Friedman's fables illustrate the sticky issues of leadership and family relationships and can help to trigger recognition and problem-solving.

Friedman's Fables (with booklet)
Edwin H. Friedman
Audio Cassette (abridged) also available

Friedman's full-scale treatment of family systems - specifically written with clergy in mind but useful for parents, counselors, leaders and others as well
Generation to Generation
Edwin H. Friedman
Hardcover - 1985

The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
Peter M. Senge / Hardcover / Published 1990 -- Audio Cassettes / Published 1994 -- Paperback / Published 1994

The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization
Peter M. Senge (Editor), et al / Paperback / Published 1994

Web site for more info on this series and concept: http://www.fieldbook.com

Also see: What is organizational learning?

A classic:

The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action
Donald A. Schon / Paperback / Published 1984

David Bohm got it started, but Dialogue as a technique for talking together has reached more widely.

On Dialogue
by David Bohm, Lee Nichol (Editor)
published 1996

Peter Senge is a leading organizational consultant whose ideas about individuals in organizations I find attractive and consonant with my deepest beliefs about human worth and dignity.

The Dance of Change: The Challenges to Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations
by Peter M. Senge, Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, George Roth, Rick Ross, Bryan Smith
published 1999
On sustaining change in learning organizations

The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization
by Peter M. Senge (Editor), Art Kleiner (Editor), Charlotte Roberts, Rick Ross, Bryan Smith
Practical guide, with help in designing exercises and activities to promote the five disciplines of a learning organization

The Fifth Discipline
by Peter M. Senge
published 1994
The original book that got the movement started.

Also:

Ten Steps to a Learning Organization
by Bernard Saunders, Peter Kline
published 1998

Leadership Without Easy Answers
Ronald A. Heifetz / Hardcover / Published 1994

Heifetz balances a concern with ethics and effectiveness in leading organizations. Challenging approaches to issues of authority, democracy, and the courage required to tackle the real problems facing an organization make this one of the best books on leadership. Useful for volunteer and professional leaders of today's congregations, social change organizations, other not for profit organizations, as well as for profit-making organizations concerned about long term issues and not just the short term:

An inspiring and practical guide for anyone leading (formally or informally) an organization in changing times.

Another book on leadership:
Leadership
James MacGregor Burns / Paperback / Published 1985

Leadership Equation:
Leadership, Management, and the Myers-Briggs
Lee Barr, Norma Barr
Paperback / Published 1989

Developing Leaders:
Research and Applications in Psychological Type and Leadership Development:
Integrating Reality and Vision, Mind and Heart
Catherine Fitzgerald (Editor), Linda K. Kirby (Editor)
Hardcover / Published 1997

The Leader of the Future : New Visions, Strategies, and Practices for the Next Era
(Drucker Foundation Future Series)
Frances Hesselbein (Editor), et al
Hardcover / Published 1996
Paperback / Published 1997

Managing the Non-Profit Organization : Practices and Principles
Peter F. Drucker
Paperback / Published 1992
or Audio Cassette / Published 1992

Personality Type and Religious Leadership
By Roy M. Oswald and Otto Kroeger
Paperback
(1988)

In this Alban Institute publication, the ideas of personality type are applied to religious leadership (ministry, etc.). To believe that any religious leader can be all things to all people is a recipe for disaster: each of us has preferences and strengths. Many different personality types make excellent religious leaders, but each will have its unique strengths and difficulties. The book's now a few years old, but it's still quite relevant to understanding congregational dynamics.

Some currently-hot books from Amazon.com on leadership:

Some current books on the hot topic of organizational learning: