Better Church Elders Episode 4

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Better Church Elders Episode 4: Bringing the Bible into Decision Making

How does the Bible remain the foundational guide for our belief and behaviour as a church? What practical things can we do to keep the Bible central in our leadership?

WATCH

A 13-minute conversation online between Charles Hewlett and John Tucker.

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DISCUSS

As an eldership or board, discuss the following question together after watching the video:

  1. How do you view the bible (individually and together as a group of elders or board members)?
  2. At the moment, do you (personally) feel nourished by ‘The Word’?
  3. When did you last encounter the Living Jesus through Scripture as an eldership?

DO (ACTION)

Here is an activity for your eldership team to complete after watching the video and discussing the questions above:

  1. Take 5 minutes on your own to refection on the last 7 days:

Where or how have you heard God’s Word through scripture?
(Eg: Was it in the worship on Sunday? Was it at a home-group/Lifegroup? Was it in your own personal devotional time? Or maybe through a podcast you listened to on the way to work…)
What have you heard God say in the last 7 days?

  1. Then as a group together:

Is there one thing you would be willing to share with the others in the group? Go around the group, sharing your reflections. Listen for any common themes or threads that come through the group reflections (Eg: signs of nourishment, formation, transformation, challenge, encounter).
Through the Word that you’ve encountered over the last week, has God been speaking to you as a group of Elders?

3. Continue this exercise:

One way to continue this conversation would be to individually conduct a weekly audit over the next month as described above. In your next Elders meeting, take 15 minutes to reflect on how God has been directing you through his Word. As you share those experiences, listen for any themes or patterns that emerge.
Is the Spirit saying something through the Word to you as Elders and a church?

EXTRA (READING)

If you would like to go a little deeper with this topic, John Tucker suggests reading about Lectio Divina as a practice that could be tried with eldership or board groups. He recommends chapter 7 of the book: Eat this book: a conversation in the art of spiritual reading, by Eugene Peterson (2006, Eerdmans Publishing). In fact, John recommends you purchase the book. This reading is provided as a 16-page PDF that can be downloaded by clicking on the link below.

“Ears thou hast dug for me” (Ch 7, Eat this book, Peterson 2006) 

You can purchase the book, Eat this book: a conversation in the art of spiritual reading, by Eugene Peterson (2006, Eerdmans Publishing) online from the following places:

Amazon

The Book Depository