Better Church Elders Episode 6

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Better Church Elders Episode 6: Strengthening our Eldership Team

Where do we find new elders? What training will make us even better? How can we support our pastor and staff more?

WATCH

A 16-minute conversation online between Charles Hewlett and Mike Crudge.

Better-Church-Elders-Ep-00-screen-500Better Church Elders Mike Crudge

DISCUSS

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

  1. Brainstorm a bunch of fun learning things to do together as an eldership or board.
  2. What practical things could we do to care for our pastor/s?
  3. Who could we invest in and how? (discipling, and potential future elders or board members).

DO (ACTION)

Here is one activity for your eldership team to complete:

Arrange a time for your families to get together for a meal.

EXTRA (READING)

If you would like to go a little deeper with one of the topics mentioned in the video: getting to know each other through team personality tools, Mike Crudge recommends reading the online PDF: Become Like Jesus While Being Yourself: A discipleship guide for the 16 Myers-Briggs Personality types. This free resource is provided by the Jesus Film Project and includes a link to a free online personality type test. This resource focuses on the strengths and challenges each personality type faces while living out the gospel. From the introduction:

Increasing your awareness of various personality types can help you:

  • Resolve conflict
  • Discover unique strengths in yourself and others
  • Identify gaps in your teams
  • Lead others productively
  • Empathise more effectively
  • Improve your church culture

This 25-page PDF comes from the Jesus Film Project and is available free from their website here:

Become Like Jesus While Being Yourself: A discipleship guide for the 16 Myers-Briggs Personality types

Expert help is available to work with your eldership group or board, such as the examples below, or search the internet for specialists with experience working with church leadership groups:

Nicky Gumbrell: 3D Personality (Auckland, New Zealand, will travel)
Clare Ayers: People Matters (Christchurch, New Zealand)

Clare and Nicky are both certified Personality Type consultants and can assist your eldership team to:

  • Understand your personality preferences and those who differ from you (especially important in relation to decision making)
  • Understand your eldership team preferences (a team analysis revealing your strengths and challenges)
  • Reflect on your faith community and what preferences are catered for within a service of worship and/or activities throughout the week