Better Church Elders

A New Zealand made online training resource for Eldership groups and Church Boards.

As this series approaches its 3-year anniversary the Centre for Lifelong Learning have decided to make this freely available. Thank you to all who have purchased this resource – you have enabled more things like this to be produced.

This is a series of teaching videos (15-20 minutes each) about Eldership, with robust group discussion questions included in a study guide for each video, a suggested ‘action’ to do as an eldership or board, and a reading as an ‘extra’. The video content is provided in an interview format led by Charles Hewlett (New Zealand Baptist National Leader) with experienced practitioners: viewers have the opportunity to hear from multiple voices adding to this topic of forming healthy eldership and church board teams.

The idea is for Eldership/Board groups to work through these training videos together, perhaps one a month for six months: setting aside 40 minutes at the start of normal Elders meetings to watch a video and discuss the questions: applying the content to their local context. Another approach would be to have a retreat day together (perhaps with some other church eldership groups), where all videos are watched, interspersed with interaction and discussion. The video series could also be a resource for prospective elders and board members to watch before they join the team.

Watch below, or in the ‘Video’ section of the Baptist NZ app which can also be air-played to smart TVs.

The Framework

Each training session has the following four components:

• WATCH: a 15-20 minute conversation online with experienced practitioners.
• DISCUSS: 3 questions from the study guide.
• DO (ACTION): 1 activity for your eldership team to complete.
• EXTRA (READING): 1 chapter or article of reading to go a little deeper.