Elder Training: Gospel Eldership

Post by contributing author, Aaron Morrow.

The following is a short book review for Gospel Eldership by Bob Thune. If you have a minimal attention span, here’s what you need to know: if you want to train & unify your Elders, using this book should be a non-negotiable!

In the industry of Christian publishing, if your book is targeted towards a narrow audience then it’s often challenging to get published by a large publisher. Such is true for a short book like this on training and unifying Elders. That is why there are not 20 books published annually on this subject, even though it is such a vital topic! So don’t let the small publisher of this book fool you because Gospel Eldership is filled with sharp thinking, penetrating questions, and concise writing.

Here’s how the book is organized:

• Introduction: What is an Elder? 
• Lesson #1 - Servant Leadership / Exercise: “Know Thyself” 
• Lesson #2 - A Biblical Approach to Church Leadership / Exercise: False Righteousness
• Lesson #3 - The Primacy of Character / Exercise: Identifying Idols
• Lesson #4 - The Leadership Triangle / Exercise:Leadership Triangle Self-Assessment
• Interlude: The Duties of Elders
• Lesson #5 - Elders Feed the Church / Exercise: The Gospel and Spiritual Disciplines
• Lesson #6 - Elders Lead the Church / Exercise: Examining Your Character
• Lesson #7 - Elders Protect the Church / Exercise: The Gospel and Conflict Resolution
• Lesson #8 - Elders Care for the Church / Exercise: Identifying Pride 
• Lesson #9 - Missional Eldership / Exercise: Mission and Your Heart 
• Lesson #10 - The Temptations of Leadership / Exercise: Identifying Your Temptations

Below are a few of the many strengths of the book.

Gospel-centered 

The center of this book is the gospel and its premise is that believing and applying the truths of the gospel to our hearts is ultimately where all of our spiritual growth emanates from. If this is what you believe, it can often be daunting to think about training and unifying Elders with clarity and precision about what gospel-centeredness means and looks like. That’s where Gospel Eldership comes into play.

This book gently but deeply drills down into the character of an Elder. And at every turn, Thune makes sure that all of an Elder’s character growth flows through the lens of the gospel. It’s really powerful! If your potential or existing Elders don’t understand the value or practicality of the gospel being at the center of their spiritual growth then this is the book to the set the tone for your team.

One more little note, some of us have reservations about reformed theology due to the tone, posture, and emphasis of some guys who are reformed. But even though Thune is reformed in his doctrine, there isn’t a strong whiff of it in this book. Granted, there are reformed underpinnings to many of the things he says, but rest assured that your Elders won’t come away from reading this book talking about reformed theology, and that’s because the gospel is clearly the center of this book.

Practical

There are questions throughout this book for readers to process that are nuanced and inviting. These questions make it quite easy for facilitators to navigate discussions. This is helpful because this book should surely be read in the midst of a small group or one-on-one.  Furthermore, each chapter has a corresponding exercise that helps the gospel penetrate with deepening practicality.

It’s fair to say that each chapter successfully avoids dappling only in the realm of theory. However, it’s important to note that even though this book is largely practical, it certainly isn’t comprehensive. This is why supplementing this book with reading Sticky Teams by Larry Osborne would likely be helpful for your team. For what it’s worth, Sticky Teams is incredibly practical but its primary limitation is its lack of gospel-centeredness.

Short & Readable

Many of the Elders we want to develop and unify are hesitant to read thick books. Some might argue that if someone can’t commit to reading chunky books then how can they have the requisite commitment to be an Elder? But this type of outlook doesn’t seem to leave room for Elder candidates who have different personalities and giftings than the ones that vocational pastors often bring to the table. That’s why a short and readable book like Gospel Eldership is a good middle ground resource that should meet almost everyone where they’re at. The author puts the cookies on the bottom shelf, which is commendable.

You should definitely buy a copy of this book and check it out for yourself!

Gospel + Safety + Time

Post by contributing author, Aaron Morrow.

Pastors should have a framework for helping their church understand how people grow in their spiritual maturity. There are certainly many good and biblical options to use. At our church, the framework we use to help our people understand this is Gospel + Safety + Time.

In order for someone to grow in their spiritual maturity, they need Gospel + Safety + Time. Just like a plant needs water + soil + sunlight in order to grow, what we need is Gospel + Safety + Time.

• If you’re meeting one-on-one with someone to help them grow in their spiritual maturity, you need to be thinking, "What does Gospel + Safety + Time need to look like for this person?"
• If you’re meeting with a small group of women to help them grow in their spiritual maturity, you should be thinking, "What does Gospel + Safety + Time look like for this group? And, how do I create a culture of Gospel + Safety + Time in this particular group?" 
• When it comes to leading your small group, you need to be thinking, "What does it look like to create a culture of Gospel + Safety + Time in the fabric of this particular group?"

Let me briefly explain each one...

GOSPEL

100% of someone’s growth in spiritual maturity ultimately happens by repenting and believing the truths of the gospel.

Some people tend to believe that the gospel only gets you in the front door of salvation and then the rest of your spiritual growth happens through some combination of “tips & tricks,” exhortations to “do better try harder,” becoming more “passionate and committed,” pursuing spiritual disciplines, or getting involved and serving.

However, we know from studying scripture that the way that we grow in our spiritual maturity is by always coming back to the person and work of Jesus and applying the truths of the gospel to all parts of our thinking, feeling, and relating. In this way, the gospel isn’t the first step in a staircase, but rather the hub of a wheel where all the other spokes of our life are connected to it.

When someone says they are “gospel-centered” they are largely trying to make a statement about how the process of sanctification happens. The answer? It happens in the same way that justification happens, through repentance and faith in Christ and orbiting our heart and life around the person and work of Jesus. In this way, both Christians and non-Christians need the same thing.

SAFETY

Safety is about kind of culture and environment that we create in our social relationships. Safety is about having a culture of non-accusation, where no one is pressured or cornered into spiritual maturity, and we pursue spiritual maturity not out of fear of being shamed by others

Instead, we have safety with others so that we can relax and admit what’s truly going on in our lives and hearts. That’s because we are characterized by treating one another with gentleness, respect, and restraint.

Having a culture of safety in our relationships not only helps people relax and open up, but having a culture of safety is also helps point people to the greater reality that safety and refuge are ultimately found in Christ himself. In this way, having a culture of safety in our church is very gospel-centered!

Some of us grew up in spiritual environments that believed, in one way or another, that having an unsafe environment was both spiritual and mature. But this isn’t reflective of the gospel, and common sense tells us that this isn’t how people grow into maturity.

TIME

I don’t meet many people who grow in spiritual maturity quickly or rapidly. If they do, that’s great! But just think about how much time it’s taken you to grow in maturity, and how much growing you still need to do!

When I was in my 20’s I think I believed that some people are complicated, and some people aren’t. But the older I’ve become, the more I think that everyone is complicated. The more I get to know myself the more I know how complicated I am! Complicated people like us need time and space to evaluate our lives and apply the truths of the gospel to the deep levels of our heart. Gospel-centered growth takes time.

And this kind of deep change often happens in non-linear ways. That’s because we’re all complicated. We all need time to change, because spiritual maturity doesn’t happen by setting deadlines for people.

ARE YOU FLEXIBLE?

In saying all this, I hope you’re catching the drift that I’m encouraging you to think about Gospel + Safety + Time from the perspective of a leader. Because Gospel + Safety + Time is the kind of stuff that a leader always needs to be thinking about! Furthermore, leaders who think about Gospel + Safety + Time need to be flexible and adaptable.

For example:

• What does it look like for the truths of the gospel come to bear on this particular person’s life or this particular group of people? 
• What does it look like to communicate and model the truths of the gospel to this particular person or group of people?
• What does it look like to create an environment of safety for this particular person or group of people? Because some people are more straight-forward than others, so safety doesn’t look the same for everyone.
• What does it look like to create an environment where this particular person or group is given amble time and space to apply the truths of the gospel to their lives? This looks different for various types of people, too.

QUESTIONS

Here are some questions for you and your leaders to think about:

• In what ways have you seen the principles of Gospel + Safety + Time play a role in your spiritual growth? 
• When it comes to Gospel + Safety + Time, which one do you tend to struggle with the most as a leader? Why? 
• What truths of the gospel do you need to believe in regards to your struggles in the previous question? 

One objection that sometimes arrises is that the principles of safety and time don’t always apply to situations that require warnings, hard conversations, or even church discipline. This is where 1Thessalonians 5:14 is instructive for us. In this passage, Paul urges the church in Thessalonica to “warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” Warning someone is about having hard and difficult conversations with people. And Paul says that even in the midst of warning those who are idle and disruptive, we are to be patient with them. At its core, this is Paul’s way of urging them to apply the principles of safety and time even when hard conversations are needed. In other words, Gospel + Safety + Time should always characterize our relationships. 

The Gospel Comes with a House Key

I'm at the end of the audio book The Gospel Comes with a House Key and I can't recommend it enough. Rosaria Butterfield wrote this book to  share how she and her husband sought to live their lives on mission through the vehicle of hospitality. The audiobook is really interesting because Rosaria is the reader, which gives the book a unique personal feel, especially as she sings the Psalms shared in several of her stories. This could be a great tool for giving your people an illustration of how it is biblical hospitality can and should function in the life of the church and the rhythms of the daily life for a Christian.

Church Planting IS a Gospel Initiative

Steve Timmis, the Director of the Acts 29 Network in Western Europe, reminds us in this video of the root initiative that leads us to plant churches.

Ask Steve: Why is it important to see church planting as a gospel-initiative? from Acts 29 Europe on Vimeo.

We Are All Addicts

Addiction is a worship disorder we can all relate to. Are we satisfied in God or do we turn to other things as our source of comfort, escape, or purpose? In some measure we all know what it’s like being addicts. Though our addictions may not be as dangerous, or obvious, or public, we have all struggled. For some of us, God’s grace has matured us in such a way that we’ve been freed from some of the deep entanglements we once had with certain areas of sin.

I just finished the book Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave by Edward Welch. Though it primarily references people struggling with addictions like alcoholism, it is a book that would greatly benefit anyone struggling with any kind of addiction. One of the things I enjoyed most was the way the book synthesized contemporary therapy-speak with a Biblical understanding of disease and slavery to sin. I now view this book as my counseling handbook as I meet with people struggling with different areas of sin. I pray many will read it and learn how to turn from their idols and embrace the transformation available only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.