Elder Training: ElderLink in Atlanta, March 21-22

I’m a longtime advocate for elder training, and one of the few formal training opportunities found in the Churches of Christ is the ElderLink program jointly sponsored by Abilene Christian University and Lipscomb University.

The program is offered once per year in four locations, three in Texas and one in Atlanta.

I’m a big fan. Most years, the entire eldership of my congregation makes the trek to Atlanta (3 hours or so away), checks into a hotel, eats supper together, and then attends the Friday night and Saturday day-long sessions. We always learn something that makes the trip worthwhile.

This year, the Atlanta program is offered March 21-22 and has a great looking line up of classes and lectures by Randy Harris, Scott Sager, and others.

There are elderships that travel from as far  away as Arkansas and West Virginia to attend this program, and yet each year I’m disappointed that the program doesn’t grow as its quality deserves. I guess we in the Churches of Christ just don’t have a continuing education culture. Maybe we think we have it all figured out?

My recommendation is that the elders attend with their spouses and with their pulpit minister (and his wife). The pulpit minister should be working so closely with the elders that his absence is unthinkable. The spouses need to understand what their husbands are up against and need to be on the same page with their husbands. (The wives often do as much or more pastoral work than their husbands.)

It’s inexpensive ($99 if you preregister; $168 for a couple) and conveniently scheduled.

Ministers: you should encourage your elders to attend. You may have to push pretty hard. Many elders humbly refuse to accept benefits paid for by the church treasury, wanting the church’s resources used for anyone other than themselves. This is humble but mistaken. The church needs its leaders to have these sorts of experiences. It’s not for the elders; it’s for the church.

You should attend with the understanding that, just as is true of the lectureships, not every event is going to be a homerun for your church. Topics are limited and change year by year. But if you’ll discipline yourself to make them all, over the years, your ministry will be deeply enriched and the church will be much better for it.

I should add that it’s also a great experience just to hang out with elders from so many other churches around the country. These are impressive men, and the hallway and lunchtime conversations with leaders of other churches are often every bit as instructive and encouraging as the formal presentations are.

An alternative to the ElderLink programs are the lectureships put on the universities. These are generally free and often last longer and have far more classes than ElderLink. Many even have an “elder track” just for church leaders. They are usually truly excellent.

Budgetary and time constraints may limit your elders to just one or the other, and the better choice may depend as much on geography, dates, and travel time as anything else.

The point is that elders should — somehow or other — seek out continuing education opportunities, and preachers should push their elders to do this, and church members should do so as well. The elders need to feel that they have permission to leave the flock behind for a few days, travel out of town, and spend a little of the church’s money on improving their skills.

We desperately need to change the culture of the Churches of Christ so that elders feel this need and members feel that the money and time is well spent. In fact, if we could make just this one change, many other good things would start to fall in place.