Implementing a Training Ministry for Developing Healthy Church Leadership at New Haven Baptist Church, Flint, Michigan

Abstract

Chapter 1 provides the context, rationale, purpose, goals, and research methodology, as well as the definitions, limitations, and delimitations of the project. Chapter 2 examines the particular texts of the Old and New Testaments which bring light to the purpose of the project. This chapter also focuses on the primary results of examining those texts. Chapter 3 details the primary results from the standpoint of history and today’s culture. This chapter also interacts with the four main approaches to church government. After chapter 1 presented the contextual factors for the project, chapter 2 surveyed the biblical material in both the Old and New Testaments, and chapter 3 looked at the forms or models of church government, a pattern began to emerge for the church’s leadership team. It was concluded that, in the Bible and in history, there was a plurality of elders in leadership positions. Chapter 4 then describes the course based on the conclusion of plurality of eldership with a primary leader, and this theme was taught in six lessons to the leaders and potential leaders of the church. Finally, chapter 5 evaluates the project’s purpose, goals, strengths, weaknesses, and what could have been done differently. Included in this chapter are sundry personal and theological reflections as well as several strategies going forward.