The Elder S Handbook

Serving your church as an elder is an important task, but it can seem daunting. Whether you're a first-timer or have years of experience, The Elder's Handbook (a revised and updated version of Guiding God's People in a Changing World) will help you carry out your ministry with compassion, grace, and effectiveness. In this book you'll learn how to minister sensitively to your parishioners, including those who are ill, grieving, or in trouble, how to work with your church council and consistory, how to make home visits comfortable and meaningful, how to deal with conflict effectively, and much more!

Pastors and church leaders are in need of mature, godly elders to ensure church health, but the training of elders is often entirely missing or badly neglected. What if there were a process to proactively call and train elders? The New Elder's Handbook is designed to equip elders with the knowledge, character, and skills the office calls for. It takes church leaders through the development of a vision for ministry, recruitment of elders to carry out that vision, and specific, biblical training, providing a way to be intentional about developing elders.

This groundbreaking resource presents a wealth of findings and perspectives previously unseen in the LGBT literature. Its focus on psychological, sociopolitical and care delivery issues affecting LGBT elders reveals both the nuanced interplay between diverse sources of identity and multiple sources of stigma and discrimination. Specific chapters highlight challenges and resiliencies impacting subpopulations (e.g., racial groups, veterans, immigrants), examine employment and advocacy issues, discuss later-life concerns in context and offer guidelines for relevant, ethical practice. Contributors represent a wide range of fields from psychiatry and gerontology to public health and public policy, reflecting the scope and needs of this diverse and complex population. Among the topics in the Handbook: Family relationships of older LGBT adults. The intersection of identities: race, age, sexuality and care network. Bisexuality: an invisible community among LGBT elders. Implications of the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. No money, no work and you're old. Disabilities among LGBT elders: responses of medicine, public health, rehabilitation and social work. Handbook of LGBT Elders is an essential reference for mental health professionals, psychologists and social workers who work with the LGBT community and the elderly, as well as researchers interested in the LGBT community and aging.

Lester DeKoster is the retired editor of The Banner, weekly news magazine of the Christian Reformed Church. He is the former Director of Libraries for Calvin College and Seminary. He currently writes and publishes books on Christian living from the Reformed Calvinist perspective. Gerard Berghoef is the retired President of Widdicomb Furniture Company and a long time elder in the Christian Reformed Church.

The Elder in action is Part II of our Elder series and outlines what is expected of elders and asks some difficult questions to enable the elder to examine his motives, purpose, and efficacy. Using real-life scenarios, The Elder in action examines the struggles and challenges to serve in the office of Elder. Each section concludes with reflective questions from key relevant biblical passages.

In this "how-to" book, Paul Winslow and Dorman Followwill offer scripturally sound, hands-on advice for elder-led churches. The reader of Christ in Church Leadership can rest assured knowing this book holds a wealth of helpful information that is rooted in God's Word and based on years of commitment to and experience with an elder-led form of church-governance. Chapters include: Organization, Eldering Not Deaconing, Discipleship, Stewarding the Finances, and much more.