I am a resource guy. I am also a leadership development guy. So when I saw this toolkit available from 9Marks about leadership, I was immediately interested. This kit helps with all things church leadership! The 9Marks ministry put this kit together to assist church leaders as they seek to build biblical leadership in their churches. And this resources has it all – articles on elders and deacons, example documents from churches, videos that correspond session topics, a study guide, podcast teaching, downloadable curriculum… wow, very well done! If you are a pastor or church leader looking to improve your elders, deacons, and other leaders, then this is a user-friendly and accessible tool that you can use right away. If you are a church member and you think your pastor would like to know about this, tell him. Perhaps even get a group going to go through all this material.

The kit includes three main tools. It comes with a spiral-bound handbook with 15 sessions of videos, questions, and church document examples on a topic pertaining to church leadership. The kit also comes with a fairly hefty book of articles and sample documents all designed to correspond to the topics of the 15 sessions in the handbook. And the third resource in the toolkit is a six-lesson small group study guide on church leadership designed study the basics of biblical leadership in a group. Each of the six-lessons contains a corresponding audio/podcast that provides further teaching on each subject.

Taking biblical leadership from theology to implementation and practice, the 9Marks Church Leadership Toolkit helps pastors move from unbiblical models of church life to New Testament principles that foster healthy, thriving congregations.

I find the videos to be very well done. They are taught by a variety of authors and pastors with knowledge of the subject. The study guide material is a great introductory resource for church members to use and learn the basics of church leadership. And the book of articles and sample documents is a treasure chest of helpful stuff. The articles are well-written, biblical, practical, and short. You can even download them individually and hand them out to read for the next discussion. The sample documents provide excellent on-the-ground ideas that can be used as models for developing any variety of church documents such as position descriptions, internship programs, class syllabus materials, meeting agendas, policies, bylaws, installation vows, and more. Very helpful!

Here is a list of the session topics from the handbook, each with an excellent corresponding video teaching, articles, and sample documents from churches.

SESSION 1
Biblical Leadership and Church Health
SESSION 2
Elders and Deacons in the Bible
SESSION 3
The Character and Duties of Elders
SESSION 4
Elder-Led Congregationalism
SESSION 5
The Character and Duties of Deacons
SESSION 6
Assessing Your Church’s Readiness for Change
SESSION 7
Finding Faithful Elders and Deacons
SESSION 8
Instructing Your Church on Elders and Deacons
SESSION 9
Raising Up Elders

SESSION 10
Changing Your Church’s Polity
SESSION 11
Installing Elders and Elders’ Meetings
SESSION 12
Supporting Lay Elders
SESSION 13
Curtailing Abusive Leadership
SESSION 14
Installing Deacons and Supervising Deacon
Ministry
SESSION 15
Continuing to Train Elders and Planting Churches with
Elder Leadership