“Clergy and church workers are often facing difficult relationships at home and in their organisation, challenges in dealing with difficult people, no way of thinking about the congregation as a system and no guidelines for thinking oneself out of emotional intensities that arise in the congregation.” R Gilbert MD. “The Cornerstone Concept.”

Part 1 morning program-Systems theory and the congregation

• The congregation as a system
• Key systems sensitivities – togetherness and separateness
• Appreciating the continuum of emotional/relational maturity. Bowen scale of differentiation of self.
• Triangles in congregations...and the spread of interlocking triangles.
• Relationship fusion
• Relationship cut-off
• How can theory be used to avoid major system derailments 

Part 2= afternoon program: Systems theory and the ministry team. Exploring systems leadership.

• The relationship interface between ministry team and congregation
• How to manage the pull to take sides/triangle around congregational disputes
• The anxiety forces in ministry teams- fusion, emotional cut off, triangles.
• When emotional anxiety gets cloaked in biblical justifications. How to tease out the difference between biblical principles and anxious relationship processes.
• What is systems leadership?
• How to work on relational maturity.
• Being realistic and compassionate about gaps in relational/emotional maturity. (implications for selecting new team members and their fit for the relational demands of ministry)

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