Craig Foster offers:
Individual coaching – In office or via zoom meeting or Skype.
- Initial exploratory session at $110 (incl GST) including some pre reading on the topic most relevant to the enquirer
- Package of 6 coaching sessions: includes relevant resources. cost for package is $660 incl GST.
Ministry team coaching :
- Initial exploratory session 2 hr team facilitation after relevant reading sent Cost $220 if onsite at Neutral Bay. (Increased cost if travelling time more than 30 mins.)
- Then package of 6 team discussion/facilitation sessions. 2 payments of $660 = $1320 incl GST
(if travelling time added for site training – 2 lots of $913 = $1826).
Ministry team seminars
- Afternoon seminars on family systems applications to : Healthy congregations, healthy ministry teams or Becoming a healthier pastor. 3 hrs $330 plus travel time/expenses
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What benefits are there for ministry people in understanding family systems?
Craig Foster:
“I have observed over a number of years the benefits of Bowen family systems theroy for individuals, families and work systems. I believe that many Christian ministry workers are well equipped after Bible College to teach and preach the Word of God and to love their congregations but many are ill equipped to deal with the challenges and complexities they face in their church and family contexts.
Family systems theory is a great tool for ministers to use in their relationships, both at church and in their own families. It is all about relationships and it sits well under God’s high view of relationships as revealed in the Bible.
One of the most useful applications of BFST in community is to understand the variations in functioning amongst people and how this gets expressed. eg different levels of differentiation and absorption of chronic anxiety in one’s family of origin.
Understanding triangles, reciprocal process – such as under and over functioning, the way intensity is managed through emotional fusion and emotional withdrawal are all profound explanations for the functional and relationship stuck-ness that humans predictably get bogged down in. The understanding of raising a person’s functional differentiation through a focus on self-regulation and responsibility as opposed to reacting to others (positively or negatively) provides sound guidelines for contributing to improvements in the health of a relationship system.
Bowen’s extraordinary gathering of 20 plus years of research about predictable patterns of behaviour in human systems adds great value to knowing how to both improve relationships and not to contribute to regressive relationships. In the same way that medical research has revealed much information critical to physical health, data from Bowen family systems theory research and clinical observation may be vital to relational health and the functioning of individuals in relationships.”