Re: Electing New Elders -- Qohelet Web Ministry

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Date Posted: 09:47:06 06/10/02 Mon
Author: Jay Dee
Subject: Re: Electing New Elders
In reply to: Melissa Burke 's message, "Electing New Elders" on 18:14:25 06/07/02 Fri

Hello,

You bring up some good questions here. First of all, you said,

"Currently my husband and I have been discussing whether or not to "place Membership" at the church we've been attending. We moved here last July and have been faithfully attending and participating and serving since then.

We had decided not to because we felt that we're already members of God's Kingdom and our being faithful to that particular congregation should "identify" us with them. The article I read on this website concerning the same issue put a lot of our thoughts into words!

Now to my question. I was having this particular discussion with some other women - some who happen to be spouses of some of the leadership at our church. They wanted to know when we would be placing membership. I said we're already "members". So that led into a wonderful discussion about being members of Christ's Body and so forth. Basically I said no, we won't be "coming forward" during service to do this. We're involved in different ministries - we're faithful attenders and so forth. "

I see the article you are talking about and I understand where it is coming from. Yes, you are members of the Lord's kingdom. It would be good to "make yourself known" to the elders and the congregation, if they have not already asked you. You don't have to go forward, just tell the elders and have them announce it to the congregation. Tell them you are members of the church, and this particular congregation is where you want to call "home" and work and minister with. This is what they should do with all new members. It would be nice to start a tradition of a "welcome tea" or something to that effect for all new members.

So one woman was very concerned about this. She, too, has never placed membership with this particular church because she's just gone there for a long time and is a Christian and just assumed she was a "member". So, the spouse of a leader at the church was saying that even if you aren't a member of that church you will still be treated as though you were - in the directory, pastoral care, etc. The only difference would be that we can't vote on different issues - such as voting for elders.

I see what you mean. If someone has been attending for some time, and has even been involved in the ministries of the church, and the elders don't know whether she is a "member" or not, then shame on them for not taking initiative for at least recognizing who is in their flock. Shepherding the flock is their first priority, and they should be aware of who the flock is, know them by name, and aware of those "hanging around the flock," if they are baptized believers, guess what? They are part of the flock, and the shepherds should make that known to them. They fall under the protection of the shepherds as well as their spiritual leadership and guidance.

"Okay now to the question - why are we voting on elders? I'm a little confused over this issue and wanted to know what your experiences have been. In our last church they did vote on men who had been put before the congregation after having question and answer sessions. I never thought about it until now. My thought is that if the man is qualified to be an elder and he desires to be an elder - why are we voting? Who determines if he is qualified? Other elders? How do you really know through question and answer sessions?"

This is always a difficult question. The Bible does not "explicitly" go through the process of how to select an elder. We are given some models for selection, but not a definitive command. Acts 6 shows how the people went about selecting some men for a specific task. That process is a good one. Paul told Timothy and Titus to "appoint elders" in the churches. The instructions that Paul gives for the qualifications of elders and the associated instructions are not something new and unique. All ancient tribal societies and cities had "elders" with these sorts of qualifications.

I noticed on this web site a while back that there are some articles (or sermons?) dealing with eldership and even the selection of elders. You might try finding those and looking at those.

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Replies:

Re: Electing New Elders -- Melissa Burke, 18:25:21 06/12/02 Wed