ElderLink Atlanta 2008 Yesterday my wife and I were blessed to attend ElderLink Atlanta 2008. This has become an annual event hosted at the North Atlanta Church of Christ. Saturday was the third time my wife and I have attended.

The program opened with Earl Lavender speaking on the problem of pain. One of the responsibilities of elders is to prepare the church for suffering. By helping people to glorify God in the midst of suffering, we help them understand the meaning of their trials. Christianity is not always a comfortable life. Paul was willing to share in the suffering of Christ when necessary in order to bring glory to God. We should prepare people so they will be ready when they encounter suffering.

John York spoke about leading relationally rather than judicially. Often elders govern like a supreme court, hearing hard cases and announcing verdicts. In churches of Christ, our view of scripture has been judicial / legal. The hermeneutic "command, example, and necessary inference" is a legal approach to scripture, deriving laws from the text. Instead, we should read the scriptures from a relational perspective. Jesus taught us to pray to "Our Father" in heaven. The concepts of being "In Christ," "the bride of Christ", "the body of Christ" etc are all relational concepts, and are central to scripture and to the church. The scriptures emphasize relationship, but taking a legal approach to the scriptures causes us to miss much of that.

During the breakout sessions, I attended the two sessions on how elders should handle sexual abuse cases in the church. Among the shocking statistics we learned, 20% of girls and 18% of boys in the US have been abused sometime in their childhood. There are an estimated 39 million survivors of sexual abuse in America. We learned how one congregation dealt with a sexual abuse situation, including the need to take care of the victim, the victim's family, the perpetrator, the church, the government, and the church leaders themselves. The sad truth is that we will all probably have to deal with this issue at some point.

John Siburt spoke on the relationship between ministers and elders, and the "tools of the trade" that each group uses to carry out their responsibilties: worship, conversation with scripture, spiritual disciplines, stories (ours and those of others), and relationships.

One of the highlights of the day for me was meeting Jay Guin. I've enjoyed reading his blog and comment on it frequently here. Among other things, I learned that I have been pronouncing his name wrong! (it's pronounced "Gyoo-win" or something close to that, not "Gwin.") We talked about blogs and opportunities to influence the church toward a better place through writing. I wish we had more time to talk!

I also was blessed to encounter a brother from my college days (just after the earth cooled...) who is now an elder in Raleigh. We had lost contact over the years, and it was great to reconnect. He traveled with another brother we both knew from college, whom I have seen at past ElderLinks. It is encouraging to see what God has done in these brothers' lives over the years.

I very much appreciate the North Atlanta Church of Christ for hosting this event, and also Abilene Christian University for making this event available. For me, the opportunity to learn from church leaders in other places is invaluable. The mature perspective and practical experience of the speakers at every ElderLink helps me to carry out my responsibilities in a better way. I need a lot more of this kind of thing!

Labels: Elders

  ¶ 5:01 AM  0 Comments Links to this post

  Elders On one matter, the vast majority of churches of Christ are in agreement: a church cannot have only one elder. If the congregation does not have two or more men meeting the biblical qualifications, that church does not appoint elders. And if, for whatever reason, the number of elders in a congregation is reduced until only one remains, that individual can no longer serve as an elder.

While this is a reasonable conclusion to draw from the scriptures, I believe it is an incomplete picture. Our understanding of the scriptures on this subject (and on many others) is tainted by our modern preconceptions about the church. Further, our understanding is clouded by our reaction against practices of other groups that we believe to be wrong. As a result, while we have very definite and strong convictions about the subject, our convictions are not completely aligned with scripture.

The basic idea of a plurality of elders comes from passages like these:

Act 14:21-23 They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

Act 20:17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.

Php 1:1-2 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers [elders] and deacons: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1Ti 5:17 The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

It is apparent in each of those cases that there were more than one elder in each of these churches.

Let's consider another passage:

Tit 1:5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

Here, Paul instructed Titus to appoint elders in every town. One might reasonably ask whether these elders were associated with a single congregation or with multiple congregations within that town. J. W. McGarvey comments on this passage:

Titus was left at Crete to ordain Elders in every city, which is equivalent to ordaining them in every church, because there was but one church in each city.

Later he states:

It is true that in these cities the disciples often had several meeting places, but there is no evidence of separate and independent organizations.

It is easily proven that first century cities often had multiple congregations. Romans 16 mentions at least three separate house churches (verses 5,14,15), along with numerous individuals who were not included in any of those three groups. The churches in Jerusalem, Antioch, and Ephesus were especially large, perhaps tens of thousands of members. It is quite likely that those groups seldom if ever assembled together as a single group after reaching such large numbers. The same may have been true in other cities as well.

The church in Jerusalem is particularly instructive on this question. Consider the following:

Act 21:17-19 When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

When Paul arrived, he found all of the Jerusalem elders meeting together with James. That is very significant, since verse 20 tells us the church was exceedingly large:

Act 21:20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.

Verse 20 speaks of how many "myriads" of Jews have believed -- literally, how many "tens of thousands." Suffice it to say that the Jerusalem church was huge, by modern standards. It seems completely infeasible for so many to assemble together regularly for Sunday worship in ancient Jerusalem. Communion alone would have been a logistical nightmare -- not to mention such mundane concerns as restroom facilities (without indoor plumbing).

So the Jerusalem church was really made up of many smaller congregations. There must have been many elders in Jerusalem, but no elder could have served as shepherd for every one of those thousands of disciples. Instead, they would have divided the work so that each of the available elders could focus on a manageable group of disciples.

Yet, when Paul arrived, he found the elders meeting together with James. And the group of elders together addressed the controversy of Paul's arrival and asked Paul to participate in some Jewish purification rites. In their shepherding role, they must have divided the labor. But in their overseeing role, they made a joint decision.

Today, when we read these passages, we naturally picture a church like our modern-day congregations -- a few hundred at most, in a modern church building, with a group of elders who serve only the people who assemble in that one place. In many cities there may be a dozen or more of these churches of Christ, each of which acts like it is the only church in the city. The leaders of those different congregations might get together on rare occasion for a fellowship breakfast, but you can be sure that the business of city-wide congregational oversight will not be on the agenda. We hold our autonomy dearly.

What if we acknowledged that there is one church of Christ in our city? Could we have one eldership in the city? Could we jointly oversee a collection of smaller congregations within the city?

James wrote to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations -- believing Jews in many remote places. In chapter 5 he instructed them:

Jas 5:14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.

What would one of these Jews do if he needed to call elders, but there were none in his remotely situated house church? Wouldn't he call for the nearest elders he could find? Would those elders refuse to come because the sick one was a member of a small autonomous congregation lacking its own elders? Or was James only providing instructions for those lucky enough to be in a congregation that had its own elders?

In Acts 15, we have another instructive incident:

Act 15:1-2 Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

The church in Antioch sent to Jerusalem for an answer to their dispute, even though they already had an apostle present. They specifically went to hear, not only from the apostles, but also from the elders in Jerusalem. As we know, the apostles and elders met to discuss the matter, and that same group wrote a response to the church in Antioch. No dominant elder nor apostle made the decision alone--despite the presence of numerous men possessing the gift of prophecy. The decision reached was a group decision.

Furthermore, the decision was delivered to many other congregations in the region besides Antioch:

Act 16:4 As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey.

The elders in Jerusalem participated in a group decision which the congregations in the region were expected to obey. This incident sets a precedent for elders in one church to provide support for congregations in their region who did not have their own elders.

What should we make of all this?

First, it appears that our concept of a church is quite different from the biblical concept. There really is only one church, and parts of it meet in many places. In each city, a group of elders should oversee the church (singular) in that city. Their role can even extend beyond the city to support nearby congregations that lack elders.

For the purpose of shepherding, the work can and must be divided up into manageable portions. A shepherd must know his sheep. But for oversight, there needs to be a plurality. The group of elders should work together to come to decisions. No single elder is the emperor of his own little kingdom. Instead, the elders hold one another accountable to the high standards of the eldership, and make decisions as a group. That is the biblical example.

We who serve as elders need to take down the barriers between our congregations. We have been appointed by God to oversee the welfare of His church. We are only doing a limited part of that job.

Labels: Elders

  ¶ 6:11 PM  9 Comments Links to this post

  Elderlink 2007 On Saturday I attended my second Elderlink at the North Atlanta Church of Christ. What a fantastic program ACU has put together! The highlight of the event for me was the two-session keynote message by Jack Reese, author of The Body Broken. I highly recommend that book to anyone in the ICOC as well as the mainline churches of Christ. A number of folks in my congregation have read the book at my recommendation, and I am not aware of a single person who could read the book with dry eyes. Dr. Reese reaches the heart as well as the head as he identifies some of the deepest needs in both of these fellowships. If you care about the church, your heart cannot help but be moved by this book. How much more moving it was, to hear Dr. Reese in person on Saturday as he poured out his heart on these matters!

But there were many other inspiring and practical presentations. Everything was done excellently. I wish I could spend more time around these men. I need what they can convey.

Another high point of the day was encountering two men from my past. Both were converted in the same campus ministry as me, back in the 1970's. Both are now serving as elders in mainline churches in NC. It was a moving, meaningful reunion. All together, a fabulous event.

Labels: Elders

  ¶ 11:00 AM  2 Comments Links to this post

  Shepherding Today I am blogging about the question that is on my mind more and more lately: How are shepherds supposed to take care of the Lord's church?

Without a doubt, all who have been called to be shepherds find this to be a sobering question. God clearly wants a job to be done, and to be done right, diligently, consistently, and persistently. The people he appointed to this work had better be doing it when he returns! The church which he purchased with the blood of his Son is the most important thing in this world. When God appointed men to take care of his church, he gave them a staggering responsibility. Who is up to such a task?

I spend a lot of time thinking, praying, and studying about this question--both in the scriptures and in extra-biblical sources. Many books have been written on the topic, and I have read a stack of them. Reading sometimes opens my eyes to new aspects of the task, or to techniques that others have found useful. It always humbles me as I realize how much I have to grow and learn if I am to properly fill this role.

As I ponder these responsibilities, a few points continually stand out:

1) Be there. Shepherds must be with the sheep, or they cannot do their job. That requires a lot more than being at Sunday and midweek services. It means sharing not only the gospel, but my life as well. It means feeding them publicly and also house to house. It means knowing the sheep. It means knowing the condition of the flock, identifying the needs, and taking steps to address them. Pray for me in this area!

2) Feed them. That means teaching the Bible, and showing them how to apply it to their lives. It is my conviction that the local congregation should teach the whole Bible to the church in a reasonable length of time. They shouldn't have to go to seminary to hear the whole counsel of God. All scriptures are inspired and useful. When all of the scriptures are taken together, they thoroughly prepare the church for every good work. When parts are left out, the sheep have a deficient diet and will not be healthy.

3) Protect them. Paul charged the Ephesian elders with protecting the flock from the wolves who would arise. In particular, he warned them that some would try to divide the sheep and lead some away. Maintaining unity within the flock is a crucial responsibility of the shepherds.

4) Rescue and restore them. God rebuked the shepherds of Israel in Ezek 34 for not retrieving the lost sheep. He said he himself would seek them, rescue them, bind their wounds and make them safe. That is what the shepherds of Israel should have been doing, but were not.

5) Be examples to the flock. One of the greatest needs in most churches is for examples of spiritual men. Many of the problems in churches can be traced back to men who are not being spiritual. The church cannot be strong without husbands who treat their wives in a godly way, and fathers who train their children in godliness. Those who lead must set the example in these areas, and inspire others to follow.

Without God, nobody would be equal to this task. Certainly I would not be! Pray that God will help me to fulfill the role he has given me.

Labels: Elders

  ¶ 7:18 PM  0 Comments Links to this post

  Practical Thoughts from ElderLink Several hundred elders, ministers, and wives attended Saturday's ElderLink program in Atlanta. Elders from at least five states in the southeast attended, and at least one from as far away as Colorado. The conference program included an opening and closing address by Randy Lowry (a two-part presentation titled "Five Strategies to Manage Difficult Moments"), along with four timeslots for breakout sessions, with four classes in each timeslot. The classes were all two-part presentations so that, if you went to both parts of each presentation, each attendee had an opportunity to hear two two-part topics. I found Randy Lowry's presentations to be especially practical and relevant, so I will outline it here.

As the title suggests, there were five points of advice for handling conflict.

1) Think Chinese. In the Chinese written language the word for crisis is made up of two parts: danger and opportunity. The advice here is to look for the opportunity in the crisis.

2) Focus on the process. Rather than going straight to the answer (my instinct!) he advised us to focus on the process for arriving at a solution. "The right answer at the wrong time, presented in the wrong way, could be the wrong answer." He pointed out that Jesus cares about process in conflict resolution (Matt 18).

3) Go below the line. He pictured the conflict resolution space as a piece of paper with a horizontal line drawn in the middle. Above the line are the issues and positions. Below the line are the interests of the various parties. Instead of simply identifying the issues and deciding on our position on the issues, we should draw out the interests that are motivating each participant in the dispute, and to find ways to satisfy those interests.

4) Take care of the three things all parties need. Each needs to be satisfied with:

• the product (result / decision)
• the process
• the people (how they were treated)

5) Embrace God's promises
Jesus prayed for unity in John 17, for the benefit of the world. There won't be complete uniformity nor agreement on every subject. But there needs to be peace, and God will bring it about.

2 Chron 7:14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

This was an incredibly practical talk for me personally. I found myself needing to apply it within less than 24 hours after hearing the class! I sincerely appreciate the folks from ACU, Lipscomb, and the hosts at North Atlanta Church of Christ for providing this encouraging and practical resource in our area.

Labels: Elders

  ¶ 7:11 AM  0 Comments Links to this post

  ElderLink Atlanta This Saturday, many of the elders, ministers, and their wives from the ministries of the ACOC will be attending the ElderLink program in Atlanta. ElderLink is a ministry of Abilene Christian University. From their website:

Perhaps you have heard a common theme from elders: "I've been asked to serve my congregation as an elder, but no one has ever taught me how to do this, and there are few resources to help me." Many of our finest, most committed church leaders feel fatigued, frustrated, or inadequate for the enormous responsibilities they face in serving as elders.

A ministry from ACU called ElderLink addresses this serious need. The mission of the ElderLink ministry is to equip, encourage and link those who lead and serve as elders in Churches of Christ through collaborative relationships, informative resources and shared learning opportunities.

Saturday's ElderLink forum in Atlanta is being hosted by the North Atlanta Church of Christ.

I am very excited about this opportunity to learn and to build relationships with other elders in the Atlanta area. Please pray that many good things come from this forum.

Labels: Elders

  ¶ 7:25 AM  2 Comments Links to this post