Okay -
Shalla an I just missed a wonderful evening with the Van Horns and Campbells and possibly the Roths. Am I disappointed? Just a little...because I had the pleasure of attending yet another poorly attended, unscripted, meeting of elders, pastors and directors-AKA...shepherding meeting.
Don't ask me how the shepherding meeting got started...with good intentions I'm sure. Probably something about caring well for the flock of the church. Blah, Blah, Blah...
I actually thought about walking out.
Why?
Because only one third of the said group actually showed up to meet. Now, I there are extenuating circumstances. I only wish that I thought visiting friends was valid enough myself. But one third of the group just decides to skip it. What's up with that?
I'll tell you what's up! Two thirds know what the other third is afraid to admit. There is no point to the meeting. Can you believe that an hour was spent on talking about how pastors were doing with the work-life-family balance?
Hello! I'm at a stinking meeting when I could be with my family that has felt neglected by my coming to this meeting in the first place.
So where does this bring me? Make it relvant to church structure Rich!
Well Shane...you talk about forced community...could be more evident than at these meetings...and I'm wondering if there is a better structure of governance and shepherding.
Governance - I am growing to be convinced is best left to the leadership - elder/pastor. Whereas Shepherding is shared, at various levels, between the elder/pastor & deacons/directors & community group leaders.
I don' t think one needs to have a meeting of community group leaders once a month to see how things are going. Perhaps one needs a monthly meeting with deacons/directors, but I'm sure to cover more than soulcare issues of the membership. And definitely elders/pastors should meet regularly-weekly to continue to press through values and convictions and dreams and visions.
Really, each group needs to have a defined content and agreed purpose. Else we will be left to polish off the evening with Guiness, Newcastle and Honey Brown.
Peace
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2 comments:
Rich, after thinking more about your what you said in the car about pastors / elders doing the governance I do agree. Maybe this is the incorrect way of categorizing things but I tend to lump governance, oversight, shepherding all into the same category. That is, elders bear the primary responsibility and calling to govern and teach the church of God. Govern includes all aspects of caring, guarding, guiding, and feeding the flock which would include designing strategies and structures that tend to those spiritual ends. All this is simply another way of saying "shepherd the flock of God". I don't see much biblical distinction between the two functions or words. However, I know for many today "govern" carries more of a functional "where do we stand and how are we going to manage and implement" whereas "shepherding" connotes more of the care and personal ministry side of things. But I would not make that distinction. Elders / Pastors should always live in both worlds and make decisions with one foot firmly planted in each world.
So, this is what I believe to be true. Elders bear the primary responsibility to govern and teach - which means they guide, feed, protect, and correct the flock. Some elders will labor especially in preaching and teaching as appropriately gifted, but all elders must be apt to teach though skillfully or persuasively before a large group / congregation...but they must know their doctrine well and be able to instruct those who wander from the truth and be able to correct those who would seek to distort the gospel.
This governing and teaching seem to be the two main responsibilities that DO NOT apply to deacons. Note the deacon passages omit the "apt to teach" condition and say nothing about "those who govern well" as in the case of elders. The 1 Timothy prohibitions on womens activity refer to them not governing nor teaching with authority, which corresponds to actions that elder must do....therefore you get "woman can not be elder." However, a deacon is not called to the authoritative roles of governing and teaching, and so the door is open for women as deacons as long as they meet the qualifications listed.
So what do deacons do? They lead...they direct (maybe call them directors)...they oversee all kinds of stuff and ministries, so that the elders can focus on prayer, vision, strategy, and the teaching of the Word of God. And they lead in as many diverse ways as they are gifted and able to ...with the caveat that they don't overstep their bounds into assuming or communicating through their actions that the governing and teaching responsibilities now fall to them. And for women especially, it is important that as a deacon they hold faithful to the 1 Timothy prohibition by engaging in ministry in such a way as to not exercise authority over the men or teach in an authoritative way to men about how they ought to live and believe. And yes, we must be comfortable with the fact that there will be tons of grey areas here...with no clear answers. But there will be some clear boundries...lets strive to hit the bigs ones. I would say being recognized as elder or pastor or assuming a public corporate role of preaching would be the top three to draw the line on.
In all this, I'm also not seeing much distinction between pastor and elder. I think if you are a pastor you are an elder - functionally you are called to the same purpose and it doesn't make sense to draw a distinction. Some elders made be paid staff, others part time, others not at all. But all elders are called to function as pastors, not just someone with business management skills who also happens to be an upright moral man...they must have a burden to care, guide, lead, teach, and correct the flock of God. Paid or unpaid should not make them less equal in terms of authority, although some are likely to exert more influence in some areas than others (i.e an elder who labors especially in preaching / teaching will exert more influence here than others, and study more and read more in this area) Elders are a team of co-equals with perhaps someone (a first among equals) or as some call it (a lead pastor) whose main responsibility is to drive the collective vision forward pull the team together, and labor to build the team up. The team of elders is mutually accountable to one-another. And yes, as Rich said, "the elders/pastors should meet regularly-weekly to continue to press through values and convictions and dreams and visions."
okay I'm done downloading thoughts.
Revision of prior comment:
"all elders must be apt to teach though NOT skillfully or persuasively before a large group / congregation"
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