Constitution V (b)

We're up to the government section of our Constitution. Last week, Keith talked about membership's role in the government. And this week, we're going to be getting Section 2 and Section 3 of the government section. Section 2 on elders and Section 3 on deacons. So what we want to keep this in context from last week First and foremost this church and its members are under the lordship and headship of Jesus Christ and everything we talked about Going forward is based on that The biblical offices in the church are elders and deacons and Keith spent some time on that last week we'll be spending much more about that this week and the next time we gather and And finally, the reminder that final earthly authority is vested in the assembled congregation. Also something to keep in mind, last week we talked about the congregation. So this week, when we talk about elders and deacons, it's within the context of that. It's not replacing that. So if you look at your handout, you can see that these two sections are pretty long. They also are similar in that a lot of what's talked about in terms of elders is also talked about in terms of deacons. And so Keith and I talked and decided that we were going to, instead of going straight through and talking about elders tonight, without talking about deacons, and then deacons without talking about elders, it would make a lot more sense to have a compare and contrast together. So we're going to talk about certain sections tonight, and then I guess two weeks from now when Keith talks again, we'll talk about a different set. So tonight we're going to be talking about number, roles and responsibilities, preaching elder, qualifications and responsibility and organizations and the same kinds of things about deacons. And the next time we'll talk about qualifications, election, term and termination for both offices. So that's the way we're dividing it up this time. You're actually going to see that I'm going to be using a lot of the scripture that Keith used last week. And then when we talk about qualifications and the other items, he's going to be going back to that same scripture again. It's just looking at the same text, but pulling out different focuses from the text. So we're not going to look at it for the same reason that Keith did last time. This section is perhaps the single biggest section that's going to be new compared to our current Constitution. And Keith referenced that last time. And in particular, he talked about the word elder as being unusual for us in the Baptist connotation. It was interesting. I went back and looked at some of our historic confessions of faith. In the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith in 1689, it said the officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the church are bishops or elders. and deacons, didn't say pastors at all. Then the Baptist Faith and Message in 1925 said something very similar. The church's scriptural officers are bishops or elders and deacons. It wasn't until the Baptist Faith and Message of 1963 and then carried over into Baptist Faith and Message of 2000 that the language was changed to the church's scriptural officers are pastors and deacons, recognizing that the day-to-day terminology in Baptist circles had changed, but even in 1925 their default position was bishops are elders and deacons. I think you're going to see why tonight. We're going to actually look at essentially every piece of scripture that mentions elders, deacons, overseers, and pastors in the New Testament. And you're going to see pastor once, and you're going to see overseer a handful of times, and you're going to see elders over and over and over again. And so there's a reason that historically that language was used, because it was biblical language. And so we're going to be using language like that in our new constitution as well. So we're going to be talking about the roles and responsibilities of pastors or elders and deacons tonight. Thinking about our current system, what is it that you think that a pastor does? They preach. They teach. Pardon? They shepherd. Anything else? They lead the church, I think, provide vision. I think over the years in both directions, we've had disagreements in our church over what the pastor leading the church means. For some, didn't lead enough. For others, led too much in different contexts. Anything else that a pastor does? Pray. Tends to the sick. What about deacons? In our current system, what do we think of deacons as doing? Not enough, our deacon chairman says. So what are you not doing enough of? They should be visiting the sick also? Is that it? When I was a deacon, we used to have three, four hour meetings. We were doing something. Actually, we're lucky to have three or four hour meetings. They were often longer than that. We were doing something. Well, what do you think we were doing in those long regular meetings? Ann? The deacons helped the pastor lead. Okay. What are some of the ways they do? There are lots of committees to help the church fulfill its roles. You might see them take offerings, serve Lord's Supper. Oftentimes, you're talking about helping the pastor lead. Oftentimes, the deacons are leading in that they're bringing recommendations to the church. They're engaging in dialogue with the pastor about vision and where we should go and how decisions should be made and who should be teaching, things like that. Well, I think what we're going to see is those same kinds of roles are reflected in our new constitution, but they're distributed in a different kind of way. And it was a way that we hope is going to reflect what Scripture says. And since it is a new way of doing things for a lot of people and a certain point of controversy, I'm going to spend an unusual amount of time in Scripture because our goal here is to do what Scripture tells us to do. And what we want to do is match that. We don't want to just say, well, we'll do it this way because we've always done it that way. We're going to look at what Scripture tells us to be doing. And so I'm actually going to spend probably the majority of my time looking at scripture first, and then we'll go back through the document to see what we are recommending that we do in our Constitution. And it's my goal that when we go and look at the language in the Constitution, you're going to be hearing over and over again stuff that you've already heard when we went through the scripture discussion. So tonight's going to be a little bit different than it has been in previous nights. Oh, yeah. I'm going to try to have the Bible text up here, but if you're in the back, you may not be able to see it. The screen seems to be a little dim. But if you don't have a Bible, you're going to want one because we're going to be looking a lot in Scripture. And like I said, these passages tell us about the office, but they also tell us about the function and the qualification. We'll be talking about the qualification next week. What we're looking for here is sort of the number, how many of these people there are and what the responsibilities of these people are. That's going to be the focus of what we're looking at. And so you're going to see me highlight things that focus on plurality or the use of the term elder or overseer or pastor interchangeably for these responsibilities, just as a way to focus us in on that. And then we're going to look at what these people do. So first, let's look at the two kinds of servants that we see in Scripture. We saw this last week in Keith's teaching from Acts 6, a sort of model at the very beginning of the church, shortly after Pentecost, as the church has grown. How does the church deal with leadership and responsibilities in the church? Acts 6, beginning in verse 1. Now, in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. So, already by Acts 6, people were mad with each other. And leadership saw that they needed to do something to help address this. And the twelve, meaning the twelve disciples, the twelve apostles, Already we have a sense of plural leadership here. Summoned the full number of the disciples, the church, and said, it is not right that we should give up preaching the Word of God to serve tables. And as Keith told you last week, that verb there, to serve, is the same root we get the word deacon from. Therefore, brothers, pick out among you seven men, again in plurality, of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry And as Keith told you last week, that's really like deaconing. It's the same root word as serving the tables of the word. So it's not that one is good and one is bad, one is superior, one is inferior. It's that they both have ways that they can serve. One is the serving in the word and the other is serving in a more physical kind of way, serving the tables. And what they said pleased the whole gathering. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit and Philip and Others, these they sat before the apostles and they prayed and laid their hands on them. And so we see the role of the apostles in the church in choosing this new set of leaders. They've divided up the functions of the church. They want to set aside the time of the main spiritual leaders to spend on spiritual responsibilities and other vital These aren't just side duties. These are duties that are important for the unity of the church and the service of the widows. That was critical in the early church to set aside others to do that. I know in my years of serving as a deacon and years I've been deacon chair and I've called up people and say, you've been nominated, can we talk to you and interview you about being a deacon? And on many, many occasions over the years, I've had somebody tell me, I'll do anything you ask me. I'll build anything you want. I'll tote anything you want. I'll go visit anybody you want. I'll go sit with anybody you want. I don't want to have to go into a meeting and have these hard spiritual discussions thinking about people's spiritual problems and discipline problems. That's not the way I work. I'm not a decision maker. I'm a practical guy. I'll help you out, but I don't want to go get involved in this other stuff. People are gifted in different ways, and you can relieve people and actually give them freedom in giving them service opportunities in areas they are gifted. And largely right now, to be honest, under our current system, our deacons are tasked with both of these responsibilities, and it can be overwhelming. And you can talk to people who've been deacons and see what their experience has been as well. We also see this in 1 Peter 4, 10 and 11. There seems to be sort of two main kinds of service provided in the church. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's very grace, whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ." So, we're said, the people who have gifts are told to serve. And there are two examples given. One is to serve through speaking the word of God, more of a spiritual responsibility. And one is to serve by the strength that God supplies. So there's the idea that there's the non-speaking service that goes on. And both of these are in order that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. They're both high callings, but they're different kinds of responsibilities. So how do these things work themselves out in the church once we have the offices of elders and deacons as Keith described last week? Let's look again to Acts 20 that he looked at. And here in Acts 20, you can see that we have elders of the church being called and then they are called overseers. And they're told to care for, and this is actually, as Keith mentioned, not the best translation here, actually the ESV, which otherwise I strongly favor. Everyone else has this verb here as to shepherd, because that's what it is. But they've translated as to care here. But this idea of pastoring, shepherding, being an elder, being an overseer, all right here together. Notice plurality sent to Ephesus and called the elders plural of the church singular. And the apostle Paul said to them in his final address, giving them a charge about what they are to do, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock. in which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers, to care for or shepherd the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood." So they're to look after themselves, they're to look after the flock, and this isn't a light responsibility, because he points out, this is something the Holy Spirit has given you. This is the church of God we're talking about, that he bought with his blood. This is a high, high responsibility. I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease day and night to admonish everyone with tears." So their main responsibility is to protect the flock. And most particularly to protect the flock from false teachings, because even from within the church at this early date, Paul is already saying false teachers are going to rise up and you need to be able to protect the flock against these false teachers. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands minister to my necessities and to those who are with me in all things. I have shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive. And so they are to be hard in the labor of protecting the flock and protecting against false teaching. This is stuff that led Paul to tears day and night. This was his great calling as he set up these churches to protect them. And this is a calling that these overseers, these pastors, these elders are called to, and they're going to have to give of themselves in order to do it. Likewise, in 1 Peter 5, Peter talks to his fellow elders. Keith looked at this last week as well. So, I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. People asked last time, well, why would we use the term elder for these people? Well, the apostle Peter uses this term. He calls these men elders. He calls himself an elder. The only three times in the entire New Testament the word elder is used in the singular is when Peter refers to himself. as an elder, when John refers to himself as an elder in his letters, where he introduces himself as the elder. And then in First Timothy five, where it says, don't bring a charge against an elder without two or three witnesses. Where there, obviously, it's talking about a charge against a person, not a charge against the group of elders. Everywhere else, it's in the plural. shepherd, pastor of the flock that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." So we see this shepherd language is applied to Jesus himself, and Peter elsewhere interchanges these terms. In 1 Peter 2, 25, he says, For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. So that as Christ is a shepherd and overseer, his under shepherds here on earth need to be shepherds and overseers. And so, again, we have this sense of shepherding the flock, being an example, taking care of them, exercising oversight. They're going to have to oversee what goes on because when Christ comes back, He's going to judge what they have done, the work that's been done under them. In Ephesians 4, beginning in verse 11, we have the only place in the New Testament where you will find the word pastor in an English Bible. And if you have the latest version of the ESV, you don't even have the word pastor here. Earlier versions of the ESV had pastor. In the latest version, they've actually changed the word there to shepherd, which, as Keith said last week, is what it is, literally, when it talks about Jesus being the good shepherd, the shepherd that knows his people. It's the same word that's here, has traditionally been translated pastor, but in the latest version of the ESV, it's shepherds. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, Again, right there, you have the language of teacher. If you look at the footnote in ESV and most other Bibles, it will actually tell you that another way to read this as is shepherd teachers, sort of a combination role, a pastor teacher, a shepherd teacher. Again, it's in the plural. And again, there's this combination of caring and teaching, but also to equip the saint for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of faith and have the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. So again, The key here is to build people up, to equip them, to prepare them, to teach them, but it's all done in the name of protecting them against false doctrine, to protect them against men who would come and lead them astray. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body joined together held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." So these shepherd teachers, these pastor teachers, are supposed to be there to build up the body so that the body works well, that we have strong doctrine, and that we love each other. There are other passages that talk about elders and what they might do. First Timothy, chapter three, verses two through five. I cut out most of the qualification stuff because we're going to talk about that next week. But in terms of what they do, it says, therefore, an overseer must be above reproach. He must manage his own household well with all dignity, keeping his children submissive. For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? Charged with caring for God's church. 1st Timothy 5.17, let the elders, plural, who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those, plural, who labor in preaching and teaching. So we have ruling, leading, we have teaching, we have preaching. In Titus 1, verses 5 through 9, Paul writes to Titus, this is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town. Again, we have plural elders in each location, as I directed you. For an overseer, here again he's using elders and overseer interchangeably, as God's steward must be above reproach. he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction and sound doctrine, and also to rebuke those who contradict it." So again, we have teaching, and we have the ability to challenge, rebuke, admonish those who need it. In James 5.14, it tells us, "'Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church.'" Again, plural elders in a single church. and let them, plural, pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." So, as Matthew said earlier, they are to visit the sick. They are to pray over them. There are other places in Scripture where it talks about what leaders are to do. In the context that we've already been talking about, These are similar duties to what elders are doing. And so, for example, in First Thessalonians 5, 12, it tells us, we ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you. So we have these people who are called to admonish the brothers. In 1 Timothy 4, 13 through 16, we have Paul's call to Timothy, who's acting as an elder in Ephesus, "'Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.'" Again, we have a council of elders. It's not just a single elder. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by doing so, you will save both yourself and your hearers. Again, this strong focus on protecting the teaching. Second Timothy 2, 24. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. In 2 Timothy 4, verses 1 through 5, again, he's speaking to Timothy, who's serving as an elder. I charge you in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing in his kingdom. Again, no weak charge here, but the strongest possible charge in the name of the Holy God. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off in the mist. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." Hebrews 13, 7. Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the Word of God. So they're teaching them, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. So these leaders should be an example to the flock again. Hebrews 13, 17, obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls. They have spiritual oversight over the body as those who will have to give an account. Again, a very high duty. They're under the charge of the judgment that they're going to have to give an account of what they've done. So those are the duties that we see elders, overseers, pastors, teachers, shepherds have in the New Testament. Just very quickly, we've already seen lots of reference to the plurality of the elders here. But just a couple of more places that don't really talk about duties, but just to identify it. As I said, every other reference, other than the ones I've already mentioned, are all to plural elders. Acts 11.30, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. Acts 14.23, when they had pointed elders for them in every church. plural elders, single church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord. And then in Acts 15, the discussion of the church council at Jerusalem over and over again, as you highlighted on the screen, one, two, three, four, five times, it says the apostles and the elders. There are plural apostles, there are plural elders who are acting. And then finally, in Acts 16, again off of the church council in Acts 15, we have the apostles and the elders who were in Jerusalem. And then finally, in Acts 21, verse 18, it says, On the following day, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. Think back again to what the apostles had. I think most people are quite comfortable saying that Peter was the leader of the apostles. He's the one who spoke up. He took the lead, but there were always other apostles around him. Likewise, James was, by the accounts of Acts, the leader of the church, the key leader in the church in Jerusalem, but there were elders around him. He was not by himself. He was with other elders. So those are the many, many places in Scripture it talks about elders, overseers, and shepherds. And here's where it talks about deacons. This is it. Two places where it clearly talks about deacons. One, and neither of them particularly tells us what deacons are to do. 1 Timothy 3, 8-13. Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for a dishonest gain. They must hold to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience and let them also be tested first, then let them serve as deacons. And actually that phrase, serve as deacons, is really just the verb to deacon, let them deacon, let them serve. So they need to be tested by somebody, but then they can serve. And then later, after the qualifications, it says, for those who serve well as deacons, again, it's just the verb for deacons, gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Then Philippians 1.1, it says, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons. There's where we see the two offices. There are a group of people acting as overseers, elders, and a group who are acting as deacons. But it doesn't really tell us what they did. So there's a lot Scripture tells us about what the elders are doing. We have to be a little bit more speculative about what deacons are to do. We've already talked about the model shown in Acts 6 and 1 Peter, where it talks about two kinds of service, one more spiritual, one more practical and physical. And I think we can see that if you look at the way the word deacon is used elsewhere in Scripture. Other than those two places I just pointed you to, The same word that is either a verb or a noun for deacon appears other places, but it appears for servants. So, for example, in John 2, where the wedding at Cana, the people who go fetch the water are servants. The word there is deacons. The German word for deacon means waiter. That's what they did. As in Acts 6, they waited on tables. But it's used in a broader sense. Christ is called a servant or deacon to the circumcision. Paul calls himself a servant or deacon or minister of the new covenant and the gospel and the church. Timothy is called God's servant or deacon. In all these places, it's the same word. Likewise, the noun that describes what a deacon does, the service that they do. Martha. in Luke is concerned with too much serving. She's busy about the housework while Mary is listening to the spiritual teaching. The widows in Acts 6 are worried that they're being overlooked in the daily distribution of bread. That's the service. But at the same time, as we noted a few minutes later, the ministry or the deaconing of the word is referred to. The raising of money for the poor saints was called a ministry or a deaconing in Acts, Romans and 2nd Corinthians. And Paul calls his own assignment from the Lord a ministry or a deaconing multiple times. The verb can just mean to serve. Jesus came to serve, not to be served in Matthew 20. Therefore, he taught that a good leader is one who serves. Same language in Acts 19.22, Timothy and Erastus are described as those who serve Paul. But there is a tendency in Greek and the general use of the New Testament to refer to the kind of serving that involves very practical acts of supplying material needs, literally table service. We've already seen that. We've seen the example of collecting money. Here we see in Matthew 4.11, the angels come to serve Jesus in the wilderness, to deacon him at the end of his temptation, when he's weak and needs to be fed and given water and nurtured. Peter's mother-in-law rises from her sickbed to deacon her guests in Matthew 8.15, to serve them a meal, to take care, to show hospitality. In Matthew 27 and Luke 8, we see the women following Jesus serving or deaconing out of their own pockets. They were supporting Jesus and his wandering band of misfits because they didn't have time to take care of themselves. They were busy with other things. Martha served from the kitchen, deacon from the kitchen in Luke 10 and in John 12. And Paul's carrying money to the Jerusalem saints is called doing service or deaconing in Romans 15 and 2nd Corinthians 19. So that's the scriptural background. what we're talking about, and now we're going to see how we can apply that to what we will actually assign as responsibilities to deacons and elders in our Constitution. And the goal here is you ought to be able to very easily see that biblical language reflected. those biblical concepts reflected, that one group is set aside for teaching, spiritual oversight, spiritual guidance, and oversight of ministry, and another group is set aside for very valuable, yet more physical, practical kind of work. So if you want to turn over to the handout, as I said, next week we're going to talk about qualifications, but we're first going to start with number under the line 8118 under elders. Currently we have a single elder who's tasked with doing all those things that we talked about earlier than an elder does, but we're proposing a plurality of elders to reflect what we saw in scripture. Diana? I agree. Where are you talking about? I agree. I will support that wholeheartedly. And I will highlight it with my magic highlighter. By the way, I've been either here or listened to the recordings of all the previous discussions, and I've annotated the document with the questions, suggestions, et cetera. And as Keith said at the beginning of the process, the Constitution Committee will be looking at all those suggestions. And before we have a vote, we'll be bringing back a final copy with wonderful suggestions like Diana's included. So we say, the elder body shall be comprised of not fewer than three men. The total number shall be determined by the elders based on the needs of the church and the available qualified candidates. So again, the idea here is that we are going to have more than one man be an elder to reflect the biblical practice and to spread the pain, glory, duties, excitement, all the things that an elder goes through in exercising his duties. Matthew. so the idea here is that's a minimum not fewer than three the idea being that if you want to have a plurality that technically two would be a plurality but it sounds like a It sounds like a recipe for disaster to have two and sort of no way to help guide disagreements. And so we thought that three should be a minimum. I think the hope and prayer of all those who are on the Constitution Committee is that it would be great if we started out with five or six. But this number would include those who are staff elders as well as those who are non-staff elders. Chris. We discussed that. We discussed some churches. Oh, Chris's question was, was there a discussion of balancing staff and non-staff elders? We discussed that. We look at some churches who have explicit requirements that say, you need a majority of the elders to be non-staff. And we considered something like that. we ultimately decided that although that might be a good thing, and that it would be great if that happened, we hope that God raises many lay elders within the body, that we want to be careful not to artificially restrict things too much, so that there was a time when we didn't have a lot of leaders available, that we weren't overly restricted, that we weren't putting an artificial restriction that scripture wasn't explicit about in a way that could cause some difficulty there. Again, our hopes and prayers would be that there would be more than enough elders so that that wouldn't be an issue. It would just be natural to have more lay elders and staff elders. And of course, as we talked about a lot, you guys are going to be choosing elders and So you're going to have a major role in identifying, raising up, and choosing folks to fulfill that. The idea, and we'll talk about election next week, the idea is the same thing we have now. The candidates are listed as individuals. You vote yes or no on the individuals. It's not that you're choosing Bill over Joe. It's that you may have five people and you can vote for all of them, or you can vote for none of them, or you can vote for one or two of them. They're voted as individuals, not against each other. We will go into more detail about election It's really just the same way that we do it now with deacon elections, where we have multiple candidates and you can vote for them all. But then they're judged on how many yeses or no they get as individuals, not compared to other people. Okay? Roles and responsibilities. The elders shall, and this is where I'm hoping you're going to hear this language you've already heard in scripture, care for the body, shepherd the body through edification, discipleship, and equipping members for service, as well as by admonishment and correction. Matthew. In keeping with grammatical change, unless there's a definition of distinction I'm not aware of, shouldn't it be admonition, admonition, and correction? We'll check on that. I'm happy to look up any grammar things, but I don't want to spend a lot of time on them, because we'll happily fix any of those kinds of issues as necessary. But do do let me know because I was the grammar Nazi on the committee. And so I understand your pain. I'm also not perfect. The examples to the body, which they love as under shepherds of Christ, lead in prayer and ministry of the word, oversee public worship services and ordinances, oversee teaching, appoint teachers and protect doctrine. Oversee the deacons in their ministries, evaluate and nominate elder and deacon candidates, appoint and oversee any committees, coordinators and agents as needed. Just before we go further down the list, just to go back, this caring and shepherding, this building up that includes both encouragement and admonition and correction. We saw that repeatedly in scripture. being examples to the body. That's very important. You do not want people in this role who are not examples to the body. It's one of their key roles in scripture. Know that they're doing this not to glorify themselves, but to be under shepherds for Christ and to point to Christ. Lead in prayer and ministry of the word. That's what Keith does. That's what we're having other men do now in worship. That's something that elders can do. being involved in public worship, including public reading of Scripture, which we saw about in Timothy. This overseeing of teaching, appointing teachers, and protecting doctrine, as we saw in Scripture, that's critical. It's over and over again what these leaders are called to do. And related to that, the protection, to know that those who are serving in the church, these people from within the church, We talked last week about the need to have members, people we knew, people that we could trust be in the service of the church. Here more specifically, have those who can oversee what's going on in the church, the deacons of their ministries, evaluate and nominate elder and deacon candidates. Again, that's really not any different than what the deacons currently do for deacon elections and candidates. Appoint and oversee any committees, coordinators and agents. This is currently done by the nominating committee in our current system, but it would give these men the opportunity to oversee those who would be serving in the body. Any questions on this half of the list before we go to the next half of the list? Roy? would not have a nominating committee and actually what it says is that they will appoint them, not that they'll nominate them. So they would actually be choosing the people and then announcing the appointments rather than putting that to a vote. Now as laid out here, it would be the prerogative of the elders to appoint people to the committees so they wouldn't have to wait for a church conference, they wouldn't have to wait for a vote of affirmation. They could choose to create disband committees as needed and choose the people who could be involved on them. That would be a difference from what we have now. We saw that as part of their oversight responsibilities. The next half of the list. Lead the church through the membership and discipline processes. We talked about that last week when talking about membership, about the role that elders would play in that. Again, here they're just leading the ultimate responsibilities in the hands of the congregation to vote on those matters, as we talked about last week. Lead the church in evangelism, outreach and ministry. As Timothy was exhorted, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. pray over and anoint the sick when called upon, straight from the book of James, exercise primary responsibility for the employment, supervision, and evaluation of staff. Again, they have primary responsibility for oversight of those serving in the church. As we'll talk about elsewhere later in the document, the hiring of ministry positions will still be the result of a vote of the church. So for example, just as we're considering hiring Sam Crosby under the proposed system, that would be something that would go to the church for a vote. But as the personnel committee does now, the elders would exercise primary responsibility for the employment, supervision, and evaluation of staff. And finally, approve any outside speakers or other uses of the facilities. Just as a practical matter, Keith and any pastors is doing that kind of thing all the time. People want to use the facility. He wants to know why. Is it a good use of the facility? Are these people who are faithful that we can trust? Or is our facility being misused? Again, that's something that happens regularly in the body. Any other questions about the list of responsibilities before we go on to that final paragraph in line 138. Ron. Absolutely. And actually, the next time we come together and we talk about termination, we actually have set in this document a very low bar for dismissing an elder. Under this Constitution, it's very easy to dismiss an elder. I'm not encouraging it. I hope we never have to do it. But as a check against the elders, it's a It's a pretty easy thing to get rid of somebody. And so there are checks on them coming in, there are checks on them going out. Ron? Yeah, I should have brought it up before, but I was looking for it in the document. But someone asked a question about maybe a staff elder who's constituted to, say, 40 positions. That is true. In order to, say, diminish the fact that we should have a constituent number, we do not. But on the organization, the elder shall elect a non-staff elder as chairman. So that's sort of a rule. As a matter of prudence, even though it's not something that's clear in scripture as a check, we did include that and we'll get to that organization in just a second. Which is what this Constitution does for elders and for deacons who are going to be doing a lot to be a The statement about appointing and overseeing committees, coordinators, and agents, that was to allow an escape clause. If people are needed, we can get them. When we get to the deacon section, you're going to see that the deacons who will be recommended and elected by the body are going to take on the vast majority of other committee work that's being done by other people currently. There's an opportunity for committees beyond the deacons, but a lot of this where we think of we've selected people to do certain things, it's going to be people that the body has already elected and recommended who are going to be doing that. We're going to get to that in just a second. Dorian. Am I understanding clearly that you're going to distinguish an elder from a deacon, that the elder is overseeing the spiritual, and the deacons are overseeing the physical needs? I just wonder about that last one. It seems to me that the use of facilities may be something that the elders should not be concerning themselves with necessarily. I think the distinction here is the elders would be involved in the idea of speakers, and we actually had performers or entertainers at one point, and we changed that to other uses. Responsible for what people are going to be saying, what they're using it for, what the purpose is. Making sure the place is cleaned up and the tables are out. The elder will be glad to let the deacon see that. Line 138. I think you're right. Line 138 is still part of the responsibility statement, and I think I'm going to go ahead and also do the preaching elder. We'll get started on that. If it drags out, we'll put it aside, but I think that's part of some of the other questions we're getting. All elders are equal in authority. All elders are uniquely gifted. This is line 138. Are uniquely gifted and should complement each other. Staff elders are called out for specific purposes as gifted. So, All elders, whether staff or non-staff, are equal in authority. It isn't that there's a senior pastor or senior elder who has more authority than the other elders, but we acknowledge that they're going to have different gifts. Actually, the value of the plurality of elders is they have different gifts. You can go places where someone is a great preacher but is not a good administrator. There are actually places where the pastor is a really good administrator, but not a particularly good preacher. The value of plurality is you have gifts that complement each other. You have those in full time ministry and those in part time ministry who are complementing each other. And as an example of that, if you turn to line 155, we have set aside one particular staff elder that we would expect to have at all times, and that is a preaching elder. The question about that had been before. The preaching elder shall be an elder. The idea there is that he is one of the group and alike with them. He shall have the same qualifications and perform the same duties of an elder described above. So the preaching elder is involved in all those same activities as the other elders. But the distinction is, and he shall also be recognized by the church as particularly gifted and called to the full time ministry of preaching and teaching. He shall preach on the Lord's Day, administer the ordinances of baptism and Lord's Supper, and perform such other duties as usually pertain to that office or as set forth in this constitution. He shall not be subject to any term limit. Concept here is we do have term limits on the lay elders, which we'll talk about next time. But just as we currently don't put any term limits on our our pastor, we would not put any term limits on the preaching elder. In the absence or incapacity of the preaching elder, the elders shall assume responsibility for his duties, any of which may be delegated." And then the next part, which we will talk about next time in terms of hiring, if there's another specific need that's determined in the church, we could call another staff elder out for specific purposes as gifted. So in theory, say the church doubled in size, we needed a couple more guys, we could have one guy whose major gift was preaching, another whose major gift was administration, another whose major gift was outreach, and they could be working together and using the focus gifts that God has given them to serve here in the body. Questions on what we've talked about so far? Dorian. Right. I know exactly what you're saying. We aren't there yet. We're on the very last page of the document. And we sort of have printed out the sections we're working on that night each week so we don't have to give out full copies every week because that's a lot of paper. But you really should get you a copy of the full thing if you haven't already to help see it in context. Toward the very end, line 315 on employees, it said, the elder shall represent the church as an employer and shall hire, oversee, evaluate, and dismiss church staff as needed, except as elsewhere limited in the Constitution, which is the hiring of staff elders. This responsibility may, on a case-by-case basis, be delegated to the deacons or another staff member. The idea there is that you could indeed have the preaching elder have the the other staff elders report to him. The elders as a body would have ultimate responsibility, but they could delegate that to another staff member on a case-by-case basis. It would be a case-by-case basis. So my assumption would be, given our current structure, the current size we're at, that it would make sense that Sam's an elder, whoever we get instead of Sam is an elder, that ultimately be responsible to the elder body and beyond that to the whole church, but that on a day-to-day basis, he would report to Keith. But when they go into those elders' meetings and have those discussions and say, what are we going to do? Everybody's got one vote. It isn't that Keith gets three, Sam gets two, and the lay elders get one. Everybody's on equal footing. in terms of authority to speak and to vote and to exercise their duties of elders within the body. I thank you for your patience. And unless there's anything else, I'll go ahead and pray us out. Father, I thank you for giving us scripture so that We have this fount of knowledge to go to when we seek to order ourselves. And Father, give us discernment and clarity as we search Scripture to see your ways, to set aside our ways. Father, give us prudence so that we do things that are wise. Not every single last detail is spelled out in Scripture. And that was your decision. And so you've given us some areas in which we have to make prudential decisions about what seems wise to us based on our experience. We ask there that you would give us guidance and wisdom that comes from above. Father, we pray even now that you would be adding to our number Those who could be elders and deacons That whether it be Sam or someone else that we find someone to come alongside Keith to assist him in the full Time ministry in the body that you would even now be raising up those who'd be qualified as elders and deacons within the body To be set aside by the body to be spiritual and practical servants here at Jefferson Park We pray now that we would go safely from this place and return to worship you in spirit and truth this Lord's Day. We pray all this in the name of your Son, our Shepherd and Overseer, Jesus Christ. Amen.