The Shepherding Model, 21st Century Version

At last, rather than talking about sheep in pens and leading sheep through the wilderness and protecting sheep from wolves, we have a catchy modern metaphor.

Announcing a new seminar for elders: Teaching the Sheep to Surf!*

* Involves no mixed bathing.

(Thanks to X-Ray for finding the video.)

Bad Elders: Leadership Hubris

Thom S. Rainer is a well-known author, consultant, and speaker on church growth and leadership. He recently posted an article in his blog about hubris among church leaders.

“Hubris,” of course, means pride. It’s the Greek word for the kind of pride that goes before a fall.

Rainer teaches some lessons based on the failures of the Big Three American auto makers —

Overseeing the Moderate Church: Part 3

This brings us to teaching. Moderate churches generally have a very weak educational program, because the doctrines that divide the church are off limits. Either one side dominates the classes and the other side doesn’t listen, or else the tough topics are just never talked about in a serious way. Or else there’s one class that teaches one doctrine and another class that teaches another–but no one is ever required to question his pre-existing beliefs.

After all, serious consideration of the doctrines that divide the members would seem, well, divisive. It just seems so prudent to avoid such issues and talk about what the church agrees on. But avoiding the conflict is the surest road to division.

Overseeing the Moderate Church: Part 2

In Part 1, we considered the difficulties of managing a moderate church, that is, a church that is divided between progressives and conservatives. While it’s not inevitable that such churches divide, they often do. The reason is almost always a failure of the leadership to confront the problem. Rather, most churches decide to delay the day of reckoning, piling political compromise on top of political compromise, until one day the church collapses.

Overseeing the Moderate Church, Part 1

[This series from way back in March 2007, when there were maybe, oh, 30 readers, keeps getting attention because a lot of churches wrestle with these problems. I thought it might be helpful to re-run it, and I couldn’t help editing it just a tad.]

Some churches are thoroughly progressive, with progressive elders, staff, and members–at least, most of them. Some churches are thoroughly conservative, with conservative elders, staff, and members–at least, most of them. But most are not. Most are something else. Let’s call them “moderate.”

Obviously, a moderate church has a serious, built in problem–its elders, staff, and members are theologically divided. Now, this is not an insurmountable problem, but it’s a big problem. It’s especially big because most churches have leadership that seeks to avoid confrontation, meaning that this serious problem will not be addressed. Rather, the usual Church of Christ style is to sweep the problem under the rug.

Elders: An Introduction for Someone Not in the Churches of Christ

I get emails —

Jay,

I serve as a minister of an independent congregation outside the Churches of Christ that has no elders. I may soon become the senior pastor. Thus, I have been doing some research on church polity, elders, etc. Hence, I found your site.

As I have read your postings, I have been impressed with your fidelity to the Word of God. I have appreciated your balance between grace and law in your discussions regarding elder qualifications.

I am trying to learn the language and style of elder-led congregations. I do find that this type of organization certainly has a stronger biblical base, and that sits very well with me. If you have any suggestions on how this plays out in the practical world of buildings, programs, interaction with the legal world and general administrative tasks, I would welcome them.

That’s a tough one, not because the answer is unknown, but because there are so many answers! Each eldership and each congregation has a different style. So let me start in broad terms and work from there.

Bad Elders: A Question from a Reader

I get emails —

Small Church of Christ in the Bible Belt. Not incorporated, and so no bylaws or charter.

The church has two elders, one of them is the preacher. The non-preaching elder fires the preacher and demands his resignation as an elder, and he complies.

The now sole elder appoints his nephew as an elder though this man does not have believing children. A significant number of the church are opposed to these actions. Some of the members have approached a lawyer to see what help can be gained under state law.

What should the membership do to rectify the situation?

Readers, what do you think?

CENI: A Better Way — The Acts of the Apostles

Let’s try the same thing with Acts. After all, Luke wrote Acts as something of a sequel to his Gospel. Let’s again purge from our minds the notion that Acts is all about baptism. It’s not. Let’s try to take a fresh look.

What’s in Acts?

* We can’t help but notice that the outline of Acts follows the command given the apostles at the beginning — go first to the Jews, and then Samaria, and then the Gentiles.

* The work of the Holy Spirit is unmistakeably prominent. Peter presents the coming of the Spirit as in fulfillment of prophecy regarding the Messianic age. And we see the Spirit pushing the Kingdom farther and farther out into the world. In fact, whether it’s an angel, the Spirit, or even God himself, all the big steps in Acts are initiated from heaven.

Thinking Out Loud About Elder Training

[I’m sticking this post to the top of the stack for a few days to encourage further comment — pro and con.]

(1 Cor 9:25) Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

Jim K has put a challenge to me to figure a way to actually do something about our need for an elder-training problem.

The first task would be to design a program that actually meets the need.

The models that come to mind are —

* One day annual seminar

* Half-week annual seminar

* Week-long annual seminar

Changes in Church Demographics: Conflict, Part 3 (High-handed Elders)

[Moved from preceding post and revised.]

The most common way I’ve seen where even a grace-centered church can split is where the elders are perceived as acting in a high-handed way, often despite the elders’ conscious efforts not to be high-handed.

Church members, especially older, longtime members, get very upset when major changes are made without their input. As a result, major decisions often require that time be spent being sure the memberships feels heard. Even when the elders already know how the members feel, it’s often essential that the members feel heard.

On Bad Elders: Doing a Better Job of Selecting Elders, Part 1 (Training the Members)

Removing lousy elders can be really ugly. It’s never pleasant for the man being removed or for those confronting him and asking him to step down. It’s far, far better to ordain men who will make into good elders.

Lots of books and articles have been written coming up with ways of picking elders. The usual concern is to make sure that a spiritually weak eldership can’t perpetuate itself by picking other weak men.

And usually the idea is to make sure that the men are “spiritually qualified,” meaning that they meet the standards of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. However, these are astonishingly low standards. In fact, it’s been often remarked that, except for the supposed requirements to be married and fertile, these are requirements every Christian should meet!

On Bad Elders: Removing Lousy Elders, a Story

A long time ago, in a land far, far away (not that far, actually), the men of a church gathered in a classroom. Two men had organized the meeting, and one acted as chair.

“Most of you know why we’re here. For the rest of you, let me just say that we believe it’s time to appoint new elders. But our present elders are refusing to allow it, because our preacher won’t let them. They think they work for him, rather than Jesus and his church, and they won’t do anything without the preacher’s permission.

“Worse yet, we have sin in the camp, and it’s destroying the church.

On Bad Elders: Removing Lousy Elders, Toward a Solution, Part 2

Public rebuke of sin

In 1 Tim 5:19 we are taught how to “rebuke” an elder —

(1 Tim 5:19-20) Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. 20 Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning.

On Bad Elders: Removing Lousy Elders, Toward a Solution, Part 1

In the last post, I proposed three much-need reforms, one of which is coming up with a mechanism for getting rid of elders who shouldn’t be elders.

The difficulty of judging an elder

As problematic as it is to come up with a removal mechanism, it’s just as hard to figure out who is a lousy elder. Here’s why —

On Bad Elders: Thinking Out Loud

One of the biggest challenges facing the Churches of Christ today is how to deal with lousy elders. Of course, many churches have excellent elderships, but there are far too many congregations being held back by weak, ineffective, or downright sinful elders and elderships.

This all-too-common problem has led to several very unfortunate tendencies —

* to interpret passages to weaken the influence of elders (or to overstate their authority)

* to operate outside the eldership, by asking for forgiveness rather than permission

* to turn a youth or campus ministry into a sub-congregation of which the minister is pastor

Buried Talents: That’s All I Have to Say About That

This is the end. (Well, for now.)

Several weeks ago, I wrote about a perfectly good hallucination, and some folks got upset because I had drug-induced delusion about female elders. And so I figured it was a topic worth studying in some depth. After all, there are a LOT of women in our churches — and the ones I know have been unbelievably gifted by their Maker.

Dealing with Murmurers

In a comment to an earlier post, Dell Kimberly asked,

One of our deacons has not come on board. He and his wife are upset with the change of direction. They continue to work just below the surface. They question the authority and effectiveness of the elders. Their complaints and questions are never presented in public. It is always done just below the surface. Actually it must be very similar to the murmuring that Moses must have experienced. How do we deal with this without taking away from the growth and energies of the church?

That’s a tough one.

Buried Talents: Further on How Elders Oversee the Church

In a comment to the previous post, Alan points out that the Old Testament’s use of “overseer” refers to a supervisor or overseer in the workplace. Think “middle management.” And it’s true.

I was already familiar with the passages. I’ve been looking at the OT verses relevant to eldering for another series I’ve been working on, which I may never get to.

The question of just what level of authority an elder has is a subtle and often misunderstood one, I think. I remember years ago being told by an elder that he was concerned about Wednesday nights. He was afraid that by requiring Wednesday night attendance, he was sending people to hell, because so many weren’t attending!

Buried Talents: How Do We Decide?

What is the rule in this case? Do we presume a rule or do we presume freedom? What does the Bible say?

(Gal. 3:25) Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.

Why do we insist on replacing the law that Christ died to free us from with a new, equally strict law? Can you tell any difference between our debates over whether a man must resign as elder if his wife dies or if his only child (or one of his two children) dies or is divorced and the debates the Pharisees had as to whether it is right to heal on the Sabbath? I can’t. They thought they were honoring God by strictly construing His commands to be “safe.” They built fences around the law to be doubly safe. They are burning in hell. Let’s not follow their example.

Leading Change for Ministers, Part 1

I’m frequently asked by ministers how to cope with the fact their church desperately needs to change, to escape legalism. Sometimes the elders are uncooperative, even opposed. Sometimes the elders are open to learning.

Now, I’m talking about stuff I don’t know much about. I’ve never worked as a minister of the gospel. My livelihood has never depended on keeping a bunch of elders happy. So forgive me if my perspective is skewed. It likely is.

I don’t think every church can be rescued by the minster’s efforts. But some have been and can be — and I’d never place a limit on what God can accomplish through a good man — and his Spirit.