The Pursuit

Contract Pastoring

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 | bible, church, deacon, discipleship, pastor, philosophy, preaching, service, teaching, tradition | 7 Comments

God might be calling me to become a contract-pastor. It is similar to a vocational-pastor, except I won’t receive an annual salary. I’ll be paid on a contract basis - one hour minimum - billed in fifteen minute increments after first hour. I charge .495$ for traveling more than 20 miles. Some services are offered at a flat rate (such as funerals and weddings).

Since I want to offer the same services a vocational-pastor offers, I had a vocational-pastor send me his job description. These are some of the services that I plan on offering.

Bible Study, Prayer, and Meditation - 75$/hr
Counseling - 75$/hr
Visit the sick - 125$/hr
Train and equip lay-leaders - 100$/hr
Advise Boards and Committees - 100$/hr
Funeral Services - 300$/Event
Wedding Service - 500$/Event
Proclaim the Gospel - 80$/hr
Plan, Coordinate, and Evaluate Sunday morning services - 135$/Event
Preaching - 150$/Event
Moderate Church Meetings - 50$/hr
Plan and Lead Church Ordinances - 100$/Event

These were all things listed in the pastor’s job description. Any additional services can be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. I trust you will find my rates very reasonable and hope to hear from you very soon.

Maturity and Preaching

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 | bible, church, deacon, pastor, preaching, questions, sermon, service, synchroblog, teaching, tradition | 4 Comments

This post is part of a monthly synchroblog. The topic of this month’s synchroblog is “Maturity in the Light of our Faith”.

There are at least three parts to preaching. The first part is the preparation for preaching, the second part is the act of preaching, and the third part is listening to preaching. In today’s Christian life it is hard to find a place that does not encourage people to preach and people to listen to preachign. So, today I would like to discuss how each of these parts of preaching reflects on and affects our maturity as Christ followers. I am going to ask a few questions that I’ve thought of… questions that I’m thinking about. I will not answer these questions, I hope to get some conversation going about them.

Preparation for Preaching

I have prepared for preaching, I have attended many Sunday morning meetings where there was preaching, I have attended school where I was told how to prepare for preaching, I listen to preaching on CDs and the Radio, I talk about preaching with my friends and family. I’m not saying this to boast, I’m saying this so you understand where I am coming from. Of course, my experiences may differ vastly from others with similar experiences, but I have a feeling any difference will be purely semantic when it comes to how preparation for preaching reflects on and affects our maturity.

There are usually several things a preparer does when preparing for preaching.

1) Prayer that God will speak to him
2) Study a particular passage
3) Study what other commentators say a particular passage means
4) Study similar passages via a lexicon or other commentators
5) Put it all together for your listeners.
6) Practice, Practice, Practice…

None of these things are necessarily bad or wrong. In fact, if someone came up to me tomorrow and said, “I want you to preach two Sundays from now,” I’d pretty much follow this little outline (give or take a few things). To be perfectly honest, sermon preparation is really just glorified Bible Study - in our context it usually comes with compensation.

My questions are these: Does doing these things make you mature? Does doing these things mean you are mature? Does doing these things increase your maturity?

The Act of Preaching

Recently I saw a video of John Piper called “The Gospel in 6 Minutes“… to be honest it was really the gospel in a few seconds with an illustration and a lot of the word “never” - but that really isn’t my point. In this video John Piper said this, “You never outgrow the need to preach to yourself the gospel.”1 This quote got me thinking about the need to preach to ourselves… and the need for us to preach to other. It made me wonder about how the act of preaching reflects on and affects our maturity. In most traditional churches there is one man who does the preaching, often times called the Pastor. He is usually considered to be very mature. But sometimes, he will ask someone else to preach, perhaps a deacon or a seminarian. To most the act of preaching means that you have reached a certain maturity level. There is a hierarchy built into our thinking - levels of maturity if you will.

This is how I understand the hierarchy:

1. Layman
2. Layman who serves in some capacity
3. Layman who teaches
4. Layman who preaches
5. Deacon
6. Preacher
7. Pastor

I’m not saying that I agree with this hierarchy, this is simply who I understand it. If you were to corner me, I’d have a much different hierarchy, but this is what I believe others traditionally see in the church.

My questions are these: Does preaching make you mature? Does preaching mean you are mature? Does preaching increase your maturity?

Listening to Preaching

As normal church-goers we are always encouraged to listen to “good” preaching (among other things). We are encouraged to order CDs from the big named preachers, listened to Christian radio which has preaching, and even join churches where there are properly trained men to preach. There is actually a hierarchy built into this thinking as well. The more preaching you expose yourself to the more mature you are considered.

Consider this layman:

1. Goes to Sunday morning service
2. Does #1 and goes to Sunday School
3. Does #1, #2, and goes to Sunday evening service
4. Does #1, #2, #3, and goes to Wednesday evening service
5. Does #1, #2, #3, #4 and listens to preaching on the Radio or on CD.
6. Does #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 and watches preaching on TV or DVD.
7. Does #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 and reads biographies about famous preachers.
8. etc., etc., etc.

By the way, I think this list also leads into the list for the Act of Preaching.

My questions are these: Does listening to preaching make you mature? Does listening to preaching mean you are mature? Does listening to preaching increase your maturity?

Before you answer any of these questions, consider these three verses from Scripture:

Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permits. - Hebrews 6:1-3

Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature. - 1 Corinthians 14:20

For everyone who partakes {only} of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.- Hebrews 5:13-14

—————————————————–

Here is a list of bloggers who are taking part in this month’s synchroblog on the topic “Maturity in the Light of our Faith”:

Phil Wyman at Square No More with “Is Maturity Really What I Want?”
Lainie Petersen at Headspace with “Watching Daddy Die”
Kathy Escobar at The Carnival in My Head with “what’s inside the bunny?”
John Smulo at JohnSmulo.com
Erin Word at Decompressing Faith with “Long-Wearing Nail Polish and Other Stories”
Beth Patterson at The Virtual Teahouse with “the future is ours to see: crumbling like a mountain”
Bryan Riley at Charis Shalom
Alan Knox at The Assembling of the Church with “Maturity and Education”
KW Leslie at The Evening of Kent with “Putting spiritual infants in charge”
Bethany Stedman at Coffee Klatch with “Moving Towards True Being: The Long Process of Maturity”
Adam Gonnerman at Igneous Quill with “Old Enough to Follow Christ?”
Joe Miller at More Than Cake with “Intentional Relationships for Maturity”
Jonathan Brink at JonathanBrink.com with “I Won’t Sin”
Susan Barnes at A Booklook with “Growing Up”
Tracy Simmons at The Best Parts with “Knowing Him Who is From the Beginning”
Joseph Speranzella at A Tic in the Mind’s Eye with “Spiritual Maturity And The Examination of Conscience”
Sally Coleman at Eternal Echoes with “vulnerable maturity”
Liz Dyer at Grace Rules with “What I Wish The Church Knew About Spiritual Maturity”
Cobus van Wyngaard at My Contemplations with “post-enlightenment Christians in an unenlightened South Africa”
Steve Hayes at Khanya with “Adult Content”
Ryan Peter at Ryan Peter Blogs and Stuff with “The Foundation For Ministry and Leading”
Kai Schraml at Kaiblogy with “Mature Virtue”
Nic Paton at Sound and Silence with “Inclusion and maturity”
Lew Ayotte at The Pursuit with “Maturity and Preaching“

The Practice of the Early Church - Session 3 - Elder-Led Congregational Consensus

Saturday, February 9th, 2008 | Conference, church, deacon, elder, fellowship, ministry, pastor, philosophy, preaching, questions, service, teaching, testimony, tradition, worship | 2 Comments

I was able to attend session 3 of a home church conference put on by NTRF. Here are some not I took from session 3 - Elder-Led Congregational Consensus.

The Practice of the Early Church

Session 3 – Elder-Led Congregational Consensus

(Steve Atkerson)

Everyone agrees that Christ is the head of the Church… opinions digress from that point.

Elder-Led Congregational Consensus is a little different than Elder-Rule form of church government.

Who is in charge here? Luke 22:23-27

We are not to be like the Gentiles.

How much authority should church leaders have? The same authority a child has, the same authority a servant has.

Leaders have authority, but it is a different type of authority (one that is unlike the Gentiles).

Who were the letters to churches written to?

Romans 1:7 – To all, not just the leaders

1 Corinthians 1:2 – To all, not just the leaders

2 Corinthians 1:1 – To all, not just the leaders

Galatians 1:1 – To all…

etc., etc., etc.

Philippians 1:1 – To all… “including the overseers and deacons”

etc., etc., etc.

Hebrews 13:7 – To all… and then asks them to “greet all of your leaders and all the saints.”

etc., etc., etc.

1 Peter 5:1-3 – Written to the elders “among you.”

Elders are important, but there is a decided lack of emphasis on Elders. We should appreciate them for their service (1 Thessalonians 5:12).

It appears that the authority that Elders have is the authority to persuade people to the truth.

Authority resides with the church corporately, not with its leaders.

Matthew 16:18-19

Matthew 18:16-17

Church leaders don’t make decisions for the church, the make decisions with the church. Perhaps like the Senate, a group of people can bring what they think should be done (leaders) and but they with the rest of the church decide together.

Doing it this way, means you will have to love each other enough to put up with one-another. You won’t always agree with one-another.

Acts 1:15,23 – Peter recognized a problem, need to fill Judas’ spot, but the 120 put forward two possible people.

Acts 6:3,5 – Recognized a problem of with feeding the widows, but the church picked the seven.

Acts 15 (22-23) – With the whole church…

1 Corinthians 5 – The whole church decides

1 Corinthians 6 – The whole church judges

Consensus is based on unity – Psalm 133:1; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Ephesians 4:3-6; Phillipians 2:2; Colossians 3:15; John 17:11,20-23; 1 Corinthians 10:17; Ephesians 4:11-13;

Hebrews 13:17 – Obey is 13:17 in the Greek is actually more like “allow yourself to be persuaded or convinced by” your leaders or take their advice. Submit in 13:17 is more like “yield or surrender.” This is a process or battle after which one yields (or surrenders). Submission still occurs, but the picture is one of serious discussion and dialog prior to one party giving way.

The authority of “obey” and “submit” is merely that of the gift of persuading one to the truth.

The point of the verse is not to be a blockhead.

Caveat – 1 Peter 5:5 “You younger men, likewise, be subject (hupotasso) to your elders” and this is the word that really means to submit.

James 3:17 – But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.

Conclusion:

There is a surprising lack of emphasis on church leaders in the letters to the churches.

Congregational consensus is the NT norm for church government (not majority rule, not elder rule). Church polity is to be that of consensus, not command. Authority resides in the church as a whole, not its leaders (Mt 18:15-20).

Generally speaking, church leaders have the same authority as children and slaves (Lk 22:24-27). Leaders are to lead by persuasion, example, life-style, influence and teaching (Heb 13:7).

Elders are to be given special consideration in the consensus process (Heb 13:17), especially when dealing with block heads and young Turks!

Churches are to be more elder-led than elder-ruled (1 Pe 5:1-3).

Money and the Church: A Fulltime Story

Thursday, November 15th, 2007 | church, deacon, ministry, money, overseer, pastor, preaching, sermon, service, synchroblog, teaching, tradition | 7 Comments

Today’s post is part of a synchroblog dealing with money and the church. It is a pretty broad topic, and many people are writing about different aspects of “money and the church.” At the bottom of this post you’ll find a list of links of other contributors to this subject. Today, I am going to write about some news I recently heard.

The other day I was speaking to one of our brothers. I asked him how things were going with the church that he met with. He told me about a recent deacon meeting. During the meeting the pastor told them that he was being stretched at all ends and something needed to change. His schedule is pretty cumbersome, he works full-time, he goes to classes (a couple per semester), and he teaches Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. Apart from that I am not sure he has many other “duties” required of him by the church, but still doing all those things can be quite burdensome, especially when you have a wife and a few children to take care of.

At this meeting he gave them the break down of all his monthly needs/wants; he even made it clear that he would be willing to get rid of some luxuries to lower his monthly costs. He also made it clear that he wants to pastor this group. The deacons were in full agreement, they want a full-time vocational pastor. At the next business meeting, they’re suppose to bring it for all the members to vote on.

A few questions ran through my mind: Is this where God wants this man? What will happen if they vote against this? Will he leave or stay? Are there any other solutions that will free up his time? Is what he expects as a pastor biblical? Is what the deacons expect from a pastor biblical? Is what the rest of the members expects from a pastor biblical?

Paying this person extra money will allow him to quit his secular job. This will allow him to start doing visitations, more counseling, more studying, etc. From what I currently understand about “church,” I see this as a huge waste of money. As many of you know, I do not believe that pastor’s should receive a salary. Mainly because I do not see the majority of their “duties” in scripture. If we want to pay a person to visit, to counsel, and to study, than fine - it’s a free country - but that is not what makes a pastor.

Here is a recent Job Listing I was given for a “Family Minister/Associate Pastor”:

Description:
Needed at First Baptist Church in *****, NC, located in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina: A loving, passionate and spirit-filled individual who feels called to serve God as a minister for all age groups. This individual will be asked to work with Ministry teams and councils to reach withing the church and greater *****/***** County community by planning, coordinating, promoting and executing a comprehensive program of activities. Enthusiastically develop fellowship, Christian education, evangelistic outreach and visitation.

Requirements:
* Assist the Stewardship Ministry Team in preparing and administering the family ministries annual budget
* Preparing monthly calendar and reports
* Supervision of custodial staff
* Maintain scheduling and supervision of church vehicles
* Oversee construction projects and the furnishing, maintenance, staffing and operation of same
* Attending regularly scheduled staffing meetings and Church Council
* Assisting the Pastor in planning, conducting and evaluating congregational services.
* Must have a seminary degree - be an open minded person with a listening and discerning ear and spirit who is able to take initiative in a Godly way.

I do not think this strays too far from what you would normally find in a vocational pastor’s job description. This particular job is paying “$40,000 to $50,000 (includes housing, insurance, benefits).” The sentence, “A loving, passionate and spirit-filled individual who feels called to serve God as a minister for all age groups,” is probably the only line you will find in there that can be derived from scripture. But aren’t we all suppose to be loving? passionate? spirit-filled? Aren’t we all called to minister to all age groups? If so, why aren’t all the members being paid?

Some questions I thought of when reading this listing: Couldn’t a few people do these jobs for free? Do these jobs need to be done or are they luxury? What could we do with 40,000$ - 50,000$ every year in the community?

What do you think? Is paying a salary for a fulltime position a luxury that the church should forsake?

What happens when you put two taboo subjects together and discuss their relationship with each other? Find out by following the links to this month’s SynchroBlog. Money and Church is the topic. Do you think they belong together? or is it a problem when they meet? Follow the links, and watch the fur fly!

Here’s who’s in so far:

The Check That Controls at Igneous Quill
Pushing The Camel: Why there might be more rich people in Heaven than in your local Church at Fernando’s desk
Sally Coleman at Eternal Echoes
Lord, Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz at Hello Said Jenelle
Zaque at Johnny Beloved
Walking with the Camels at Calacirian
Greed and Bitterness: Why Nobody’s Got it Right About Money and The Church at Phil Wyman’s Square No More
Wealth Amidst Powers at Theocity
Money and the Church: A Fulltime Story at The Pursuit
But I Gave at Church at The Assembling of the Church
Moving Out of Jesus Neighborhood at Be the Revolution
Money and the Church: why the big fuss? at Mike’s Musings
Coffee Hour Morality at One Hand Clapping
Bling Bling in the Holy of Holies at In Reba’s World
Magazinial Outreach at Decompressing Faith
Money’s too tight to mention at Out of the Cocoon
Bullshit at The Agent B Files
The Bourgeois Elephant in the Missional/Emergent Living Room at Headspace
When the Church Gives at Payneful Memories
Who, or What, Do You Worship at at Charis Shalom
Greed at Hollow Again
Silver and Gold Have We - Oops! at Subversive Influence
The Church and Money at Khanya

Welcome to the Family…

Thursday, November 8th, 2007 | church, deacon, fellowship, ministry, preaching, sermon, teaching, tradition, worship | 2 Comments

I found this in a church bulletin:

Request from the Deacons

In reverence to God and respect for others, please do not get up during the sermon (unless there is an emergency). Parents - please take your children to the restroom before the worship time or, if needed, during the offertory. Also, please turn off all beepers, cell phones, and wristwatches. Thank you!

(bold, italics, and underlining is original)

Ideal Bible?

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 | baptism, bible, books, deacon, tradition | 4 Comments

I have a question for all my readers… what would your “ideal Bible” look like?

For a while I have been desiring certain features in a Bible, such as, Greek and Hebrew along with a solid English translation; perhaps with or without Chapter and Verse divisions; maybe it would have cross references; a single column rather than two columns; room to write notes.

What about changing the book order, especially in the Old Testament?

Remove all transliterated words like “baptism” and “deacon” and replace them with their translations like “immersion” and “servant,” respectively.

What are your thoughts? What do you want in a Bible that you can’t get now?

The reason I ask is because I have thought about creating my own Bible. With direct printing services available from companies like Lulu.com or Cafepress.com this is definitely a real possibility. Of course it will take a lot of work and time, but I think it would be worth it… at least for me.

Damage Control…

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 | News, deacon, pastor, tradition | 12 Comments

My father-in-law is the vocational pastor of Zion Baptist Church in Covington, GA. Sunday, August 11th, he resigned from his position. Paraphrasing, he said, “Due to my health I am unable to pastor a church of this size… or so I’ve been told.” In this weeks weekly newsletter, the Zion Trumpet, a letter from the deacon body appeared on the front page:

Dear Church Family,

Our pastor, Brother Rickey Brantley, has resigned. Because of his health problems, he no longer feels he can pastor a church the size of Zion. He informed the deacons that it is God’s will for his life to resign at this time. We do not know what God has planned for Brother Rickey and Elaine, but we trust that our God will supply all their needs. We love them and affirm this decision.

Just for the record, the deacons did not suggest or ask Brother Rickey to resign as pastor. We have been supportive of Brother Rickey, doing whatever we could do to help him. We do, however, feel this decision is best for Brother Rickey in his quest to regain his health and we also feel that, in time, it will be best for our church.

The Deacon Body

Does this letter seem as suspicious to you as it does to me or I am just biased? This whole ordeal is very unfortunate. I would love to sit down with some of these men and try to truly understand what they were thinking, why they have done some of the things they have done, and how they have justified some of their actions to themselves.

Business Meeting - Part 2

Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 | deacon, ministry, pastor, service, tradition | 2 Comments

Well, I was able to go to the business meeting this past Sunday. It was not as bad as I envisioned.

Here is a brief recap:

Lady #1 said, we need to be bible believing/following Christians and if the Bible says that women cannot be deacons than we should not encourage women to be deacons.

I said, 1 Timothy 3 is a misused, abused, misinterpreted, tough passage to deal with. The word “Deacon” is not an actual word, it is a transliteration from the Greek and the word itself actually means “servant.” Jesus was called a “deacon,” Paul called Phoebe (female - Romans 16:1), Timothy, and himself a “deacon.” The word in 1 Timothy 3 for “wives” is the same word for “women.” In Greek there is just the one word and the context helps us understand which it is talking about. So some think it is women and is allowing for women deacons. Which kind of makes sense, since a deacon is only a servant. Although I am not convinced that it should be translated as “women” in this particular case.

I also said, that I am not sure that we understand enough as the body to vote on this issue. I said that perhaps a better question would be - should we continue to refer to this leadership position as “deacon.”

Man #1 said, that he agreed with me and that we should change the title “deacon” to “elder.”

Man #2 said, they know we have a terminology issue but want to make these changes on step at a time.

Man #1 rebutted saying, that if we are not inline with scripture, we should change immediately, not in steps. But if that is the direction they were going to take then they needed to consider the next thing very soon afterwards.

Then there was a lot of discussion as to what to make the motion say. I think they said that they would not allow a women to be in a leadership position, which is currently the role of the pastor or the role of the “deacon.”

There was only one vocal couple that seemed a little upset over the whole ordeal. Other than that everyone seemed pretty much on board with the “change.” Now they just need to stop calling them “deacons,” sell their buildings, cut their losses, and be the Church in unity :).

What does Paul …

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 | baptism, church, deacon, overseer, pastor, tradition | 2 Comments

Last week I was asked to teach a Sunday School lesson for one of our brothers. They just started going through the letter we call 1 Corinthians and he asked me to teach on chapter 1:10-17.

¹⁰ But I exhort you brothers through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that you all say the same thing and there be no division among you but that you be restored in the same mind and the same purpose. ¹¹ For it has been reported to me by those of Chloe that strife exists among you. ¹² But I say to you that each one of you is saying that one the one hand I am of Paul, on the other hand I am of Apollos, on the other hand I am of Cephas, on the other hand I am of Christ. ¹³ Has the Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I give thanks to God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius. ¹⁵ So that no one might say that in my name they were baptized. ¹⁶ But also I baptized the Stephanas house, beyond that, I do not know if I baptized any other. ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ might not be rendered void.

Paul uses these verses to setup everything he is about to talk about in the next few chapters of this letter. The reader should pay careful attention here and keep these verses in mind as they continue to read. I knew no other way to teach these verse but to go through each verse and point out the significance of different words. So in this post, I am going to give a brief summation of what I taught and ask you all to consider what Paul is saying.

10 – Paul is exhorting the Corinthian Christians for four reasons:

1. So they would all say the same thing.
2. So there would be no division among them.
3. So they would be restored in the same mind.
4. So they would be restored in the same purpose.

• Exhorting – to urge strongly, to make a strong request for something. (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8)
• Division - the condition of being divided because of conflicting aims or objectives. (1 Corinthians 12:22-26)
• Mind – An attitude or way of thinking. (Luke 24:25, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:17-24)
• Purpose – purpose, intention, mind, mind-set. (1 Corinthians 7:25, 1 Corinthians 7:40)
• Same – has to context of agreeing with one another. He is talking about having unity. (Romans 15:5-6)

11 –

• Strife – Engagement in rivalry, esp. w. ref. to positions taken in a matter. (Galatians 5:19-21)

12 – Paul is referring back to 1 Corinthians 1:12. “So that you all say the same thing” – “each one of you is saying that one the one hand I am of Paul, on the other hand I am of Apollos, on the other hand I am of Cephas, on the other hand I am of Christ.”

• I noticed that some people believed Paul put him first in the list and Christ last because he was trying to show that he is the least (thus furthest) from the most important figure (Christ).
• Paul obviously believes that Christ is superior: “whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.” – 1 Corinthians 3:22-23
• Why then does he make it seem bad that some were saying “I am of Christ”? In my opinion it was because people were doing it to take part in a faction. They were not doing it because they truly thought of themselves as “of Christ” but because they were competing against the other people and their factions.
  

• What is Paul telling us about leaders in this verse?
• Some answers given in class:
  
• We should not idolize them
• Our relationship with Christ should drive us, not our desire to follow an earthly leader
• …
  
• Can this verse be applied today in any other way?
• Some answers given in class:
• Church unity
• Congregationalism (the idea that I am a member of XXX Baptist Church)
• Denominationalism (the idea that I am a Southern Baptist/Pentecostal/Catholic/etc.)
• …

13 – These questions are rhetorical and expect a negative answer.

• Is the Christ divided?
1. Divided – to separate into parts. (Matthew 12:25)
• Paul was not crucified for you, was he? “we preach Christ crucified” – 1 Corinthians 1:23
• Were you baptized in the name of Paul? (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:48a, Acts 19:5a)

14-16 – Paul makes it clear that he is glad that he baptized few of them.

• Don’t we see a high number of baptisms as a mark of a successful ministry?
• It seems that being focused on numbers goes against what Paul sees as his focus.
• What does this tell us about our view on baptisms (and numbers)?

17 – Christ did not send Paul to baptize? What then?

• “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” – Matthew 28:18-20
1. There is only one command in the great commission, make disciples.
2. While you are making disciples, you should be going, baptizing, and teaching.

So this pretty much what I taught. There was a lot of great conversation in the class - so I ask you all, what do you think Paul is doing here?

The Responsibilites of an Elder

Friday, January 5th, 2007 | deacon, pastor, teaching | 3 Comments

The other night I was fooling around with my laptop. My wife was in the bedroom talking to some of her family. She strolled into the kitchen (where I was) and asked, “Lew, where in the Bible are the responsibilities of an elder?”

I answered, “There aren’t any”

I then said, “The qualifications of an elder can be found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus - but those are not really qualifications for an elder, but qualifications every Christian should meet.”

Later, I thought to myself, apart from the qualifications, there are actual responsibilities of an elder.

Acts 15:
1. v.2 - Help to settle disputes (this does not mean make a decision, but to guide people to the correct decision).

Acts 20:
1. v.28 - Guard yourself and the flock.
2. v.31 - Be alert.
3. v.34-35 - Work with your hands to provide for yourself (and others) (i.e. tent-making).
4. v35 - Help the weak and remember “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

1 Peter 5:
1. v.2 - Shepherd the flock.
2. v.2 - Exercise oversight; not under compulsion, but voluntarily.
3. v.3 - Be an example to the flock.
4. v.8 - Be sober minded and alert.

Looking over these “responsibilities” I do not see them as something that a person just decides he is going to do. It seems like they would flow out of being a Christian; growing closer to Christ. A Christian who is already, being an example to the flock, being sober minded and alert, exercising oversight voluntarily, helping the weak, working with this hands to support himself, etc. is one who would be considered an elder. I do not see it as a group of Christians going and looking for someone to fill these roles, but that they recognize the person or people among them who is already fulfilling them.

An important question that needs to be asked is this, “Which responsibilities does an elder have that any other Christian does not?”