Elders 101 (continued) God is extremely wise. He set co-equal, joint elders in every Assembly to shepherd His sheep. He did not set one man as the shepherd of an Assembly, he set elders/pastors plural. One reason out of many for this is so that together, as a cohesive elder-ship, the different gifts and qualities which each elder brings to the elder-ship will be complementary to the other elders. Just say there are three elders in an Assembly: Tom, Dick and Harry. Tom is a straight-shooter, speaks quite directly. This is a great help to some but it puts some others off. Dick is more diplomatic and gentle than Tom and he can help reach people who may be offended by Tom’s forthrightness. Some will find Dick more approachable than Tom. Harry is a younger guy who can much more readily identify with teens and they find him more approachable than Tom and Dick. So, these three men together as shepherds/elders find themselves individually in shepherding roles within the Assembly. Certain in the Assembly relate better to certain individuals (as i have described) and yet there is overlap between the three men’s ministry. You can see God’s wisdom in this. In this there is safety. This will much better express the Kingdom than having a sole pastor as head of the Church. This will bring unity in diversity of personality types rather than unity by uniformity. One of the main advantages of this is that the Assembly’s growth doesn’t all hinge on whether people like one man, the pastor. It’s no longer about one man, about whether you like him or not. Even if some get a little put off by one of the elders (and that may be their own problem) they can’t make that an excuse for not participating in the Assembly as there are other elders there and they are all equal. If they find fault with all the elders then… Praise God! ~ ianvincent.wordpress/
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 03:22:05 +0000
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