Don’t ask for much because people are already overcommitted.
Most people deemed “leader material” by nominating committees keep busy. Some either do not have time to be an officer in the church or are not being called to serve at the time.
Nevertheless, we have found if we raise the bar for those who are called to serve, they will rise to the challenge. You get what you ask for so we ask for a lot. Who wants to waste their time doing something that is insignificant and meaningless?
If the nominating committee isn’t getting some rejections, you can be sure you have not set the bar high enough. The office of elder or a deacon in the Presbyterian Church is a high calling and should be treated as such.
Pastors are the only ones in ministry and everybody else is doing church work.
What happened to the priesthood of all believers? Are elders and deacons ordained to office in the same way that clergy are ordained to office? Are they not the same ordination vows, with a distinction of office? The Book of Order (W-4:4001) states that, “In ordination the church sets apart with prayer and the laying on of hands those who have been called through election by the church to serve as deacons, elders, and ministers of the Word and Sacrament.”
We had to unlearn the ways in which we minimize the ordination of elders and deacons. We were not taking it seriously. They are not volunteering. They are not just running the church. God has called them to office. They kneel before God and the congregation as other ordained officers place their hands on them and claim them for ministry. In the same way that ministers need to be prepared for that endeavor, deacons and elders need significant training and preparation for ministry.
Training officers means teaching the rules and regulations of the Book of Order.
Only partly true. Training officers entails so much more than a data dump. Adults do not remember much when they are lectured and loaded with information that they may or may not need anytime soon. They will just forget it. Adults like to be engaged and they like to participate in the learning process. Fill their heads with data and they may be able to quote from the Constitution, but that won’t make them spiritual leaders.
We further realized that training officers involves building a team and a community of faith. If you teach them the rules, they will become rule keepers. We cannot find anything in the Scripture that says the elders and the officers of the church need to keep all the rules. Scripture does support the premise that those who are called to ministry oversee the ministry of others and equip the church to be the church. Building a team is much more stimulating and productive. The information is there, but we engage it together in a process.
You have to teach everything.
There once was a rural preacher who opened his small church on Sunday morning in a blinding snowstorm. He put a fire in the stove and waiting for someone to come. One farmer showed up for worship so the preacher proceeded. He led a hymn, said the prayers, took up an offering and preached for 45 minutes. After the service he took his usual place at the door and the farmer politely came to shake his hand. The preacher asked, “Well, what did you think of the service?” to which the farmer replied, “It was good but when I go to feed my cows and only one shows up, I don’t feed them the whole truck of hay.”
The Book of Order states, The minutes of session shall record the completion of the period of study in preparation, after which the session shall examine them as to their personal faith; knowledge of the doctrine, government, and discipline contained in the Constitution of the church; and the duties of the office. (G-14.0205)
Sound demanding? What doctrine do elders and deacons need to know in order to be prepared to serve? How much detail do they need to know about the government and discipline of the church? Should they be able to recite the duties of the office from memory? And what are we looking for when we examine them as to their personal faith? Do we honestly expect to cover all of these topics in three or four training sessions?
We have learned to be selective in the training and to acknowledge that it is ongoing. We hang the doctrine onto the hooks of the ordination vows, which the officers will take before the congregation. We handpick the basics of Presbyterian government. We guide them in sharing their faith in small groups. We commit to a lifelong learning process. We do a formal examination of our officers but that examination acknowledges the limitations of an officer-training program.
Training officers is boring.
Sitting around a table on a Sunday afternoon, talking about W-1.2001 will just about kill anybody! No one says you have to do that.
Our training sessions begin with a half hour of worship that includes communion, praying aloud for the needs of the church and the world, reading a text and discussing it together, and singing a hymn. It is a place where officers are fed and nurtured. We play Jeopardy and Who Wants to be a Millionaire-style games with the material that they have read as homework. They break out in small groups to discuss issues. We role play. We use lots of different learning activities and we mix it up. Church officers like to be stimulated like anybody else when it comes to learning. We found that we can be creative and the training is actually fun. We like being together. We eat a meal together during training and then go to small groups, share our faith, and get to know each other. It is creative, moves quickly, and builds a team.
Mark Twain was right when he said that education mainly consists of what we unlearn. If we always do what we have always done, we will always get what we have always gotten. There is no rule that says you cannot change. There is no rule that says that you cannot be creative.
Officer training offers a great teachable moment, an opportunity we do not want to lose. For God to use human leadership in the church that leadership needs to be trained and empowered for ministry. Whatever we do has to matter, has to make a difference. Sometimes we have to unlearn what we have been doing in order to get to there.
Questions for discussion:
On the matter of commitment, how many hours a month do you think to be reasonable to fulfill your officer duties?
What are the most important things you have learned from the Book of Order?
What teaching/learning methods do you find most appealing and memorable?
Steve Eason is pastor of Myers Park Church in Charlotte, N.C. He is the author of Making Disciples, Making Leaders (Geneva Press).
