Eldership Rationale, (2)

Why did we come up with an eldership anyway? Certainly our purpose at the time was not to become mini dictators. The Scriptures talk of elders in both the Old Testament and the New. Particularly in the Old, Elders were generally -- well, the elders. But, they were not just old people, they were old, considered wise and were from the right families. They were consulted for advice and guidance. It was believed that they had lived life well and were to be emulated. In the New Testament, there was similar thought, but there weren't a lot of old, life-time Christians. Paul and other apostles seemed to have appointed those who were mature in the faith (even though by our standards they were fairly new.) An important passage of Scripture for our understanding was Acts 20:13-35. This is Paul's farewell address to the elders of the church in Ephesus. In verse 28 he tells them to "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit made you overseers (episkipoi -- Bishops). Be shepherds (pastors) of the church . . ." It seems that elders functioned as those who oversee the affairs of the church as well as serve as pastors of the church. We attempted to fulfill those functions.

In order to carry out these functions we were organized as follows (much of this is from my faulty memory -- feel free to bring correction):

• Senior Elders -- Ken Pagaard (Yes officially pastor of the church -- but saw himself as pastor of pastors) Emery Fryer (Head of the Eldership), Wallie Gray, Larry Clark, Lehnis Lyons (left in mid '70s), Tom McCulloch and Sam Ballesteros (although usually not present because of his duties in Bogota). They guided the eldership in their oversight of the church.
• Elders -- Clay Ford, Bud Miller, George Burger, John Pletcher, Phil Woodend, Ed Dubois (left in mid '70s), Leonard Frey, Richard Hensgen and Art Alari (added shortly after the other elders selected). Responsible for oversight of church ministries. Many of us had specific duties. We also were involved in leading worship and in counseling ministries. The purpose was to help guide those less grounded in the faith into a more mature understanding.
• The Staff -- Those Elders who were freed to work at the church. These had specific areas of responsibility in managing the church. My duties are listed under my picture on this blog.
• Heads of Household -- This group included elders and non elders. Anyone who was head of a Residential Community household was a member of this group. Composition changed when households changed. Change was not unusual. I was a member of this group even though I was never a head -- I was in Westby household -- Ken was gone a lot and I helped lead when he was gone. I was known as the (k)not head.
• Ordained Pastors -- Those ordained and recognized as such by the American Baptist Churches had a special status. Ken and most of us really didn't believe in a special clergy status, but, in reality, Ken led the worship of the church -- preached and taught as the pastor. When he was absent, it was usually Larry Clark of Clay Ford who fulfilled these functions.

Elders, Heads of Household and the Staff me weekly in separate meetings. Many of us attended all three of these meetings. Speaking for myself, I loved the meetings, but I did get frustrated because we seemed to hash and rehash the same items from week to week and meeting to meeting. What I liked about the meetings was not discussion items, but the relationships with my brothers in the Lord.

As you can see, this all started innocently enough. We wanted to serve the Lord by serving the church. There was no strong desire to "be in control." Yet, this began to develop. What started as a group that facilitated innovation, became one of the biggest road blocks to innovation in the church. One last posting re our rationale -- hopefully tomorrow.