At a recent congregational business meeting, I answered some of the common questions I expected people might have in moving to biblical eldership. It’s not that we’ve had a lot of pushback; in reality, everyone has been gracious and things are going quite smoothly. But we do want our members to make an informed decision when it comes time for vote, and I realize eldership is new to some of our people. We’ve deliberately taken this slowly, and I believe God has rewarded our patience.

Today, I’m posting the last two questions I prepared ahead of time for our business meeting. (You can read my earlier posts explaining what eldership would look like in our church). In a future post, I hope to recap some of the questions raised from the floor during the meeting itself.

Q. What if I want things to stay the way they are now? Perhaps you’re still not convinced about biblical eldership and see no need for change. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We appreciate your honesty, but ask you to carefully examine your heart and try to identify the main concern. Do you have a specific reason for opposing eldership? Do you think it is unbiblical? Against church tradition? Your personal preference? Are you concerned about a specific candidate? Are you afraid it will be abused?

Please bring your questions or concerns to myself or the other leaders in the church. You may also want to go back and listen to my sermons on Titus 1, which are posted online.

We value your input, and want to answer all questions as satisfactorily as possible. But we also are convinced the time is approaching for us to take this step of obedience and to structure God’s church in a more biblical way. On the day of the vote, we would love to have a 100% churchwide affirmation of biblical eldership as an expression of unity on this issue.

Q. What is our timetable? We still need time to finish our elder training and to revise our bylaws, but I image we should be ready for vote by late summer or early fall. In the meantime, I hope to give more opportunity for our deacons and future elders to help in areas such as prayer, teaching, counseling, and visitation.