Making Disciples and the Appointment of Elders

“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 …” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Some see ‘making disciples’ as a direct command to individual believers. We would say that making disciples, along with baptism and teaching, are things that ought to be done by the church. The context of the passage and the very form of this command seems to make a direct connection between disciple making and baptism. If we believe that making disciples is a command for every believer then how do we alter the sentence to say that baptism is to be only done in the context of the gathered church? It seems inconsistent to interpret this command as intended for both the individual believer and the church as a whole. I think Christ’s command is more likely intended to mean that making disciples, baptizing, and teaching are to be done by the church.

Some may wonder, isn’t the church a collection of individual believers! True, but then what is the meaning of Paul’s use of ‘the body’ metaphor?’ “For the body is not one member, but many” (1 Corinthians 12:14). In our culture we tend to confuse the American ideal of individualism with the biblical idea of believers being integral parts of the local church. Yes, Jesus loves His people as individuals – but He has also called them together into local churches.

  For those who still view ’make disciples’ as a command for every believer I would ask how they address the problem of accountability. Occasionally we hear of men and women who 'self-ordain' themselves into the ministry - we believe this is unbiblical. Many have claimed to be teachers and preachers but are unwilling to submit to any authority. We believe that the local church has an essential role in evaluating and choosing the men who are to preach and teach. When a man (or woman) is unwilling to submit to the authority of the church there is a real possibility that he or she may be headed into error in doctrine and life. One may feel ‘called’ into the ministry, but if the local church does not recognize the qualifications or the gifts then perhaps the calling does not exist. In this case one may appeal to a larger association of churches but still, the local church has the authority to permit or prohibit a man from serving as elder or as a gifted man¹. There are only two offices in a biblical church; elder and deacon.

  Making disciples, baptizing, and teaching are the responsibility of the local church. Yes, each member of the local church has his or her role in accomplishing this work. But the apostle Paul gives us specific qualifications for elder - why? Because not everyone is qualified to teach and preach, obviously. Likewise, not every believer is gifted to perform every aspect of what the church needs to be doing. Some are the hands, and some are the feet, some are the ears and some are the mouth (1 Corinthians 12:14-18). In my opinion the point of Paul’s list of gifts are not to rank believers according to value or importance, but rather his point is that the church needs each believer to exercise their own gifts for the functioning of the local church. As we have already said, the local church has an important role in evaluating and choosing the men who are to preach and teach. When the church recognizes and holds men accountable it is being obedient to the Lords command: “… 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…” Again, we believe the Bible teaches that the local church alone has been given the authority for making disciples, baptizing, and teaching to observe all that Christ has commanded.

Note: having said all this we would not deny that each father is responsible for teaching/training their own children. But even fathers are not to be isolated from the accountability of the local church. Also, church planters/missionaries² are recognized, called, held accountable and sent by the local church. We also believe that individual believers have an obligation to tell their friends, neighbors, and relatives about what Christ has done for them. Certainly the good news is worthy of spoken words. Yet not all are called to preach or teach.

Some denominations choose and send men to pastor particular local churches. As Baptists we do not see this being taught in scripture. We see that the local church investigates the qualifications of a particular man (or men) to be elders in their own church. How else may we hold them accountable if they are not known? So in Baptist churches we see the scripture teaching that each local body of believers chooses a man to minister the Word. It actually goes even further since we expect the elder/pastor to be accessible to the people in the church where he serves. And that, of course, implies hospitality on the part of the elder and on the part of the people whom he is expected to serve. Is it possible that in the future our church may need to look outside the membership for a full-time elder/pastor? In such a case our membership in a confessional association would be very helpful. Because of our 'confessional' relationships we could widen our search for a new full-time elder to include sister churches who have knowledge of gifted and qualified men within their own congregations.

  In our particular church, the elders will investigate the qualifications of potential elders and, if the man appears qualified, present him to the membership for approval. We believe that Christ brings elders to His church – we also believe the local church is the 'means' whereby Christ reveals His will on the matter of church officers. Specifically, our constitution states that nomination for eldership is made by the elders after a successful examination of his qualifications and his possession of the graces and gifts required by Scripture. Following his nomination by the eldership, the membership will have three weeks to evaluate the man for the above mentioned qualifications and gifts. Following the evaluation period the membership will meet and vote to either approve or disapprove his selection into the eldership. The constitution also says that unanimity of the membership is preferred but if not, no less than three-fourth of those voting shall be required for approval.

  I struggle with the constitution’s implication concerning the matter of three-fourth approval. I think it may suggest that we are governed by men who represent interest groups within the church. In truth, the eldership is not a body of men who represent different factions! There is no ‘senior adult’ elder nor is there a ‘young adult’ elder. All of the elders are to biblically serve all of the church members. The constitution may also suggest a popularity contest to some. Even though elders serve the whole church there is a recognition that it is not likely that every elder will be equally ‘liked’ by every member. We evaluate potential elders on biblical qualifications. True, if there are a significant number of people in the membership who do not believe the potential elder is biblically qualified or gifted then he probably should not serve. But the key here is that we judge according to biblical qualifications including his giftedness. This is especially true of what the constitution refers to as the full-time, ‘preaching elder’.

As I have already stated, Christ rules His church and uses ‘means’ to accomplish His purposes. We believe the process of elder nomination and membership approval is a biblical ‘means’ for us to exercise our responsibility to recognizing those whom Christ has appointed to be elders.

  Next month I would like to talk about some reasons why we should desire elders and especially what benefits might come to churches who are willing to invest in a full-time elder.

Robin

footnotes:

¹The 1689 Confession talks about others who are, ‘gifted and fitted by the Holy Spirit for (the preaching the Word), and approved and called by the church …’ (Chapter 26, Of The Church, paragraph 11). For lack of a specific procedure our church will occasionally allow an otherwise qualified man within our church to preach/teach. If the preaching meets the approval of the elders and the church he may be designated as a, ‘gifted brother’ and allowed to continue preaching. He may or may not be an officer of the church as church officers are called only when and if the church requires additional officers to accomplish its purpose.

² We define missionaries as biblically qualified men who are sent to preach the gospel and plant or assist in planting local churches. We prefer the term, church planters, as we believe this is more descriptive. Their accountability comes from the local church that sends them. At this time our church is unable to fully support a man to be sent out as a church planter therefore we join together with like-minded, confessional churches to provide support. Even though we may not know the man we do trust that the churches in our association are theologically sound. That is one of the important reasons we belong to an organization (ARBCA and GACB) within which each church holds to the 1689 Confession. We send support to the sending church knowing that the church has evaluated him as a biblically qualified man and will continue to hold him accountable. If either association were to decide it was no longer confessional we would have a struggle with trusting them to hold these missionaries accountable.

Church Budget

Last month we touched on how our church makes decisions and how the eldership works through that process. This month we will look at how the church develops and works the budget.

First, each of us have a responsibility to be wise managers of what the Lord has given. We learn this from the creation account where Adam is given authority to 'subdue' and 'rule' over 'the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth' (Genesis 1:28). Jehovah owns all creation and He has given the sons of Adam the role of stewards or managers of His creation.

Because of the Fall, and the subsequent curse, this stewardship role has been made more difficult. History has shown that mankind does a poor job of managing creation. Nevertheless, the curse and man's depravity does not relieve us of our responsibility. Our obedience may include many things from caring for our animals to not trashing the environment. But when we consider the church budget the clear application is that we not waste or misappropriate the resources that the Lord has given to us as a church.

When Trinity was first constituted I worked on developing the first budget. Three principles guided our task. First priority was our desire to manage giving wisely. Second, a concern that every member would know where the money was going, and thirdly, to make the budget process easy to understand and easy to audit.

Managing our funds wisely means that there is a certain priority to where we expend our funds. The church has a primary purpose for existence. Therefore our priority for the budget ought to support the local churches’ number one reason for being! We recognize that there are other things that compete for those funds but we should not forget the main reason and purpose of the local church.

So the first question that must be answered is, ‘what is the purpose of the church?’¹ We can go to the words of Christ where he told the disciples to go into all the world, make disciples, baptize, and teach. The 1689 Baptist Confession says in Chapter 26 that believers are to join local churches for 'mutual edification' and 'public worship' (preaching/teaching). Evangelism certainly finds an important place in purpose of the local church.

Managing wisely means we needed to develop a budget that would be helpful in making sure that our funds are going toward things that will likely achieve those goals. Since our main purpose is evangelism, preaching, and teaching we can prioritize other spending. Are we spending a lot of money on things that are not helpful? Then it may be time to prune. A good budget will reveal where the money is going.

The flip side of the budget is the giving part. Before establishing a budget the deacons need some sort of idea of what we may receive for the following year. So it is a bit of a guessing game based on present giving. From this years' estimated giving the treasurer/deacon makes a judgment call about what he thinks will happen for the following year. So he may take what has been received at the end of June and multiply it by two in order to estimate what will be given for 2015. In the past, from experience, we try and cull out what we think non-members have given from the total estimated giving for 2015. Total estimated giving for 2015 minus estimated non-member giving gives us a basic number for the 2016 budget. We typically subtract visitor giving because they have not made a covenantal agreement to support the local church. Not because of any concern on our part that our regular visitors might be unfaithful but merely because we have a high view of membership and the responsibilities of membership.

From that 2016 budget estimate we subtract fixed expenses. Obviously, we have certain financial obligations that take priority. For example, we have insurance, utilities and salary obligations that must be paid. After these items are allocated we may address additional expenses in the order of previously established priorities. The preaching and teaching ministry of the Word is, in fact, of greater importance than those 'fixed' obligations but as long as we have a building it is necessary to pay insurance premiums and utilities bills. I suppose as long as we have preaching and teaching of the Word we will have a solid church - but I am not sure how many would be able and willing to sit in the dirt under a tree for public worship.

So the budget process starts with those expenses that are fixed then adds staff salaries. After those items are taken care of the process takes into account all the other 'incidental' things that our church wants or plans on doing the following year. We do give to missions and church planting efforts as best we are able. We do spend funds on Bible study materials and books. We set aside funds for music and hymnbooks. We have a copy machine and its associated expenses. We have fellowship meals and so require occasional food purchases and paper goods. We have bathrooms which require certain items as well. All such things are subject to increases or decreases according to the funds available. The budget process goes down the list until reaching the budget limit and then adjustments are made to not exceed that limit. If there is money left over it is sent to savings.

A word about savings. There are occasionally extraordinary expenses that arise. For example, the church has several air conditioning units. They are fairly expensive to replace. I believe the present units are nearing ten years old. Therefore it seems reasonable to have enough savings to take care of replacement units in case that is required. Savings may also be accumulated for a specific purpose such as an additional building or a better piano, etc.  Savings for the sake of accumulating money is unnecessary but savings for a specific purpose or in order to meet unexpected repairs is prudent.

So the treasurer and other deacons work through this process and eventually present their 'next year' budget proposal a few weeks before the end-year members meeting. Church members are given at least two weeks to come to the deacons with questions or concerns about the budget. At the end-year members meeting those attending approve the following year budget.

During the year, the treasurer is given lots of leeway in how the funds are allocated since things do not often go as planned. For example, the 2015 budget line item 601A allocates $1,000 for a summer intern. If there is no opportunity for a summer intern perhaps that money might go to support a church planter or even perhaps be used to enhance our benevolence fund.

Once per year we have a audit team assist the treasurer as they go through and account for the previous years budget. Money that may get diverted from one line item to another is accounted for at that time. Their report is presented to the membership at the mid-year members meeting for questions or concerns and approval.

Any major change to the budget or any need to increase the budget during the year requires at least two weeks for the membership to consider the changes and a members meeting to discuss and vote to approve the change.

Robin

¹footnote: When we think about putting our funds toward the main mission of the church I think there is a danger of getting unbalanced. There is the danger of placing emphasis on evangelism to the detriment of the other purposes of the church. An unbalanced church may put nearly all of their funds toward missions and neglect preaching or teaching responsibilities within the local church. The danger here is that without solid preaching or teaching the local body may wither and never reach the spiritual maturity necessary to establishing a solid Christian witness in their local area. I have to wonder if helping establish a church in a foreign land is more important than establishing a solid church in our own land? Would it not be preferable to establish and preserve a solid church in Jackson, Georgia first, and then to go out into the world and plant churches?

The opposite danger is a church that spends all its funds on itself and never looks out to the surrounding world. If we find ourselves spending the bulk of our funds on fellowship meals and/or parties we should be concerned. There is something wonderfully invigorating for a church who is looking outside of itself to the surrounding world (including pagan America) with an eye to planting solid churches. There is the exciting prospect of expanding the Kingdom but also providing an outlet for the men within to develop in the gospel ministry.