Church government

Church government. Elders. Deacons. Membership.

Yawn.

These are not normally the topics that get us excited about coming to church.

But they should!

Church government is interesting

- and important.

We all know that the government of our country is important

Powerpoint Parliament House

- we just had an election.

What a close one!

And any day the government could change if one of the independents changes his mind

or there is a by-election.

And whoever is in government – makes a difference to our daily lives.

Every day our lives are affected by political decisions

Who is in power is important.

And perhaps even more important than who is in power

- is how the government works.

In our country we are blessed with free speech

and democratic elections.

We used to live in an overseas country without democracy – real democracy.

Elections were a joke.

There was only one viable condidate – the president

you knew who would win!

but there was no way people could have a say

and that led to corruption and poverty.

So how a country is governed is very important

as is who runs it is important.

If this is the case with a country

how much more so with the church.

Churches have risen and fallen on how they’ve been governed

It is an important area.

So – who runs the church?

and how does the church run?

Does the Bible speak about this

or is it silent?

Well – the answer is

Powerpoint Bible

the Bible does say a lot about how the church ought to be run

it doesn’t say everything though

when it is silent – we must be wise

but when it’s not silent

then we must be obedient.

Today we are going to look at church government

We are going to look at the structure

how a church should be structured

things like elders, deacons and pastors .

and most importantly – Christ.

Then we’ll look at the structure at Gympie Baptist Church

and how it matches up to the biblical model.

In November at the AGM there will be some deacon positions vacant

and early next year – probably March

- we hope to introduce Elders

So this message is important

so that you’ll understand why the leadership wants to bring in Elders next year

and so you’ll be informed as we present prospective elders to you.

Perhaps you are here and thinking this is irrelevant because you aren’t a member.

well it is relevant because if you are part of this church

- then regardless of whether or not you are formally a member you ought to be interested in who runs the church

because the effectiveness of the church in fulfilling God’s will

depends to a large extent on how well it is governed!

Firstly

- structure.

We know that Christ is the head of the church.

Powerpoint “Biblical Governance” with Col 1.18

Colossians 1.18 says

And He is the head of the body, the church.

But how does Christ rule?

Well

Powerpoint Biblical Governance + Holy Spirit and Bible

- through His word, the Bible

and through the Holy Spirit

but also through people that God has set in the church to rule as His representatives.

and it is these people we will look at today.

In the Bible we find two sorts of leaders

Elders and Deacons.

First the elders.

Powerpoint – diagramme with elders added in

First thing – they are appointed by God to oversee the flock – that is, the church.

Powerpoint – daigramme with Acts 20.28

In Acts 20.28 Paul speaks to the Elders in Ephesus and he says to them:

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

So if you are part of a church

the elders do have a responsibility to oversee you

- that means there is an accountability that the church has to the elders under God.

Powerpoint diagramme with church added

So who are the elders and what do they do?

Well that passage in Acts 20 tells us a lot

In Acts 20 – Paul on his way to Jerusalem.

He stops near Ephesus and has a yack to the Ephesian elders

He calls them two things

First, he calls them elders:

Powerpoint Ephesus and Acts 20 verses

Acts 20.17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.

Then in verse 28 which we’ve already briefly looked at he says to the same group of people:

Acts 20.28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.

So this group of people are known as both elders and as overseers

and in verse 28 they are told to care for the church of God

in the Greek this means to shepherd the church of God

- and some of your translations use the word shepherd here.

So we see that elders are the same group of people as overseers –

elders and overseers are synonyms.

And one of the things they do

is to shepherd God’s people

Powerpoint diagramme with Elders/Overseers/Shepherds

So from these three names we can learn what they do.

What is an elder?

Is it someone who is old – as the name would imply?

Well not necessarily

that’s one meaning of the word

but by Pauls’time the word came to be used for those holding office or positions of authority

eg a town councillor, the leader of a trade guild etc.

And so that is how the word came to be used in the church

those that led the church.

Powerpoint diagramme with “rule” added

What about overseer?

Well it means what the name says – someone who oversees.

In modern English

probably the best equivalent is a supervisor

So an elder is someone who holds a position of authority in the church and who supervises the church.

What else does he do?

Well he shepherds the church.

Powerpoint diagramme with “and do shepherding” added

What does it mean to shepherd the church?

It means to care for the church.

Powerpoint shepherd with 1 Peter 5.1

1 Peter 5.1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: ² shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; ³ not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

The elders are responsible for lovingly overseeing the church

- for the church’s benefit and not their own.

Back in Acts 20 from verse 29

Paul also warns the elders about the danger of false doctrine

and their responsibility to be alert for it.

Part of the elders’ role is to protect and warn the church about false doctrine.

much as a shepherd protects the sheep from dangers.

And part of the elders’ role is to teach

the main difference between the qualifications for elders and deacons

according to 1 Timothy 3

- is that elders are to teach.

This doesn’t mean they have to be preachers

although they may be.

But they may do their teaching in small groups or one on one.

Powerpoint shepherd with elders’ role

So the elders’ role is to:

- have spiritual authority over the church under God

- shepherding the church

- that is, caring for the church

- doing that by teaching and guarding against false doctrine.

So in a nutshell that’s what the elders do.

Next question: how many elders are there?

Well, the Bible doesn’t give a number that a church needs to have

Powerpoint diagramme with plural emphasised

except elders are always mentioned in the plural

For example in Acts 20.17 Paul calls for the elders of the church – not the elder

and we find that throughout the NT

whenever the elders are mentioned it alsways elders and not just an elder

we can see that plurality of leadership is God’s plan for the local church.

So that’s elders for the moment – we will come back to them later.

Now what are deacons?

Powerpoint deacons

.

The NT mentions deacons a lot in passing

but doesn’t say much about what they do

But, like elders, we can learn a lot by the name.

Powerpoint deacons = servants

“Deacon” just meant “servant”

that is, one who serves or helps.

That’s what a deacon means.

But in the NT

deacons refer to a servant who led in serving

all in the church are called to serve

but the deacons were in a sense those who led those who served.

Perhaps the best description of their function is in Acts 6.

In Acts 6 – the church had been growing

part of the church’s functions was to help the widows with their food needs.

And a dispute arose

as those who have been involved in practical needs know

making decisions about helping people is a time consuming and involved matter.

and the apostles were having to make those decisions

and this was distracting them from their main task of prayer and preaching the word

Powerpoint Deacons with Acts 6.2

so it says in Acts 6.2 And the twelve summonsed the full number of the disciples and said, “It is nto right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to praye ra nd to the ministry of the word.”

So, the deacons assist the elders with the more practical matters of running the church.

Powerpoint diagrammes with deacons and other stuff added in

That is

- the elders lead in the sense of spiritual oversight

and they shepherd the flock – the church.

The deacons lead in the more practical areas

- things like practical helps and building playgrounds and other practical needs of the church.

So – elders and deacons

- that’s who runs the church.

Have I missed anyone yet?

Well - what about the pastor?

Where does he fit in?

Or more to the point – where do I fit in?

Powerpoint Thomas and word “Pastor???”

What’s my role?

Well

- the word “pastor”

is a bit of an old fashioned word for “shepherd”

Powerpoint Pastor = Shepherd with pictures of Thomas and a shepherd

that’s what it means – shepherd.

And so we can see then that we’ve already covered what a pastor does.

In Acts 20.28

it says the elders , the overseers – one of the things they do is shepherd

that is, they pastor.

Powerpoint Biblical governance diagramme

That’s also where we get the word “pastoral care” from.

“Pastoral care” just means, “shepherding”

Powerpoint diagramme with = pastoral care added in

and that’s the job of the elders and overseers according to Acts 20.

So you might be asking now

- what’s the difference between a pastor and a shepherd?

well according to the NT

there is no difference.

Powerpoint diagramme with = pastors added in

Pastor or shepherd is just another name for an elder or overseer.

So you want to know what I do?

I’m an elder, an overseer, a shepherd

- just like the other elders, if we had them.

The only difference is that in my case I’m paid

Powerpoint Thomas with money

which means I have more time than unpaid elders who need to work at other jobs for their living.

but the pastor is really just one of the elders

and the elders are pastors

just one of them in this church – in the case of Gympie Baptist, it is me, is paid

so that I don’t have to do another job to support myself

and so I can devote my time, full time, to being an elder

and so I do the same sort of things as the other elders if we had them,

Powerpoint diagramme

its just that I do a lot more of it, because I have the time for it.

In fact, the terms, elder and overseer are used in the NT much more than the word “pastor.”

There’s actually only one place the word “pastor” or “shepherd” is used as a noun for a church leader

and that was in Eph 4.11

where it says that shepherds or pastors, depending on your Bible translation

were given by God to equip the saints.

- which they do primarily through teaching, which we’ve already looked at.

So from that we see one more function for elders/overseers/shepherds/pastors

Powerpoint diagramme + equipping

- that is, they equip and prepare the church members for service.

Okay, so let’s review

the following diagramme shows how Biblical church government ought to look like.

Powerpoint diagramme with Christ

We have Christ as head of the church.

Powerpoint diagramme + elders / pastors

Under Christ we have the elders – more than one of them.

In the NT it is never just one.

The elders rule the church

Powerpoint diagramme + church

and provide pastoral care and equip the saints

that is, they equip the church members for ministry by teaching them.

Powerpoint diagramme + deacons etc

And the deacons assist them

and provide leadership in the practical areas.

The elders don’t need to know about broken light bulbs

or building the playground

that is something for the deacons.

The deacons don’t just provide leadership in the practical areas

they also do some of the practical stuff too.

So a biblically run church would look something like this

Now the question is – how are we going?

Do we have a biblically run church here at Gympie Baptist Church?

Before we answer that question

I’m going to explain how a secular organisation is run in the modern world.

Powerpoint secular governance

A modern company

or indeed a footy club, a rotary club

just about any secular organisation

Powerpoint secular governance + board

has a board.

The sharholders or members elect the board.

Powerpoing diagramme + members

And then the board and the members of the organisation appoint the CEO or Chief Executive.

Powerpoint diagramme + CEO

The CEO is accountable to the board.

Now the board are not involved with the day to day running of the organisation

they delegate that to to the CEO.

The CEO then, has a lot of power.

There is just one CEO

Powerpoint full diagramme

and under him he has various departments.

Chief Financial Officer, Head of Sales, Head of Manufacturing, etc

and each of those is responsbible for a department.

And you know what?

The people down here in the organisation

might not even know the board members

or if they do

the board members don’t have much to do with their daily lives.

Everything goes through the CEO.

Now let’s think about the church.

There is a tendency for churches to be run like a secular organisation

Powerpoint two diagrammes – secular and church

We have a diaconate board – voted for by the members.

the members then appoint the pastor

Powerpoint 2 diagrammes + pastor

and the pastor is accountable to the diaconate board.

And then under the pastor you have the different ministry teams leaders.

Powerpoint 2 diagrammes – two full sides

The ministry team leaders report to the pastor who then reports to the board

who then reports back to the members at the AGM.

Just like a secular organisation.

Powerpoint 2 diagrammes + pastor as CEO

The pastor is like a CEO.

So what do we have here at Gympie Baptist?

Powerpoint 2 diagrammes as above except second one now headed as “Gympie Baptist Church”

The members vote for a the diaconate – who are like the board.

We have a pastor.

Together the pastor and the diaconate make decisions affecting the church

but most of the day to day running is left with the pastor.

We then have ministry teams with ministry team leaders

who largely report to the pastor.

In fact

- it looks more like the secular governance model

than the Biblical one.

The diaconate acts like a board

The pastor is like a CEO

The ministry team leaders are like departmental heads.

So we have a need to tweak our church governance to make it more biblical.

Powerpoint Biblical governance and GBC

This powerpoint now compares the Biblical model with what we more or less have at the moment at GBC

- I have simplified it to make it easier to read

– Christ and church members although the most important are not on there because both models actually have Christ and the members.

So there is the difference

but the question is:

But why is it important to use the Biblical one

rather than the secular one?

After all

- we live in 2010

every other organisation uses the board – CEO – department head model

why shouldn’t we?

Does the form of church governance really matter that much?

Well yes it does!

Firstly – regardless of any other reason

we ought to be biblical.

Secondly – there are important reasons why God has given us His plan for church governance.

In the secular model - there is one key person, the CEO.

or if applied to the church – the pastor.

Most power is vested in the CEO or in the case of a church - the pastor.

As we’ve seen, pastors are the same as elders,

so at the moment,

the church only has one elder – me.

But in the New Testament, leadership is shared leadership.

In each church, elders were appointed.

At the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15

a tricky theological question was decided by a council rather than one individual.

Why?

Because one person, while having strenghts, also has weaknesses.

We all make mistakes

and having more than one person in the eldership

gives balance

balance in perspective, in opinions.

helps to counterbalance the weakness of just one person.

Those of you who know me well are starting to get to know my strengths

- and also my weaknesses

if we have elders – they will counterbalance some of my weaknesses.

The other reason is to share the load , the responsibility.

It is a heavy burden to bear to be a spiritual shepherd

responsible for the pastoral oversight of over 200 people.

It is too much for one person.

A team can share the responsibility

and a team can make better decisions than just one person.

The other things a shared leadership gives is continuity.

Powerpoint Peter and Thomas

Gympie Baptist Church is not Thomas Hemphill or Peter van Donge or David Blackburn or any other pastor.

The church is all the members and the pastor is just one of the members.

Powerpoint whole church

But if there is too much focus on just one man

- the church suffers unduly when that man leaves or something happens to him or he is away

- as what happened a couple of years ago when Gympie BC had no pastor.

Having a plurality of elders helps to provide continuity of vision, of leadership, of pastoral care when one pastor or elder leaves.

Powerpoint back to biblical governance and GBC governance diagrammes

So the NT gives us a plurality of elders for some good reasons.

Well, you might ask

- don’t we have the deacons to do that

to share the load?

Well, yes and no.

Yes, they do help

and I’ve very grateful for the men and women that we have as deacons.

They are great and godly people and this church wouldn’t be where it is today without them..

But because we aren’t following the biblical model as well as we should,

our leadership isn’t working as well as it could.

One of the problems at the moment is one body – the diaconate

- is having to decide both spiritual and practical matters.

Practical matters often are more urgent

and the spiritual can get neglected.

Or they get left to me – the one elder that we have.

The diaconate is also rather large

- and it can be cumbersome contacting them all when quick decisions have to be made.

Because the diaconate’s responsibility is so wide

it is hard for it to be responsible for the both the spiritual and practical things

and to do both things well.

If we had a eldership

- it would mean the eldership can concentrate on spiritual oversight of the church

– the people and their pastoral care and teaching.

and the diaconate can concentrate on the practical things and assist the elders where needed.

The other problem with the secular form of governance

Powerpoint secular governance

is that board leadership is primarily seen as a ruling

and not doing

In a company, the board are often quite removed from the day to day operation of the company.

And while we don’t have such a strong divide between ruling and doing in our church

nevertheless, the deacons are seen as primarily a ruling body

Powerpoint Biblical governance and GBC diagramme

one that makes decisions

and is not necessarily a doing body

- yes the deacons do do stuff

- but that is often not directly linked to their role as deacons.

We have ministry teams

headed by ministry leaders

some of them are respresented on the diaconate

but many aren’t

and that has an impact on the life of the church

because it means that some key ministries such as the youth group, kingdom kids

don’t have diaconate represenation

Everything has to go through the pastor.

And so we have had situations in the life of the church

where the diaconate hasn’t been as in touch with the nuts and bolts of some of the ministries in the church.

In the Biblical model

the elders and the deacons are not just rulers – they are do-ers.

Powerpoint 2 diagrammes with “Do” underlined and in red

The elders are do-ers in the area of pastoral care and teaching

the deacons should be do-ers in the practical areas.

And so we’d like to see every ministry in the church represented on either the eldership or diaconate

with each elder or deacon being responsible for particular ministries in the church

I believe that when we do that

the church will work better together.

And indeed

our church constitution has provision for this.

20 years ago, the church under the then pastor Ian Wright

introduced a new constitution that has provision for elders.

If you read through our constitution

you’ll see it’s quite biblical.

Powerpoint GBC as per constitution

Ian had a lot of foresight in bringing this constitution in.

and co-incidentally he’ll be with us next Sunday

not to talk about consititutions

- he’s since moved on from constitutions to the Barnabus Fund

but I’m sure you could ask him questions about the constitution afterwards if you wanted to.

These constitution reforms were brougth in 20 years ago

but the first attempt to bring in elders was defeated in the members’ meeting

and hasn’t been attempted again.

But we believe it is time now to follow our constitution

Powerpoint two diagrammes – biblical governance and GBC as per constitution

and most importantly – follow the NT model

and introduce Elders.

I and the diaconate have been praying and discussing potential elders for a while now

and a few men have been approached.

They are currently praying and considering it.

And we hope to announce the potential elders in the new year – in January

Then we’ll all have a couple of months to think and pray about them

and then at the members’ meeting in March next year

the church will have the opportunity to affirm them or not.

There are many other things I would have liked to have covered today

- such as the qualifications for deacons and elders

and the role of the members

and other things

but there isn’t enough time.

For those who are members there will be deacons nominations soon

and I hope to get to you a list of the Biblical guidelines in selecting deacons

to assist in nominating and voting for deacons.

Powerpoint Biblical governance

I know some of this will be new to many of you today

and you may have many questions.

Copies of the sermon are at the back if you want to go over the sermon again.

There’s also some good books on the subject I can recommend.

and please do come and see me or phone me or email me to ask me questions

or raise any concerns you may have.

And so the purpose of this sermon today

is to explain why we believe we should introduce elders

what the elders are for

how they will work.

It also gives you an idea of how the deacons role wil change

and what effect it will have on the church.

In summary

we believe we should introduce elders for the following reaons:

Powerpoint “Why Elders”

- because it is biblical

- because it is according to our church constitution, which was written to follow the biblical pattern.

and the way the introduction of elders should improve the running of the church is that:

Powerpoint Results of introducing elders

the pastoral responsibility and leadership will be shared by a group of qualified men, not just the pastor.

The elders and pastor will be able to concentrate on elder type matters

- church vision, spiritual oversight, teaching, pastoral care.

The deacons will be able to concentrate on practical matters

- things like practical helps, playgrounds, sound system, finance.

And the elders and deacons won’t just be a governing body

but as well as governing they will be a doing body

and each ministry in the church will some sort of representation on the eldership or diaconate.

Closing Song:

The Church’s One Foundation