Train the Elders Well

A new military recruit is immediately taken from the recruiting station and assigned to be a squad leader in a war zone. The recruit has no previous military training or experience. The recruit has not been through basic training, not to mention specialty school. The recruit does not know how to load a weapon, much less how to clean one. The recruit knows nothing about strategy and tactics. The recruit has absolutely no experience in leading other people to accomplish a task. Yet, here is the recruit assigned as a squad leader in a war zone. That sound very improbable, doesn’t it?

In some ways that is what we do to new members of a congregation, even ones who are new believers. I have seen many situations where a new member of a congregation is quickly nominated and elected to be an elder, serving on the session (governing board). Maybe the new member has come from a congregational or episcopal form of being church. They know very little about what it means to be in a Reformed/Presbyterian congregation. They know little, if anything, about Reformed theology and polity. Because the new member is now on the session, he/she is named chairperson of a committee. Talk about being in over one’s head, just like the new recruit the new member, now elder, is in way over her/his head.

Yes, the Book of Order states, G-2.0402 Preparation for Ministry as a Ruling Elder or Deacon When persons have been elected to the ordered ministry of ruling elder or deacon, the session shall provide a period of study and 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 ministry. Many/most ministers find it difficult to get more than a couple, two hour, classes for newly elected elders for their study and preparation. Obviously, their study and preparation is superficial.

About all that can be done is acquaint the elders with the Book of Confessions, the Book or Order and the session’s manual of administrative operations. Some sessions give newly elected elders a copy of each other three documents, and send them home with an admonition to read them. However, many do not even do that. Giving new elders the three documents and asking them to read them is like giving a high school biology student a copy of Gray’s Anatomy, but without the illustrations, and expecting the student to be qualified to be a physician. In many cases the volumes are taken home and put on a shelf. They are too daunting to tackle alone.

Some pastors try to incorporate a time of elder development into each session meeting. Often such efforts are met with reluctance or outright resistance from those on the session. Elders can be heard in protest exclaiming, “Session meetings are too long as it is, let’s get to the business so we can go home.” After a while the pastor relents and drops the elder development from the agenda.

Elders are to be spiritual leaders of the congregation. How can one be an effective spiritual and community life leader if one does not know the theology and polity of the portion of the church they are elected to serve? In Presbyterian theology and polity ruling and teaching elders share a common ministry with shared and different functions. How can a common can they be on equal footing if ruling elders are not adequately prepared for their calling, and if sessions are disinterested in continuing development in their understanding and application of theology and polity?

Pastors, don’t abdicate your role as teaching elders among the ruling elders. What if all on the session were expected to bring their Bible, the Book of Confessions and the Book of Order to every session meeting? What is some of the lesser important business items were delegated to individuals, committees or commissions? What if you, as the moderator, insisted that part of the session meeting be dedicated to study and discussion of Scripture, theology and polity? Is it laziness or arrogance when ruling elders refuse to expand their understanding of what we believe and how we have agreed to be together as a community of faith?

If we think it is absurd to make a new military recruit, with no training or experience, a squad leader. Why would we ever entertain the idea of making a new member an elder and expect them to be a spiritual and temporal leader in the congregation?