I get emails —
Hi Jay,
I’ve read some of your articles and recently read one about elders firing their minister. My husband was once fired from a position, and it was a mess. And as we have moved on and are serving at another church, doing so has made me question the lack of accountability for elders.
It seems to me that elders really do not have finite, effective accountability other than church members gossiping about them or complaining to them. In most cases, the only time an elder is asked to resign is if he has an affair, embezzles money, or hurts a child. What would be the process for removing elders that simply aren’t fit for the job (though are good men and faithful believers), or as a group have struggled to lead the church biblically, financially, and relationally?
It doesn’t seem wise to me that our God would leave any leader with absolute power, without real consequences for his/her actions.
Thank you in advance for considering my questions.
I get this question a lot — maybe more than any other. Although I’m in a middle of a series on the mission of the church, I figure I could provide links to prior posts on the subject.
Further on Elders (Getting Rid of Bad Elders: Prevention)
Further on Elders (Getting Rid of Bad Elders: Cure, Part 1)
Further on Elders (Getting Rid of Bad Elders: Cure, Part 2)
There are more. Search “Bad Elders” in the box in the upper right to find them. But these three posts cover what little I know on the subject, including materials from earlier posts.
The links take me to a sign in, not to a blog post.
Should be fixed now. Thanks.
Do we know the young men mocking Elisha were, in fact, eaten? I seem to recall the NIV saying they were mauled (which means they may have survived).
Christopher,
The Hebrew is that the bear “tore” or “ripped” them. “Mauled” is a fair translation. No translation that I can find says “eaten.” Then again, bears don’t usually maul an animal for fun. It’s a prelude to supper.