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Tag Archives: elders
The Shepherding Model, 21st Century Version
At last, rather than talking about sheep in pens and leading sheep through the wilderness and protecting sheep from wolves, we have a catchy modern metaphor. Announcing a new seminar for elders: Teaching the Sheep to Surf!* * Involves no … Continue reading
Bad Elders: Leadership Hubris
Thom S. Rainer is a well-known author, consultant, and speaker on church growth and leadership. He recently posted an article in his blog about hubris among church leaders. “Hubris,” of course, means pride. It’s the Greek word for the kind … Continue reading
Overseeing the Moderate Church: Part 3
This brings us to teaching. Moderate churches generally have a very weak educational program, because the doctrines that divide the church are off limits. Either one side dominates the classes and the other side doesn’t listen, or else the tough … Continue reading
Posted in Overseeing the Moderate Church, Uncategorized
Tagged All, church leadership, Church of Christ Links, elders
12 Comments
Overseeing the Moderate Church: Part 2
In Part 1, we considered the difficulties of managing a moderate church, that is, a church that is divided between progressives and conservatives. While it’s not inevitable that such churches divide, they often do. The reason is almost always a … Continue reading
Posted in Overseeing the Moderate Church, Uncategorized
Tagged All, church leadership, Church of Christ Links, elders
3 Comments
Overseeing the Moderate Church, Part 1
[This series from way back in March 2007, when there were maybe, oh, 30 readers, keeps getting attention because a lot of churches wrestle with these problems. I thought it might be helpful to re-run it, and I couldn’t help … Continue reading
Posted in Overseeing the Moderate Church, Uncategorized
Tagged All, church leadership, Church of Christ Links, elders, eldership
29 Comments
Elders: An Introduction for Someone Not in the Churches of Christ
I get emails — Jay, I serve as a minister of an independent congregation outside the Churches of Christ that has no elders. I may soon become the senior pastor. Thus, I have been doing some research on church polity, … Continue reading
Bad Elders: A Question from a Reader
I get emails — Small Church of Christ in the Bible Belt. Not incorporated, and so no bylaws or charter. The church has two elders, one of them is the preacher. The non-preaching elder fires the preacher and demands his … Continue reading
CENI: A Better Way — The Acts of the Apostles
Let’s try the same thing with Acts. After all, Luke wrote Acts as something of a sequel to his Gospel. Let’s again purge from our minds the notion that Acts is all about baptism. It’s not. Let’s try to take … Continue reading
Posted in CENI, Uncategorized
Tagged Acts, All, breaking bread, CENI, Church of Christ Links, deacons, elders, Holy Spirit, order of worship, patternism
24 Comments
Thinking Out Loud About Elder Training
[I’m sticking this post to the top of the stack for a few days to encourage further comment — pro and con.] (1 Cor 9:25) Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get … Continue reading
Changes in Church Demographics: Conflict, Part 3 (High-handed Elders)
[Moved from preceding post and revised.] The most common way I’ve seen where even a grace-centered church can split is where the elders are perceived as acting in a high-handed way, often despite the elders’ conscious efforts not to be … Continue reading
Posted in Church Trends, Uncategorized
Tagged All, changes in church, Church of Christ Links, elders
2 Comments
