Tonight one of my elders spoke to me about my letter. He apologized firs and foremost for its having taken 2 months to get back to me.
His explanation didn't actually solve anything. It was just "another way to think of it." But his primary concern in our conversation was in making sure that I a) understood and b) was okay with their decision. I appreciated the heart of the man who approached me.
I've never doubted that our elders are praying, godly men. I appreciate the fact that they paid attention to what I'd written. I hardly expected it to affect the outcome, and it didn't, so that was moot. I appreciated the spirit in which he approached me, too.
There's not a good way to end this. So much of life eludes adequate conclusion.
1 comment:
Q,
My dad once had a similar argument. But at that point it wasn't that deacons were in training to be elders, it was that elders seem to think their job was to be deacons.
But back to your point: You are correct that we should never lose sight of what scripture teaches. Deacons are not elders in training.
Yet, there is a trend toward the decline of true church leadership. I started hearing sermons of this type about 25 years ago. I don't experience that at Highland where we are currently attending, but I did at the last place we attended.
In that small town church, our kids were fortunate to have chances to develop leadership skills, but among the adults, it was a different story.
It was the first church I think I had attended where ladies thought they had to have a man lead their class and where often, even with 200 in attendance, two men would conduct the whole service except for passing the trays.
Granted who does what in the corporate worship does not tell the whole story of leadership, but it can often be a symptom of a problem when too few are involved. But that does seem to be changing, and I still visit there from time to time.
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