If the Lord wills, the North Second Street Church of Christ will ordain elders in our congregation by March of 2021. This article is designed to explain and remind us of the process laid out and agreed to by the men of the congregation in November of 2019. We pray that everything, “should be done decently and in order.”-I Corinthians 14:40. We have chosen to keep the flock informed to produce trust and our prayer is, “by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.”-II Corinthians 4:2. Please pray to God for wisdom, guidance, and shepherds.
- Selection
January 10th Our final sermon on the eldership entitled Put In Order after Paul’s instructions in Titus 1:5 will be given. Before services, a locked, wooden box will be put in the mail room to accept ballots. Sheets of paper (one for each member) will be put in our mailboxes. During the selection process, the ballots will be anonymous. Members will write the names of men they recognize as shepherds of the flock and place their ballots in the box.
January 31st The box will remain locked until during the morning sermon on this date. Brenda Lahue and Karen Pitts will remove the ballots and count the names under the supervision of Carl Jackson. They will write the names of any men who appear on 55-percent of the returned ballots on a card. Those names will be read after the closing prayer.
A Men’s Business Meeting is scheduled for that afternoon. The selected men will be asked if they desire to serve. If a plurality of selected men desire the office, two men will be chosen as Appointers to manage the next step.
- Appointment
February 7th Sheets of paper with the name of each member typed on them, will be put in mailboxes. If someone has a question, concern, or objection to one of the selected men, they will write it on the paper and put it in the locked box in the mail room. No anonymous objections will be acknowledged.
February 28th If there are no objections, the selected men will be ordained as overseers by acclamation. If there are objections, the two men chosen as Appointers will collect the objections and schedule times to meet with those who object. The Appointers will act as a go between for those with questions/objections with the goal of resolving all conflicts.
March 28th The Appointers will give a conclusion/update to the congregation after morning services. If all obstacles have been overcome, we will ordain elders in this congregation. May God make it so!
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