Elder Governance: Insights into Making the Transition

Elder Governance

Insights into Making the Transition

Daniel Evans and Joseph Godwin, Jr.

Elder Governance

Insights into Making the Transition

Copyright ©

2011

Daniel Evans and Joseph Godwin, Jr. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers,

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Resource Publications

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isbn 13: 978-1-60899-796-1

eisbn 13: 978-1-4982-7349-7

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Theology of Transition

Chapter 2: Models of Church Governance

Chapter 3: History of Church Leadership

Chapter 4: The Office of Church Leadership—The Elder

Chapter 5: The Qualifications of Church Leadership—The Elder

Chapter 6: The Role of Spiritual Leaders

Chapter 7: Church Leadership Functioning as a Team

Chapter 8: Current Church Leadership Buy-In

Chapter 9: A Transition Team

Chapter 10: Are We There Yet?

Chapter 11: Go Slow! Go Fast!

Chapter 12: Communicate! Communicate! Communicate!

Chapter 13: The Implementation of Change

Epilogue

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Bibliography

Dedicated to our fathers, Dr. Norman R. Evans and Rev. Joseph L. Godwin, Sr., whose lives and ministries impacted us deeply and gave us a love for Christ’s church.

Foreword

My forty plus years of ministry, the last twenty-seven as pastor of College Church in Wheaton, have made me well aware of the importance of elders and elder governance. Godly elders are of utmost importance because, over a period of years, the congregation will become in macrocosm what the elders are in microcosm—as the people take on the values and heart attitudes of their leaders. And more, godly leaders will make godly decisions that will help keep the church and her people on course as it navigates the uncertain and sometimes hostile tides of culture. In this sense, the subject of this book is a matter of life and death (that’s all!) because as go the leaders so goes the church.

Happily, the authors of this book, Joe Godwin and Dan Evans, are not arm-chair theologians or unctuous grad students, but men whose careers in ministry, together, span over three decades. The theology and advice that that they offer in these pages worked out beautifully in a real place in real time in Patterson Park Church (where they continue to serve), as the church moved from a church-board form of governance to that of plural elder governance as commended by the Scriptures—and that with remarkable unanimity and joy. They wrote this book with the hope that the same journey can be enjoyed by their readers.

Elder Governance is a pleasure to read. The opening chapters, which flesh out the historical and biblical background of governance and eldership, are, to say the least, fascinating, as they dissect and evaluate every form of church government from the Episcopal to Erastian. This is paired with an equally engaging summary of the exotic forms of church governance in the early centuries, which morphed into the polity of the Roman church that held sway until the Reformation. Following the Reformation, the subsequent reforms of governance are chronicled as they developed into today’s evangelical expressions—which are then examined by the authors under the refining lens of Scripture. This sets the stage for an incisive discussion of the origin, development, and continuity of the term elder through both Testaments, and the conclusion that the office of church oversight is to be exercised by a plurality of godly men. The controlling metaphor for such men is the divine designation shepherd—which is at once Christological and wholly suggestive of the elder’s God-given role. God’s plan for the governance of the local church is a team of such shepherd/elders feeding, leading, and protecting the flock of God under the aegis of the Chief Shepherd.

The benefit of these opening chapters for those charged with the responsibility of leading the church in transition toward the biblical elder governance model is substantial because these leaders will see their task in the flow of church history and the rich theology of both testaments, including the New Testament’s clear directives regarding elder leadership. This will insure an informed approach to change and a sense of the gravity of their undertaking. As such, it is a sweet gift to the church.

Over the years I have often told leaders who want to bring change in their churches that they must understand that a new church is like a ski boat that can turn on a dime, whereas as an established church (with some history and institutional pride) is like an ocean liner that takes seven miles at sea to turn around—and that you had better understand the difference or you will be in for a shipwreck! At the very least, faulty helmsmanship will mean that the erstwhile ocean liner will become a battleship—likely headed for a watery grave.

Of course, the authors of this book fully understand this and have provided, in the second half of this book, extended counsel on how to turn the ship around without running her aground. The strength of what they recommend lies in the fact that they have done it—successfully. Their chapter entitled Communicate! Communicate! Communicate! is worth the price of the book alone.

As the years go by, many churches will thank God for the biblical faithfulness, hard work, and candor of Joe Godwin and Dan Evans, who surely live out Timothy Dwight’s words:

I love Thy Church, O God!

Her walls before Thee stand.

Dear as the apple of Thine eye.

And graven on Thy hand.

For her my tears shall fall;

For her my prayers ascend;

To her my cares and toils be giv’n,

Till toil and cares shall end.

—R. Kent Hughes

Acknowledgments

We must acknowledge that this process was not the product of Joe and Dan: it included a number of godly men and women that we believe God had placed providentially into position for this very purpose. These would include, specifically, the associate pastors of Patterson Park Church in Beavercreek, Ohio (David Boucher, David Faile, Joe Godwin, John Mohler, and Dan Sietman). These men helped guide and support the process from beginning to end. Several served on the transition team, provided necessary historical context to the congregation’s sixty year history and backed the team with incessant prayer. It is also important to acknowledge the deacon board of Patterson Park Church (Jim Conkel, Chuck Curran, Dan Evans, Dan Everett, Alan Lafky, David Little, John Paul, Paul Pyle, Ray Laux, Art Temmesfeld, Joe Turner, and Joji Varghese), for much of the authority of the church resided in this group of men. That they willingly gave up that authority demonstrated the servant heart that God had given each of them as they commissioned the transition and provided great wisdom and encouragement along the way. And finally is the group of men who served on the transition team, affectionately referred to as the Governance Analysis and Planning Committee, or GAP for short (Hal Daniel, Dan Evans, David Faile, Joe Godwin, John Paul, Walt Price, Paul Pyle, Jeff Schmidt, Dan Sietman, Art Temmesfeld, and Kent Wingate). We must also acknowledge with great affection and appreciation the entire congregation at Patterson Park Church for their loving encouragement and support, their great insight into important matters, their ceaseless prayers, and for the way that they carried on with the ministry during the time of the transition. It is because of these people that we recognize it was truly the providential care of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who, by his Spirit, led the way. He is the model of church leadership, and it is for the care of his people and ultimately for his glory that he ordains church leadership.

It is important that we also recognize a few people who God providentially has placed in our lives, without whom this book would have never come to be. We would like to thank Luke Cropsey for his manuscript review and the insights and feedback that helped us along the way. Most importantly we would like to thank our wives, Sally and Kathy, who supported us and encouraged us at each step. They even sent us on a writing retreat where we could focus solely on the duties of the manuscript. They truly labor along with us as our partners in life and ministry.

Introduction

If you have picked up this book, most likely your church leadership is somewhere in the process of transitioning to a new form of church governance. If so, this may be a historic moment for your congregation, and it should not be entered into lightly. We did not write this book in an attempt to convince you that a plural elder model of church governance best aligns with Scripture. There are a number of excellent resources available that have done that far better than we could, and we are greatly indebted to them for their wisdom (for a list of recommended resources, see Appendix A). By this time, though, you have seen how proper biblical leadership and church governance is vital to the life of a church. If you have been involved in ministry for very long, you will have undoubtedly seen (possibly first hand) the type of damage that unspiritual leadership or poorly functioning models of church governance can do to a church. It is for you who are stepping out in faith to make that transition that we have written this book. This is not a How to Guide, but it compiles the insights we have gained through our own experiences in this journey. Our prayer is that we can provide you with insight (and, we hope, some wisdom) in how to help your church to transition as smoothly as possible.

With that said, not every church problem can be avoided or corrected simply by adopting a different or more biblical model of church governance or by improving the quality of spiritual leaders overseeing the ministry of the church. Though, such changes certainly can help. Also, if your church is currently in the midst of a major debate and division concerning a doctrinal issue or ministry plan, it is imperative that your church first gets that resolved before entertaining any thought of a governance transition. To attempt a change in church governance in the midst of ongoing controversy would be a recipe for disaster, and one that could inflict serious harm to the congregation. Unity is one of the vital ingredients in successfully completing a shift in governance, and if your congregation is already having major problems, those need to be corrected first and foremost. Then, once your church is healthy again, you can begin the process.

But if your congregation and leadership are ready, we hope this book may be of some assistance. This book arose from the experiences our church had while transitioning from a church board model of governance (where the oversight authority of the ministry rested on a board made up of the deacons and the senior pastor). When the senior pastor resigned, a number of circumstances came to light that led the deacons and associate pastors to evaluate the church board model of governance. After several months of studying the Scriptures, the deacons and associate pastors unanimously agreed that a plural elder model of church governance more closely aligned with Scripture and embarked on a journey to lead the congregation in a transition to that model.

What follows in this book are the insights gained from what we consider a remarkable journey of God’s grace and provision. We fully acknowledge that we did not accomplish the transition perfectly, nor was each step flawless, but we believe we have gained valuable information about this process that has not been published to this degree in any other book. There are a number of great resources that can assist the transition process, many of which we read and reread, but our goal was to provide practical tips about the transition process itself.

The reader will find that this book is divided into two sections. The first section briefly discusses the issues of church governance. This includes chapters on the necessity of transition in the life of the believer and churches, the variety of models of church governance utilized today, the history of church governance, the office of the elder, the biblical qualifications and responsibilities of church leadership, and the way in which church leadership should function as a team. These are not to be exhaustive in their scope but to provide some insight into the issues that you will need to address as the transition occurs. This information will also help answer many of the questions asked by members of your congregation. For further reading on these particular issues, we recommend a number of resources for further study, all of which can be found in Appendix A at the conclusion of the book.

The second section is the more practical section on how to do the transition. This includes discussion on many of the issues we faced as a leadership team. This section includes chapters on the importance of church leadership buy-in and how to obtain it, on the establishment of a leadership team to lead the transition, and