The City Church is entering the next phase of biblical leadership!
In April 2010, we introduced The City Church's first-ever Pastor-Elder and Deacon candidates to our church famly. Over a year later, May 2011 sees our Deacons installed, and our Pastor-Elder Candidates in their final period of testing and approval, after several months of vigorous training.
We encourage you to get to know our candidates, to love them, to pray for them, and to encourage them during their candidacy. They'll be around at 4pm every week we have an All-Church Gathering in May 2011, to answer any questions you have - so stop by and at least tell 'em "hello" and congratulate them on nealy finishing this long process!
You can click the link below to meet them, but we wanted to explain the purpose and roles of elders, as well as the process they're going through over the next several months. We're happy to answer any questions you have beyond the info on this page; please let us know. And again, please do your part in involving yourself in 'testing and approving' our leadership candidates!
>> Meet our candidates, at the leadership page of The City Church's website
Who are Pastor-Elders & Deacons?
The only two official titles given to church leadership in the Bible are the offices of Pastor-Elder and Deacon.
Pastor-Elders (the terms are used interchangeably in the Bible) are a plurality of biblically-qualified men who lead the church as co-equals, submitting to Christ and each other as they carry a weighty responsibility. Pastor-Elders humbly serve as examples to the church, submitting to Christ as they (a) oversee the direction of the church, (b) protect the church by teaching sound biblical doctrine, and (c) shepherd the church in individual and corporate spiritual growth.
Deacons (also called “servants” or “ministers” in the Bible) are biblically-qualified men and women who carry out specific roles in the church, or lead specific ministries, delegated to them by the Pastor-Elders and under the oversight of the Pastor-Elders. These servant-leaders are charged with various tasks as needed, and will generally lead teams to carry out various ministries in the church family.
Regarding qualifications for these roles, the Bible is less concerned with education, experience, and vocation, and more concerned with the candidate's pursuit of God and godly character, seen in various aspects of his/her life and leadership. We encourage you to get to know the biblical qualifications as you get to know our candidates: Acts 6:1-7; Acts 14:23; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; 1 Timothy 5:17-25; Titus 1:5-9; 1Peter 5:1-5.
What is our candidacy process?
For both Pastor-Elder and Deacon candidates, candidacy involves a multi-faceted training process.
For Pastor-Elder candidates, the 10+month process includes…
- Reading & writing on the Bible, eldership, theology, family, & our mission/identities
- Marriage counseling
- Projects related to doctrine, coaching/leading, counseling, mission
- Individual training in weaker areas of eldership
- Several months of opportunity for the body to test and approve each candidate, plus All-Church Gathering teaching, 2+weeks of Q&A opportunities, etc.
- Various assessments/checkpoints throughout
Because it's biblical for you to get to know them and test them individually, we want to throw out a few options of how you can meet our candidates:
- Call/email/contact them: they're expecting your questions and involvement in this process. Get in touch with them through the 'leader' page of The City Church's website.
- Grab a meal or coffee with them: again, they're expecting tough questions, so after you get in touch with them, spend time "grilling them" a bit!
- Talk with your Village leaders about having them visit your Village: of course, we'll all have to be understanding of each others' schedules, but if you're not comfortable meeting with them one-on-one, this might be a good option, for you, for the candidate, and for others in your Village.
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