March 2011: What is an Elder?

Strictly Speaking, the word "elder" in the Bible, episcopos, means overseer. The present day equivalent of the episcopos is the pastor. What we commonly call "elders" today are members who have been appointed to serve the congregation in its temporal affairs and to assist the pastor in ministry. According to the Constitution of Immanuel First Lutheran, the Elders, together with the Pastor, shall be concerned with the spiritual welfare of the congregation.

What do the Elders do?

The Elders do more than just read scriptures during the Sunday worship service. They are responsible for overseeing all the aspects of the service, making sure that the proper elements are available, the altar properly prepared and that the worship liturgy leads the people into proper worship of God. Elders also oversee worship attendance. Primarily they analyze communion attendance and call upon those who are lax.

Elders also oversee the baptisms of newborn children in the congregation, and the proper instruction of new members and youth. In order to foster this, the elders, with the Pastor, provide adult and youth confirmation classes.

Some of the more enjoyable tasks of an elder is the care of shut-ins, members who are unable to come to Sunday worship either due to inability to drive or due to illness. Elders will frequently visit shut-ins, helping with personal needs and with the pastor, serve communion. (Sometimes we get bags of oranges.) In addition to the care of members, Elders are also responsible for the pastoral care of the pastors, praying for them and assisting them with difficult problems of ministry.

One of the tougher responsibilities of an elder, with the pastor, is that of church discipline. Matthew 18:15-17 and 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 state that if a person consistently lives in rebellion to Scripture, they are to be denied the sacrament of communion and removed from the fellowship. The is called excommunication. The process of excommunication is never done vengefully or unilaterally, but in love. The goal is that "the [person's] sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved." The ultimate goal of excommunication is reconciliation, between the erring member and the church, and the erring member and God.

What kind of person becomes an Elder?

1 Timothy 3:1-20 outlines the requirements for an Elder, some of which is the following: "...must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money..."

When the Board of Elders of Immanuel First look for new Elders, several other criteria are used in addition to 1 Timothy 3. Active membership for at least five years and regular worship and Bible study is a sign of a commitment to the church. It is also important that they are familiar with the Bible and have had training in the Lutheran confessions. In order that they have enough life experiences, we expect them to be at least 30 years old.

The position of elder is a great honor and also a great responsibility. We have been blessed by the men who have served our congregation and we owe them our love, respect and support. God bless our Elders.

November 2010

When Andrew was born, I remember seeing him open his eyes and looking at me. In typical, scientist fashion, I tested his eyes by seeing how well they tracked, that is, how well they worked together. I moved side to side, to see if his eyes would follow me,and they did. What a miracle! Up until the time he was born, he had never used his eyes. Three seconds after birth, he was able to synchronize their motion. What a fantastic miracle of God's creation. (The funny thing was that when David was born, I also got to hold him. But when he saw me he immediately closed his eyes and never openened them again for three days. What's with that?) His ability to see was a great miracle. For all intents and purposes, he had been blind for nine months. Three seconds after birth, he was able to see.

You know, I can't imagine what it would be like to be blind--to not be able to see the faces of the people I love--my wife, my children, my family and friends. I can't imagine what it would be like to not be able to read my books, to not be able to drive a car or to not be able to watch a beautiful sunset or my favorite TV show. I can't imagine living life completely in the dark.

But there's something else much worse than physical blindness. It's spiritual blindness. Spiritual blindness is much more tragic than physical blindness. Could you imagine living in the darkness of not knowing God's Word? In our Sunday Bible Study we've been studying "How We Got the Bible" (from Lutheran Hour Ministries). We learned about the many sacrifices that were made in order that the Word of God be made available to all people.

That crusade is still going on. More than 180 million people around the world are experiencing life with a visual impairment. The written Bible is closed to them. However, they have not been left in the dark. Lutheran Braille Workers (LBW) is one of the largest providers of Christian Braille and specialized Large Print literature in the world. All publications are offered free of charge and are made possible through the efforts of over five thousand faithful volunteers in 194 Work Centers throughout the United States and Canada. In 2009 alone, they produces 17 million pages of material. One of the fruits of their labor is Nadine. Nadine is blind and her husband is illiterate. Yet thanks to Lutheran Braille Workers, she reads the Bible to her husband. A blind woman is reading the Bible to him!

On Sunday, November 14, we'll be celebrating the 20th anniversary of our local Work Center #199. Immanuel First has been an active supporter of the Lutheran Braille ministry with our time, talent and treasures. It has been a privilege to be used by God to share the Gospel to all the vision impaired people of the world.

May God continue to bless this ministry.