The Rationale
Throughout the Southern Baptist denomination there has been a strong move toward shifting the structure of local churches toward an Elder/Deacon model.
This is not a move that is being imposed on the churches in any way. The move has been taking place because pastors and seminary professors within the denomination are recognizing that it is the more biblical approach.
Shara and I have been praying about moving in this direction for nearly a year. The process has been a necessarily slow one so that our membership can get comfortable with the concept and the reasons for this transition.
We spent a significant part of our leadership workshop (March 6) on this topic. Much of the material presented is being shared on this page so that you can familiarize yourself with the explanations for this change in organization.
The first item below is the slides presented that went through some of the rationale.
Some Resources
Here are some of the resources that were made available during the workshop:
A Display of God’s Glory – (click name to download) this free eBook was made available by 9Marks, a ministry of Mark Dever. Their church made a similar move as we are discussing, and wrote this to explain their reasoning.
The Organization of the Church – this is an article on The Gospel Coalition website written by Benjamin Merkle. He is a professor at a Southern Baptist seminary. Dr. Merkle wrote his doctoral dissertation on this very subject.
Leadership – Deacons and Elders – a review written by The Summit Church of how they view elders and deacons from a biblical viewpoint.
Paul Beagle put together the following list of qualifications for Elders and Deacons based on the passages in the New Testament that describe these roles and qualifications.
You can review them here:
