The Training Of Elders

What to teach

Essentially, you have to teach three arts: discipleship, preaching and elder ship. Not all public preachers will become elders, and not all elders will become preachers. But all without exception must learn to be good disciples, if they are to be of any service to the Lord.

(a) Discipleship

Our converts can hardly be blamed if they base their ideas of a church on many of the churches they see around them, where the clergy do the work and the lazity sit back and let them. You will need to harp loud and long on the theme that our community must be different. You must leave them in no doubt whatever that every Christadelphian worthy of the name:

  1. Reads the Bible every day (or, if he cannot read, takes every opportunity to hear it read to him).
  2. Prays regularly.
  3. Attends every possible meeting.
  4. Lives a life that is a good example to all.
  5. Takes an active part in the work of the Truth (including welfare work), unless prevented by ill-health or other adverse circumstances.
  6. Makes real financial sacrifices for the Truth’s sake.

It is important to make these points crystal clear to a potential convert before baptism. Because human memories are short, frequent reminders after baptism will be necessary too. Above all, any would-be speaker or elder who is deficient in any of these points must be exhorted, “Put your private life right first, and then we’ll see about helping you to become fitted for office.”

The moment you detect any feeling of “them and us” in the meeting (or in yourself) clamp down on it — hard. Christ’s church is one big “We”. And we are all one in Christ Jesus.

(b) Public Speaking

Happy is the missionary brother whose ecclesia is one big family. And happier still is he whose ecclesial family runs like one long mutual improvement class, with himself as the friendly, helpful, always-approachable and always-humble, elder brother.

Impossible of attainment? Well yes, perhaps so. But at least it is an ideal to aim at, and with prayerful effort you may be able to get somewhere near to it.

The following well-tried rules for teachers may help you:

  1. Begin by setting tasks within a brother’s capacity. Gradually extend him to just a little beyond what he regards as his capacity, saying, “With God’s help, in answer to your prayers and mine, I think you can manage it.”
  2. Set an example of humility yourself, and so inculcate humility in your pupils. Use phrases like, “Well, I may be mistaken — I often am — but it seems to me that . . .”, and, “I don’t know the answer to that; let’s try to find out, shall we?”
  3. Be generous with praise when it is merited, and encouragement when it is needed. Especially be ready to acknowledge it when a local brother teaches you
  4. However bad an address may be, look for something good in it that you can honestly praise, before going on to offer constructive advice about how the rest of it could have been improved. For example, “You chose some jolly good Scriptures to put in that lecture, but if they had been arranged differently their effect would have been much more powerful. Now let’s suppose . . . ” (The vital words there are the opening, “You chose”).
  5. Know your pupils, and treat each according to his temperament. Never let Brother Brash think he’s given a good address when he’s been awful, or you may do him untold harm. But to be too outspoken to Brother Timorous after he had given his first exhortation may put him off for life.
  6. Let it be known that you are still struggling to improve your own performance as a speaker, and welcome any helpful advice that they may be able to give you. This will serve two purposes: it will make them more ready to accept advice from you, and it will help you to learn what does, and what does not, go down well with local folk. (Arguments that work well in London may fall flat as a burst balloon in Lagos, and vice versa.)
  7. Identify yourself with your team. “This is a great work, and we’re all in it together; let’s help each other to do it as well as we can,” should be your attitude:

(c) Eldership

Right from the start, very very firmly, divest yourself of the role of parson which they may try to bestow upon you. Older Brother, yes, but Parson, emphatically no. And make it plain (to yourself as well as to them) that you’re an older brother not because you represent the CBM, nor because you belong to another race, but simply because you’ve been in the Truth longer and know your Bible better than they.

Try to avoid making any ecclesial decision on your own. Even if your ‘ecclesia’ consists only of yourself and one newly-baptized brother, take him into consultation. As the eccelsia grows, take other brothers into consultation also. Thus the ‘leader and council’ system mentioned previously will grow up naturally. As the ecclesia grows this system can either be formalized as it stands, or it can be transformed into a democratic system—if local circumstances favor such a transformation.

Your own example in the ‘leader and council’ relationship will be crucial. If you are a humble leader, willing to say, “Sorry, I was wrong,” when you were; if you are prepared to give way on unimportant matters while standing firm on vital issues; if you genuinely love your counselors — if you are that sort of a leader, your successor is unlikely to play the dictator.

The more you consult your council, the more responsible its members will become. “Brother A has left his wife; what should we do, brethren ?” “Sister B has broken her leg, and she is a widow with a baby; what can we do to help, brethren?”

If they, under your wise chairmanship, are led to sort out the right answers for themselves, they will gradually learn to bear responsibility. But you will, need to be vigilant. To begin with they will prob­ably expect you to be the solver of all problems. Beware of this! Once start doing it, and you will find it difficult to stop. They will probably come to you with problems like those mentioned above, and expect you to do the thinking, provide the necessary money, and do the donkey­work as well.

Your proper course is quite clear. Toss the problem back to them. “Yes, you did well to bring this up. We must see what we can do about it. We’d better get the brethren together and decide what we should do.” (We — we — we. That is the keynote of all good missionary work.)

A final word of warning. New converts are often very zealous, and sometimes their zeal will outweigh their love. There may well be occasions when you have to restrain your counselors from dealing too severely with offending brethren and sisters. So be prepared for this, as well as for occasions when you will have to urge them not to be too slack.

Conclusion

By now you will appreciate what was meant at the beginning, in saying that training elders is your biggest and most important job as a missionary. After reading this chapter you may feel like replying, “I don’t feel fit to be an elder, let alone to train others to be elders.”

If so, that’s fine. That’s how you should feel. That’s exactly how we feel after writing it.

But none of us need despair. Did not the Lord say to a greater missionary than any of us:

“My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness”?