An Option to Ecclesial Elections

In a recent discussion group, the subject arose of using the democratic process for electing serving brethren and for making decisions in ecclesial life Since the participants came from all over the ecclesial world (a discussion group on the Internet), a very wide range of situations was represented One of the more interesting comments, which could be use­ful to some ecclesias, was an alterna­tive to electing serving brethren by ecclesial vote.

A rotating board

Once an ecclesia is large enough to have an arranging board, the idea was to rotate on to the board all the willing and able brothers They would then appoint members to all the needed serving positions in the ecclesia – presiding, speaking, Sun­day School secretary, treasurer, ecclesial secretary, etc

For example, if there were 15 will-mg and able brothers in a meeting having an arranging board of five, each year one brother would come off and another go on the board Any one person would serve for five years in every 15 In this arrangement, ecclesial decisions would still be made by use of the vote, first by the arranging brethren and then by the ecclesia as a whole.

One advantage to the suggestion is that the arranging brethren would not think they had much power, which sometimes is a problem if people be­come fixtures on a board Further, during the voting procedure, feelings can be hurt, unhelpful judging of another’s spirituality can occur, family cliques can develop, etc These problems would be minimized by the rotation approach.

Voting vs. consensus

During the discussion, another person commented they once be­longed to an ecclesia which did not have a voting system Everything was done by talking a matter out until all were satisfied We have often felt this is a considerate approach, taking everyone’s feelings into account and treating everyone as equals As this person noted, however, in that ecclesia ” nothing ever got done If a proposal was put forward and one person didn’t like it, the ecclesia just dropped the idea even if everyone else was in favor”

That’s the danger with operating by consensus It’s a good idea, but making it work requires everyone’s cooperation When, through extended deliberation, the minority has been heard and given every consideration, they need to quietly agree to go along with the majority (except, of course, on matters of fundamental teaching and practice) Otherwise, nothing gets done, or we have minority rule rather than minority rights

Slight scriptural guidance

During the discussion, it was noted the scriptural guidance on these matters is not very clear In many cases, direct divine selection was made of leaders in Israel (Moses, Aaron, the judges, Saul, David, the prophets) or m the early ecclesia (the apostles, Paul or elders by those with spirit gifts such as Paul and Titus) We don’t have that advantage today.

There is one New Testament case where lots were evidently used – Matthias was chosen over Justus to replace Judas Iscariot as “they gave forth their lots” (Acts 1:26) (Yet we are not told how the choice was narrowed to these two men ) And there is reference to a “majority” decision in Corinth regarding a matter of fellowship “The punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man” (II Cor 2:6 NKJV, NRSV, NIV, “many” KJV)

Interestingly, where there was clearly a case of the ecclesia choosing seven serving brethren, we aren’t told how they did it “Look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and they chose Stephen [and six others]” (Acts 6 3-5) How did they do it from thousands of brothers? Nominate 20 and vote for seven? Take volunteers and vote among them? Let the eldest make the selection? We are not told.

When judging Israel became too much for Moses he directed “Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you” (Deut 1 13) Like ourselves, the people were not told how the selection would be made Perhaps in some families and tribes the choice would be a natural one but where it was not, how were they to choose? By drawing lots, vot­ing or some other method? They were not told.

As with a number of other areas in our ecclesial life, we are left to ap­ply the principles of our Lord in preparation for ruling in the kingdom With this in mind, we would com­mend considering an option such as the rotation procedure suggested above.