Pastor-Elder Relationships
W. A. TOWNEND, Pastor, South New Zealand Conference
The first leader of Israel on the inarch was God's minister. God planned it that way. And right down through Bible times the ministry was expected to lead the church.
Today we find a similar situation. The leaders of the General Conference are ordained ministers, as are almost all the committee members. Such is also the case on division, union, and local conference levels. God intends that the ministry shall lead.
In Moses' day, close alongside him one finds the elders. And most certainly elders were close to the ministry in the church that Christ founded and that His apostles later built up for Him.
Christ's true church has not changed. Today we have elders associated with the pastors in our churches. They are an honorable group among us. They verily stand at the side of the ministry. Now, relationships affect work. The best work is usually done where the relations are the best. Poor work is often the by-product of poor relationships.
Five Important Questions
1. What are the relationships between pastors and elders'? They are, first and foremost, brothers. Organizational relationships can never be properly worked out until the relationship of blood-bought brothers is understood. We are all brothers in Christ Jesus. That strengthens our relations. But, having Adam as our common father, we also are brothers in Adam. That could tend to weaken our relations, for we thus all have weaknesses and failings.
Brothers in Christ and brothers in Adam: to forget this is fatal. To remember the spiritual relationship only and thus forget the carnal connection between us all can be almost as fatal. The reality of the situation is simply that as developing Christians we are all strong in Christ and weak in Adam. We must never for get that, either of ourselves or of our associates.
We come now to the tasks we do for God in the local church. It is there that we have three alternatives: dictatorship, confusion, or harmonious competency. Wise pastors and wise elders strive for the last-named state harmonious competency. It is ever their goal, and fortunately this goal is frequently attained. But not by mere chance. There must be understanding. And remember, understanding is not a nebulous thing it is real! It is there because the parties concerned went to the trouble of putting it there, and usually when it is missing it is missing because little, if any, intelligent and sustained effort has been made to bring about understanding.
Strained relations, when investigated, will frequently result in somebody's admitting some thing like this: "All along I had a question on that point." Doubtless we have all discovered this to be the case. Then let us pose a few questions on the relationships between church pastors and elders. Asking questions promptly at the right time may help to lessen the deadly peril of having them asked only in the gloomy echo of some wounded heart. When that hap pens, good relations are in grave danger.
2. Because a church has a pastor, are the elders thereby relieved of the work of visiting members of the flock in their homes? No is the answer. But unplanned visiting will never accomplish a tithe of what planned visitation will do. This is particularly true in working for the backslider or near-backslider. It is always wise for elders to discuss their visiting plans with the pastor. Of course, unswerving loyalty must prevail on the occasion of every visit. Loyalty pays all ways and always.
3. Who should prepare the agenda for church board meetings pastor or elder? Because the pastor is the ranking officer, you may be inclined to say that he should do it. Technically that may be correct. But our answer is both pastor and elders. We have found that pastors' meeting, called by the pastor for the purpose of together building the board agenda, is a very good arrangement, which usually results in smooth-running and efficient board meetings.
4. Who should convene church board and/or business meetings? Again you will probably say the pastor, for he is the ranking officer of the church. Naturally that is the correct procedure. But though it is obvious that the pastor should initiate the call for such meetings, it is nevertheless desirable that, as a general practice, the dates and times for these gatherings be discussed in the elders' meeting. Of course it hardly need be mentioned that board and/or business meetings are never convened without the pastor's being aware of them.
5. When a member has a matter he wishes the board to consider, to whom should he go the pastor or the elder? We suggest either, provided the elders' meeting plan is working in the church, for then all the elders and the pas tor are acquainted with agenda items.
"If in doubt, ask." This would not be too bad a slogan for elders and pastors. Let questions such as we have suggested be wholesomely discussed when the pastor convenes his elders' meetings, rather than have such queries pop up in a wider circle. Where such meetings are held, relationships will be steered away from either a dictatorship or a muddle, and toward our mutual goal, harmonious competency.
I Visited a Church of Another Faith
CHARLES A. RENTFRO
On A Sabbath day, while on a business trip for the General Conference in the city of Chicago, I attended our regular Seventh-day Adventist North Shore church services held in a Methodist church building.
Then on the following day, Sunday, I at tended a Methodist evening service in another church. This all happened because I was staying in a hotel in Chicago's downtown Loop, and heard organ chimes or bells tolling the hour for vespers. On that cold, wintry night I felt like seeking the warm shelter of a church sanctuary, instead of walking around in the brightly lighted district bounded by Clark, Randolph, and State streets, merely looking at window displays. I had seen shafts of light playing on a church steeple, spire, and cross towering 568 feet above the sidewalks of the Loop, at the corner of Clark and Washington streets. A carillon chimed many well-known melodies, which could easily be heard above the city din of the elevated, surface, and subway transportation systems.
I stepped into the street vestry chamber. An usher quietly opened the inner door. It was 7:00 P.M., thirty minutes before the services were to begin. Another usher came up, gripped my hand, and gave me a church program neatly printed with medium green ink. He invited me to sit with the Rotarian group in front, but since I was not one of them, I declined, merely stating that I was an out-of-town visitor. Soon the main floor of the church was comfortably filled.
The interior of the sanctuary, done mostly in exquisitely carved and paneled wood, was restful and serene. Three sets of pews filled the main body of the sanctuary. Including the gallery, the church seats twelve hundred persons.
At 7:20 P.M. a four-manual Skinner organ, with six thousand and three hundred pipes and echo organ, responded to the artistic touch of Marie Briel Humphries, organist, who played a number of selections, in eluding "Pastorale," by Rheinberger, and "Thanks Be to Thee," by Handel. The order of worship included another selection, "The Lord Is in His Holy Temple," by Price, after the entry of the choir and quartet, with the minister, followed by hymns of worship and praise, then a Scripture reading from John 1: 1-14. The pastoral prayer, brief and to the point, was followed by an organ response, "Father, Hear Thy Children's Call," by Burdett. After the offering (the plates were full of dollar bills and larger ones) a young people's choir sang one of the hymns of the church.
Another delightful feature of the service was the twilight hymn sing led by the pastor. The lights were dimmed by controls placed on the pulpit. No hymnbooks were used. The audience joined, visibly pleased by this unique song service of old-time favorites. One of the numbers, "The Old Rugged Cross," was sung by a soloist, while the congregation was invited to hum an accompaniment.
Dr. Charles Ray Goffi delivered the sermon, based on John 1:14, "Ideas Must Come Alive." The message was not delivered in preaching style, but talked over with the listeners in a sensible, heart-to-heart conversational manner, and the audience was extremely attentive. The high points of the discussion were: "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Moses, looking to the future with eyes of faith, "re fused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; . . . esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt."
Speaking of the church structure erected in 1924 in the midst of the famous Chicago Loop, on a site occupied for 108 years by the First Methodist church, Dr. Goff declared in his sermon that much good was being done by the only church in the Loop, an area notorious for its worldliness, wealth, and iniquity.
The minister's talk was given in an easy, plainly heard voice, through a loud-speaker system of which we were not conscious. The pastor knew the Bible and the subject he was presenting. He closed with an appeal for Christian living, followed by a short benediction, in voking God's grace and communion upon the congregation. The organ played a response, "Lord, Let Us Now Depart in Peace," by Whelpton.
The audience went out as the organ postlude, "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come," by Elvey, was being played. At the doors the vestrymen (ushers or deacons) greeted the outgoing worshipers with a handshake and cheery Good evening.
Good Publicity
Really, it was good to be there. Though it would appear to the reader of these lines that there was much music in the service, all parts of the worship were blended harmoniously. This meant careful preparation and planning, a fine balance in the program, and cooperation among the minister, the organist, and the other musicians or singers.
The publicity feature was well handled. A neat sidewalk sign stood near the outer edge of the street curb. At the door was the regular church bulletin board. It was not too crowded with lettering. In each rack on the pews, be sides the hymnals and offering envelopes and a pencil in the slot, were a number of colored post cards, such as one would buy at a stand, to mail back home. A five-panel folder, printed front and back, was also available, giving the principal details about the "world's tallest church."
But what really attracted me, looking at the idea from the viewpoint of a local church elder, was a card which read, "Why I Came to the Chicago Temple." A church that uses such a card is conscious of the fact that there are many avenues of advertising approach. Well, I am not a Methodist, but I do believe that good "methods" of this type are worth while to adopt on a general scale. If I had turned in my card, I would have checked the following items:
[X] Heard the chimes.
[X] Read the bulletin board at Clark Street entrance.
[X] Other reasons: appreciated the welcome and spiritual and physical warmth of the sanctuary.
I could have added that I was also curious to see how people of another faith worship. Though I would not recommend this as a constant practice, because we, as Seventh-day Adventists, have many gatherings of our own to attend, yet I do regard it as wholesome to ob serve the worship of other churches, if this will tend to make us understand other denominations better, and help us to visualize the need of giving the gospel of Jesus Christ a more certain sound and a clarion call to God's people to come out from darkness into light.
The worshipers were of all classes, even though this is what we would call a fashionable church in a rich section of Chicago's business district. But the congregation were reverent, worshipful, and perhaps hopeful. They apparently expected to be spiritually fed, and they were as I was.
Are there any lessons in this for us as Seventh-day Adventists the ministry, the church workers, the laity? I believe there are. As I conclude this sketch of my visit to a church of another faith, I ask: Could this be said just as well, or better, if someone of another faith came to worship in one of our Adventist churches throughout the land? Here are some vital issues in regard to the act of worship:
1. God is honored wherever His name is invoked, worshiped, and respected.
2. The church at work seeks to save the lost.
3. The atmosphere of friendliness (of being made welcome) is a potent factor in attracting worshipers.
4. The minister's topic, delivery, message, and appeal all form the basis of the spiritual banquet spread out before the waiting audience.
5. The desire of the worshipers to partake of the spiritual food being offered is in direct pro portion to their hunger.
6. The minister should plan his service as if it were a special program, the last service for some persons, whose destiny hangs by a delicate thread.
7. A Sunday night service might be held in every Seventh-day Adventist church, even if no regular effort is being conducted. The doors of the church should be almost constantly open as a haven for souls seeking spiritual warmth and salvation in Jesus Christ. People long for fellowship. They will enjoy singing their favorite hymns and old-time melodies. This is community worship at its best. It may be a church evening service to which our own Adventist people will be proud to bring their friends.
8. Here is an opportunity for young people to usher, to welcome everyone, to sing, and to help in many ways to make a success of the Sunday night service, or any other meeting.
And now, fellow ministers, workers, and members, let us all rise up and seek to save the perishing who are just outside the church door. Invite them in to be spiritually warmed and nourished by the sincere Word of Jesus.
