WE WISH to call the attention of our pastors and church elders to a course entitled "The Work of the Church Elder" in its revised edition, which is now offered by the Home Study Institute. It was originally prepared in 1949 and first made available to workers and laymen in 1950. It is fitting and proper that in 1970 when this course reaches its twenty-first birthday that it should again receive special attention. Through the years since it first appeared it has been studied by thousands of our church officers, to whom it has brought most valuable information and inspiration. The Church Manual has, through the years, been the principal text on which the course is based. As The Church Manual has been revised and brought up to date at the various General Conference sessions, so the course has likewise undergone revision.
During the last half of 1969 Robert J. Spangler, associate secretary of the General Conference Ministerial Association, spent many hours updating this material. Much new material has been added, and the former ten lessons have been enlarged to twelve. A new and valuable book has been included as a basis for the study. This is the volume So You Want to Be a Leader, by R. H. Pierson, the president of the General Conference. The ministers and church elders who faithfully follow the practices and principles set forth in this book can certainly discover valuable aids to becoming successful leaders.
Included in the syllabus for this course are bound leaflets, issued by the various departments of the General Conference and setting forth the work and aims of each department. They make the course of particular value to the church elder. As these leaflets are revised or replaced during the years to come they will be changed in the "Work of the Church Elder" syllabus.
Some twenty years ago Prof. Charles E. Weniger prepared a booklet called The Preacher and His Preparation. Filled with practical suggestions for the preacher, it is particularly helpful to the church elder, who has not had the privilege of attending the Seminary. The study of this valuable treatise is included in the syllabus.
It has been my privilege to go through the entire syllabus and notice the excellent work that Elder Spangler has done in re writing this course, which is, to all practical purposes, an entirely new course. It has been written with the specific purpose of assisting church officers and particularly the elders to be better prepared to meet the problems that face the church as it enters the new decade. It becomes increasingly important now that our church should prepare to launch out in a strong program of coordinated evangelism.
In this program it will be necessary for church elders to assume many of the responsibilities formerly carried by the pastor. The time has come for every consecrated layman to accept seriously the responsibilities that the church places upon him, and it is therefore vital that both pastors and elders take this course so that each may be able to understand the work of the other and cooperate more fully in the total ministry of the church.
Tuition for this course is $15. The Church Manual costs $2.95, and Elder Pierson's excellent book So You Want to Be a Leader costs $1.95. We urge all church elders to write to the Home Study Institute and enroll in this course. It will be a great blessing.
