The quiet strength of Lake Forest Church is our Elders. We believe the Scriptures teach the roles of leadership in the church, including that of elder, are open to both women and men. We do not operate with a 'quota' system of elders regarding gender, but trust the Spirit to make clear who is called each term. Thus some years a majority of our candidates are men, and as in this year, sometimes a majority are women.
I have been told that the role of women in leadership in the church (or not) has become a 'reheated' issue in the Christian blogosphere this year. Please read to the end if you're interested in why we think the Bible teaches elder and pastors should be from both genders.
Since our founding, we have practiced the biblical principle of submission to authority by having pastors who minister under the authority of congregationally selected elders, and elders who shepherd the church under the authority of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church denomination. No pastor should be an authority unto him or her-self. No church should be the end-all authority unto itself. Neither circumstance is wise or biblical. Run away, run away if you find yourself in a church where the pastor is an unaccountable authority unto himself!
When it comes to elders and pastors, we have performed a delicate dance of mutual submission to one another out of reverence for Christ in healthy ways for all of our years. The elders give each of our Lead Pastors priority of calling and position as a 'first among equals' when it comes to vision, direction, and theology for the church, particularly. And our pastors have a vote in all key decisions because we are elders also. But elders outnumber us pastors on purpose when it comes to voting (our constitution calls for a 2-1 elder to pastor ratio).
When pastor-types gather and sit around and swap horror stories of elder meetings, pastor-elder-deacon conflict, etc. I sit quietly and thank the Lord for the unity we have enjoyed. In 23 years, we have never had an elder or former elder leave the church in anger or disharmony - we have only lost elders when they moved away.
That unity is partly due to the caliber of our first elders passing it down (the 'founding fathers:' Rusty, Sam, Jack and Dave), partly due to a rigorous and lengthy selection process and criteria, partly due to specific practices we built into our elder rhythms from the beginning. Some examples:
-we meet three times monthly so we can build a relational community of spiritual leaders, not a board of directors/deciders
-we meet frequently for nimbleness of decision-making and so we never have to raise a big or contentious issue at the same meeting a decision is needed - because that's when people feel manipulated or coerced against their conscience
-we don't seek unanimity, but we always insist upon unity
-when an issue is clearly gray, we choose to err on the side of grace as far as we can tell what that is
-as Lake Forest has grown from 42 to a few thousand as a family of churches, we continually adjust role differentiation between elders and pastors/staff
-no one is a successful elder candidate unless they have been fruitfully shepherding souls in some manner at Lake Forest already
-we measure a lot of stuff as elders, but we primarily measure church health by God-stories of 1. conversion and 2. spiritual growth of followers of Jesus
-we set a tone in the first year that vigorous discussion and disagreement between elders and me (or now also Aron/Michael/Victor/Terrell as Lead Pastors) is not only helpful but encouraged; and that I can disagree vigorously (usually with more words :) ) in return. That's healthy.
-ultimatums and fit-pitching are simply not allowed nor tolerated in our elder/pastor culture. If this ever happened in a meeting (it has not thus far), I think the response would be laughter
-we never invite someone to become an elder to begrudgingly fill the sick (but common) role of 'loyal opposition'
-elders are not selected or appointed to represent any 'constituency' in the church body - we avoid that like the plague because it leads to factionalism in the church
-we keep the active elder group (who serve a three year term) to a manageable size, even between our several Family of Churches, so the group can remain a community and lead-able. we invite all inactive elders (not currently serving a 3 year term) to participate in director-level hiring interviews and the annual elder strategy retreat in August up in the mountains, in order to keep unity with the larger elder body
-the elders' responsibility for our whole Family of Churches, and each elder team for the local churches, is 'to discern the mind of Christ' on behalf of the health and future of the church. the elders of each LF Church meet 2-3 times a month, and the active elders of The Family of Churches meets monthly over a meal over shared identity and shared ministry (aka church planting)
It is elder affirmation and election weekend at Lake Forest right now. The elder search team has recommended candidates that our Ministry Partners (aka 'members') will vote on this Sunday.
One of our Ministry Partners asked me this week for a helpful overview of why I teach that the Bible invites women into leadership in the church, so I thought I would pass them along to you as well. Here are my two favorite succinct treatments on the subject.
If you ask me about this in my office during a conversation, I will become most animated and pointed as I open up I Corinthians 11 with you, and read verse 5 where Paul asserts about details 'WHEN a woman prays or prophesies/preaches' in church. I will then leap to Romans 16, then to the Old Testament examples of female headship over men and society spiritually and otherwise, then back to other female leaders in the New Testament. So pay particular attention to each paper's elucidation of I Corinthians 11. Also, both papers deal forthrightly with the passages that appear to forbid female leadership in the church - check it out.
This is written by my friend Gerrit Dawson, a scholarly pastor and leader in our denomination (currently pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Baton Rouge LA): Download Women Ordination Paper _ Gerrit Dawson (2011)
This resource is from the Evangelical Covenant denomination, which shares our same commitment to the authority and infallibility of the scriptures for Christian faith and practice. I've posted it before: Download Women-called-and-gifted-booklet-2.10-1
Thank you to the elders of Lake Forest for the gift of humble mutual submission you have give to me and the other pastors these years. Thank you for the burdens you have borne heavily and quietly on behalf of our church. May you find joy in your calling as an elder at Lake Forest Church this year!
[this post is an edited version of a blog entry of mine from 2015]
