I would suggest that the congregation ought to be heavily consulted, not just informed. While indeed it is council who must make the decision, it is also the type of issue involving a large segment of the annual budget, and involving the calling or dismissal of pastors and other staff which is normally voted on by the congregation. It would be out of place for council to make such a decision without consulting or conferring with a congregational meeting. (regardless of whatever C.O. article is used.)
It is also important to realize that while some consultation with classis will occur that it is the local congregation under the authority of its office bearers who bear the responsibility for making the final decision with regard to the relationship of a pastor to the congregation. This is because the pastor was called and hired by the local congregation, not by the classis, and also because the pastor serves primarily the congregation, not the classis. (Although of course the pastor, the council, and each individual person ought to be serving Christ first, and serving Christ thru service to the congregation and to others.)
Eligibility of officebearers is ultimately the responsibility of the elders. According to the example of scripture, they chose or made the final decision on nomination of office bearers. If they choose to involve the deacons, then they may do that. If they choose to ask the advice of the congregation, then they may do that as well. In smaller churches, it is advisable to involve the deacons in decision making matters about church governance for the purposes of adding more "heads" to the discussion. In larger churches, this would not be necessary, and would relieve the deacons to carry out their own particular tasks and roles more adequately.
Interesting. It seems we pick and choose from the church order, however.
Article 51 a. The congregation shall assemble for worship, ordinarily twice on the Lord’s Day, to hear God’s Word, to receive the sacraments, to engage in praise and prayer, and to present gifts of gratitude.—Cf. Supplement, Article 51-a
(Many if not most churches are having one service per sunday.)
b. Worship services shall be held in observance of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day, and Pentecost, and ordinarily on Old and New Year’s Day, and annual days of prayer and thanksgiving.
(Many churches are not holding services on some of these special days, although they may observe these things in a regular service.)
Article 53
a. The ministers of the Word shall conduct the worship services. (there are many others besides "ministers" who are presently conducting worship services, including in some cases non-ordained people. In many cases, "ministers" who don't want to be called ministers anymore, but pastors, only preach the sermon, and give the benediction, but do not really conduct the service. )
b. Persons licensed to exhort and anyone appointed by the consistory to read a sermon may conduct worship services. They shall, however, refrain from all official acts of the ministry.
(We should consider that this term "official acts of ministry" as used today, is clergification, and not scriptural. Ministry includes preaching, singing, teaching, sacraments, prophecy, evangelism, public prayer, visiting the sick, family visits. Ministry is taken from the greek word diakonia or diakonos, which is the greek word used to translate both "minister" or "ministry", "service" or "servant", and "deacon". So helping the poor widows and orphans is also an official act of ministry, according to scripture. If we were to take official acts of ministry literally, then we would have to discipline people for saying "God bless you.", since officially only "ministers" or "servants" or elders (as per 2001), can present God's blessing, which is an official act of ministry. )
c. Only sermons approved by the consistory shall be read in the worship services. (It is very rare that the consistory actually approves the sermons. Usually they merely assume that certain sermons will be okay if they come from a certain book or website.)
Article 54
a. In the worship services the minister of the Word shall officially explain and apply Holy Scripture. (of course, unless there is no minister there, in which case this clause becomes without force. Or, if there are three or four ministers, then this should be changed to "a minister").
b. At one of the services each Lord’s Day, the minister shall ordinarily preach the Word as summarized in the Heidelberg Catechism, following its sequence.
(If you were to take a poll, how many churches follow this rigorously or regularly? Many do not.)
Article 55
The sacraments shall be administered upon the authority of the consistory in the public worship service by a minister of the Word, a ministry associate, or, in the case of need, an ordained person who has received the approval of classis, with the use of the prescribed forms or adaptations of them that conform to synodical guidelines.
(While this is the practice, there is no scriptural warrant for supposing "in case of need" for other ordained persons to administer the sacraments. Nor is there scriptural warrant for supposing that an ordained person needs to have additional approval above and beyond his existing ordination for such a duty.)
So, a question. Should the elders who are required to supervise the preaching without first receiving approval of classis to supervise the preaching, be suddenly subjected to classis approval to supervise preaching of one of the elders, or subjected to classis approval to be able to write a sermon by one of the supervising elders?
Pondering on this a bit more with regard to the Lord's greeting. Every greeting, and every benediction, no matter who says it, and no matter how it is said, is in fact a prayer in the Lord's name. The Aaronic blessing, "24 “‘“The LORD bless you
and keep you;
25 the LORD make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
26 the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’
This sounds similar to the Lord's prayer in the sense that the declarative is really a request as much as a form of praise, rather than a command that God must follow.
Eph 1:2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And while this sounds like a declaration or a command, it too is a request, a prayer, a desire.
Prayer done in the name of Christ, in the seeking of God's will, in the understanding of God's love and justice and mercy, is effective prayer. It results in a blessing. (and it doesn't really matter whether the blessing is official or unofficial...)
The epistle enjoins us to greet one another with a holy kiss; is this official or unofficial? Is this ministry service? or is it unofficial.... It is the handshake that is official...
Do not think I am merely being humorous. While I do think some of this is humorous, there is something underlying here that I think is not so far removed from the original causes of the reformation.
Another thought: Just as reading sermons produced by crc preachers or Back to God Hour, or potentially presbyterian preachers, are implicitly approved by consistory, although I doubt you will find it recorded in the minutes of most if any council meetings, are not all ordained elders implicitly approved by classis? Certainly we could not say that ordained elders have been disapproved by classis, nor do they received their authority from classis, yet classis acknowledges their ordination implicitly in their right to be delegates to classis. Thus we could consider article 55 to imply that ordained elders have the approval of classis.
In addition, if consistory approves the reading of sermons, it could potentially approve the reading of sermons by someone who wrote his own sermons. This may seem like semantics, is he preaching or reading a sermon, but then semantics seems to be the nature of much of this.
As a side note, as many of you may realize, the word sermon is not found in scripture at all. We realize that the epistles may be regarded as sermons, but it is ironic that we do not place the same classical restrictions on writing letters as we do on presenting or reading sermons, or presenting God's blessings. Making sure that God's word is truly and clearly preached is an honorable and important task. However, perhaps we concentrate more on process and governance than on substance?
"It would be easy to point out the deficiencies of the modern pulpit, and hold up one’s own ideal of what preaching ought to be, but this has been so often attempted by others with such slender results that we decline the task. A judicious critic would probably complain that many sermons are deficient in solid instruction, Biblical exposition, and Scriptural argument: they are flashy, rather than fleshy; clever, rather than solid; entertaining, rather than impressive. He would point to rhetorical discourses in which doctrine is barely discernible, and brilliant harangues from which no food for the soul could ever be extracted. Having done this, he would probably propose that homilies should flow out of texts, and should consist of a clear explanation, and an earnest enforcement of the truths which the texts distinctly teach. Expository preaching he would advocate as the great need of the day, its best protection against rising errors, and its surest means of spiritual edification. To such observations most of us would offer no opposition; we should confess them to be full of wisdom, and worthy of being pondered. We should not unite in any indiscriminate censuring of hortatory addresses, or topical sermons, nor should we agree with the demand that every discourse should be limited to the range of its text, nor even that it should have a text at all; but we should heartily subscribe to the declaration, that more expository preaching is greatly needed, and that all preachers would be the better if they were more able expounders of the inspired Word...."
"...For this purpose I have toiled, and read much, and passed under review some three or four thousand volumes. From these I have compiled my catalogue, rejecting many, yet making a very varied selection ."
Some would suggest Calvin's commentaries might also be a good starting point.
I heard someone say not too long ago: the answer to the question "How much should a Christian give? 2% of gross income? 5% of net income? 10% of net income? Which would you choose?
His answer was 20% of net income. 20% of net income is equivalent to a 10% tithe. In most cases, there is nearly a 50% tax rebate for donations to charities, over the first $200. That means that for spending 20% on charities, it is only costing you 10%, since you would have had to pay the rest to the government anyway in income tax. Something to think about.
And that doesn't include the blessings received from giving, and the blessings given by God because of the cheerful and prayerful giving.
Henry DM could you explain the apparent reluctance of ordained elders to present a greeting when leading worship, even though they have been ordained? How could this be corrected?
Thanks for your explanation. It is my understanding that council can give permission to an elder to preach sermons, provided that they properly supervise this. This would also be considered to be an official act of ministry.... I have encountered elders who are under the impression that they ought not to administer the Lord's supper if a pastor/preacher is not present. The Lord's Supper sacrament might also be considered to be an official act of ministry. Do you have any comments on that?
We are just starting up a group. Without changing the actual name, we are promoting it as Christian Cadet Club. We have a small church, but it seems the boys are interested, also in bringing non-church friends. When I talked to some individually, their eyes just lit up! We decided to start it now, rather than wait till fall, because some of the winter activities such as hockey are slowing down, and cadets can do more things outdoors in the summer than in the winter, and the evenings are light longer. Hopefully this initiative is God's will, and our ministry will flourish and grow boys into men of God.
Posted in: What Steps Does a Church Take When It Needs to Dismiss a Pastor It Cannot Afford?
I would suggest that the congregation ought to be heavily consulted, not just informed. While indeed it is council who must make the decision, it is also the type of issue involving a large segment of the annual budget, and involving the calling or dismissal of pastors and other staff which is normally voted on by the congregation. It would be out of place for council to make such a decision without consulting or conferring with a congregational meeting. (regardless of whatever C.O. article is used.)
It is also important to realize that while some consultation with classis will occur that it is the local congregation under the authority of its office bearers who bear the responsibility for making the final decision with regard to the relationship of a pastor to the congregation. This is because the pastor was called and hired by the local congregation, not by the classis, and also because the pastor serves primarily the congregation, not the classis. (Although of course the pastor, the council, and each individual person ought to be serving Christ first, and serving Christ thru service to the congregation and to others.)
Posted in: Which office discusses and decides who is eligible for call to Elders and Deacons?
Eligibility of officebearers is ultimately the responsibility of the elders. According to the example of scripture, they chose or made the final decision on nomination of office bearers. If they choose to involve the deacons, then they may do that. If they choose to ask the advice of the congregation, then they may do that as well. In smaller churches, it is advisable to involve the deacons in decision making matters about church governance for the purposes of adding more "heads" to the discussion. In larger churches, this would not be necessary, and would relieve the deacons to carry out their own particular tasks and roles more adequately.
Posted in: Can a lay person bring God's greeting at the start of a worship service?
Interesting. It seems we pick and choose from the church order, however.
Article 51 a. The congregation shall assemble for worship, ordinarily twice on the Lord’s Day, to hear God’s Word, to receive the sacraments, to engage in praise and prayer, and to present gifts of gratitude.—Cf. Supplement, Article 51-a
(Many if not most churches are having one service per sunday.)
b. Worship services shall be held in observance of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day, and Pentecost, and ordinarily on Old and New Year’s Day, and annual days of prayer and thanksgiving.
(Many churches are not holding services on some of these special days, although they may observe these things in a regular service.)
Article 53
a. The ministers of the Word shall conduct the worship services. (there are many others besides "ministers" who are presently conducting worship services, including in some cases non-ordained people. In many cases, "ministers" who don't want to be called ministers anymore, but pastors, only preach the sermon, and give the benediction, but do not really conduct the service. )
b. Persons licensed to exhort and anyone appointed by the consistory to read a sermon may conduct worship services. They shall, however, refrain from all official acts of the ministry.
(We should consider that this term "official acts of ministry" as used today, is clergification, and not scriptural. Ministry includes preaching, singing, teaching, sacraments, prophecy, evangelism, public prayer, visiting the sick, family visits. Ministry is taken from the greek word diakonia or diakonos, which is the greek word used to translate both "minister" or "ministry", "service" or "servant", and "deacon". So helping the poor widows and orphans is also an official act of ministry, according to scripture. If we were to take official acts of ministry literally, then we would have to discipline people for saying "God bless you.", since officially only "ministers" or "servants" or elders (as per 2001), can present God's blessing, which is an official act of ministry. )
c. Only sermons approved by the consistory shall be read in the worship services. (It is very rare that the consistory actually approves the sermons. Usually they merely assume that certain sermons will be okay if they come from a certain book or website.)
Article 54
a. In the worship services the minister of the Word shall officially explain and apply Holy Scripture. (of course, unless there is no minister there, in which case this clause becomes without force. Or, if there are three or four ministers, then this should be changed to "a minister").
b. At one of the services each Lord’s Day, the minister shall ordinarily preach the Word as summarized in the Heidelberg Catechism, following its sequence.
(If you were to take a poll, how many churches follow this rigorously or regularly? Many do not.)
Article 55
The sacraments shall be administered upon the authority of the consistory in the public worship service by a minister of the Word, a ministry associate, or, in the case of need, an ordained person who has received the approval of classis, with the use of the prescribed forms or adaptations of them that conform to synodical guidelines.
(While this is the practice, there is no scriptural warrant for supposing "in case of need" for other ordained persons to administer the sacraments. Nor is there scriptural warrant for supposing that an ordained person needs to have additional approval above and beyond his existing ordination for such a duty.)
So, a question. Should the elders who are required to supervise the preaching without first receiving approval of classis to supervise the preaching, be suddenly subjected to classis approval to supervise preaching of one of the elders, or subjected to classis approval to be able to write a sermon by one of the supervising elders?
Posted in: Can a lay person bring God's greeting at the start of a worship service?
Pondering on this a bit more with regard to the Lord's greeting. Every greeting, and every benediction, no matter who says it, and no matter how it is said, is in fact a prayer in the Lord's name. The Aaronic blessing, "24 “‘“The LORD bless you
and keep you;
25 the LORD make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
26 the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’
This sounds similar to the Lord's prayer in the sense that the declarative is really a request as much as a form of praise, rather than a command that God must follow.
Eph 1:2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And while this sounds like a declaration or a command, it too is a request, a prayer, a desire.
Prayer done in the name of Christ, in the seeking of God's will, in the understanding of God's love and justice and mercy, is effective prayer. It results in a blessing. (and it doesn't really matter whether the blessing is official or unofficial...)
The epistle enjoins us to greet one another with a holy kiss; is this official or unofficial? Is this ministry service? or is it unofficial.... It is the handshake that is official...
Do not think I am merely being humorous. While I do think some of this is humorous, there is something underlying here that I think is not so far removed from the original causes of the reformation.
Posted in: Can a lay person bring God's greeting at the start of a worship service?
Another thought: Just as reading sermons produced by crc preachers or Back to God Hour, or potentially presbyterian preachers, are implicitly approved by consistory, although I doubt you will find it recorded in the minutes of most if any council meetings, are not all ordained elders implicitly approved by classis? Certainly we could not say that ordained elders have been disapproved by classis, nor do they received their authority from classis, yet classis acknowledges their ordination implicitly in their right to be delegates to classis. Thus we could consider article 55 to imply that ordained elders have the approval of classis.
In addition, if consistory approves the reading of sermons, it could potentially approve the reading of sermons by someone who wrote his own sermons. This may seem like semantics, is he preaching or reading a sermon, but then semantics seems to be the nature of much of this.
As a side note, as many of you may realize, the word sermon is not found in scripture at all. We realize that the epistles may be regarded as sermons, but it is ironic that we do not place the same classical restrictions on writing letters as we do on presenting or reading sermons, or presenting God's blessings. Making sure that God's word is truly and clearly preached is an honorable and important task. However, perhaps we concentrate more on process and governance than on substance?
Posted in: Biblical Commentaries
C. Spurgeon has made comments on a number of commentaries; you can see them on the internet http://www.bible-researcher.com/commentaries1.html . Here is a quote from him in his preface: "
"It would be easy to point out the deficiencies of the modern pulpit, and hold up one’s own ideal of what preaching ought to be, but this has been so often attempted by others with such slender results that we decline the task. A judicious critic would probably complain that many sermons are deficient in solid instruction, Biblical exposition, and Scriptural argument: they are flashy, rather than fleshy; clever, rather than solid; entertaining, rather than impressive. He would point to rhetorical discourses in which doctrine is barely discernible, and brilliant harangues from which no food for the soul could ever be extracted. Having done this, he would probably propose that homilies should flow out of texts, and should consist of a clear explanation, and an earnest enforcement of the truths which the texts distinctly teach. Expository preaching he would advocate as the great need of the day, its best protection against rising errors, and its surest means of spiritual edification. To such observations most of us would offer no opposition; we should confess them to be full of wisdom, and worthy of being pondered. We should not unite in any indiscriminate censuring of hortatory addresses, or topical sermons, nor should we agree with the demand that every discourse should be limited to the range of its text, nor even that it should have a text at all; but we should heartily subscribe to the declaration, that more expository preaching is greatly needed, and that all preachers would be the better if they were more able expounders of the inspired Word...."
"...For this purpose I have toiled, and read much, and passed under review some three or four thousand volumes. From these I have compiled my catalogue, rejecting many, yet making a very varied selection ."
Some would suggest Calvin's commentaries might also be a good starting point.
Posted in: Biblical Commentaries
Calvin's commentaries are available on-line: biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin
biblestudyguide.org/comment/calvin
Posted in: What can you do when your church is not meeting its budget?
I heard someone say not too long ago: the answer to the question "How much should a Christian give? 2% of gross income? 5% of net income? 10% of net income? Which would you choose?
His answer was 20% of net income. 20% of net income is equivalent to a 10% tithe. In most cases, there is nearly a 50% tax rebate for donations to charities, over the first $200. That means that for spending 20% on charities, it is only costing you 10%, since you would have had to pay the rest to the government anyway in income tax. Something to think about.
And that doesn't include the blessings received from giving, and the blessings given by God because of the cheerful and prayerful giving.
Ah, I need to listen to myself.....
Posted in: Can a lay person bring God's greeting at the start of a worship service?
Henry DM could you explain the apparent reluctance of ordained elders to present a greeting when leading worship, even though they have been ordained? How could this be corrected?
Posted in: Can a lay person bring God's greeting at the start of a worship service?
Thanks for your explanation. It is my understanding that council can give permission to an elder to preach sermons, provided that they properly supervise this. This would also be considered to be an official act of ministry.... I have encountered elders who are under the impression that they ought not to administer the Lord's supper if a pastor/preacher is not present. The Lord's Supper sacrament might also be considered to be an official act of ministry. Do you have any comments on that?
Posted in: How does your church promote the growth of Cadet Club?
We are just starting up a group. Without changing the actual name, we are promoting it as Christian Cadet Club. We have a small church, but it seems the boys are interested, also in bringing non-church friends. When I talked to some individually, their eyes just lit up! We decided to start it now, rather than wait till fall, because some of the winter activities such as hockey are slowing down, and cadets can do more things outdoors in the summer than in the winter, and the evenings are light longer. Hopefully this initiative is God's will, and our ministry will flourish and grow boys into men of God.
Posted in: Biblical Commentaries
Anyone care to comment on "Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament"?