Eldership Pipeline

Phase One: Elder-in-Training:
A man is identified as someone who could potentially be an Elder and aspires to be an Elder. The current Elders vet him and examine his readiness. If the Elders believe he ought to start moving toward being an Elder, then the Elders design a training pathway that is 1-3 years long (unique to each man), including reading and various training activities. Once the Elders believe the Elder-in-training has been trained well, they will move this man into the second phase.

Phase Two: Elder Candidate:
A man proves to be trained and there are no red flags with his character or family. The Candidacy phase is 9-18 months (unique to each man). This phase will give the man opportunity to take on more pastoral duties. The primary goal of this phase is for the congregation to observe and vet this man. There are also potential scenarios where the Elders believe it is ideal for a man to skip Phase One and begin directly in Phase Two candidacy.

Phase Three: Eldership:
At the end of the man’s candidacy phase, the congregation will gather to vote to approve or deny him as an Elder. Lay Elders shall serve a three-year term on the Council of Elders and be brought before the congregation for renewal at the at end of each term. There shall be no term limits. Vocational Elders shall serve indefinitely until their staff position ceases.

Elders’ Reading

Elders are expected to have read all these books prior to becoming Elders:

  • Workers for Your Joy (David Mathis)
  • Dangerous Duty of Delight (John Piper)
  • Spectacular Sins (John Piper)
  • Future Grace (John Piper)
  • Leadership and Emotional Sabotage (Joe Rigney)
  • Recovering Classic Evangelicalism (Gregg Thornbury)
  • The Colson Way (Owen Strachan)
  • Problem of Pain (CS Lewis)
  • Abolition of Man (CS Lewis)
  • Systematic Theology (Grudem) or Christian Theology (Erickson) or Systematic Theology (Frame) or Theology for the Church (ed. Akin)

 

Elders are expected to have either read these books or to be thoroughly acquainted with the content/ideas, having learned them from some comparable book/resource:

  • Church Elders (Jeramie Rinne)
  • Church Discipline (Jonathan Leeman)
  • Don’t Fire Your Church Members (Jonathan Leeman)
  • Christ-Centered Preaching (Bryan Chapel)
  • Let the Nations Be Glad (John Piper)
  • Deacons (Matt Smethurst)
  • Christian History Made Easy (Timothy Paul Jones)
  • Awakening the Evangelical Mind (Owen Strachan)
  • Invitation to Biblical Interpretation (Köstenberger and Patterson)
  • The Baptist Story (Chute, Finn, and Haykin)
  • Believers’ Baptism (Schreiner and Wright)
  • Psychology and Christianity: Five Views (Spectrum Multiview Series) (2nd. ed.) (multiple contributors)

 

In addition, all potential vocational Elders and Elders/Residents moving toward church planting must also read:

  • The Advantage (Patrick Lencioni)
  • Church Planting Thresholds (Clifton and Solomon)
  • Planting by Pastoring (Nathan Knight)

Elders’ Doctrine

Our Elders joyfully affirm this below-mentioned collection of documents. We believe, together, these documents most accurately depict the gospel of Jesus Christ, its doctrines, and its implications: