Day 11: Tuesday 24th March 2020 Prayer for Eldership

Day 11: Tuesday 23rd March 2020 Prayer for Eldership

As a church we believe that the spiritual life of the local church is led by groups of elders
 
This is a very specific role in the church and as succinctly as I can they have the responsibility for the following:
 

• Caring for the spiritual life of the church, keeping the church true to God.

 

• The church’s teaching and doctrine

 

• They hold the responsibility for vision and direction of the church

 

• Discipline and protecting the flock from spiritual wolves

 
 
Over the last year we have been in the process of building an eldership team and a group of our men have been going up once a month to an exploring eldership course in Ambleside.
 
This course has been around exploring calling, character and gifting and challenging individuals, asking if they feel called to Eldership or not as this involves huge sacrifice, is often stressful, time consuming and a great weighty call.  
 
Over this year we have been meeting together as a group and been discussing lots of things and different topics in the church and hopefully as a group of guys we will continue to do this over the next year while we pray and consider together.
 
Please pray for this group of guys and our church that God will make all things clear and he will speak to them.
 
Please pray for love, understanding, friendship and faith to grow in this groups as any Eldership team needs bonding with deep bonds of love!!
 
Again also please continue to pray for me as I pray, work and guide this process as it still is possibly one of the most important things I do in my present role as singular elder of our church.
 
Finally, please also pray for me as I lead Community Church Blackburn as its elder. Pray that I am totally reliant on God and faithful to him, heeding the bible and continuing to heed the advice which Andy Parr gave me. “Lean heavily on God, be gentle and humble, seek to be full of grace and love, be merciful and forgiving and you will be God’s man” Andy Parr 25th April 2017

 Helpful Bible Verses
 
1 Timothy 3
 This is a trustworthy saying: “If someone aspires to be a church leader, he desires an honourable position.” So a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife.  He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him. For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?
 A church leader must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall. Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil’s trap.
 
1 Peter 5:1-4
 Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.
And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
 
Titus 1:9
 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.
 
Hebrews 13:17
 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be.