What say you?
A very large local church our friends attend had an opening for a senior pastor.
They received over 200 applications.
If everyone one of those have a trial sermon, and was reviewed by the Congregation it would take over 4 years.
That’s the purpose of the Board, to weed through the applications...like HR screens applicants for the hiring manager.
A very large local church our friends attend had an opening for a senior pastor.
They received over 200 applications.
If everyone one of those have a trial sermon, and was reviewed by the Congregation it would take over 4 years.
That’s the purpose of the Board, to weed through the applications...like HR screens applicants for the hiring manager.
Whats a church board? Whats a church vote?
A Biblical form of Church government is needed; various Reformed denominations have church polity that is set up in documennts and includes Biblical proof texts.
For example: http://wpcus.org/WestminsterFormofPresbyterialChurchGovernment.htm
I am Catholic. I don’t get a vote. I have to take whatever the Diocese sends me and I have to live with it until they decide to send someone else.
I have often felt that was not quite Kosher. LMAO Kosher,LOL.
Sorta like how the poltical parties used to pick a president?
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1 Timothy 5:17ff is a good place to begin.
Paul is writing to his young protege Timothy regarding the care and the governance of the local expression of the Body of Christ...
He speaks of the (qualified) elders (plural)...
.... that rule...
.... transliterated as (those who) direct the affairs of the church...
In the context of the honor (respect /compensation) these men deserve for the commitment of their time and talents.
Of special note are especially those who labor in preaching and teaching....
... connoting that the preachers/teachers are found among the (qualified) elders of the church.
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Acts 14:23
... the first elders were appointed by the apostolic team with prayer and fasting....
Ephesians 4:11ff
.... tells us about the five ministerial effects/offices that Christ has given to lead, teach strengthen, govern His church...
...and Titus 1:5
....might also give you some insight...
Hope this helps.
I do agree with the last several posts: many denominations (mine in Presbyterian Church in America) have established procedures, which I’ll outline in a sec.
The reason there is a deacon board (elders, in the case of the PCA) is to have a group charged with insuring the integrity of how the Word of God is taught within the congregation - both in the pulpit and in individual ‘sunday school’ or Bible study teaching situations.
These men are chosen based on their experience, training, personal integrity, testimony (Biblical principles from James) to assume this role. In many congregations they would adjudicate the pastoral decision.
In my PCA experience (both as a deacon and pastoral search committee member), the search committee was in charge of the entire process of conducting the search, collecting personal data from applicants, contacting men for interviews, performing background checks, etc. Once we settled on a choice, we then notified the Elders (the ‘board’, I presume, in your writeup) to conduct a more detailed interview based on their requirements.
Even after that, we weren’t done: the regional Presbytery had to have a say in interviewing the candidate and performing an examination before their acceptance of him as a member of the Presbytery.
At each step in the process, something could have come up that would have derailed the candidate. In my experience, we did indeed prevail, and the candidate was hired.
The goals of the PCA’s process are to insure that the teaching each pastor will provide are consistent with the scriptural worldview of the PCA in general - that no heresies will be cropping up. We are very careful about that - starting from the seminaries and throughout the pastor-selection and retention process. We do believe that it is a Biblical-based procedure, adhering to the demands of the scriptures that Paul wrote about in several places, plus the government organization of the church (the apostles being our Elders; the deacons being those in charge of service). For convenience, the PCA added additional layers (General Assy. and regional Presbyteries) that provide checks and balances on the local churches as well.
Now - that’s OUR method. I have seen/heard of other methods. I also know of ugly church splits that have occurred over the hiring of new pastors, the firing of old ones (that’s most difficult, because the church membership is often shielded from the details of ‘why’).
It is certainly possible that your Board decided that they wanted to do the initial culling of candidates to remove those who clearly would not work out for your church’s situation. Sure, it COULD be a ‘control’ issue - but not necessarily (I’ve actually known of a church that hand-picked a guy because he was the ‘good old boy’ that the board knew and wanted - and that decision caused a split. But it is also possible that they opted to reduce the work (and if a search committee does it right, there’s a bunch of work to do) by rejecting those who clearly could not pass muster [my own committee did so for at least half the applicants].
Sorry so long - there ARE some Biblical principles to follow in terms of the character of the man; not so much on the procedure of selection, but the terms ‘examination’ and ‘reputation’ are good themes to go by. How this is implemented is left to local governance.
What say you?
What polity?
Is this a board of elders? If so, I'd say, yes, it's part of their job.