July 1, 2024
Beloved,
We write this letter as an invitation to join us in the appreciation and celebration of certain volunteers in our church who play as crucial a role in it as any.
Covenant is a church that identifies as “Presbyterian”. That English word derives from a word in koine, the ancient Greek language in which the New Testament was originally written. The word is presbyter. It is translated in English as “elder”, referring to an office in the community of God’s people that goes back to the time of Moses. The words, presbyter and presbyteroi (its plural form), are used twenty times in the New Testament.
The congregation in our kind of church elects its elders. The congregation elects elders to lead the church in the will of Christ. Thus, the main function of elders is to listen to the living Christ and to discern His particular will for a particular church (in this case, Covenant).
This is no easy job.
The Bible gives us the general principles and purposes of a church, but it gives no specific instruction about how a specific church in today’s world should fulfill those general, but eternally essential, principles and purposes. It takes faithful praying, hard thinking, open-minded discussing and more faithful praying to pick up Christ’s particular wishes for a particular church in a particular context.
That is all the more the case when the context is as unprecedented as today’s. Never-before-seen changes in the cultural milieu have been taking place every which way, and with increasing speed. What used to work in helping “the church be the church” often no longer works, and frequently what works wonderfully are things we are still figuring out how to do best.
So please give thanks for our Covenant elders and pray for them as they discern Christ’s wishes and lead us in them. The elders are Jar’reese Billberry, Ah’jea’le Brown, Mary Lou Fourtane, Kris Hall, Karen Kennedy, Adele Langworthy, Rob Langworthy, Hubert Lloyd, Bubele Sakala, Jen Schwing, Ed Story, Jeff Sutton, Mark Wiley and Drury Wisdom; and they meet the middle of this month, July 16.
Thank you!
In the grip of God’s grace,
Rob & Adele
P.S. Here’s a teaser.
This letter of gratitude is the first in a two-part series. For in our tradition there are two kinds of church officers: elders and deacons. The primary role of the first is to lead with true discernment, and the primary role of the second is to serve with true love. Both are to be equally honored, for Jesus our ultimate Leader said, “The Son of Man came, not to be served, but to serve.”
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