Prayer Requested for the Elders and the Elder Ministry Dr. Ritch Boerckel
Senior Pastor
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HolyHomes Flip This House
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Small Group Testimony KidZone Coming in April
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Women’s Ministries Discovering Church Membership RESOLVEDto Single’s LinC PrimeTime Fellowship
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March Calendar
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March Birthdays & Anniversaries
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South Side Mission Food Drive Local Mission Services Guatemala GO Trip Trewyn Good News Club
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GriefShare Children’s Choir 12 HolyHomes Flip This House First Prayer
This past month the leadership of Bethany has been communicating to our church family a proposal regarding some changes to the elder ministry. We desire to be as communicative and helpful to our church family as we possibly can through this important process. We believe this restructuring of the elder ministry will bear joyful fruit in our church and among our elders for decades. I think it right for the church family to sense the leadership’s mutual enthusiasm over the impact these changes might mean for our relationships with one another as elders and our relationships with the whole of the church. I also think it right to express to the whole church family my personal excitement about the future of our church with a restructured elder ministry. Few decisions at Bethany over the past 20 years carry as much potential for blessing as this one does. I feel a bit like a kid on Christmas morning when I think of the good fruit this restructuring may bring for the glory of Jesus.
While we elders wish to move forward on these changes as soon as we possibly can, we are also committed to taking whatever time is necessary to listen to the church family and to learn from the church family. Every member’s input is appreciated, regardless of whether that input is one of praise or criticism. We elders learn and grow from the criticisms of godly people and from the questions that godly people pose. So we are not in a rush. We will take as long as the church family may need before we vote upon the expressed proposal. We anticipate that a vote would be in late spring of this year, but that time frame would change if the church family responded in a way that merited a delay. By way of review, the bylaw changes to the elder ministry that the elders are proposing would include the following: 1.) The removal of a specific date for the ordination of new elders onto the elder team. Presently, we are required to vote to ordain new elders for the church in May of each year. The proposal Continued on page 2