The Presbyterian Church (USA) is governed by a representative body called the session. Unity’s session is made up of 12 elders and 2 youth elders. Elders are men and women of the church who seek to guide Unity by seeking God’s will in this particular place and time.
Presbyterians are unique in this form of governance.
Some churches have a top-down approach to church leadership. One person makes the decisions (i.e. a pope, a bishop, a lead pastor, etc) and the church is expected to follow. Other churches have a bottom-up approach to church leadership. In these churches the whole congregation will be engaged with pretty much all of the decisions of the church.
Presbyterians follow the middle way. Presbyterians elect elders as their representatives for a three year period of time (each year a third of the elders roll off and a new third is elected).
The Elder Nominating Committee is gathering nominations for the upcoming elder class. Do you have a church member in mind who would make an excellent elder? Please submit their name!
Use this link to submit an elder nomination:
https://www.unitypres.org/about-us/session/enc/
This link will be available for two weeks.
Characteristics of an Elder
1. An elder should be actively involved in the activities of Unity.
2. An elder should demonstrate a maturity of faith and a passion for Christ.
3. An elder should be willing to serve a three year term on the session.
4. An elder should be prepared to chair one of the ministry teams (i.e. mission, congregational care, children and youth, stewardship, etc)
5. An elder should be a servant leader who is willing to seek the good of the congregation.
6. An elder should be committed to discern God’s will for Unity.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) follows the Book of Order as its constitution. Here is how the Book of Order describes the role of the church:
The Church is to be a community of faith, entrusting itself to God alone, even at the risk of losing its life.
The Church is to be a community of hope, rejoicing in the sure and certain knowledge that, in Christ, God is making a new creation. This new creation is a new beginning for human life and for all things. The Church lives in the present on the strength of that promised new creation.
The Church is to be a community of love, where sin is forgiven, reconciliation is ac- complished, and the dividing walls of hostility are torn down.
The Church is to be a community of witness, pointing beyond itself through word and work to the good news of God’s transforming grace in Christ Jesus its Lord. F-1.0301
I believe that Unity is doing an incredible job of reflecting these four values. I pray that God will continue to provide strong leadership for Unity through this incoming elder class so that we can continue to work toward these goals. Thank you for taking the time to nominate an elder today.
Thank you to our 2020 Elder Nominating Committee: Terry Watson, Rick Rhodes, Nancy Bost and Dave Fechmeister. We will be praying for your work this summer.
This Sunday we will continue our summer series on relationships. We will study how to be a godly co-worker.
“See” you on Sunday!
-Pastor David
P.S. THANK YOU for the incredible response for donations for the church manse. The refugee team is overwhelmed by your generosity. Here is an updated list of the needed remaining items.
