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Baptists and Freemasonry: A Progress Report

Baptists and Freemasonry: A Progress Report

As many of you know, I have written a couple of essays on freemasonry in the past, here and here. I have been interested to see that these essays are being accessed daily, though it has been months since they were written. The first essay has been my most read post, not initially but in the aggregate. I continue to get readers of the post virtually every day. That essay has also been my most commented upon post. I am not sure if people are expecting me to endorse or renounce freemasonry, but the readers keep coming. I thought an update on my “Baptists and Freemasonry” project is in order.

First, let me remind you that I became interested in this when I was asked to consider finishing a biography that Baptist historian Terry Wolever had started but was left incomplete due to his sudden death in April of 2020. Terry was the editor at Particular Baptist Press in Springfield, MO for twenty years. He was a tireless researcher and a prodigious author. Terry had numerous projects on the go when the Lord decided his earthy journey was over. Among the projects left incomplete was a biography of Stephen Gano, son of John Gano, important early American church planter responsible for starting First Baptist Church of New York City. Terry had already written on John and thought that Stephen was worthy of a monograph as well.

I agreed to consider the project and I received a box of material from PBP that Terry had collected. In the box was a copy of a printed sermon Undissembled Love to God and Man, the Duty of Christians and Masons that Stephen delivered before the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Providence, RI in 1800. It seems that Gano was a freemason. Regrettably, I was never able to discuss this interesting finding with Terry, but I did discuss it with Gary Long, pastor of the Sovereign Grace Baptist Church of Springfield and head of the press. Gary told me that not only was Stephen a free mason, but so was his son-in-law, the noted Baptist historian, David Benedict. Benedict was the first pastor of the Baptist Church in Pawtucket, RI, where he labored until the issue of freemasonry compelled him to resign his ministry. Coincidently, Benedict also spoke before the Grand Lodge in 1830.

While never being exposed to the movement up close and personal, I supposed that Christians opposed the movement generally. Charles G. Finney certainly did. But of the Baptist connection, I had little information. How could good and faithful Baptist pastors be involved in freemasonry? (Spoiler alert—I’m not going to answer that question here and not yet, so if you want to stop reading, feel free!) I was puzzled about this and as I had little connection with freemasonry with little knowledge of the group, I decided to investigate this interesting story. In my second essay on freemasonry, I mentioned Southern Baptist leader George W. Truett who was a mason. In fact, numerous Southern Baptist leaders (and laymen) have been masons. I have the new study of Truett and his nemesis J. Frank Norris on order. I look forward to seeing what, if anything, O. S. Hawkins says about Truett’s freemasonry.

I decided that this topic was worthy of a deep dive in the historical relationship between Baptists and freemasons in the United States. It is really quite a fascinating narrative. To date, my plan was to read a paper on this topic in two weeks at the Evangelical Theological Society, meeting in Fort Worth, TX but as we have no help with our son, I may be unable to attend. Still the fruit of my labor will be included in a book of essays being put together in honor of Terry Woelver.

Let me say that through my research, I discovered a mixed reaction to freemasonry among Baptists in the late 18th and early 19th century. A number of leading Baptist pastors in New England had affiliation with freemasonry and delivered addresses or sermons before gathered masons. Many were masons and some were in masonic leadership. Samuel Stillman of Brattle Street Baptist Church of Boston delivered a sermon before “Free and Accepted Masons” in Charles-Town in 1785 entitled Charity Considered. Stillman was not a brother, but he spoke sympathetically on the masonic belief in charity. “With the Constitutions of Masonry I profess myself acquainted; and am pleased to find that by them, every mason is obliged to pay strict attention to his morals.” Other Baptist pastors, including Gano and Benedict, were freemasons and delivered equally conciliatory addresses before gathered masons. Some even gained recognition in leadership positions in lodges. William Rogers (1751–1824), pastor of First Baptist of Philadelphia (1772–1775), was active among Philadelphia freemasons, serving as Grand Chaplain from at least 1811–1821, regularly offering prayers at masonic meetings. He was periodically referred to a “Rev. Dr. Bro. William Rogers.” Benjamin Munro Hill (1793–1881), during his pastorate in New Haven, CT, was elected “Rev. Sir Grand Prelate” (1827) and eventually Generalissimo of the Encampment of the Masonic Knights Templar in New Haven (1829).

While there were numerous freemasons among the Baptists at this time, being a freemason was not without its troubles. Stephen Gano and seven others were accused of “devilry” by his wife at his church in Providence. Despite several attempts to mediate the issue before the church, Joanna’s (Gano’s fourth wife) accusations were finally brought before the church with Stephen reading the charges. As a woman, Joanna could not speak in the church meeting, so her husband read the accusations. Immediately after the reading of the charges, Stephen requested the church to act. Stephen and the others were not condemned by the church, whereupon, one of the men charged brought accusations against Joanna, not for her views on freemasonry but for her “unChristlike spirit.” Joanna left the church but remained in Providence, and they no longer lived together as husband and wife.

David Benedict also had issues in his church. He eventually left the pastorate of the church over freemasonry, yet remained in its membership. Churches and Baptist associations began to question freemasonry and its propriety for Christians. Benedict addressed agitation over freemasonry among the churches in Fifty Years among the Baptists (171ff). When freemasonry came before the association in 1813, Stonington Baptists, at the behest of the churches at Exeter and South Kingston decided not to make a determination on the propriety of churches fellowshipping with freemasons because to do so would mar the unity of the churches in the association.

This is but the beginning of the story. Soon antimasonry would erupt in American life, in part over the mysterious disappearance of William Morgan who planned to publish an exposé on masonry, eventually Illustrations of Masonry, 1826. Many believed he was kidnapped by the masons and murdered in an effort to preserve their secrets. Some Americans became concerned over the political influence of the masons and formed an antimasonic party that became the first third party in American politics. Baptists were compelled to deal with freemasonry more regularly in church life. Historian Henry C. Vedder determined (197) that “many churches were divided by the question, and the growth of the denomination was seriously interfered with.”

This is but the opening of what has become a conflicted history. Baptists have not spoken with one voice about freemasonry. Some of our brethren have been strongly in favor of the society while others have been virulently antimasonic. There are reasons for both views—pro and con—among Baptists, but the discussion of these ideas will have to await a later day. Stay tuned. For now, I continue to expand my understanding of Baptists and freemasons. I actually think that a long treatment of the subject may be in order. Time will tell. The story is very interesting. Judging from my blog readership, others think so too. As a final remark, I have been surprised by the number of Baptists, since writing on this topic, who have shared their stories of freemasonry. On Monday, I talked to an older man, a retired pastor and lover of Baptist history, who informed me that his father and father-in-law were masons. He decided, as a young man, to not follow in their footsteps, a position that troubled them deeply.

Life in an Uncertain World – Serving Our Overseas Gospel Workers in Perilous Times

Life in an Uncertain World – Serving Our Overseas Gospel Workers in Perilous Times

By now, we are all aware that there are seventeen missionaries and their family members being held for ransom in Haiti, a country that has been devastated by both civil unrest with the assassination of their president, Jovenel Moïse in July and an earthquake that occurred on August 14 that resulted in the death of more than 2200 people and untold thousands of Haitians homeless. More than 75% of the people who live in the area of the quake live at or below the poverty level. The kidnapping occurred on October 16 and among those held are five children including an eight-month-old infant. All were connected with Christian Aid Ministries of Berlin, Ohio. The group had been visiting an orphanage at the time of their abduction. Haiti is in such disarray from these situations that gangs roam the streets and foreigners, in this case Americans and a Canadian, become easy targets for kidnapping. The gang is demanding a ransom of a million dollars for each of their captives. The kidnapping of Americans is nothing new and Christians are especially susceptible to hostilities as they are more vulnerable than other foreigners who travel often with armed security teams as protection in dangerous regions. Martin and Gracia Burnham were kidnapped in the Philippines by Abu Sayyef in May 2001 and were held in the jungle for over a year until a military rescue effort led to the freedom of Gracia but the death of Martin who was shot in an exchange of gunfire with the guerillas. Check out this essay on the kidnapped missionaries which dropped after my essay was written.

Unrelated and half a world away, word came out of Sudan this week that the uneasy truce that had been in effect in that country since 2019 when President Omar al-Bashir was deposed by a military coup after thirty years of dictatorship has been suspended by the current military leaders. Concern now is that those in control of Sudan will remain in control rather than turning the country over to civilian leadership in mid-November as had been anticipated. This sort of civil unrest is sure to have a debilitating effect on evangelistic efforts in that country which had been opening up recently. One of my former students from my teaching in Africa is from the Sudan and will likely be impacted by this instability.

Speaking of Africa and on top of these stories, my son and his family experienced a robbery a week ago, while the family was at church. Thieves who must have been watching their coming and going, seized the opportunity to enter their property when they left for church and stole cash and technology, including some funds they were saving to be disbursed for an ongoing house renovation project. Thankfully, they recovered some of the personal documents that were taken the next day when the family discovered a bag had been tossed over their wall with the documents inside. But the event was unsettling to say the least.

All of these incidents point to the real uncertainty that Christian workers face around the world nearly every day. While North American Christians argue over vaccines and masks, social justice, worship, and a host of other issues, Christians around the world continue to work for gospel advance in places that are less than stable. Many countries in Africa and Asia have experienced increased poverty due to the uncertainties of the pandemic, making things like kidnapping and burglary greater possible threats to outsiders. Political unrest is ever present in this world from Afghanistan to Sudan to the very steps of the US Capitol making life increasingly dangerous, especially for Christians. None of these incidents specifically targeted believers, but Christians live in and around these places and seek to bear witness for the Lord Jesus despite the instability that is ever present. Christians experience the same instabilities that these events bring to the general population.

How should the church respond to the world and our gospel workers during these perilous times? First, we need to be aware that these co-laborers have left their homelands to take the good news of Jesus Christ to difficult places knowing full well that these decisions come with a certain amount of risk. Many of these places have diseases that the workers are unaccustomed to. They have to learn to live in environments where disease and pestilence are real possibilities. Prayer is the most urgent thing we can do for our overseas partners. Certainly, one thing that Christians should pray for regularly is for the personal safety of these gospel workers in their difficult environs. When political unrest or natural calamity adds additional burdens to the daily life of these gospel workers, greater prayer needs arise. Additionally, our gospel workers need wisdom, wisdom to know just how to respond in these difficult times. Each situation is unique and there is not a one size fits all approach to these problems. Gospel workers need divine guidance through God’s word and good counsel to determine how to best operate under these unique situations. Finally, prayer needs to be offered for the trauma that gospel workers experience during times of increased safety concerns. Gospel workers may be devastated over certain calamitous events. Likely the experience of the seventeen workers in Haiti has sent chills down the back of many gospel workers worldwide. Many labor in places where security is a genuine concern. Will they be the next to face such a threat? Should they stay and minister or leave and seek safety? There are no easy answers. Husbands are concerned for their wives and wives for their husbands especially if they travel in difficult areas. Parents are concerned for their children and children for their parents. The anxiety that these gospel workers may face is enormous and our prayer can help them carry the burden by lifting them up to the Lord. There is something comforting knowing that the church is praying for you back home.

This is part of the “holding the ropes” burden that we assume when we commission foreign workers. Financing them to get to the field is only a small part of our overall ministry to these servants. Encouraging them while they are on the field is our great privilege and burden. When my wife and I first went to serve as gospel workers in Canada, among the Ojibwe, our connectivity with those “back home” was limited to expensive telephone calls and slow mail service. Today, churches can stay in regular contact with their gospel workers through email and any number of internet-calling services. Just before I began this essay, I called my son in Zambia, via Facetime, to get his permission to tell part of his story in this essay. We talked and saw each other through this wonderful technology! What a boon for gospel advance. We just need to use this regularly to appreciate its full potential. I am aware of a missionary who visits with his sending church pastor weekly via this technology. There is just no reason not to know what is happening on the field in almost real time.

Being aware of the needs is only part of the burden we bear with our gospel workers. Looking for unique and specific ways we can increase our commitment to these workers during these specific times of need is also important. In my son’s case, churches and individuals have risen to the occasion to make up the losses experienced, including one church who specifically helped my son fix his security breach with the hopes of prohibiting this from happening in the future. Christians back home need to be aware of occasional expanding needs of their workers on the field, praying fervently for God’s grace on their lives and being prepared to offer what additional assistance may be needed in a temporary or long-term situation. I am grateful, for example, that some churches and individuals have stepped up to provide additional financial support for my son and his family during their crisis.

We live in uncertain times. Is the pandemic nearing an end? Will things get back to normal, whatever normal is? Our gospel workers need rope holders to help them carry their burdens. In recent days, those burdens have become heavier to overseas laborers I know. Let us remember to pray for our gospel workers. They need our help!

Elders and the New Testament Church – a Gift from the Lord

Elders and the New Testament Church – a Gift from the Lord

Elders are a part of the biblically ordained offices for the New Testament church and, while many churches use elders poorly, this does not negate their value or their biblical import. Elders only work when they work. I offered several examples of prominent churches who had elders but some of the very individuals who committed themselves to serve as elders by accepting the position in a local assembly, rejected their office when the elder collective decided against their views, and they, for all practical purposes, abandoned the elder principle and exposed their churches to chaos, some publicly and others privately. Elders only work when they work. A tautology? Well, not really. Elders only work when those who are committed to the practice remain committed to the practice in trying times. Every church experiences difficult times of one sort or another. Elders are a part of God’s good gift to his churches to help lead and feed the flock, especially through stormy waters. So, what does the Bible teach about elders?

Elder plurality is an important part of this instruction. How many elders does any particular assembly need? There are plenty of proponents of elders who argue that a church must have an elder plurality regardless of church size. God never intended the church to be ruled by a single pastor but to be led by multiple elders. “Shared leadership has the benefits of balancing people’s weaknesses, lightening the workload, and providing accountability.” Amen and amen! Evidence of this may be found in Acts 11:30, the church at Antioch, which had multiple elders who commissioned Paul and Barnabas to Gospel ministry; Acts 15 which discusses Paul’s visit to the church at Jerusalem and his meetings with the “apostles and elders” (Acts 15:2, 4, 6, 22 and 16:4). Πρεσβύτερος, the Greek word from which we get our word elder, is in the plural in each of these verses, πρεσβύτεροι. Also see Acts 20:17 where Paul calls for a meeting of the elders of the church at Ephesus to assemble before him for discussions and Acts 21:18 where Paul returns to Jerusalem and meets with the elders. Mention should also be made of Tit 1:5 where Paul instructed Titus to appoint elders (pl) in every place (singular). James instructs the sick to call for the elders of the church to pray for the one sick (Jas. 5:14) while Peter instructs “elders among you” not to dominate their flock (1 Pet 5:1) calling himself an elder. Clearly many biblical churches had multiple elders. Doesn’t this settle the matter? Antioch, Jerusalem and Ephesus had multiple elders so churches today who wish to follow the biblical pattern should have multiple elders. Absolutely . . . almost. Are churches without an elder plurality, churches out of order?

The real issue to be addressed is the question of why these churches had multiple elders? Was the intention of the Holy Spirit, the ultimate author of Acts, to teach prescriptively that all New Testament churches have multiple elders, or is God recording in his Word the practical outworking of NT churches who recognized that as these churches grew, so too did their elder requirements. Large churches need more elders, smaller churches need fewer. So how many elders does a church need? As many as it needs. In the same way that the church at Jerusalem chose seven men to be the first deacons because two men were insufficient to meet the needs of the group, as churches increase in the number of people to be ministered to, there is a compelling need for more elders. Churches need as many elders as churches need!

Another consideration for the churches at Antioch, Jerusalem and Ephesus was the nature of these churches themselves. How did they meet, all together as large city churches with one in each location? Hardly. They met in houses, smaller house churches or small groups. The logistics of gathering the saints in these early days suggests that rather than one mega church in each city, there were multiple smaller gatherings requiring an expanded elder network to provide spiritual care. The story of Aquila and Priscilla certainly suggests this—they had house churches in Ephesus and Rome (1 Cor 16:19 and Rom. 16:3). This is an explanation for why Paul tells Titus to appoint elders in every town. The word πόλις signifies a population center as opposed to a rural area. It could be a city or a town. The important issue is that it was a population center. Again, no mega churches were in view here. More likely it was house churches. Hence the need for multiple elders.

I am not arguing that since today larger numbers of believers can meet in big church edifices, single pastors are all that is necessary. I am only suggesting that the city churches of the New Testament aren’t comparable to the big mega churches of today. They were the sum total of believers in Antioch, etc., not ABC Church at the corner of Appian Way and Rome Boulevard that was large enough to gather thousands of worshippers. Lakewood Church of Houston meets in the former Comcaq Center, former home to the Houston Rockets. The building can hold nearly 17,000. One man may be able to preach to 17k people, but one man cannot shepherd even a fraction of that number. Elder plurality in the early churches was driven by need. A church needs as many elders as it needs—in most cases, this means a plurality of elders.

What about a newly planted church? Should it begin with elder plurality? That depends. I remember reading in Christianity Today about the formation of Stonebriar Church in the Dallas area when Chuck Swindoll was president of Dallas Theological Seminary. Chuck decided in 1998, that he would start a Bible study at a country club. Two hundred people showed up for the first meeting. The next week, attendance doubled. It doubled again the following week. Within a few months, the church was running two thousand. Clearly from the beginning of this mega church, elder plurality was needed. How would a church even vet elders in this kind of rapid growth situation? There was a large SBC church in our area in the early 2000s that was planted to be a mega church. It had a full company of leaders from the beginning chosen ahead of time and paid for by the area association.

Few churches start like this today, especially in countries with small Gospel presence. American mega churches with superstar preachers may require large numbers of elders, but small fledgling churches in virgin territory may take a while before the congregation has a qualified plurality of men to serve as elders. Elder plurality is a goal to be aspired to, but not a minimum qualification in forming a church. A congregation needs as many as it needs. From the beginning, the church planter’s main job is to disciple leadership from whom the new assembly may select other elders and deacons. You have to start somewhere. Shared leadership is the goal to be sure.

I would make the same argument for deacon plurality. If one understands Acts 6 as the formation of the early diaconate, then the number chosen was based on the needs of the group—in Jerusalem’s case it was determined that seven men were needed. If this teaches us anything, it teaches us that a church needs as many deacons as it needs. In the early stages of church planting, a small group of six families may not need any deacons but it will become apparent that if the church grows at all, deacons will soon be necessary. Again, the church planter may need to disciple a man or several men toward becoming deacons. In the Acts church, many of the converts had come from Judaism and were almost “prequalified” to be deacons. They had been faithful Jews who became faithful Christians. I emphasize this because my esteemed and learned theology teacher used to argue that a church couldn’t start until it had a pastor and a deacon (or two). Yet many global churches start with just a handful of converts who need discipleship from non-Christian backgrounds. Diligent training and discipleship will bring qualified leadership to light in time, hopefully short time if the church is to grow.

For those who start a church and yet have no elders or deacons from the beginning, the church planter should seek the input of the men who attend, and he may find that he has qualified men already. Even in a small church with a single elder and no deacon, the pastor or elder need not act like the lord or boss. He would benefit from consultation with the church men. The goal is shared leadership not a single captain who has absolute authority over the whole ship.

I have a friend who has taught pastoral theology for years who doesn’t like the notion of “lay” elders. In other words, the way to determine what a church needs is, as it grows, when will it be able to afford more dedicated workers? Of course, dedicated elders are a lofty ideal and, elders who can be provided for by the assembly is the goal, but in church planting, even the first elder may have to work to provide for his family. Does this make him less qualified to be an elder? At various points in my ministry, I hung drywall and worked as an EMT out of necessity. If a man is going to be a “lay” elder, regardless of his work outside church, he must commit himself to do the requisite work in the assembly to carry out elder function.

It is important to remember that elders are not a panacea to solve all the problems within a local congregation. Elders are good and the multiplication of them should accompany the growth of the church. But simply having them will not insure that a church will weather the storms that come her way. Elders only work when they work . . . when those who serve as elders are committed to follow the duties of an elder. In recent weeks, I have pointed out churches that have had elders but either some elders refused to work with the other elders, or some elders refused to follow the decisions of the majority. In these cases, the churches have been thrown into turmoil. Elders only work when they work. What about arguments for a single pastor as the best model? I will address this question next week. May God grant his grace to do things decently and in order to his glory!

Elders: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Part 2

Elders: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Part 2

Last week I began a series on elders in Baptist life by describing my own church journey. I have never been a member of a church that had elders but if I were to start a church today, I would definitely do so on an elder model. Seems like an odd position . . . to believe in elders, but not now or ever to have been a member of a church with elders. Let me explain. In a later essay, I will discuss my view on elder plurality. Coincidentally, as I began to write this essay, word came out about a church in South Carolina whose elders recently accepted the resignation of its pastor, effective immediately, citing unspecified conflict with those elders, only to have him return to the church pulpit the following Sunday after the congregation decided that it wished for him to stay. The only way he is willing to stay was if the church “gets healthy” by changing its governing structure from elders, to vesting control of the church into the hands of the pastors, with the oversight of outside counselors. For now, the pastor is taking time off to “get healthy” himself, but he has agreed to return to the pulpit if his conditions are met. The pastor cited the church’s governance as the reason the church never went past about 1500 in attendance and used the illustration of a man who has been married three times—either he makes poor choices in the women he married, or the problem is not with the women but with him. The church will celebrate twenty-nine years since it was founded this fall, and it has had three lead pastors during that time, none of whom left under a scandal. The problem must be the governance structure—the elders are keeping the church from growing as it would under the proper (pastor-controlled) leadership.

The church’s elders resigned but rescinded their resignation because of governance issues, while there is a plan to restructure the church. Now there are two parties vying for control. The elders have accused the former pastor of breaching his commitment to leave as a condition of his generous one-year salary severance package. Concerns over the appropriateness of pursuing this through the courts are in the minds of some. Dissidents have started a Facebook page to share their concerns which has over 740 members but is a closed group. Needless to say, this story has been criticized by some and is a sad illustration that elders only work when they work.

At this point, I make no judgment as to which side is in the right. The church’s statement about elders is well written and in accordance with biblical teaching. The church website outlines (as of August 25, 2021) the function and authority for elders.

BIBLICAL AND PRACTICAL FUNCTIONS OF BEACH CHURCH ELDERS

Doctrine – Elders are to teach, guard, and advance God’s truth by holding strong to the written revelation of God – the Bible – and calling everyone else to do the same. Doctrine is to be accurately and soundly expressed by the Scriptures and then taught and applied to individuals in ways that instruct, exhort, correct and equip us to walk in the truth, focused on Christ Jesus, illuminated and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Discernment – Elders are guided by the Spirit regarding His will and way for His Body, the church. They are under-shepherds following Christ’s leading – The Chief Shepherd – and with discernment then leading His people.

Direction – Elders have a biblical and practical responsibility to provide direction for the overall ministry and the ministry leaders of the church. This would include determining what God would have us do, why and how He would have us do it, and who would be responsible for the different aspects of accomplishing His will in these initiatives. Biblical, clear, practical, and measurable direction for the overall church is part of the elders function.

Discipleship – Elders are to be models and reproducers of Bible-centered, Christ-focused, Spirit-energized transforming disciple makers.

Biblical Reconciliation/Restoration – Elders are called to lead out in teaching and equipping the body to live in harmony and unity. They are to live and lead as those who help restore relationships, deal with sin in pursuit of forgiveness and healing, and establish ways for the body to grow stronger and healthier in all aspects of their lives.

Shepherding – Protecting, living alongside (knowing!), guiding, feeding, etc.

Biblical Qualities of Elders1 Timothy 3:1-7; 1 Peter 5:1-8; Act 20:28; Titus 1:6-9

This accords with the clear teaching of Scripture. Elders are the best understanding of the Biblical narrative, yet I have never been a part of an elder-led church. I didn’t come to this conclusion until more than two decades in ministry. I mentioned previously that Nine Marks of a Healthy Church was my first real acquaintance for elders in Baptist life. My background and experiences were all under the pastor led/pastor-controlled model. Most of the guys I knew led with a light touch, although there were plenty of stories of churches in my circles where the pastor controlled everything. The founding pastor at Emmanuel was a simple Bible school man with a limited education. I was told that his wife would take the offering plates and “dump the contents into her purse.” Yet there was not a whiff of scandal surrounding this brother or his ministry. That’s just the way they did things in the 1950s. I informed my deacons on several occasions, that while I reserved the right to make certain decisions, even vetoing theirs, I hoped that I would never have to exercise that right. Thankfully, I never did. Of course, that is not a statement I would make today. The men were gracious and understood that it wasn’t my intention to lord over them. I just held a high view of pastoral authority. I was thinking of the spiritual direction of the church, not mundane things like the color of the carpet. I couldn’t care less what color the church was, I only wished for consensus on the part of others.

I have known of pastors that made virtually all decisions concerning their church. The voice of the congregation is seldom heard, and his will is the only will that mattered. Decisions were made in advance of church meetings and taking a vote of the congregation was merely to ratify previously made decisions and give the appearance of congregationalism. Of course, elders aren’t necessarily tasked with color decisions, but what exactly is their role? I will come to that in time.

How did I come to believe in elders, but never be a part of a church with elders? I began to consider elders as the best model for church leadership, as I taught at a seminary where membership in the church that started the seminary was a requirement. The church has always been pastor led. I happily submitted to that situation and tried to be careful as I taught ecclesiology, never wanting to appear to be critical of the church, either in its theology or in its praxis. I thought it would be unethical to do so and tried to exercise caution. Nevertheless, biblical elders became clear to me.

So why didn’t I just change churches? While I believed that elders (plural) and deacons is the intent of the Pauline texts (e.g. 1 Tim. 3), it seemed to me that many Baptist churches, although not having men whose formal title was “elder,” in practice, functioned with de facto elders. The pastoral staff and some deacons shared the spiritual ministry of the flock. This raises an important question. How many elders does a church need? The Bible doesn’t specify a certain number of either elders or deacons. Granted some churches in the New Testament had multiple elders—Ephesus—but the number wasn’t specified or prescribed (Acts 20:17). If one understands Acts 6 as the beginning of the diaconate, then the church at Jerusalem needed seven men to serve for a congregation of three thousand. Why seven? That was how many they needed to get the job done. Given that there is no set number for either office, it seems to me that a church therefore needs what it needs. A small assembly may need only one of each, while a larger congregation may need several elders and several deacons with the numbers expanding as the congregation increases in size.

Simply put, a church needs what it needs! How many individuals are needed to care for the spiritual and material welfare of the assembly? The most compelling reason for elder plurality is that one man cannot shepherd many people well. What is the number of people one man can shepherd? There are varying opinions on this, but common figures suggest 1:100 congregants or 1:150. Obviously, the more people in the assembly, the greater the needs of that assembly. What if a church cannot afford multiple elders? Do all elders/pastors need to be paid? Plenty of ministry men are bi-vocational out of necessity. Why not use deacons to assist? They are to be spiritual men (Act 6:3). Why can’t they help spiritually care for the flock? This is the very thing I tried to do in Windsor. We brought on a seminary student (unpaid) to assist us as well, but I looked for spiritual men in the assembly to help shepherd the flock. Weren’t these men de facto elders? Of course!

My ecclesiology might have been weak on paper, but in practice, it was more biblical. Admittedly, churches with multiple staff do not necessarily operate on the elder model. Many pastors consider their colleagues as men that can simply be hired and fired at their discretion. They are accountable to the pastor and only indirectly to the congregation. They are really assistants to the pastor. They assist in decisions only secondarily. The lead senior pastor makes the important decisions, sometimes with their input, but often without it. One way this works out in practical terms is that when a new pastor assumes leadership, he hires his own staff, men with his philosophy, while existing staff members are released to look for new ministries. This would not ordinarily happen with an elder led church.

Next week I will delve deeper into the nature of elders, their qualifications and duties. I also need to address the plurality of elders. Must all church have multiple elders? Until then, may we seek to think biblically about the church. It’s Christ’s and he gets to set the terms of its structure.

Elders: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, Part One

Elders: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, Part One

My introduction into Baptist life came in the mid-1970s when as a 15-year-old youth, I started attending a Southern Baptist church in Marietta, GA, Calvary Baptist. The church was then pastored by John Darnell, and he began to discuss with me my relationship with the Lord. Having trusted Christ through the influence of a Gideon’s New Testament, he informed me of my need of baptism (immersion) and soon I was dunked in a tank in the church basement. I became a “Baptist” because I got all wet!

I didn’t really know what a Baptist was, but I began to hear Bible preaching for the first time in my life. Before long, I was invited to a youth prayer meeting sponsored by another church, Piedmont Baptist Church, then under the capable leadership of Clifton C. Duvall. I was inclined to attend these youth Bible study and prayer meetings because some of my high school friends attended, especially those of the more delicate gender! Yes, I went to a church meeting for the wrong reason. At that meeting, as an eleventh-grade male, I met the young lady who would eventually become the love of my life about seven years later.

I went pretty regularly and started hanging out with the youth group. I attended and later joined the church. I began singing in the youth choir. I had a youth pastor in those days, Greg Merritt, who went on to become the first 21st century president of the SBC. Not sure why Greg started going by James, but I knew him as Greg. Anyway. it was a decent group of Southern Baptists who loved the Lord. Bro. Cliff was the pastor and there were deacons, some who smoked (one brother told me he started smoking before it became a sin) and some who didn’t. I couldn’t say how qualified they were as spiritual men. I was new on my discipleship journey, so such things were above my pay grade. The important thing is that there were no elders in the church. Just deacons and what they did, I really didn’t know.

I attended this church until college. At Bob Jones University, I began to hear that the SBC was full of “liberals.” Well as an eager Bible college student with a desire to learn the Word, I thought who wants to hang with liberals? (There is a gap here recounting just how I got to BJU and why which is worth rehearsing but would take too long to tell and doesn’t contribute to this essay). That summer I worked at a Christian camp and decided to join the church where the camp director was a member, a good independent Baptist church in Madison, IN, today Grace Baptist Church, pastored by my long-time friend Joel Almaroad. This was now the third church of which I had been a member and like the previous two, it also had deacons but no elders. Bro. Joel had been a part of a church in south Georgia that was Southern Baptist in its origination and it had deacons but no elders. He grew up in a church with deacons only, so that’s the kind of a church he started.

I remain connected with Grace through my university years, eventually returning to Indiana to serve as an assistant pastor. As a student living in Greenville, I attended Mt Calvary Baptist Church for a while, under the new ministry of Jesse Boyd, an ex SB man who had dropped out of his PhD at New Orleans over the liberalism of Frank Stagg. What made Mt Calvary unique was that they had elders. Huh? I thought that was a Presbyterian thing. Seemed that some Baptist churches had elders. I don’t think that church was elder run, but elder led. I attended a variety of churches over my six years in Greenville, partially to see how others did ministry. Some of these churches were out of town and I served in them for the school year, but Mount Calvary was the only church I had ever attended with elders.

I finished my studies at BJ in 1980, earning both a B.A. and an M.A. I had gained a good basic grasp of the Bible, some Greek, less Hebrew. I had no church history, no pastoral theology beyond what incidental training happened in a class called “Preacher Boys.” After five years of preparation, I was ready to go out and conquer the world. (Well, maybe not!) Boy did I have a lot to learn! My fiancée and I were married after grad school and we were accepted to go to Canada to work among the indigenous peoples in a place called Hole River in Manitoba. It was a great place to live, at the mouth of the Wanipigow River. I could hunt and fish all I wanted. The people generally accepted our ministry, and we are still “connected” to many today, thanks to Facebook. I could give a decent bible study, but how to plant and grow a church? Not much hope there. As far as discipleship and ecclesiology, I was bewildered.

In four years, our ministry came to an end, and we decided to go further north to a town in Alberta, High Level, where we spent four years trying to establish the MacKenzie Highway Baptist Church. We were moving toward constituting the church when Joshua, our youngest, was born, ten weeks early, so after he came home from the hospital, we began to consider a change in location. Clearly, I needed more training and Joshua needed better health care. We decided to go to Windsor, Ontario so he could get the care he needed and so I could attend the Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. Thankfully at Detroit, many of the holes in my education were filled in—church history, Baptist theology and polity, counseling, etc. I also pastored a small church in Windsor, Emmanuel Baptist. Again, as has been the case in my journey, in all these places—High Level, Windsor, Detroit, I was following a pastor/deacon approach to ministry with no consideraton of elders. We had deacons at Emmanuel. As far as I know, that’s all they ever had.

Sometime during my years in Windsor (the 1990s), I became aware of a booklet Mark Dever had written, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (1997). It wasn’t the book that it is today, just a pamphlet, outlining Mark’s ecclesiological views including elders. Here was the first real biblical argument for elders. I don’t know when 9Marks began having weekenders where this approach to ecclesiology was discussed, but I never had a chance to attend one. Nor did I remain at Emmanuel long enough to think about moving the church toward elders. There was pushback in my circles over the idea anyway, but as time went on at Emmanuel, I tried structuring the deacon meetings toward what I later learned was at least elder-like (whether intentionally or because I just thought our spiritual men should do more spiritual ministry). We talked about the spiritual needs of the assembly and prayed for members who struggled. We tried to dispense with the business of the church (financial issues) early in the meeting so we could devote our time to important issues (soul care). I also encouraged the godly men at the church to take a more active role in the ministry of the Word. I had several good men who could fill the pulpit and they gladly did so.

I tried not to press my agenda for the church but always wished for consensus in our meetings. Emmanuel was a blue-collar church. Some of the men worked at automotive plants in town and were used to “punching out” at the end of their shift. When quitting time came, the work stopped. One of my predecessors joked with the men that they should bring their lunch to church in case the sermon went long. The expectation was that the church should stop by noon whether the sermon was done or not. I suggested at one deacon’s meeting that we talk to the church to see if they would agree to shift the Sunday AM meetings by a half hour so that the morning service would begin at 10:30. That way no matter how long I preached, we would be sure to be done before noon. Of course, we could have just made a decision to move the meeting time, but we believed in congregationalism, so we wanted congregational input. After a few weeks of discussing things among the members and discussing this among ourselves, we decided that it was not in the best interest of congregational harmony to try to change the service times. This is how we tried to manage things—get a sense of the congregation’s attitude before we moved forward with major issues.

During my time there, I came up with the bright idea that we needed a new piano. I did some research and presented my findings to the deacons. The intent was then to gauge the interest of the congregation before a formal recommendation was put to a vote. But the issue never went to the assembly because the leadership couldn’t reach a consensus. There was resistance over the cost and the timing of the project. Therefore, the idea was withdrawn. Ironically, a few years later, we did buy a new piano with congregational approval. Later in my pastorate, I was criticized because I always got what I wanted. Well, truth be told, sometimes what “I wanted” did not receive consensus support from the leadership, so what I wanted was tabled. This was precisely what happened in the case of the time change and the new piano. No consensus, no putting these to the congregation for a vote. I figured that if the church leadership was split on a decision, the congregation was bound to be divided also. But the congregation wasn’t always aware of the discussions in our meetings where some of my ideas never went far for lack of consensus.

At the end of the day, I tried to operate the church on what I would later understand as an elder model. If I were to take a church today, it would either be a church already committed to elders, or one that would be open to being taught on the importance of elder leadership—not elder rule, where the elders make the decisions and the congregation has little input but elder led, where a group or plurality of good and godly men lead the church in its service to Christ.

Next week, I want to offer some observations on elder leadership in Baptist churches. How many does a church need, how are they to function, who should be an elder? But for now, this will serve as an introduction to my journey to understand elder plurality. 2 Tim 2:2 “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”

Changes over the Past Forty Years of Ministry – Has This All Been Worth It?

Changes over the Past Forty Years of Ministry – Has This All Been Worth It?

It’s been forty-three years since I graduated from Bible school, and forty years since I began my formal ministry. I was ordained in Madison, Indiana, in the fall of 1981, shortly before my wife and I moved to Manitoba to begin our first ministry. Forty years! It hardly seems possible. Forty years ago, I was sending out missionary correspondence on a manual typewriter, a modern invention in the 1870s. These were in use into the 1980s—I had one and used it to communicate with my supporting churches during our first term.

By our second term, electric typewriters with memory were in vogue. I bought a Sharp memory writer that would do mail merge and I was in hog heaven. No more laboring over the keyboard to “hunt and peck” out a letter to a supporter. I could preprogram the machine to type a letter, stop at a spot to insert person-specific information and finish the letter, without errors, assuming the master had been properly proofread. At the time, my wife suggested we buy a computer. My father-in-law had an IBM PC Jr. He loved it. He had been working for IBM, Honeywell and other places and was in the vanguard of those using the new technology. Why do we NEED a computer, I asked my wife? I won the day, and we bought the memory writer typewriter.

Boy was I wrong. Soon my father-in-law graduated to a better PC and donated the PC Jr. to me for my ministry. I was soon hooked, though all I had at the time was a thermal printer. My sermons notes were on that paper. Needless to say, I cannot read those outlines today, nor would I want to read my early sermons notes, weak as I am sure they were.

By the time I entered the doctoral program at Southern, I was using a laptop (why use anything else?) but the internet was young and inefficient with its dial-up modem. No Google Books, Archive.org or social media. How did we survive? As I began my teaching career in 2004, things were rapidly changing in the technological world. I had a flip phone, a PDA and a laptop on which I ran Logos! Wow! Now I could study the Word with resources at my fingertips! Today, I am using an Apple MacBook Pro with Logos’s latest version including a digital library of more than 7500 books, including most of the major conservative commentary series available! Plus, I have a digital PDF collection of about as many Baptist resources stored in the Cloud. Wow, who would of thought that I could study from anywhere and produce a decent, exegetical sermon (to the limits of my capabilities) without cracking the first printed book! Plus, I have an iPad Mini from which I preach completing my technologically proficient expertise. I have never used sermon prep helps that allow me to tap into another man’s outline or illustrations. I learned to prepare sermons the old-fashioned way (through study), so I just never felt the need to “borrow” someone else’s stuff. Once I started using the computer to produce sermons, my sermon preparation became 25-30% more efficient. I could do more in less time which meant that I had more time to put into sermon prep resulting in better sermons (which sometimes happened) or more time to do other things, often not as important (which also happened, all too often).

The first half of my ministry was in the world without the internet. How I managed, I’m not quite sure. But I did. Occasionally, my mother-in-law would send me sermons from a guy in Panorama City, CA by the name of MacArthur. The first series she sent was on the armor of the Christian. There were about a dozen tapes in the set which I listened to eagerly, multiple times. I didn’t know much about the preacher, only that he had a larger church and a radio ministry. But living in northern Canada, we couldn’t get his preaching on radio, so I only heard the occasional messages my mother-in-law forwarded.

However, students today have far more technological resources that are free and just a mouse clip away. A former student sent me a link to the Joshua Harris episode of the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill which dropped recently. It was an interesting series—seven episodes about Mark Driscoll’s meteoric rise and stunning fall, followed by a one-hour discussion of Josh Harris, I Kissed Dating Goodbye. I had a bookstore ministry in Canada and sold more than a few of the million plus copies that were printed! As I reflected on the legacy of Driscoll/Harris today, I wonder if all the technological advance has helped or hindered the Church?

In my first paragraphs of this essay, I explain how my personal technological growth has contributed to my ministry. But with the advent of the internet, I am not sure that things improved on the whole. First there was the issue of pornography. As a pastor, I began to deal with men in the church who were having major problems with internet porn. I remember a man calling my home late one night stressed out. He thought he was going to have a heart attack. At the time, I hardly had email, much less the internet but I was aware of the growing problem. I knew that his son had been expelled from Bible college over porn on his computer and I knew that the man was in IT at a local college. I asked him if he was having problems on the internet. “Everyday, at lunch” was his reply. For the first time in my ministry, I became aware of the ravages of porn on the internet. I wish I could say that things have gotten better, but they have become profoundly worse since that early 1990s experience. I once went to use my PC at home after a visiting family had come for lunch only to discover that one of the teenagers who asked to use my computer for “homework,” had visited somewhere he should not and left an image on my machine! I’m not sure the church is better off in today’s world when it comes to sexual purity. Modern technology has made things drastically more difficult!

Second, the rise of the Christian celebrity is something for which we have modern technology to thank. If you’ve listened to the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, the excellent podcast series from Christianity Today, the Driscoll celebrity cult was only possible in recent years thanks in no small part to the internet, social media, etc. In fact, all the big celebrity guys from Driscoll to Piper to Macarthur wouldn’t be where they are today without the internet. I hate putting all three guys into the same category, but each man is a celebrity in his own way and thanks in no small part to the internet and social media. Many doubtless will argue that these men were well on their way to celebrity status before the internet, but who can doubt that effect that social media and the internet has had on their status? MacArthur, at least, objected to Driscoll, while Piper defended him and, to this day, apparently remains unrepentant. Is this too strong a comment? Perhaps if Piper, Danny Akin and others had shown greater discernment Mark might be in a better place today.

What is interesting to watch is that the same medium that catapulted them into such celebrities may be the very vehicle that reduces them to a footnote in Christian history. Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a “celebrity” preacher in his day but on an entirely different level. I wonder if Spurgeon’s weaknesses, of which he surely had, were placed on display on the internet, if his ministry would have endured? I wonder how many mega-ministries will ultimately crash and burn because they are held together by the glue of a charismatic (non-Pentecostal sense) celebrity who is a one-off individual and simply cannot be replaced? Whatever else Jason Meyer was, he was no John Piper . . . not a criticism, just an observation. Who will fill the enormous shoes of MacArthur? He has to retire at some point. Who can fill his shoes? The internet has helped to produce these larger-than-life Christian celebrities. The internet may well be the medium that brings them crashing down, thanks to “discernment” or watchdog ministries that report on the happenings of these heroes in real time. Don’t like Julie et al? Don’t give her anything to write about. She might not get everything right. But there’s enough right to be troubling. She’s only as good as her sources. Somebody gave her the Bethlehem stuff. Likely multiple people.

Driscoll is gone and so is Mars Hill. But he is starting all over again in Scottsdale, apparently with the same issues. Piper is gone and Bethlehem is in crisis. Time would fail me to speak of Bill Hybels, James MacDonald, and a host of other prominent “Christian” leaders who have fallen victim to their own success. Sermongate? Again thanks to the internet, preaching another man’s sermon is just a click away. Jesus said that he would build his church and the gates of hell wouldn’t prevail against it. Does this mean that when we see a church that has exploded or imploded that it wasn’t actually his church? What Jesus builds, Jesus maintains. Maybe we should concentrate more on seeking his approval than that of our constituents.

Has modern technology been our friend or our foe? I wonder if Jesus was training twelve today, would he use social media to make his point? Maybe this essay is an exercise in futility? WWJD? Maranatha!  (Image borrowed)