Michigan Camp Meeting 2019: As a Witness, Matthew 24:14

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Elder's Basic Training and Deacon & Deaconess Basic Training

Royce Snyman

Elder’s Basic Training - Part 1

Elder’s Basic Training - Part 2

Deacon & Deaconess Basic Training - Part 1

Deacon & Deaconess Basic Training - Part 2

Current Issues Facing Local Churches & Their Leaders

Father in heaven, thank you for this chance to be together again today.

We pray that you will guide our class as we seek to focus on the work of elders.

We pray for instruction from the Spirit of God and wisdom and understanding that we might be able to apply this to our lives and to our service for you.

I don't know if anybody can see that little screen up there, but am I in it?

Okay, if I go over here, so I'm good, okay, alright, that's good.

All right, well today we're going to get into a little bit more specifics in terms of the responsibilities of elder.

And I'm gonna deal with some things that are a little harder.

I will tell you that when I get to the end of what we're gonna be talking about today, I'm going to cover something that I will cover again on Friday.

I'm not going to cover all of the I'm going to cover on Friday, but I'm going to cover part of it.

The reason is because I get people coming into the class every day that are different than they were there before.

Technically, Friday is not advertised as an elders training day, but the truth of the matter is this whole week is a leader training class and Friday is an important 1 because I'm going to be dealing with dealing with issues of conflict along with dealing with issues that are current issues in the church and they are related to each other because current issues of challenge cause conflict.

And so on Friday, for those that may come into the class that have not been here the first part of the week for the elders part of the training, They will not get that if I don't give it to them and they need that piece.

So, you know, you could come in 15 minutes late on Friday and not get that part or not have to hear it twice or whatever, but I am going to share it a couple of times, but I will just tell you that now ahead of time.

Today we're going to look at a few specifics in relationship to elder responsibilities.

I'm going to talk about the worship service.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the worship service.

It tends to be the major focus already, and I don't want to emphasize something that you may already be doing.

What I do want to emphasize is the fact that we, in most cases, need to improve our worship service process and what we're doing in the local church.

And I'll address that in a couple of moments.

That's probably the most important neglected area of elders' ministry.

Notice how I said that, the most important neglected area of elder ministry.

It's not necessarily the most important, they all have their aspects of importance, but visitation is a vital part of what happens in the local church and the work of the elder.

We'll talk a little bit about counseling, which is not a major responsibility for an elder, but does come into the responsibility of an elder.

Then we'll talk about a few other isolated things.

And then I wanna speak about the work of an elder in supporting the local leaders.

That is a major task that is also not being done.

1 that needs to be considered and be part of the work of an elder and that we need to be discussing.

And we'll spend quite a bit of time on that in order to be able to help you to realize the value of that.

I want to remind you of what we talked about yesterday in the responsibility of the elder to be involved in the planning and the development of the spiritual outreach of your church.

And we'll talk about that in terms of local church growth.

And then I want to talk about the church issues that you have to confront and that churches neglect.

I'm not talking about elders neglect, churches are neglecting an aspect of ministry that needs to be revisited and strengthened in the local church.

And then I will talk a little bit, as I said, about conflict.

I need to move right ahead with the things that I have in store.

I can't spend a lot of time on worship, but I wanted to be here to heighten your understanding of the responsibility.

Your most visible role is dealing with the worship service in the local church.

If you happen to be the head elder, you are responsible for organizing the local church.

Now, most of you that responded yesterday were not head elders.

How many of you are a head elder in your church?

The rest of you are not head elders by definition, right?

I'm giving Jim a bad time because he and I have been talking about law-related things and all of that.

I don't know if that would stand up in a court of law, but at least it worked.

Even if you don't plan the platform schedule, as the elder, the head elder would generally do, and maybe you do, I don't know if that individual delegates it to you, but If you are an elder, you still are going to plan for the worship for that morning.

And maybe your head elder plans on a quarterly basis.

Maybe your elder plans on a weekly basis or a monthly basis.

Whatever, I'm assuming that at some point you are responsible for deciding who's going to be on the platform on Sabbath morning, what roles they're going to play, and those kinds of different things.

I don't know exactly how your church works with that, but here's what I want to encourage you with, and that's where I need to go off of my sheet and get back onto the screen.

The worship service is encountering and encountering with God.

You are meeting with God in a worship service.

People today come into a worship service in some cases to be entertained.

This is not an experience that is to be entertaining.

You and I are not just receiving some kind of benefit, oh, that was a wonderful sermon, and you go home and you talk about how wonderful a preacher you had that particular week.

Sure, glad it wasn't a regular preacher who we can't stand because he's boring.

You know, you understand what I'm saying?

That's the way people tend to relate to worship service today.

We become consumers of whatever's taking place in the local church on Sabbath morning.

The whispering and laughing and talking which might be without sin in a common business place should find no sanction in the house where God is worshipped." I'll tell you honestly, I struggle with this too.

When I come and I visit in churches and I encounter people, you know, I want to fellowship with them and it seems natural there in the sanctuary and we have that kind of experience and once in a while something comes up that is somewhat humorous or just not necessarily humorous or funny but just a response or a reaction.

I have to catch myself and be careful with that in God's house.

By the way, it's in your notes and it's from Testimonies, Volume 5.

Worship includes adoration, which is expressed through singing and prayer.

The reason we're emphasizing this is because think of the parts of the worship service that you are leading out on on Sabbath morning.

It doesn't matter whether you're meeting a worship service at 09:00, 11:00, or 03:00 in the afternoon as a number of our churches do today.

The Bible doesn't say you can only worship at 09:00 or you can only worship at 11 o'clock on Sabbath morning.

We need to come together in a way that facilitates worship for everybody and also facilitates the role of the pastor and all those kinds of things.

But when we come together, We want to know that what we are doing is facilitating the worship of God.

He's not stone or wood or metal that we are just simply looking at.

He not only wants us to adore Him, but He also wants to communicate with us.

He is also communicating his expectations to us.

We are responding back to Him in that worship service.

And it's not just during the sermon time.

That's why singing and praying is a part of this interactive experience with God.

1 of my favorite times, and often I'm preaching, but 1 of my favorite times is the singing time.

Series

Elder's Basic Training and Deacon & Deaconess Basic Training

Elder’s Basic Training - Part 2

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

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33m

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Emmanuel Institute - Ignite Your Church

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