So Let Me Ask

Let me ask about asking people to be elders –

a.  Are they familiar with the vows they will be asked to take? 

b.  Are they aware that they should not be an elder if they are not giving financially to the church? 

c.  Are they informed as to what training and examinations are required?

d.  Are they aware of when the meetings are and how many they are allowed to miss? 

e.  Are they advised that they need to be supporters of the pastor? 

f.  Are they aware that they are required not to press the agenda of a sub-group of the church or even their own but only that of Jesus Christ? 

g.  Are they ready to pray daily for the church and attend very regularly being leaders when they are present?

h.  Are they aware there are four answers they can make – an unhealthy no, an unhealthy yes, a healthy no, and a healthy yes? 

i.  Has a time frame that is specific (not open ended) been given as to when the reply to the invitation needs to be given?

           

How to Get People to Turn You Down

How You Ask

            “You probably wouldn’t want to being that it is such a tedious and time consuming job but I thought I would ask you anyway.” 

            “I don’t know much about what the job entails but you know it is important and only takes three years and you will probably be on the property committee.” 

            “Listen, we are really desperate because we are up against a deadline and five people have turned us down already.  Would you do it?” 

            Contrast the above with the knock at the door of the pastor’s study.  The little church was a four hour drive from Richmond, VA.  Pastor Mayes opened the door surprised to see the President of Union Seminary standing there.  “Jim, may I come in?”  What ensued was a story and a request and an invitation.  The man who was so busy had made time for a personal visit to convey that the faculty of the venerable institution had met and prayed for many weeks about the future of the seminary and particularly of the Old Testament department.  They had felt led through that process, and in a unanimous way, to ask Pastor Mayes to get a PhD at their expense and then become one of the seminary professors.  How is this “ask” different than the three above? 

            Sometimes it isn’t that good people turn us down as much as we asked in such a way as that it was almost bound to happen.  Don’t you want to know when asked to do something what the job entails, how much time it will take, who you will be doing it with, the grand themes of the leadership, the decision making process behind the request, why you are thought to be qualified?  Too often people have been asked to be an elder and what is in their mind is three hour meetings over the color of the carpet in fellowship hall and cantankerous church politics.  An unless you have a perverse penchant for that sort of thing, you guilt yourself into doing it or you say, “Please, shoot me instead.” 

Like Leader Like People -- Part III

This is the third installment regarding advice or instructions for a nominating committee. 

Eighth, walk through this process with honesty, grace, and confidentiality.  None of us is perfect and none of us knows perfectly.  Nevertheless, we must talk honestly.  We may disqualify someone without looking down on them.  So we give ourselves this permission and it only works if we maintain that our deliberations are confidential.  The group may say what the limits of this are with respect to spouse. 

Ninth, I prefer that everyone finds out who is on the slate at the same time and I prefer it to happen at the congregational meeting or the week just prior.  This saves us from last minute second guessing of the committee by the congregation or them politicking for an alternate.  Alternates, of course, are permissible from the floor.  Note, however, that the extra name adds to our ballot without the benefit of committee discussion or candidate prayer.  It also lead to votes in which someone wins and someone loses. 

Tenth, pray not only before and after and in-between meetings but during them as well. 

Eleventh, how a person is asked makes a difference in how they respond and serve.  If the asking is lackadaisical, the person’s chance of saying no may increase.  And if they say yes, their serving may reflect that this wasn’t all that important. We’ll talk about how to ask in the most meaningful ways.  Please, if you are asked to ask someone, contact them not with the invite but with a request to meet in person with the pastor.

Twelth, your pastors are ex-officio members meaning that they serve on this committee perpetually.  They are also without vote.  But they are not without voice.  Don’t meet without a quorum.  Don’t meet without the pastors. 

Thirteenth, the nominating committee is for the year in the event that any vacancies arise.

Fourteenth, a simple process for moving along to a final slate is to have everyone bring a pre-determined number of names, to list them, to have everyone vote for their top four (or however many names are being placed on the slate), to tally and drop those without votes, and to refine the list further by discussion plus further voting.  A permutation on this method is to rank order each person’s top four candidates with the tally reflecting the rank position (for example, Joe Smith 1 +3 +1 +1 =6 and Mary Jones 2+ 2+ 3 +3 =10).  Discuss and refine by voting from those with the best scores.

Thank you for your service to Jesus Christ and this church.