Chapter 26: OF THE CHURCH
(Parts Ten through Eighteen)

God has given the Church both the holy Scriptures and the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and instruct. Armed with these gifts, every church has everything it needs carry out God’s will in its particular situation.

If a local church is indeed a church, Christ will supply it with leaders who will hold the biblical offices of Elder (ruler) and Deacon (servant). These leaders have the responsibility (at minimum) to preach the Word, administer the sacraments, and exercise church discipline as needed.

As church leaders have the responsibility of holding church members accountable, so church members have the responsibility to see that their leaders are leading according to the Scriptures and in the Holy Spirit.

(Part Eleven)

Leaders in the Church are gifts from Christ to the Church (Ephesians 4:11). They must be gifted by the Holy Spirit to fulfill their ministries. Leaders must be recognized as having been ordained by God before being ordained by men. Man’s ordination is really nothing more than recognition of God’s ordination.

While every church does not follow the same protocol in ordaining officers of the church that we do at GBC , here are some general guidelines that may be worked out somewhat differently in other churches.

(1) The elders of the church notice a man appears to be called by God to either the office of elder or deacon.

(2) The elders will give the man opportunities to serve to confirm God’s call of giftedness.

(3) The elders will examine the man, including determining whether his wife supports him in a call to the ministry. The elders may seek references from outside the church as well.

(4) The elders will present the man to the congregation, seeking their affirmation, as well as taking note if there are any who are opposed.

(5) Assuming all is well, the man should be publicly prayed over with the laying on of the hands by the elders, thus ordaining the man to the ministry.

(Part Twelve)

The following is Paragraph 10 of the Chapter in the Confession entitled Of The Church—verbatim. It speaks for itself:

“The pastor is called to give himself constantly to the service of Christ by serving Christ’s church. He is to give constant attention to the ministry of the Word and prayer. He is to watch over the souls of the people in the church. He is to do this as in earnest, as one who must give an account to Him. It is the obligation of the churches to whom pastors minister, not only to give them all due respect, but also to see that, as they have ability, they give of their own possessions to support their pastors. This is necessary so that pastors have all their material needs met, so that they do not have to become entangled in secular affairs and employment. It is also necessary that the pastors have enough so that they may exercise the gift of hospitality toward others. The law of nature requires this and the Lord Jesus has expressly ordered that those who preach the Gospel should have their livelihood supported through their Gospel ministry.”
(1 Timothy 5:17-18 & 1 Corinthians 9:13-14)

In addition, under ideal conditions, the church, particularly the deacons and additional staff, should do all they can to free the pastor from taking care of the temporal needs of the church (Acts 6:2), so that the pastor can give his attention to the ministry of prayer and the Word.