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Text Box:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Parish Website: www.movpdoc.org
Rev. Sanford Downs, Pastor – 740-525-8649
Dr. Bonnie Buchman, Parish Nurse - 304-424-3821

       Volume 48 No. 8                                                                                                                                October 10, 2007



FROM THE PASTOR
       On Saturday, October 6, the Elders of First Christian Church met with the Rev. Dr. Bill Allen for Elder’s training. I thought it might be a good idea for everyone else to also have a little “Elder Training”; to know what Elders do in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The position of Elder goes all the way back into the Old Testament where the Hebrew Elders were important. They met at the city gates and served as the courts of their time.
       In the New Testament, two words are used for elder. They are ““presbuter” (or “Presbyter”), which is translated “Elder”, and “episkopos” (or “Episkopos”), which is transliterated as “Bishop” and literally means “overseer". In many denominations, these are positions of the ordained ministry. We see this as a position, not only for the ordained ministry, but for the laity as well.
       Basically, the Elders are the spiritual leaders of the congregation. Of all the task that Elders do, the most important one is prayer. Not just the prayers at the Table or in Worship, but the daily lifting up of the church, the pastor, and the congregation.
We used to have the Board of Elders serve as the “Board of Directors” for the church. On the face of it, it makes a lot of sense. We wanted the Spiritual Leaders to be the governmental leaders of the church. We wanted the people who are supposed to spend the most time praying, meeting the churches needs. Unfortunately, it didn’t always work out that way. The time tending to the physical needs of the church took away from the time spent on the spiritual needs. Meeting time cut into prayer time. When the mundane and the spiritual collided, the church wasn’t always served the best.
       Today, most, if not all, Disciple Churches have a Board that is composed of more than just the Elders. We want Elders not to “rule the church” but to be “shining examples” of spiritual Christians to the church. The position of Elder is a high honor.   The Spiritual Wisdom of the Elders is vital to health of the church and its members. They are to be praying for the church and its ministry. It is equally important that all the other members of the congregation be praying for the church, its ministry, and pray for your Elders. Pray that God will use them as the Spiritual
Leaders in the church.
       See You in Church Sunday,
       Pastor Sandy

Text Box: First Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
1400 Washington Avenue
Parkersburg, WV 26101
304-485-5253
Sunday School - 9:30 am
Coffee Fellowship - 10:15 am
Worship Service - 10:45 am Text Box: Central Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
807 Colegate Drive
Marietta, OH 45750
740-373-4718
Worship Service - 9:00 am
Sunday School - 9:30 am