If a man has all of the qualities of an elder and has been in fellowship with a local gathering of the church for an acceptable length of time (say, two years) but is not a formal "member" of that local body, can he be recognized by that body as an elder?
7 comments:
Depends on how "old" he is...
It also depends on whether or not you believe "formal, local church membership", is Biblical.
If "formal membership of a local body" would cause a group to fail to recognize that person as an elder, the problem is not with the man, but with the "formal membership".
-Alan
Sounds like a trick question... If a man doesn't think membership in a local body is Biblical, why would he remain in a group that has formal membership? If he does think membership is Biblical, why wouldn't he become a member of the group?
Debbie
It depends on if he has been to Seminary...
How about a post on footwashing Arthur. I would say the Bible has at least as much to say about it as headcovering. I applied at a church that practices it.
Debbie, it kind of is a trick question. I used this same question in a discussion elsewhere with a proponent of formal church membership.
Joe,
That is something I have given some thought to, not as much as I should. I might just fire up a blog post on footwashing because for the sake of consistency, we need to look at it. I know some pentecostal churches and some primative baptist churches still practice it.
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