“It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.”
~ 1 Timothy 3:1
“For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.”
~ Titus 1:5
This past Lord’s Day, we launched the first phase of our Leadership Development and Officer Training program here at Antioch. These are exciting days as our church family grows in number, love for Christ, and love for one another. With growth comes the need to “set in order what remains,” as the Apostle Paul instructs Titus. Indeed, we are a people firmly – even fiercely – committed to doing things “decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40), in full dependence on the Holy Spirit.
The officer training program that we are using is based on a well thought-out and effective program created by Pastor Jon Stoddard of Jordan Valley Presbyterian Church (PCA) in West Jordan, Utah (Northern California Presbytery). We’ve retained the same basic structure (five phases making up roughly twenty weeks or so), but changed some of the substance (the books assigned, the order of topics). We also reconfigured the didactic portion of the course (the first two phases in twelve weeks) to involve the entire congregation for the purposes of giving biblical instruction on the matter of identifying, testing, and selecting church officers. For more information on this iteration of our Leadership Development & Officer Training program, please click here. This teaching is always important and profitable, but especially so for the inaugural group of officers in a growing church plant. Thus, our stated goals are as follows:
1) to provide biblical instruction to the congregation on the selection of church officers (i.e., Elders and Deacons); and
2) to equip men in the church who are interested in serving the church as either a Ruling Elder or Deacon.
You’ll notice that we are intentionally not setting a goal to elect officers at the end of this process. As mentioned in the first session this past Lord’s Day, we are a 1 Timothy 5:22 church: “Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.” Thus, we are heeding the pious advice of the 17th century Scottish Presbyterian minister Samuel Rutherford who wisely counseled, “Set no time to the Lord, the creator of time, for His time is always best.“
All that being said, we are also an Ephesians 4:10-13 church: “He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things. And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” In other words, we confidently believe that Christ the risen and ascended King of all creation and only Head of the church will raise up officers for His church – including Antioch – in His perfect timing. In light of this conviction, we are pursuing His revealed will in this matter, and we are doing so with faith and eager expectation.
We invite you to pray with us as we enter this next chapter in the life of Old Antioch Church. Against all human and earthly odds, the Lord has kept this precious little church in His care for over 180 years. We give Him praise for those who have gone on ahead of us in the history of Old Antioch (there are too many to name here, but please visit our 180th Anniversary celebration or History pages for more of the Old Antioch story), even as we press on into the future.
To access these lessons, you can visit our Sermonaudio page here, or use the embedded player below.