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Book of
Confessions | Book of Order | Stewardship
"CHOICES" | 21 Ideas for Meetings
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Continuing
Study Ideas for Elders and Deacons |
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The ideas on this page provide continuing education suggestions
for elders and deacons during their terms of service. Copy and
distribute these quarterly suggestions along with meeting materials.
Consider setting aside time during each meeting for study as
a group. These ideas can also be used as a self-guided study
for elders and deacons.
Remember Your Call
This exercise can be done individually at home or in pairs
or triads at a meeting. End the exercise with a prayer.
No matter how long you have served as an elder or deacon, it
is helpful to pause at regular intervals and remember your sense
of call to this ministry.
Think back to the time of your nomination for service. Remember
the training you received and the service of installation and/or
ordination. Ask yourself the following questions or share these
questions with another:
- Describe your initial enthusiasm for this ministry.
- What was it like to be “called” by God to leadership
in the name of Jesus Christ?
- How did you know it was a “call”?
- What were your hopes at that time?
- What were your fears?
- What is a surprise you have experienced while serving?
- What have been the unexpected joys and challenges?
- In what ways do you need to renew your initial enthusiasm
for this ministry?
- How can that happen?
The Book of Confessions
Study—God’s Word and God’s Spirit
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Purpose: |
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To explore
the relationship between Scripture and God’s Spirit as we
listen for God’s living Word for us. |
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Time: |
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30 minutes |
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Read: |
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Read
the following passages aloud, noting words and phrases that seem
most important to you:
Second Helvetic Confession — 5.001–5.003
Westminster Confession — 6.001, 6.004
Read these additional passages in silence, making notes of what
seems most worthwhile:
Second Helvetic Confession — 5.004–5.006
Westminster Confession — 6.005-6.006
(Note that these are the only two confessions in the Book of Confessions
that begin with a statement about the authority of Scripture.) |
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Reflect: |
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What
do these two confessions suggest we must receive from God in order
to read Scripture faithfully? |
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Notice: |
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Note
the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding the reading of Scripture.
We rely on God’s Spirit to help us hear and find meaning
in God’s Word. For example, before the reading of Scripture
in worship, many Presbyterian congregations include a prayer for
illumination, calling upon God’s Spirit to open the hearts
of those who hear that they may understand. |
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Consider: |
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Ponder
how Scripture and Spirit work together. Without the Spirit, Scripture
could be read simply as an ancient historical record. The reader
may be “biblically literate” but unable to truly hear
God’s living Word. Without Scripture, the experience of the
Spirit is ungrounded. The spiritual experience may become the
focus without the divine wisdom of God’s Word informing our
experience. |
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Consider
these two questions: |
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What do you do in church meetings to allow both the Holy Spirit
and God’s Word to guide and inform your work?
• What can you do as a church leader to better integrate
the power of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of the Holy Scripture
into your leadership? |
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Conclude: |
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Say a
prayer asking God to speak a living Word to each of us in and
through Scripture. |
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Additional reading: Read the historical introduction
in the Book of Confessions to the Second Helvetic Confession
and the Westminster Confession.
(Adapted from “Suggested Session Plans for Studying
the Book of Confessions” in Called to Serve:
A Workbook for Training Nominating Committees and Church Officers)
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Book of Order
Review
Ordination Questions of Elders and Deacons
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Purpose: |
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To reacquaint
elders and deacons with nine questions answered at the time of
ordination and/or installation. |
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Time: |
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30 minutes |
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Ponder: |
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Without
looking in the Book of Order, try to remember as many of the nine
questions of ordination as possible. You don’t have to know
the exact wording. Try to remember the intent of each question.
Write down on a piece of paper the words or phrases that come
to mind. |
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Read: |
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Read
G-14.0207 a–j in the Book of Order. Read the section slowly,
thinking about how you have lived out your responses to these
questions since you were ordained and installed. |
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Write: |
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On the
piece of paper write the following words from the ordination questions
in a vertical list: trust, accept, instructed, led, fulfill, friend,
follow, love, work, further, serve, faithful. |
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Review: |
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Without
looking at G-14.0207, try to set each of the words on the list
into a phrase from the ordination questions. Once you’ve
accomplished as much as you can, turn back to G-14.0207 and check
yourself. |
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A
helpful memory tool is the new PC(USA) bookmark with the
nine ordination questions for elders and deacons. It comes with
a tassel and is printed in English, Korean, and Spanish. |
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Stewardship
“CHOICES”
Order the “CHOICES” game and begin to talk with other
church leaders about stewardship. The game is a set of 200 cards
that pose questions and situations that require stewardship choices.
There are twenty-five cards for each of eight themes. The box
of cards is an excellent tool for group building, story sharing,
and raising issues of stewardship of the whole of life. Use them
at almost any regular meeting with almost any group in the church.
Stewardship isn’t only for one committee, and it isn’t
something to talk about during only one month of the year. Invite
every church leader and committee member to begin to think about
stewardship year-round. |
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21
Ideas for Those Who Lead Meetings
Where two or three Presbyterians gather, there is a meeting. And
where there is a Presbyterian meeting, there may be a less-than-spiritual
experience. The dreaded meeting can be a tedious, seemingly unending,
and uninspired endeavor that repeats itself monthly. It can leave
its participants resentful, angry, absent, and unwilling to serve
again. We have a list of 21 things that those who lead meetings
can do to make meetings more efficient and life-giving. Go to
www.pcusa.org/ideas for a downloadable copy of the article.
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Quotable Quotes for
Church Leaders
“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without
vision just passes time. Vision with action can change the world.”
– Joel Barker
“Do all the good you can by all the means you can in all
the ways you can in all the places you can to all the people
you can as long as ever you can.” – John Wesley
“If you would like to live in a community in which you
may have pride, then dedicate yourself in a spirit of humility
to your responsibilities in that community.” – Herbert
Victor Prochnow
“I am only one. But still I am one. I cannot do everything,
but still I can do something. And because
I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something
that I can.” – Edward Everett Hale
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The following items were featured in this article
and can be ordered from Presbyterian Distribution Service
at www.pcusa.org/marketplace
by calling (800) 524-2612:
- The Book of Order and the Book of Confessions
are available in English, Spanish, and Korean and in a variety
of formats including study, electronic, large print, and
Braille.
- Called to Serve: A Workbook for Training Nominating
Committees and Church Officers, item #95525.
- “CHOICES—The Game,” PDS 70-370-98-205,
$19.95.
- Elder/Deacon Ordination Questions Bookmark, PDS 70-250-02-105
(English), 70-250-02-001 (Korean), 70-250-02-106 (Spanish).
$5.00 for pack of 10.
Watch for continuing study ideas for elders
and deacons in each issue of Ideas! magazine.
Carl E. Horton, author, is Coordinator for
Church Leader Support, Congregational Ministries Division.
Contact him at (888) 728-7228, ext. 5453, or by e-mail
at chorton@ctr.pcusa.org.
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