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Coming Alive in Christ: Training for PC(USA) Ruling Elders and Deacons Based on the Constitutional Questions

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Coming Alive in Christ: Training for PC(USA) Ruling Elders and Deacons Based on the Constitutional Questions Coming Alive in Christ: Training for PC(USA) Ruling Elders and Deacons Based on the Constitutional Questions This resource has been created for the purpose of providing teaching elders/ministers of Word and Sacrament and other congregational leaders with content to adequately train ruling elders and deacons in their ministries with God’s people. Based on the questions that each of the church leaders affirms when ordained, as found in the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), it is hoped that those in ordered ministries study these beliefs that are central to our lives in faith and in community with each other. A note about style for the leader: With content on the major themes of each question, sections were written by a variety of ruling elders and teaching elders from across the PC(USA). While each includes their voice and perspective, it is hoped that you make each one your own. As you train the leaders of the congregation, add connections to your own congregation and community. Use the content here as a jumping off point and enhance it with your knowledge of those with whom you serve. A Monthly Leader Guide is available and includes a design to be used at the beginning of meetings of the session and/or board of deacons. Use these as a way of presenting the content provided for each question and studying together the questions affirmed in ordination. A Retreat Leader Guide is also available in a three-lesson format to be used in training ruling elders and deacons prior to service in a retreat setting. The whole content of the resource can be made available to the congregational leaders in other ways as well. Supplemental visuals in the form of PowerPoint slides are designed to help you lead the group or individual as you study and learn together. These can be used as a presentation as you meet and talk together or can be used to spark those in your midst who may need reinforcement of the content through images. Discussion questions are provided periodically within the content of each session. Use those provided, questions of your own, or those provided within the leader guide in communications with church leaders. Additional resources are included in many of the sessions. These can be made available for those who want to go further in their study or can be added to the session content for the group. Contributors: Shawna Bowman, Kevin Burns, Laura Cheifetz, Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri, Ralph Hawkins, Lee Hinson-Hasty, Holly Dillon Inglis, Alyson Janke, Larissa Kwong Abazia, Derrick McQueen, Gradye Parsons, Cynthia Rigby. Compiling Editor: Martha Miller, with many thanks to Larissa Kwong Abazia and David Gambrell who served as contributing members of the editorial team. Copyright © 2020 by the Office of the General Assembly No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (brief quotations used in magazines or newspaper reviews excepted), without the prior permission of the publisher. The sessions, presbyteries, and synods of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) may use sections of this publication without receiving prior written permission from the publisher. All Rights Reserved. Table of Contents Question Page Introduction—Baptism, Call, and Membership ....................................................................................... 1 a. .. Do you trust in Jesus Christ your Savior, acknowledge him Lord and Head of the Church, and through him believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? .................................................... 9 b. Do you accept the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be, by the Holy Spirit, the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ in the Church universal, and God’s Word to you? ......................................................................................................................... 14 c. Do you sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions of our church as authentic and reliable expositions of what Scripture leads us to believe and do, and will you be instructed and led by those confessions as you lead the people of God? ....................................................................................... 20 d. Will you fulfill your ministry in obedience to Jesus Christ, under the authority of Scripture, and be continually guided by our confessions? ................................................................. 27 e. Will you be governed by our church’s polity, and will you abide by its discipline? Will you be a friend among your colleagues in ministry, working with them, subject to the ordering of God’s Word and Spirit? ............................................................................................................................ 33 f. Will you in your own life seek to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, love your neighbors, and work for the reconciliation of the world?....................................................................................... 40 g. Do you promise to further the peace, unity, and purity of the church? ..................................... 45 h. Will you pray for and seek to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love? ................................................................................................................................................... 50 i. (1)Will you be a faithful ruling elder, watching over the people, providing for their worship, nurture, and service? Will you share in government and discipline, serving in councils of the church, and in your ministry will you try to show the love and justice of Jesus Christ? ......... 61 i. (2)Will you be a faithful deacon, teaching charity, urging concern, and directing the people’s help to the friendless and those in need, and in your ministry will you try to show the love and justice of Jesus Christ? ....................................................................................................... 67 Coming Alive in Christ: Training for PC(USA) Ruling Elders and Deacons Based on the Constitutional Questions 1 Coming Alive in Christ: Training for PC(USA) Ruling Elders and Deacons Based on the Constitutional Questions INTRODUCTION—Baptism, Call, and Membership Introduction Before leaders are called to serve within a congregation in ordained ministry, they profess their faith and make commitments about becoming a member of Christ’s church reflected in their community. Within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), membership includes promises about living within the congregational community. The PC(USA) Book of Order says this about membership, “In Jesus Christ, God calls people to faith and to membership in the Church, the body of Christ” (G-1.0301). The Book of Order also states: ... A faithful member bears witness to God’s love and grace and promises to be involved responsibly in the ministry of Christ’s Church ... proclaiming the good news in word and deed, taking part in the common life and worship of a congregation, lifting one another up in prayer, mutual concern, and active support, studying Scripture and the issues of Christian faith and life, supporting the ministry of the church through the giving of money, time, and talents, demonstrating a new quality of life within and through the church, responding to God’s activity in the world through service to others, living responsibly in the personal, family, vocational, political, cultural, and social relationships of life, working in the world for peace, justice, freedom, and human fulfillment, caring for God’s creation, participating in the governing responsibilities of the church, and reviewing and evaluating regularly the integrity of one’s membership, and considering ways in which one’s participation in the worship and service of the church may be increased and made more meaningful. (G-1.0304) F-1.0301 The Church Is the Body of Christ The Church is the body of Christ. Christ gives to the Church all the gifts necessary to be his body. The Church strives to demonstrate these gifts in its life as a community in the world (1 Cor. 12:27–28): The Church is to be a community of faith, entrusting itself to God alone, even at the risk of losing its life. The Church is to be a community of hope, rejoicing in the sure and certain knowledge that, in Christ, God is making a new creation. This new creation is a new beginning for human life and for all things. The Church lives in the present on the strength of that promised new creation. The Church is to be a community of love, where sin is forgiven, reconciliation is accomplished, and the dividing walls of hostility are torn down. The Church is to be a community of witness, pointing beyond itself through word and work to the good news of God’s transforming grace in Christ Jesus its Lord. Letty M. Russell, a twentieth century Presbyterian theologian, recognizes that some churches do not take seriously the purpose of the church or the call of individual Coming Alive in Christ | Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 2 members when they do not affirm the full humanity of all people. She envisions a church that empowers members and recognizes Christ as the host. The metaphor she uses is that of a round table in a “household of freedom”1 where all people gather around as partners in ministry connecting to the world and each other in faith and for a life of reflection and action. The table is “a symbol of hospitality and a metaphor for
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