The Next Phase: Becoming A Church Elder

At last Sun's congregational meeting, CA and another member were elected elders of Hoppers Crossing Uniting Church.

When I think about how new we are in Aus and how much we have to learn about so many things here, I am like "Wow! Really?"

I remember looking up 1 Timothy in the Bible to see what the apostle Paul had to say about church leaders.

It's quite a sobering list.

A church deacon/overseer must be:

• Husband of only one wife
• Temperate
• Self-controlled
• Respectable/Worthy of respect
• Hospitable
• Able to teach
• Not given to drunkenness
• Not violent but gentle
• Not quarrelsome
• Not a lover of money/Not pursuing dishonest gain
• Must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect
• Must not be a recent convert
• Must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience
• Must first be tested, and appointed only if there is nothing against them
• Must have a good reputation with outsiders

I reckon the bit about managing the family well is our Challenge of the Moment.

Beth has been acting up since she started school.

She actually defies us when we tell her to Go To The Corner, and says NO and has to be physically escorted there.

I can't believe how out of hand things get at home sometimes, and how inept I feel as a parent when the girls test our authority.

It makes me wonder: are we as a family up to handling CA's new position of responsibility?

Surely we ought to be role models like the ones described in Steve Green's Household of Faith song first?

On the other hand, this is our chance to serve in Hoppers Crossing, this community where we live, worship and go to school.

To - as a friend back home puts it - bloom where we are planted.

I need to trust that God knows what He's doing (even when I don't), that He has a plan for us, and that His plan is to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us hope and a future here, right here in the suburb of Hoppers Crossing in the City of Wyndham in Melbourne, Australia.

And not only to trust, but also to obey.

As the hymn goes: "Trust and obey/For there's no other way/To be happy in Jesus/But to trust and obey".