If you are an American citizen, we certainly want you to participate in the elections that are coming up this November. That said, there is an even more important election coming up this Sunday during our Church Summit on Sunday, October 11th at 7pm on Zoom (Mtg. LINK). This election is regarding the confirmation of three elder candidates that are being brought before the congregation for a vote (see this LINK for more details about the candidates and some brief teaching on elders). These men won’t be serving in the government of the United States. They will be serving in an outpost of the kingdom of God known as the local church. It’s beyond any municipality or nationstate. The implications are eternal in scope and the stakes are as high as the right teaching of God’s word and the salvation of human beings. The Apostle Paul gives this exhortation to the elders of the church at Ephesus:
“ Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”
The Apostle is not messing around. He looks into the eyes of these newly minted leaders and lets them know that the God who has purchased the church with the death of Jesus is setting them aside, by the power of the Holy Spirit, for the work of shepherding the flock. This is what God is doing here at MERCYhouse. Part of how a local church discerns who God is setting apart for elder ministry is through the prayerful discernment of the membership. If you’ve joined MERCYhouse by attending a MEET MERCYhouse class and officially joining by baptism, statement that you were baptized in another church of like faith and practice, or by transferring from another Southern Baptist Church, then that means YOU!
Please be in prayer this week for our elder candidates (Patrick Grafton-Cardwell, Jake Blackwood, Garrett Postema) and please vote on the electronic form that you can access by clicking the button below. You can wait until the meeting if you want, but if you can’t make the meeting, please vote absentee so that we will have a quorum of members for the meeting. If you have questions, please reach out to our church clerk (Lois Grandmaison) at contact@mercyhouse365.org. Not a member? Find out MORE!