Recommendation Form
Open through Sunday, Oct. 18.
A note from the Nominating Committee:
Blacknall has been gifted with great officers through the years, elders and deacons who love Christ and his church and are responsive to His call to leadership. Each winter a Nominating Committee enters into a discernment process asking “Who among us is the Lord raising up for leadership?” Now is the time to be prayerfully considering who God might be calling to be leaders in our church. The Officer Nominating Committee welcomes your recommendations for Deacons and Elders.
This above form allows you to recommend a person to the Blacknall Officer Nominating Committee for consideration as a possible candidate for the office of deacon and/or elder. Please note this form is a recommendation and not a nomination.
In our polity, or church governance, elders and deacons are elected from the congregation to lead in various capacities. Elders are responsible for the oversight of the spiritual life of the congregation, and are nominated based on "their wisdom and maturity of faith, having demonstrated skills in leadership and being compassionate in spirit…. They are chosen by the congregation to discern and measure its fidelity to the Word of God, and to strengthen and nurture its faith and life." (Book of Order G-2.0301). Deacons are particularly possessed of a servant’s heart, and serve in ministries of hospitality, care, and attention to our facilities, in addition to caring for those in particular need. Together elders and deacons seek to lead the church as servants of Christ. Elders and deacons (often listed by class on the back of the bulletin) serve three year terms, with a third of their number rotating off each year as the next class joins.
Thank you for your recommendations.
The 2020-2021 Officer Nominating Committee
Who are elders & deacons?
Read below for descriptions from the PCUSA Book of Order
Deacons: The Ministry of Compassion & Service
The ministry of deacon as set forth in Scripture is one of compassion, witness, and service, sharing in the redeeming love of Jesus Christ for the poor, the hungry, the sick, the lost, the friendless, the oppressed, those burdened by unjust policies or structures, or anyone in distress. Persons of spiritual character, honest repute, exemplary lives, brotherly and sisterly love, sincere compassion, and sound judgment should be chosen for this ministry. (PCUSA Book of Order G-2.0201)
Ruling Elders: The Ministry of Discernment & Governance
As there were in Old Testament times elders for the government of the people, so the New Testament church provided persons with particular gifts to share in discernment of God’s Spirit and governance of God’s people. Accordingly, congregations should elect persons of wisdom and maturity of faith, having demonstrated skills in leadership and being compassionate in spirit. Ruling elders are so named not because they “lord it over” the congregation (Matt. 20:25), but because they are chosen by the congregation to discern and measure its fidelity to the Word of God, and to strengthen and nurture its faith and life. Ruling elders, together with ministers of the Word and Sacrament, exercise leadership, government, spiritual discernment, and discipline and have responsibilities for the life of a congregation as well as the whole church, including ecumenical relationships. When elected by the congregation, they shall serve faithfully as members of the session. When elected as commissioners to higher councils, ruling elders participate and vote with the same authority as ministers of the Word and Sacrament, and they are eligible for any office. (PCUSA Book of Order G-2.0301)