Ordination Councils

What would you do with a man who took a crowd of thousands and within 24 hours ran off all but a dozen or so?

What about a man who preached for years, but saw no converts?

What about a man who saw no one..not one person...repent?

I'm speaking of Jesus, Noah, and Isaiah respectively.

There must be fruit, but we must see Biblical fruit, the foremost of which is obedience, even when there are no man-pleasing results.

 

Mine was a highlight. There were practical and theological questions, as both are related and vital. Mine was done in advance of the service, and this is the way it ought to be. The sham councils that meet just prior to an ordination service are jokes. A man must be examined prior to the service. I have literally heard councils hear of unGodly behavior of the worst sort, yet refuse to cease the proceedings because of the waiting crowd and all the food upstairs. A local IFB church's youth pastor was about to be ordained. The council heard a revelation, and the young man admitted, that he had fathered a child with the girl he was living with. The church refused to stop the service since it had been planned in advance and it would embarass the church to cancel. God help your people.

Some associations have standing councils. I like that. Once a church has examined a man, the council can do so and then proceed from there.

 

Sounds great.

I know a retired pastor who told me that they had nominations for deacons and one of the wives told the pastor at a breaktime that her husband (who was nominated as a deacon) had been having a homosexual relationship with another man who was also nominated as deacon. As a result he did something unusual and postponed the vote.

 

Well, point taken except for Noah, who saw his family repent. And I'm not real sure that Isaiah saw no one repent. Jeremiah, maybe.

But just a couple of points: (1) We're talking about America here, not an Islamic or Buddhist country. If someone sees no fruit from his ministry in America in the form of faithful followers of Jesus Christ (not just "who prayed the prayer"), then is he really fit to be a shepherd of the Lord's people? (2) Surely you don't see disciples produced through Gospel witness as "man-pleasing results" do you? I really don't think so. You must have meant something else. Seeing a soul trust Christ as Savior and follow Him can only be described as God-pleasing.

I live and work in a Japan, a "Gospel resistant" country with less than 1% claiming to be Christian (including Protestant, Catholic, cults, everybody). I've done much evangelism in America, too, and let me tell you it is far easier than Japan. Yet if I work here at getting the Gospel out faithfully, God does give fruit. (See my thread on "Missionary Stories..." in the Missions/Evangelism forum.) And I know several Japanese pastors planting churches who struggle much, and only have a few people coming--but they do have people saved occasionally.

 

It is getting harder here too John...

I like the fact that our association has standing councils... and once a church decides to ordain, the council is contacted and works with the candidate for a yr... they know everything they can within that yr... so come ordination time, the interregation is simply reading his paper, and a few clarifying questions for the congregation... The council knows the man and his ministry before the official convening of the council.

At least that is the norm.

 

I know folks in the homeland say that, Brother Tim, and I'm sure it's true. However, have you ever gotten out 10,000 tracts and witnessed to dozens of people in America and seen no results? This type of thing is common in Japan. But yet, we still see people saved once in awhile, thank God! :jesus: