BIG IDEA: Churches, like families, need spiritual parents.
We achieve this by having male elders who partner with male and female deacons. We also insist on having male and female voices of all ages at the table in our Sunday services and when making decisions because we value intergenerational relationships! While God has obviously created men and women to be different, our partnership whether in the home or in the church, is one of mutual submission and equal partnership in our family’s well-being and development.
Elders oversee the spiritual health of our family as deacons manage and model service.
Of course, church leaders aren’t perfect, and not everyone is called to be an elder or deacon, but the pattern in Scripture is where we get our BIG IDEA: Churches, like families, need spiritual parents. The role is the same whether parenting at home or parenting in the church: everyone in this broken world needs to be reparented. In other words, we all need spiritual influences to help us relate with Jesus and discover who He designed us to be.
