We’ve set aside time in today’s service to set apart Jeff Johnson as an elder of this congregation. Jeff has been thinking and praying for some time about God’s call on his life and last Lord’s day at our congregational meeting that call on Jeff’s life was affirmed by those present
We come here with several purposes in mind:

First off to acknowledge that Christ is the head of this congregation and He calls and appoints leaders for the church. This church does not belong to me, or to you or to the elders. It is Christ’s church and it must be our desire to follow Him in whatever He leads us to do.

We also want to praise God for providing leaders for the sake of the church. I don’t think we do that nearly enough. Our leaders don’t lead because WE appoint them or because THEY want to but they are leading because God has provided them for us. That means they serve not at our pleasure, but at God’s pleasure. They need to lead us not in the directions we want to go but the way God directs.

Third, we want to ask God for His blessing on the relationship of Jeff within the team of elders and between all the elders and this congregation. That relationship is key to the harmony and ministry of any congregation and we want to ask God to make that relationship a strong and productive one.

Finally we want to proclaim our hope in moving forward together in God’s purposes for us. We want to affirm our leaders and promise to move with them under their renewed spiritual leadership.

The role Jeff is being ordained to today is a significant one. As such the Scriptures are very clear about the type of person who should fill this role. The books of 1 Timothy, Titus and 1 Peter contain instructions about what kind of person should shepherd God’s flock.

Shepherds of God’s flock are to be men of faith; men who know Jesus and who know how to keep in contact with Him in their lives. They are to be men who lead in their homes, who care more for the things of Christ than the things of the world, who know God’s Word and yearn for its truth. Elders are not to be confrontational and argumentative but are to know how to teach the truth and use it to correct. To early elders Peter wrote: “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”

In the first days of the church when someone was called apart to an area of service the congregation would often lay hands on that person to affirm them in their role as well as to bestow a blessing on that person.

For example in Acts 6 when men were chosen to administer benevolent help to widows in the church, the apostles prayed over them and laid their hands on them. Later in Acts 13 when Paul and Barnabas felt the Spirit calling them to missionary service the church fasted and prayed and placed their hands on them and sent them off. Finally in his first letter to Timothy Paul reminds him of the time hands were laid on him to set him apart as a servant of Christ.

So the laying hands on someone is a very old practice that is one way to signify the importance of the role that person is being called to fill.

Hebrews 13:17 is speaking to God’s people when it says, “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

When we affirm that someone from among us has been called to help shepherd our congregation we initiate what should be an ongoing relationship. Our actions from that point forward should reflect the belief that they are to actively pursue God’s will for our congregation and to lead us in that direction and that we will follow them in that task. This requires respect and commitment on our part. It requires submission to their calling.

That affirmation also means that we actively pray for God’s wisdom and direction for those men, trusting in Almighty God that He will grant that request generously and without finding fault.