Elder Election Meeting
The election will be held during a congregational meeting on Saturday, May 15 at 10AM, via zoom and is open to all NHF Covenant Members. For the zoom link, please see your respective campus means of communication (i.e. email, sms, kakao). If you are a covenant member and have not received a link, please contact your lead campus pastor.
Who are Elders and what are their Roles?
Elders (or Overseers) and Deacons are two offices of the New Testament Church:
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: (Phil 1:1, ESV)
An elder is an overseer, who is “to look upon, inspect, oversee, look after, care for” the church, and the term “elder” is used interchangeably with “overseer” and “shepherd” (i.e. pastor) in the following passages. It refers to “the care of the church which rested upon the elders.”
From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. (Acts 20:17, 18, 28, NIV)
The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. (1 Peter 5:1-4, NKJ).
In the New Testament, elders had the role of general oversight and care of the church and its members
What are the Qualifications of an Elder?
In I Timothy 3:1-7, the qualifications are spelled out for the office of elders or overseers.
This is a trustworthy saying: “If someone aspires to be an elder, he desires an honorable position.” So an elder must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him. For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? An elder must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall. Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil’s trap. (I Tim 3:1-7, NLT)
Or similarly in Titus 1
An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. (Titus 1:6-9, NIV)
Elder Nominee: Deacon James J. Lee
Deacon James has been attending LPC/NHF since the early 90’s. In addition to being involved in various ministries including as Sunday School teacher, Worship Leader and softball coach, he was appointed Deacon in 2009 and has also led Life Groups in recent years. James is married to Erica with whom they have Becca, Sydney and Isaiah. He enjoys eating, hockey, golf and watching his daughters play basketball.