Fairfax Church of Christ

To prepare the leadership team to choose an elder selection model, we met with individuals that have led elder selection processes both at FXCC and at other congregations. We also met with church leadership consultants at both Harding University and Abilene Christian University to discuss pros and cons about the different models. Much of the time was spent analyzing lessons learned by the individuals and groups that lead these processes.

At the end of the analysis, there are five questions that describe the basic differences between most of our churches’ models. These questions along with the new FXCC model’s answers are:

1. How much education is provided to the congregation and candidates? We are going to do more education than most congregations do – and much more than we have done in the past. We feel that it is important for everyone to both understand and feel comfortable with the role that our elders play in the FXCC leadership structure. This role in some ways is very different than it is in many of the congregations of the churches of Christ.
2. Who verifies candidate qualifications? The ministry coordination team (MCT) facilitators are going to shoulder the load of ensuring nominees are qualified. This is intentionally a small group to ensure that nominees and their families are afforded as much privacy as is possible. For more information about the MCT and a list of who is currently serving as a facilitator, check out the Ministry Coordination Team link in MemberNet.
3. Who decides which men move from the pool of those qualified in question #2 above to the candidate list? The current elders and the MCT will decide which of these pre-qualified men will become candidates.
4. Who makes the final decision about who become an elder? The congregation will make the final decision through a ballot process. A full 70% of every “yes” or “no” confirmation vote will have to be “yes” for a candidate to become one of our elders. “I don’t know” votes will not count for or against the candidate.
5. Does the congregation have a reaffirmation requirement? We are instituting four-to-six year term limits for elders. At the end of a term limit, each elder will be required to take a one year sabbatical before re-entering the selection process.

The following is a list of other significant issues that elder selection teams have had to deal with. We gained this list though listening to their lessons learned and have made every effort to design process steps at FXCC to account for these risks.

1. Elder nomination or vote process can become a referendum on specific agendas. If there are politically divisive issues members may begin to lobby for those they believe will represent their beliefs. We have instituted a 12-month freeze on making any changes to the policies relating to questions of Biblical discernment and/or executive staffing. This 12-month freeze will begin once the new elders are confirmed by the congregation.
2. Nomination or selection body may be unduly influenced by strong willed members, elders, or staff. Often this is related to #1 above and/or caused by individuals with control issues in general. In this case, the results may be seen by the congregation as tainted. So, rather than appoint a separate committee to select the candidates, we are asking the elders and MCT to make this decision jointly. Note that these two groups (elders and MCT) are very diverse in their representation of the congregation. This over 20 person group includes elders, ministers, volunteers, married, single, men, women, different races, parents, married without kids, etc.
3. Elder candidates may not be completely forthcoming with information that may disqualify him from becoming an elder. This may be a hidden character flaw that the candidate does not even understand. Or, he may be intentionally deceptive. Believe it or not, this was a major lesson learned at more than one congregation. This is why we are asking both the elders and ministers who have had to deal with the types of issues that such disqualifications would cause to be part of the team that decides who will become a  candidate.
4. Elder selection teams are often not equipped to deal with conflict that can arise concerning specific elder qualifications. This becomes particularly difficult if a member tries to resolve an issue with a candidate at the end of a selection process but neither party will back down. It is not fair to put a volunteer committee in the middle of a conflict between two members. We believe that it is part of the elder’s role to help members through conflict resolution issues.
5. Elderships need to be able to function together as a team. When a lone ranger gets on the team, congregational trust is often quickly and significantly eroded. One of the biggest difficulties for elderships in general is having one elder make public statements about issues not fully agreed to by the eldership as a whole. Most elderships (ours included) have agreements that allow the body of elders to remove an elder that routinely create such difficulties.
6. Elderships that change significantly in size in a short amount of time often take a significant amount of time learning to function well together. We believe that the 12-month freeze discussed in #1 above will help with this if/when it happens. Additionally, the senior and executive ministers will be facilitating team building events designed to speed the inclusion of new elders.
7. Staffs often lose focus during elder selection processes. The thought is, ‘why work hard on a program that is likely to change as soon as the new elders come on board’. Our programs are generally run by the ministry leaders, ministers, and MCT. And, the 12-month freeze above will ensure that the executive and senior ministers can maintain stability with the rest of the staff during periods of transition.
8. Hiring and new staff integration can be difficult if there is doubt about the direction of an eldership. See numbers 1 and 7 above.
9. When a candidate nomination process is used, it can result in too few nominations. We are using the elder training workshop to facilitate both congregational and self nominations. Men must attend the workshop to be considered a candidate.
10. The vetting process often does not fully inform the potential elder about what he is getting into. This can result in elders not understanding the requirements and expectations of the role. The 60-90 day mentoring / job sharing part of our model is designed specifically to mitigate this issue.
11. Elder candidates often underestimate the amount of time this role requires. And can easily underestimate the difficulty of managing this role, particularly while still having pre‐elementary or elementary children at home. See #10 above.

This brief overview of benchmarking churches of Christ elder selection models may not have answered all of your questions about the FXCC elder selection model. For more information, please look through the rest of the Elder Selection home page links and read through the Frequently Asked Questions.