STORYHILL ELDER NOMINATION

please read before nominating

Annually, an Elder Search Team is formed to receive and review elder nominations. This is a robust process which the Search Team and the nominees must enter prayerfully and open-handedly. This Elder Search Team, with approval of the Session, will present elder candidates to the Ministry Partners for an affirmation via vote. (*1) Any person who has been a Ministry Partner at Storyhill for at least 2 years is eligible to serve as an elder. Once affirmed by the congregation, elders typically serve 3-year terms on the Session. (*2)

As you consider nominating a person, consider these things:

• Elders watch over the spiritual welfare of the congregation, serving as both guardians and overseers of this local congregation. They are both examples to and shepherds of the people around them. They often have a unique mix of courage and tenderness.

• As such, those who serve as elders should be mature believers, gifted in ways that enhance Christ-centered leadership, led by the Holy Spirit, who exhibit a manner of life that conforms to Biblical passages like 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 (see also: Numbers 11:16-17; Exodus 18:21; Romans 12). (*3)

• Being an elder is not an indication of special spiritual or leadership pre-eminence. Rather, it is a call to service and a particular kind of ministry. There are any number of wonderful ways that Ministry Partners can use their gifts to offer service and leadership in our congregation: leading a Serve Team, starting a Community Group, joining the Mission Partnership Team or the Administrative Team (Finance and Personnel) or the Fellows Steering Team, teaching children and youth, serving on a Church Plant Oversight Team, etc.

• As an outgrowth of personal faith in Jesus, an elder should agree without reservation to the essential theological truths of the Christian faith (contained in the Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed, and the EPC’s Essentials). He/She should also have general agreement with the Westminster Confession of Faith (i.e. the historic theological statements of American Presbyterians), noting that exceptions are allowed and even appropriate.

• *Practically, an elder will have to build friendships and working relationships across differences of generation, culture, and biological sex, so that the Session functions as a community where important decisions can be made. Because elders discern God’s leading together, each elder should be able to own their voice, listen to minority viewpoints, and ultimately yield to the wisdom of the whole. An elder resonates deeply with the mission and vision of Storyhill Church and desires to see the congregation become who God has called us to be.

If this sounds like someone you know at Storyhill, whether a Ministry Partner or an Elder not currently serving on the Session, we hope that you will nominate him/her to our current Elder Search Team.

Less-common nominations:

In addition to nominating Ministry Partners and currently-inactive Elders to serve on the Session, there are two other nominations the Elder Search Team can consider:

(1) An inactive elder of Storyhill can be nominated to the distinction of Elder Emeritus, when age or other situation prevents him/her from actively serving in significant church leadership AND the church desires to honor their significant service to Christ’s church with the honorary title “Emeritus.” To nominate an inactive elder for this recognition, simply note on your nomination form “I am nominating [inactive elder] not to serve on the Session but to be recognized as Elder Emeritus of Storyhill.”

(2) Someone who has served as an elder at another EPC church can be recognized as an inactive elder of our congregation. This distinction allows them to serve in places in the denomination and at Storyhill where an elder is required (on certain committees, certain search teams, etc). As a young church, it does help us to have a deeper bench of inactive elders, provided that these nominees fit the elder description shared above and are engaged in leadership at Storyhill. To nominate a person for this recognition, simply note on your nomination form “I am nominating [person] not to serve on the Session but to be recognized as an inactive elder of Storyhill, since [he/she] served as an elder at another EPC church.” (*4)

1. Session refers to the governing body of our church, comprised of both Teaching Elders (i.e. Pastors) and active Ruling Elders (i.e. Ministry Partners).

2. A person can serve two consecutive terms on the Session. After two consecutive terms, he/she must take a break of at least a year.

3. Storyhill is open to both men and women serving in the role of elder. (This is our collective position but does not have to be every Ministry Partner’s individual conviction.) We interpret phrases like “husband of one wife” or “faithful to his wife” to be emphasizing adherence to the Biblical sexual ethic (i.e. faithfulness in marriage and chastity in singleness) rather than a definitive pronouncement that elders must be men.

4. Such a recognition is technically an action of the Session, based on the recommendation of the Elder Search Team. A Ministry Partner vote is required for electing someone to a term of active service on the Session, as well as to distinguish someone as “Emeritus.”