On Sunday, January 1, we announced Taylor Hollingsworth as a candidate for being ordained & installed as an elder at Trinity Grace Church on January 29, 2023.
But, you may be wondering: What is an elder? Why is it important for our church to add elders?
We want to take a moment to give a little context to hopefully help you understand God’s kindness to our church by opening the door to possibly adding another elder.
Biblical Background of Elders
First, one of our core convictions is that churches are to be led by a team of qualified men. According to our Statement of Faith:
Christ has given the offices of elder and deacon to the church. Elders occupy the sole office of governance and are called to teach, oversee, care for, and protect the flock entrusted to them by the Lord. Deacons provide for the various needs of the church through acts of service. God gives these and other people as gifts to serve and equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.
Throughout the NT, there are 3 words used for those who are called to shepherd the church in teaching & leading: pastor, elder, and overseer. Each of these 3 words refer to one office or role in the church.
We see this in 1 Peter 5:
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, aswell as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly... 1 Peter 5:1-2
And when the NT talks about the role of elder in the local church, it always uses the plural form. For example:
“And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” Acts 14:23 (See also Acts 20:17; Titus 1:5; and James 5:14.)
Why Consider TAYLOR?
Since planting Trinity Grace in 2018, we have been seeking to establish a team of qualified men to lead our church.
We are prayerfully putting forward Taylor to be installed as an elder on January 29.
For the few who don’t know Taylor, he's a remarkably outgoing man. He & his wife Elisabeth love to meet new people & get to know them. In fact, most of us in the church have been welcomed by the Hollingsworths into their home for warm food & grace-filled fellowship!
Taylor is also a student of the Word. He has a sincere appetite for the Word & a desire for others to experience the grace that he has experienced. In that respect, he is a gifted teacher & preacher.
Over the past several years, Taylor has served as a pastoral resident. In the first days of Trinity Grace, he served most Sundays in seen & unseen ways to help the church. He began a pastoral residency with the church at the beginning of 2020. He attended the Sovereign Grace Pastors College throughout the school year of 2020-2021 & returned to continue serving as a pastoral resident in a full-time capacity. Finally, over the past year, he has completed numerous assignments & exams for ordination, in conjunction with our region of Sovereign Grace Churches & in fulfillment of our Book of Church Order.
In November 2022, our region heartily commended him as a man fit to be ordained & installed for pastoral ministry.
We couldn’t agree more!
Why Does All This Matter For You?
Why are we writing all of this?
First, you are a member of Trinity Grace Church. If installed as a pastor, Taylor would be one of your pastors.
Second, we want to ask you to pray. We want you to thank God for Taylor & to pray for God’s will to be done in his life & the life of our church.
Third, we want to ask you for feedback. We want to hear of any concerns you have. Over the next 17 days, please share your questions, concerns, and encouragement with Walt or Buddy.
Conclusion
There are a lot of wonderful things in the headlines right now. There are a lot of sobering things in the headlines right now. The news of what’s happening at Trinity Grace Church will not be hitting any headlines. But, even though the steady building of our local church won’t hit any headlines, it has God’s attention. And we want to be faithful!