On November 13, we hosted our fourth annual Elders Q&A. Why do we host an event like this? It’s not because we have problems (we have those!). It’s because we are working out God’s plan for our maturity and our mission through biblical eldership.

Elders are one reason Paul left Titus in Crete: 

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. —Titus 1:5

A well ordered church—a church ordered toward her maturity under the shepherding care of elders—is a chruch well loved by Christ. Our Elders Q&A is one way we seek to carry out our biblical responsibility to our Lord and to you as elders.  

Read our invitation post for some more specifics on our aims and process heading into the event.

Thank you for all of your questions. Your questions give us insight into our church as well as an opportunity to serve you with answers that we pray please our Lord. Here’s a list of the questions we asked with the timestamps for the audio. We encourage you to listen to the entire Q&A for context and the spirit of the evening.

Introductory (0:00)

Together in Membership (7:10)

• What are HBC’s values? What particularly is the HBC leadership actually asking the HBC congregation to commit to beyond the broad mission statement? (7:28)
• How should we lovingly lead/speak with a fellow HBC attender that is hesitant to join as a member? (17:12)
• We haven’t baptized anyone in a while. Why is that? Also, how are baptism and the Lord’s supper related? (22:19)
• Abe, what are we doing by way of update to our membership interview and introduction process at Family Meetings and why? (29:55)
• Elder trivia (31:45)

Together in Truth (33:33)

• Is the Holy Spirit a force or a personal being? (33:50)
• Which comes first, the Spirit’s work or our faith? (36:20)
• If we can do nothing to earn our salvation, what does living a life of faith even mean? (40:45)
• How can we be faithful in parenting our children as we meet people/see people who identify as LGBTQIA+. (44:48)
• Have we considered regular systematic theology electives? (52:46)
• More elder trivia (53:05)

Making Plans Together (54:06)

• What types of things are we doing as a church to prevent burnout of our church staff and engage more leaders? (54:25)
• Heritage has done short-term mission trips in the past. Will we ever do them again? (56:50)
• In the budget process, Jason mentioned that we were putting some money into a building fund. Can you expand on that? (1:00:30)
• What is the wheel of time? Give us an update on some church calendar adjustments coming in 2023 (1:03:20)
• Introduction and details for a new annual Spring theology conference: Unsearchable (1:05:03)
• Still more elder trivia (1:05:58)

Open Mic (1:06:58)

• What does a typical elder meeting look like on a Wednesday night? (1:06:58)
• How are the elders seeing God at work in our church body? (1:10:34)
• What are we doing collectively as a church body to serve our community? (1:14:13)
• When you talk about baptism, practically speaking, if you have an 8-year-old who professes Christ, how long until they can be baptized? (1:19:09)
• For the LGBTQIA+ plus if someone’s name is Justin and they want to be called Justina, what does a Christian do? (1:23:09)
• An update from Abe on the Stratton family (1:27:09)
• Closing prayer (1:31:31)

As promised, if you submitted a question and we didn’t answer it at the Q&A, we’ll be in touch in the coming weeks to initiate a reply either over email or in person. Of course, as questions come to mind across the year, you can always just email us at elders@heritagebiblechurch.org. This event is not the only venue for engaging our elders with a question. Rather, it is an especially public forum that we hope to set the tone and invite your engagement in more personal ways across the year.

For more Q&A engagement of this sort, review our recaps from previous years: 2019, 2020, 2021.

On November 14, we hosted our third annual Elders Q&A. Why do we host an event like this? There are lots of answers to that question. One reason is that you are precious to God and to us as your elders. 

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. —Acts 20:28

This annual evening together is one way of paying careful attention to “all the flock” here at Heritage. As elders we meet twice monthly to pray and study and work for your oversight. We’re also members and elders among you, speaking the Word and praying with you. But this event is the one opportunity where we’re all together with all of you. We love these nights. 

Read our invitation post for some more specifics on our aims and process heading into the event.

We collected a number of questions across a number of topics. Thank you for all of them. This year’s night was broken into four parts, gathering questions we received under four headers. Here’s a list of the questions we asked with the timestamps for the audio. Of course, we would encourage you to listen to the entire Q&A for context and the spirit of the evening.

Introductory (0:00)

Introductions (4:14)

Shepherding at Heritage: Questions About How Our Church Is Led (8:31)

• What does it mean that an elder must be “the husband of one wife”? (9:02)
• What does it mean that an elder’s children must be believers? (14:24)
• What is the difference between staff and non-staff elders? (20:06)
• Why do we hire men to do elder-like jobs but then have a process into eldership later? (22:46)

The Unsearchable Riches of Christ: Questions About the Truth We Believe (25:26)

• How are we as new covenant believers to understand God’s relationship with the current nation of Israel? (26:01)
• What is faith? (34:46)
• How does our Confession of Faith’s article on the doctrine of humanity help us on issues of race, gender, and other difficult cultural topics? (37:59)

Broader in The World: Questions About Our Shared Mission (43:40)

• What is the update on Gospel advance efforts to the Riau Melayu? (44:06)
• What is Marxism and why would we call it a Christian heresy? (46:13)
• Along these lines, what did the elders study at their recent elders retreat? (52:26)

Deeper in The Church: Questions About Church Life and Growth (55:03)

• What’s the update on our worship director search? Student and Family Ministry director? (55:15)
• Do we plan on having a periodic choir? (59:14)
• How can members grow in their marriages and lives apart from the Lord’s Day service? (1:02:52)
• Are Shepherding Groups only for members, and should we be inviting new folks to our group or be pushing them to contact the office for placement? (1:05:46)
• Under what circumstances can a Christian support/advise another Christian in pursuing divorce? (1:09:05)
• What are we working on and why do some of these things take so long for us? (1:09:47)

Open Mic and Concluding Thoughts

• What’s the most biblical way of dealing with anxiety and panic? (1:13:25)
• When the elders make a vote, is it unanimous or majority? How do you decide? (1:15:46)
• What differences do exist in the elders’ team (theological triage) that do not prevent you from working together? (1:20:54)
• What are the elders most thankful for? (1:24:41)
• What are the elders praying for? (1:27:15)
• Closing prayer of thanksgiving (1:28:12)

As promised, if you submitted a question and we didn’t answer it at the Q&A, we’ll be in touch in the coming weeks to initiate a reply either over email or in person. Of course, as questions come to mind across the year, you can always just email us at elders@heritagebiblechurch.org. For more material of this sort, review our recaps from previous years: 2019, 2020.

On November 22, we hosted our second annual Elders Q&A. Our hope through an evening like this is to fulfill Peter’s words for all of us when he wrote to elders, “shepherd the flock of God that is among you” (1Pet. 1:2).

In that short command, Peter teaches us a few things about 

• A church is more than just sheep, but a flock.
• A local church does not belong to its leaders or even its members, but to God.
• Elders shepherd as those who areamong the sheep.

We could go on. There are no less potent lines just before and after that short command. But this is already enough to set the stage for this recap post on our recent Elder Q&A. 

An elder Q&A is one way in which we intend to be among the flock. Of course, it’s not the only time we mean to engage questions. The Q&A is just an especially public version of what we hope to cultivate in the halls and over coffee. Read our invitation post for some more specifics on our aims and process heading into the event.

We collected a number of questions across a number of topics. Thank you for all of them. This year’s night was broken into three parts, gathering questions we received under three headers. Here’s a list of the questions we asked with the timestamps for the audio. Of course, we would encourage you to listen to the entire Q&A for context and the spirit of the evening. 

Welcome and Introduction (0:00)

Introductions and what we’ve seen God do in our church (9:38)

Life Together in Membership (19:20)

• How can singles become better connected with the rest of the membership? (19:30)
• How can twenty-somethings and young professionals connect with people their own age? (22:40)
• How do the elders and pastors handle the circle of knowledge when addressing sin or counseling issues? (23:44)
• Where can the women of Heritage go when they need counselling or spiritual advice, but would feel more comfortable getting that counsel from another woman? (28:30)

Gathered Worship (31:40)

• How do we design our worship services at Heritage? (31:54)
• Why are our worship elements irregular? (34:16)
• Why do all the prayers have to be read in the services and sound prepared? Is that a good thing for us? (36:57)
• Why is the livestream by request and what are our plans for the future? (42:26)
• As believers, do we spend eternity in heaven or on earth in the city of New Jerusalem? (46:24)
• What are the triggers for searching for a worship director? (50:23)
• Will the livestream be available for those who are home sick? (52:39)

In the World, For the World (55:00)

• Please share an update on our global outreach efforts and plans (55:18)
• What is the status of our plans following last year’s holiday offering, “Warming Up Our Welcome”? (58:52)
• What is the role of the church in politics? (1:02:15)
• Advice from the elders on political and cultural engagement (1:07:16)
• What is wokeness and what do we make of it? (1:12:37)
• Closing prayer for thanksgiving (1:18:14)

As promised, if you submitted a question and we didn’t answer it at the Q&A, we’ll be in touch by the close of December with plans to answer your question by email or in person by the close of January. Of course, as questions come to mind across the year, you can always just email us at elders@heritagebiblechurch.org. For more material of this sort, review our recap from the 2019 Elder Q&A.