p. 20 | Church Officers’ Responsibility by G. B. Thompson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 20, 1908

Church Officers’ Responsibility

By G. B. Thompson

The church has been purchased with the blood of the Son of God. It is the one thing upon this sin-cursed earth upon which the Lord bestows his supreme regard. Its members are very dear to him, and those who touch them, touch the apple of his eye.

In his church the Lord has placed system and order. To maintain this order, and carry forward the work for which the church exists, some must be chosen by the church to places of official responsibility.

We greatly fear that the responsibility resting upon an officer in the church has not been so fully realized, either by the church or by the persons chosen by the church as officers, as it should be.

Take, for instance, the office of elder. The elder is the highest officer in the local church, and his work is a sacred and holy responsibility. Paul, when addressing the elders of the church at Miletus, said: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” Acts 20:28.

It will be observed that the church is here called a flock, of which the elder is called the “overseer,” or shepherd. In accepting the office of church elder, the one chosen must also accept the responsibility which goes with it,—that of having a watch-care, or oversight, concerning the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made him an overseer. As a shepherd he is to “feed the church of God.”

“Feed the church”! What a responsibility! It can be measured only in eternity. The work to which the Holy Spirit has appointed him is to furnish spiritual food for the flock. And if at any time the church is cold, or spiritually lean, the elder should prayerfully inquire as to the cause. Many churches are cold and lifeless; leanness of soul is felt and greatly deplored. Is it because the church has refused to eat? or is it because the one chosen to oversee the flock has not been wholly consecrated to God, and as a result has failed to “feed the church”? This is a question which all those chosen as leaders in the church should soberly and prayerfully consider.

But let not the church, either individually or collectively, excuse their sins and backsliding by criticising the elder or other officers. Our church elders in their sacred and heavy responsibility have our deepest sympathy and prayers. As they stand Sabbath after Sabbath before the little flock among whom they live, to do the work they have been chosen to do, they need our prayers far more than our criticism. Let those chosen to office seek God for the wisdom they need for their work, and let the church unitedly uphold them by their earnest co-operation and prayers.

G. B. Thompson.