Commentary:
Installation Sunday
Commentary by Forrest A. Norman III, February 17, 2011
January is the season for new beginnings. We mark a new calendar year, make resolutions, and begin our fiscal year with a clean balance sheet. Elected officials take office, and organizations both large and small begin measuring performance objectives anew.
Most Presbyterian churches cycle into a new year in the same manner, with one third of their session fresh from the pews, ready to serve. We ask them to stand as their names are read and (sometimes) call them forth to the front of the sanctuary. Some lay hands upon them and pray over the newly ordained elders and Related article
Norman elected chairman
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deacons. The pastor proceeds with a sermon and the new lay leaders of the church thus begin their tenure of service without further fanfare. They are “installed.”
In contrast to lay leaders’ installations is the pastoral installation. I recently attended a service installing a pastor at his new call, and reviewed the installation order of service for another.
Both occasions were attended by a bevy of pastors arriving like emissaries from across the presbytery.
One presbytery made an installation service an agenda item at its quarterly meeting producing a well thought out blend of Scriptural reflections and insights. Aspects of the service were distributed among five pastors. There was a charge to the new pastor and a charge to the congregation. “Constitutional questions” were posed and answered, followed by a formal declaration of installation. Attendees no doubt felt a combination of solemnity, optimism and joy at the call to be fulfilled, as is only proper for the occasion.
While I am personally not a big fan of grand ceremonial proceedings of the “high church” nature, I appreciate it when it is well done, and absolutely recognize the value of ceremony. Grandeur certainly conveys to the congregation the significance of the installation, and therein is the issue to ponder.
The Presbyterian Church is an “elder led” church, where the denomination’s name even suggests the significance of the role, with the root “presbyter” coming from the Greek “presbyteros,” meaning elder.
Elders are chosen from the membership of the church: The laity. The Principles of Presbyterian Government (G-4.0300) emphasizes the balance of guidance coming from lay leadership and clergy, “shared power,” and voting as a means of decision making, all after seeking discernment of the will of God.
Elders make up almost the entire session, and at least half of the presbytery. The elders on session are therefore “responsible for the mission and government of the particular church.” (G-10.0102) It is elders who are “to provide opportunities for evangelism to be learned and practiced in and by the church, that members may be better equipped to articulate their faith, to witness in word and deed to the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and to invite persons into a new life in Christ.” Personal and pastoral care is also the responsibility of elders, as is the goal that elders be able to fill the pulpit in the pastor’s absence.
Presbyterianism demands much of elders, just as Christ demands much of every Christian, who is going to live out the life in faithful obedience to His call.
When our elders are installed, one of the constitutional questions posed (all too often without the requisite prior examination) is “Do you sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions of our church as authentic and reliable expositions of what Scripture leads us to believe and do, and will you be instructed and led by those confessions as you lead the people of God?”
They all dutifully answer yes, because it would probably be too embarrassing to say “um, was I supposed to read something first?”
If properly equipped and honestly examined, our new elders will rejuvenate the church and maintain solid Biblical fidelity.
Proper equipping requires, at a minimum, basic knowledge of Scripture and the church’s confessional documents. Honest examination, both by self and the ordaining body – not as a perfunctory step but to see if the candidate is interested in perpetuating the faith – will make a difference.
We want our elders to be gatekeepers of the faith. We ask for a lot of their time, but all too often look at them as merely custodians of the building and programs of the church. We ignore their most important function, leadership on issues of faith and articulation of the Reformed tradition, witnessing in word and deed the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
Virtually any adult can decide to devote a portion of the budget to replace the leaky roof, but it takes a spiritually mature elder to correct a pastor’s errant interpretation of the doctrine of total depravity, unconditional election or predestination. And it will take determined spiritual leadership to challenge the siren call of a self-absorbed relativistic society; which denigrates traditional believers and traditional faith.
So, on installation Sunday when your new elders are presented, pray for them. Lay hands upon them and appeal to God for their guidance and fidelity to His Word; and let them know that their job is to help each and every one of us believers in the spiritual development process. Whether “high church ceremony” or in Protestant simplicity, make the installation service mean something real and spirit filled. Then, throw a nice reception for them, like you did for your pastor, and hold them in esteem. For if our elders are properly equipped, examined and grounded in the faith, we will see God move in our churches and great things will come, for our churches will be installed in the Word.