Dear Park Avenue Member,

The eldership of the Park Avenue Church has set as a policy of having an elder selection and reaffirmation process every three years. This process will be overseen by the elders based on input from the congregation through a nomination and affirmation process. Consequently, if the congregational response is clearly in favor of having one or more additional elders, or not having any additional elders at this time, we will abide by the congregation’s desires.

As you consider men you think are qualified to serve as elders for our congregation, we would like for you to first be in continuous prayer that God will bless Park Avenue in this effort. We would also like for you to read and study the scriptures included with this form concerning elder qualifications.

In addition to the Biblical requirements outlined in these scriptures, we would like to suggest some specific qualifying considerations that are important to the uniqueness and circumstances facing the Park Avenue Congregation at the present.

Concerning the man’s age, spirituality, and familiarity with the congregation: we feel the man being considered should be approaching 40 years of age, or older. We feel by this age a man should have enough experience and maturity to guide and shepherd a church. This age also addresses the family, community, and children issues outlined in scripture. As to the man’s spiritual maturity, while not being a recent convert could mean many things, in today’s world it would indicate that the man should have been a believer for as much as a decade, or probably longer. Concerning familiarity with the congregation – how well the congregation should know the potential elder and how well the potential elder should know the congregation – the amount of time for this kind of relationship to develop in a congregation like Park Avenue probably takes as much as three (3) years or more.

These suggestions are the result of much prayerful thought and deliberation. They are offered for the congregation’s consideration as you pray about the process and consider men who might serve as elders. Each member is encouraged to express their convictions. If you have questions concerning this information, or further information, please feel free to ask those questions.

1 Timothy 3:1-7

Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

Titus 1:5-9

The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

1 Peter 5:2-3

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

The nomination period ends February 5, 2023