Proposed new elders – an exciting day for Kerith
Our God is a God of structure
Whenever God wants to create life, he first creates a structure which will provide an environment for that life to flourish.
Said another way; God never sows life into nothingness or chaos.
What the Bible says…
We see this principle being worked out again and again in the Scriptures:
God wants a space for humankind to flourish, so he creates the structure of the heavens and the earth, with the sea and land, plants and animals where people can find sustenance and purpose (Genesis 1:1-25).
God wants to create an individual human and he forms the structure of a body into which he can breathe life (Genesis 2:7).
God wants a people for himself (Israel) and he gives them the structure of leadership with different roles, rules and commands to help them to live in harmony, resolve disputes and make sure the poor and the powerless will be cared for (Leviticus).
God wants to dwell amongst his people, and so he creates the structure of a tabernacle and then a temple where he can dwell (Exodus 25-31; 1 Chronicles 28).
God wants to come to us as a Saviour and he comes, not as a disembodied spirit but in the structure of a human body in the person of Jesus (John 1:14)
God wants to form his church (the community of his people on earth) and he gives it a structure which allows it to flourish with leaders who will shepherd the community, keep it safe, care for it and keep it on mission (Ephesians 4:11-13).
Structures and the Church
We see that final structure being put in place by Jesus as he appoints his Apostles (Luke 6:12-16). This is then followed up by those same Apostles, as they go on to plant churches and then appoint other apostles (along with elders and deacons), to shepherd and oversee each of the new church communities (Acts 14:23).
Different churches, denominations and streams define these oversight roles in different ways and often give them different names (the New Testament writers are surprisingly vague about exactly how they should be defined). However I am yet to find a functioning, healthy church that doesn’t have these kinds of structures, in one form or another.
This has certainly been true of Kerith in the years I have been part of it, with a leadership team - aka our elders - who have created an environment where all of us can flourish.
Our structures at Kerith
A key part of our structures at Kerith are our elders are entrusted with the oversight of the church in terms of spiritual direction, pastoral care, theology, church discipline, protection of the church and more.
Under their authority, the trustees and senior leaders are then entrusted with specific areas of responsibility for the day-to-day shepherding of our community.
For some time, we have only had four elders. This really isn’t enough for a community our size, but we held off adding more until we had resolved the issue of whether women could serve as elders.
I’m pleased to share that last year, we answered the question of women as elders in the affirmative - you can read more about this decision and the process to get there, in this blog.
The process of appointing new elders
Affirming women as elders doubled our pool of possible elder candidates and led us to asking three people who we thought had the potential to be elders, to join our elders meetings.
These meetings gave us all an opportunity to see how they fitted in, and for them to explore whether this was something they felt God was calling them to - note that this is the same process I and all the other elders went through prior to becoming elders.
After over a year of meeting together, we have decided as a collective to take the next step and propose these three individuals as elders to the wider church and seek your feedback. We will then take that feedback on board before making a final decision.
And so, all being well we will then look to publicly recognise them as elders. The three people we are proposing are Jacqui Webber-Gant, Shari Barrett and Matthew Tickle.
Introducing the proposed new elders
Matthew Tickle
Matthew may be less known by some, but he and his wife Tracey have been a key part of the Windsor site since day one. In addition to working for Mars (the chocolate company - not the planet), Matthew brings many years of experience as a volunteer church leader, has a father’s heart for people and a wisdom and perspective I have really come to appreciate.
Shari Barrett
Shari will also be known by many as our worship champion across all our sites. She and her husband Andy are part of our Farnborough community. As well as her role of Worship Champion, many of you will have seen the pivotal part Shari played in our discussions around race, which were instigated in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd (you can learn more about our Talking About Race campaign).
Jacqui Webber-Gant
Jacqui will be known by many of you as she and her husband Mike have been part of Kerith for many years - first at our Bracknell site and more recently as part of our Farnborough community. As well as having an education and business background, Jacqui is highly prophetic - a gift we as elders have really benefited from over the last year.
An opportunity to have your say
For those of you who know Jacqui, Shari or Matthew, I would love to hear your thoughts. I would love to hear your positive comments about them and what they would bring to the role. I’d also appreciate hearing any questions or reservations you might have.
If you do have comments then please email them to me before the end of September. I will then discuss all the feedback with the other elders in early October before we make our final decision. Thank you in advance.
More news on our elders…
Finally, I want to let you know that after many years of faithful and fruitful service Ken Bothamley has decided that now is the moment to step down from serving as an elder.
Ken and his wife Anne were two of the first people Catrina and I met when we first joined Kerith over 30 years ago. They have been a huge part of our spiritual development and I would personally like to thank them both for all the time, prayer and support they have given to us both over the years. And I am particularly grateful to Ken for the unwavering encouragement, support and wisdom he has given me since I took over leading Kerith, so thank you Ken.
For those of you who know Ken, I would love it if you would take the time to send a message of thanks to him, either directly to him, or by emailing me if you don’t have his contact details.
All in all a significant moment for us as a church as we look to appoint new elders, including our first women elders, maintaining the God given structure which will allow our community to continue to flourish into the future.