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The Hub Team (Consistory)
In each congregation, the three offices of minister of Word and sacrament, elder, and decon are brought together in the consistory.
As the liturgy states, by gathering the three offices, "the consistory continues the full ministry of Christ in our day."
this gathering of officers is the governing body of the local congregation and is chosen periodically from the membership of the congregation.
It is responsible for all the spiritual and practical day-to-day affairs of the church.
The minister is always the president of the consistory.
While it usually meets together, the consistory is divided into two orders. One order is that of the elders. Elders are responsible for sound teaching and discipline within the church and for the spiritual well being of the congregation. The elders are to make sure that members are nurtured through Scripture, worship, the sacraments, and prayer.
The other order in the consistory is that of the deacons. Deacons play a key role in moving their churches into missions of justice, mercy, and compassion. They focus on six key areas of concern:
- Stewarship education and congregational giving
- Special individual and family concerns
- Mission invovement
- Disaster response and volunteer service opportunities
- Hunger advocacy and Reformed Church World Service
- Caring for creation and simple living
Please read 1 Timothy 3 for further instructions on these offices:
Overseers and Deacons
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.
Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.
A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well. Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.
Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:
He appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory.
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