A Quicksheet Resource on Elder and Deacon Training
Provides for the appointment of an elder (or a group of persons including at least one elder) to act as liaison with the inquirer/candidate and the presbytery’s Committee on Preparation for Ministry and to participate with the inquirer/candidate and the presbytery’s committee as they explore and evaluate his or her progress in the preparation for ministry.
By Joseph A. Sittler and Richard R. Osmer
Occasional Paper #13 reprints two significant essays that are no longer readily available. "The Maceration of the Minister" by the late Lutheran theologian Joseph Sittler is an incisive, sympathetic analysis of the plight of ministers. "The Teaching Authority of the Minister in the Reformed Tradition: A Contemporary Proposal" by Richard R. Osmer, the Thomas W. Synnott Professor of Christian Education at Princeton Theological Seminary, presents a creative understanding of the office we Presbyterians used to call "teaching elder."
The Office of Theology and Worship believes that "The Shape of Pastoral Ministry" is …
Concern about an epidemic of spouse, child, and elder abuse led the committee of Women of Color and the Women's Ministry Unit to recommend to the 203rd General Assembly (1991) a paper on domestic violence for study throughout the church.
The assembly urged churches to study the paper on family violence and to establish programs that respond to domestic abuse in their communities. It also instructed me to print the domestic violence paper and to distribute a copy to each church.