The Apostle Paul’s Letter to a General Conference Delegate

Today, in the General Conference of the CME Church, my denomination will elect 3 bishops and a bunch of national leaders, we call “general officers.”  It is the most important thing I and the other delegates who traveled here from as far as Alaska to South Africa will do.

The problem is there seem to be a million people running for every slot. And as with secular political campaigns, most of the candidates mostly say the same things.    So how do I decide where to put the vote that the people back home have delegated to me to cast?

Scripture tells me to watch and pray.  I’m praying---- boy, am I praying.  But what am I to watch for?   The whole process had given me a headache.

Then the Lord showed me something in His Word that made me laugh. 

They Holy Spirit showed me a letter to a general conference delegate.  It’s called the book of Titus.

Paul, the Apostle, was basically the bishop and general secretary of evangelism and missions of the New Testament church, and, if not the editor, Paul was the most prolific contributor to the first century Christian periodicals.

In Titus, Paul wrote to a Cretan pastor who had to choose new leaders for his church.  It was an important moment of decision.

You should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you  (Titus 1: 5)

Translate elder  as “senior officer” and appoint as “elect” and you realize that Paul is talking about bishops and connectional officer.

The good bishop/ general secretary/ author, Rev. Dr. Paul of Tarsus, responded to Pastor Titus’s question, the same question asked in a caucus meeting last night.

What makes a good bishop?

The Bible gives a detailed answer.   Look at Titus 1: 6, 9.  I’ll paraphrase.

A bishop or general officer must be, Verse 6:

·         Faithful to his/ her spouse

·         Good parent, not somebody covering up for how terrible their kids are

Verse 7:

·         Blameless, meaning no charges pending

·         Handles church business and money well, as a steward of God

·         Humble and submitted to God’s will even when it wasn’t their idea  

(And by the way, if they brag about how humble they are, they probably ain’t.)

·         NOT quick-tempered

·         Not an alcoholic, a drunk (which is an alcoholic who self identifies as “I just like to have a little drink every now and then but I don’t have a problem,” or an addict of any kind. 

By the way, I know that addicts are people, and many are wonderful people; but that doesn’t make them good candidates for bishop.

·         Not violent. 

·         NOT GREEDY FOR MONEY.

The Bible says that a bishop must be NOT GREEDY FOR MONEY

Let’s pause a moment and let that marinate. 

How much did you say they demanded at their last appreciation?            

According to the Bible, the right candidate will be, Verse 8:

·         Hospitable, and not just to voting delegates

·         A lover of what is good, as opposed to one of those people who seems to get mad at people for being “too nice,”  “always running like they gotta save everybody.”

·         Just, fair, treats people right---regardless of who the people are

·         Holy. 

HOLY!

The Bible does, actually, in fact, use that exact word.  A bishop or senior officer in the church is supposed to be HOLY, which is hard to do when your basic theological position is that there’s no such thing as holiness.

·         Self-controlled.  If they lost it for a moment on the campaign trail, they  have shown you just the tip of the iceberg of meanness they’re hiding underneath.

A good candidate will,  Verse 9:

·         Hold fast to the faithful Word, the unchanging Word

·         Use sound doctrine to exhort with encouraging truth

·         And use sound doctrine to defend the Word against contradictors

Paul warned delegate Titus to be careful whom he supported for bishop and connectional office, because there are many who  profess to know God, but in works they deny Him. (Titus 1: 16).

They profess to know God, but they don’t act like they know God.  In fact they act like there’s not a God to know.

You can recognize the wrong candidates because they are:

·         abominable,

·         disobedient, and

·         disqualified for every good work. (Titus 1: 16)

Paul warns the delegate to choose senior leadership carefully because there are a lot of people who do and will spend all their time undermining others.   The Bible calls such people insubordinate (Titus 1: 10).  My wife calls them “cutthroat.”

The book of Titus warns us about candidates who talk the right talk but are both idle talkers and deceivers. (Titus 1: 11)

Titus wanted to believe that anyone who’d worked in the church long enough and successfully enough to be a serious candidate for national office would be someone the church could trust.  Not necessarily.  Not now, and not 2000 years ago.

2,000 years ago, old bishop Paul warned the young clergy delegate to check especially those of the circumcision, especially those of the well-established, highly revered religious class.

The bad candidates must be stopped before they do more harm.

The Bible says that their “mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain” (Titus 1: 11)

Let me say that again:  TEACHING THINGS THEY OUGHT NOT, FOR THE SAKE OF DISHONEST GAIN.

My brothers and sisters in the CME Church have tremendous responsibility, not just to our particular denomination, but to the entire Kingdom of God.   The people we choose today become leaders of a global Christian church.  Their words and actions will represent Christianity to the world.  Critics of the faith will use their failures as ammunition against Jesus and the Bible.  Innocent believers will revere them and look to them as examples, just because of the titles they’ll hold. 

This is not a light thing, and I don’t take it lightly.  But  with Titus 1 in my head and the counsel of other scriptures like 1 Timothy 3, at least my headache is gone.

I’m still praying, and I hope you’ll be praying to; but now I can review what I’ve learned about the candidates and cast my lot according to God’s will.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

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