THE MAKING OF AN ELDER AT EASTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH

Please Note  :  This  Ordination Service took place on  Sunday, the 14th  September . The sermon  of this occasion is found  on the Sermon blog  which you can access from this page 

Frans Brits (l) and Joachim Rieck 

Everyone knows that church elders are not thickly sown!  The making of a pastor -elder  is not  an instant achievement. It can be a long journey!

It  all begins  with a calling. It is further evidenced by a desire on behalf of the elder candidate (1 Tim 3:1)  to serve as an elder, and furthermore it ought to be recognized by the church, whose shepherd  he is to become.

When a man  desires to become an elder at Eastside Baptist Church, the current  eldership   examines  him with regard to his  basic suitability. If the  elders  are satisfied  that   there is a genuine desire and suitability,  the church is asked   to endorse  him  as a ‘trainee elder’. 

Pieter Slabber, Frans Brits , Joachim Rieck

Then he  enters upon a two year internship, whereby he  attends elders meetings,participates in church leadership meetings, leads in worship services,  is exposed to eldership training, learns to preach, attends doctrinal classes, does visitation   and engages in various other disciplines.

The Brits  family is prayed for 

Frans Brits  and his family came to us a number of years ago. He  had been trained  in a Dutch Reformed Seminary in South Africa and  during his  internship years  at a  church  in South Africa, he  decided to give up on the  work of the ministry. He had felt ill equipped for this task  at that time.

Times of  terrible confusion and despair ensued. Eventually   he  re-trained as an audiological technician, working in a team  with his wife, Janet who is  by all accounts  an accomplished audiologist. When  their company sent them to Swakopmund in Namibia  to work  at  their branch,  Frans  met with Pastor Francois Koch  of the Swakopmund Baptist Church. Pastor Koch  helped   Frans Brits   significantly through wise pastoral counsel, and the Lord  restored  him  wonderfully at that time.   

Frans and Janet  were   then posted to Windhoek  by their  company,  and  here  they  joined  in the  membership  of  the Eastside Baptist Church.

It  soon  became  apparent  to the elders at Eastside  that  the Lord had  a greater  work for  Frans  in the congregation. It seemed therefore good to the congregation  and to  the elders  to encourage him to prepare for eldership.

  

Frans Brits gives his testimony 

He has  done well, and  he has  won the hearts and the confidence of  the congregation, so that  the church under the leadership of her elders  was able to ordain  him  on  the 14^th of September 2014, after a two year internship.  

To God be the Glory !