Three Elders Named in Negritas

In Acts 14:21-23 it says that Paul and Barnabas revisited the churches they had planted to encourage the believers and appoint elders in every church. This is a pattern that Paul repeated throughout his ministry. On Monday evening, January 25, I met with all the men in the church in Negritas. After reviewing these verses and then reading through and discussing the qualifications of an elder in 1 Timothy 3, I told them it was time to appoint elders in the church of Negritas. I told them that my choices were Lupe, Fidencio and Francisco. All of the men present agreed that these three were the most mature in Christ and that they would be the best choices for leaders in the church. We then discussed what responsibilities they should have and closed the evening with a time of prayer, asking God to bless the church and it’s newly appointed leaders.

Little did I know that when I appointed these three men, they would immediately find themselves in a crisis. That night Fidencio shared with me that one of the men in the church was having inappropriate contact with a woman of a nearby town. This contact was bringing reproach on the church. (I should point out that this does not mean he was having a sexual relationship with her. In the culture with any kind of close friendship with an unrelated woman there is an automatic assumption of a sexual relationship.) Knowledge of this contact is spreading and at least one person said to Fidencio that they would have nothing to do with our church because of this inappropriate contact.

Since I was leaving the next morning I could do nothing directly about this problem. I shared 1 Corinthians 5 and Matthew 18 with Fidencio and told him what the leaders of the church must do. Pray for Fidencio and the rest of the leaders as they must confront the offending person. Pray for repentance and restoration. Pray for the church to come out of this with a much higher reputation in the community.