Dear BPCWA worshipper, Next week will be our Annual Congregational Meeting. Together with this meeting will be our elections. I have written the past few pastorals to update and provide you with the necessary information for the elections. With all this information, how should you vote?

Understand why you are voting. Although we are not a congregational church, we do incorporate elections into our process for the appointment of church officeholders. The primary reason for having elections is for the protection of the church. Having an election once every 3 years is the way members exercise their responsibility to protect the church by ensuring that errant Session members are not voted in and will be removed from office at the end of their term of office. Every member, when voting, is exercising their duty as a member that the candidate fulfills the preceptive will of God, as required in our Constitution article 13.1. Just as a government will affect the life of the citizens over which it rules and the progress of a state, likewise the church government affects the spiritual life of the members of the church and the progress of God’s work through it. If candidates not meeting God’s preceptive will are voted into the Session of BPCWA, we cannot dismiss it merely as “God’s sovereignty” but must instead realize that the members who voted for them have been negligent in their duty. Similarly, members have also been negligent of their duties if they do not vote for candidates meeting God’s preceptive will. In both cases, because it does not follow God’s preceptive and good will, God’s chastitive will follows. We are all accountable for our votes before the living God. So, how should we vote?

What to avoid in voting. Well, voters must evaluate objectively based on biblical principles, not carnal personal criteria. The booklet with the testimonies of all the candidates was circulated on 27 August. Any member in good standing who has not received the booklet can approach me today for a copy. I hope that members have taken the time to read through the information of every candidate to be familiar with them and vote responsibly. The purpose of preparing this booklet is to help members understand how every candidate has been contributing, in the background or foreground, to the work in BPCWA. In a small church like ours, we often know each other instead of just voting for names of people that we see from afar or for people that we hardly know. While this can be good, there is one thing that can cloud a person’s judgement, something which Satan uses very frequently and effectively – emotions. Some of the many scenarios can be 1) Personal preferences of candidates. To avoid this error, one should evaluate the candidate that has been put forward, instead of thinking about whom we preferred but was not nominated and thus colour our evaluations. 2) Hearsay. If you have doubts that need to be clarified due to either hearing what someone said about a candidate or a personal perception, then do approach the candidate. I have also invited all of you to speak to me if you have any questions. Avoiding such clarifications is not voting with a good conscience. I thank God that someone did so because, without that clarification, this person would not have ever known the full background so as to vote rightly. 3) Personal views of working. We all have our personal views of how some things can be organised or done. As long as what was done was not unbiblical, then do not let personal preferences affect us negatively if we feel that the candidate has done things differently from what we would have preferred. There are often reasons why certain things are done and there may be constraints that we are not fully aware of. 4) Personal grudges. Do not vote based on wanting to show a candidate that he is not liked personally. This can arise from having an axe to grind against the candidate. These are but some of the various ways that Satan can scheme to undermine the work of the church against what may be good candidates that are put up for elections. Search our hearts. If what the person has said or done is not unbiblical, but we are unhappy simply because of a personal matter, then let us be honest before God that we have a personal agenda and need to repent. Satan designs to cause harm to Christ’s church and a frequently used weapon is grudges and unforgiveness. Even if “it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” (Mt 18:7). Don’t be a tool for Satan.

What to ensure when voting. How can members be clear that they will be voting for the church and not based on personal preferences? As part of my due diligence and a good conscience before God, my assessment is that these candidates who have been put up are the right ones for BPCWA’s Session based on biblical evaluations. What is the process that should guide you in deciding whether the person is suitable for the office? 1) Biblical qualifications. Read through the criteria set down in 1Tim 3, Tit 1, and 1Pet 5 for deacons and elders. Assess each candidate individually based on the qualifications stated. 2) Convictions. Voting for each church is different, and voting in BPCWA means that every candidate must stand by and uphold the doctrines and faith of BPCWA. Never vote for anyone who is not of the same persuasion as what BPCWA stands for, because that will be a recipe for disaster and strife in the church eventually. 3) Life of faith and faithfulness. This ties closely to convictions. Do they try their utmost to live their lives in a way that their system of doctrines and faith is manifested? Have they demonstrated that they have and will fulfill their duties diligently and faithfully in what is required of their respective roles? 4) Truth. All the above would be useless if they are not people of integrity that we can trust. Session can never function effectively if people are not what they say they are or what they seem to be outwardly. Everyone in a church office must be willing to uphold God’s principles in righteousness as they do God’s work and serve Him in His church.

How to vote responsibly? 1) Be Word based. This is how we can be objective. We often have a picture in our minds of what we want and what a leader should be rather than think about what God’s Word expects. As we learned in the book of 1Samuel, the children of Israel were such and they ended up with Saul. You may have a personal (but not biblically) biased visual or mental picture of what you want and what a pastor, elder, or deacon should be like. Remember, if that picture does not tally with the Bible, set it aside and use the Bible alone. This is a fundamental requirement for every vote. If you do not want to vote for someone, the question to ask yourself after a reasonable assessment is, which biblical qualification did they fail? Am I sure of that? Can I stand before God righteously with my decision of whether to vote or not vote for the candidate? 2) Be realistic. The best people are but people living on earth. If you are expecting every Session member to be sinlessly perfect, then there’ll never be a Session in any church. While I am not saying that you should vote for someone who does not fulfil all the biblical criteria, I am also reminding us that there is no sinless perfection in any candidate in meeting every criterion.  Rather, an important characteristic is that while the candidate must have all the biblical criteria present and should not have any areas that should disqualify him in the first place, he must be someone who is always teachable and striving to be better in any area where he may need to improve in a more focused way. Also, be realistic that one who has been put up for the office of a deacon is not expected to meet the qualifications of an elder. One who has been put up for the office of elder is not expected to be like a pastor.

Understand your vote.  In a small church, each vote can swing the outcome for the church, and so I want to explain it a bit more here. Do not vote against someone so as to reduce his votes just to “keep him in check”.  Having evaluated the candidate biblically, you either vote for or against a candidate based on your objective evaluations that are based on biblical qualifications. This is not a political game. Voting for the Session members, at the end of the day is about doing God’s will for the church.  If we say that Christ is the Head of the church, then when it comes to an election in church, we should not put on the unbeliever’s hat and adopt how they think at political elections. Instead, we should be seeking to vote according to God’s will. This is clear in the Bible. If God wills someone to be in, he will be voted in anyway, but you will be held accountable for your decision. God is not just concerned about the outcome but about the process (i.e., the “how”) and whether each of His children sought and did His will. Every member’s duty is simply to seek to do God’s will in the vote. 

God gifts the church with pastors and members in the church with gifts to do His will for the purpose of His work. He entrusts it in the hands of His people to execute His will, with discernment through His Word. In our vote, we are acknowledging that Christ wants or does not want these people to take on their respective roles in the church. If we act against what Christ wants when it is consistent with His Word (His manual for His church) and intends for His church, then we are repeating what the children of Israel did when God said, “they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me” (1 Sam 8:7). Voting irresponsibly is tantamount to rejecting God’s will for His church. On the bigger picture, we must not lose sight that the purpose of God’s gifts to His church is

“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:  13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph 4:12-13).

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor