Identification of an elder or deacon is not an event. It is a multi-month process, typically nine to eighteen months from first observation to public installation. The discipline of the process protects the candidate, the body, and the office itself. The stages below describe the full process; in any given identification cycle, the eldership may run several candidates through the same stages in parallel.
Stage A — Observation
Purpose
The eldership notices Saints in the body whose lives, gifts, and patterns of faithfulness suggest possible future eldership or diaconate. No decision is made; the candidate is not yet aware they are being considered.
Activities
- The eldership team, in its regular meetings, names Saints they have observed who might in time grow into eldership or diaconate. No promises, no commitments, no notification to the candidates.
- For each named Saint, the eldership keeps an informal observation log (Template A in the Appendix), noting what they have seen: gifts in operation, character in particular situations, family life, relationships, response to challenge.
- The observation log is not a performance review; it is a discernment record. It is held strictly within the eldership team and treated with utmost confidentiality.
- The eldership prays for the candidates regularly — by name, in their team prayer times — without yet approaching them.
- This phase typically runs three to six months for any given candidate, often longer.
What ends this stage
The eldership reaches a settled sense (Spirit-confirmed in their prayer together) that a candidate is worth approaching for an exploratory conversation. Some candidates will be set aside before this point — the eldership recognising that the cluster of gifts or the season of life isn't right. That is normal and unhurried.
Stage B — Initial Conversation
Purpose
A senior elder approaches the candidate to begin a conversation. The candidate is told they are being considered as a possible future elder or deacon, what the process will involve, and what they should pray over.
Activities
- A senior elder (typically the lead pastor or a long-serving elder) requests a meeting with the candidate, often with the candidate's spouse if applicable.
- The conversation explains: what is being considered (elder or deacon, depending on the cluster); why the candidate has come into view (briefly, honestly, without exaggeration); what the process from here looks like (stages C through J); the time it will take; the level of commitment expected if installed.
- The candidate is invited to pray, to discuss with their spouse and immediate family, and to come back with their initial response within a defined window (typically two to four weeks).
- Use the Initial Conversation Guide (Template B) to make sure all essential ground is covered.
Possible responses
Willing to enter the process. Proceed to Stage C.
Not at this season. The candidate may have legitimate reasons — a young family in a particularly demanding season, a vocational change underway, a health matter. The eldership honours the response, prays for the candidate, and notes that future cycles may revisit.
Declines outright. The eldership honours the decision without pressure or repeated approach.
Stage C — Multi-Month Testing in Service
Purpose
The candidate is given specific responsibilities in the body — sub-eldership or sub-diaconate roles — that test the cluster of gifts and the character qualifications without prematurely conferring the office. 1 Timothy 3:10: "first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve."
Activities
- For elder candidates: leading a small group, teaching a series, leading a pastoral visiting team, chairing a committee, taking responsibility for a particular pastoral case under elder supervision, preaching occasionally if teaching is in the gift cluster.
- For deacon candidates: leading a practical ministry, overseeing a specific operational area (welcome, hospitality, finance assistance, mercy ministry coordination), running an event or program team.
- A mentor from the existing eldership or diaconate walks with the candidate through this phase, meeting regularly, observing the work, giving feedback, and noting growth or concerns.
- The testing phase typically runs six to twelve months. Shorter is rarely enough to see the candidate under real stress; longer can drift without ending in clear discernment.
- Use the Multi-Month Testing Plan (Template C) to structure the specific responsibilities and the mentor check-ins.
What is being observed
- Faithfulness in the specific work assigned.
- Response to difficulty: how does the candidate handle conflict, criticism, failure, or pushback?
- Family steadiness during the testing period (the additional load on the candidate's family is itself a stress test).
- Doctrinal soundness in the actual teaching or pastoral work undertaken.
- Relationships with peers, those above, those below, and those outside the body.
- The candidate's honesty about their own struggles and limitations during the period.
Stage D — Body Input
Purpose
After the testing phase, the eldership formally invites the body to give input on the candidate before final consideration. This honours the New Testament pattern of body confirmation (Acts 6:3 — the apostles asking the body to "choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and of wisdom").
Activities
- The eldership informs the body that a particular Saint is being considered for eldership or diaconate, and invites confidential feedback within a defined window (typically four to six weeks).
- Input may be in writing, in conversation with a specified elder, or in a body-input form (Template D).
- Specific questions for the body to consider: have you observed gifts in this person consistent with the office? Have you observed character that lines up with the qualifications? Have you any concerns the eldership should consider? Have you observed their family life sufficiently to comment on the household-management qualification?
- Input is received pastorally. Negative input is taken seriously and investigated — not dismissed because the candidate is liked, and not weaponised against the candidate without honest inquiry.
- Pastorally, the candidate is reminded during this stage that input from the body is part of the process and may include things they have not heard before. The eldership walks with them through any input that surfaces.
Stage E — Personal Interview
Purpose
A formal personal interview between the candidate and the full eldership team, after body input has been received and considered. Use the Personal Interview Guide (Template E) to ensure all qualifications are explicitly discussed.
Topics covered
- The candidate's own sense of calling and willingness.
- Each of the qualifications from 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, gone through one at a time.
- The candidate's engagement with sound doctrine — articulation of the gospel, response to common doctrinal challenges.
- The candidate's relationship with money — generosity, debt, lifestyle, freedom.
- The candidate's pattern with alcohol and any other potential addictive patterns.
- The candidate's relationships with previous churches and with any difficult relationships in the body.
- Specific concerns raised in the body-input phase (handled pastorally but plainly).
- The candidate's view of the eldership team they would join — relationships, doctrinal alignment, willingness to function under shared authority.
- The candidate's expectations of the role and the time it will require.
Stage F — Family Interview
Purpose
A separate meeting with the candidate's spouse (and, where appropriate, older children) to hear from the family directly about whether they support the calling and whether their observation of the candidate aligns with the qualifications. This is the most often skipped stage and the most often regretted when skipped.
Activities
- Two members of the eldership meet with the spouse separately from the candidate. The conversation is confidential — the eldership commits in advance not to repeat what is said to the candidate without the spouse's permission.
- The spouse is asked plainly: how do you see your husband (or wife) leading our home? Is he safe, sacrificial, Christ-honouring? Do you see in him what 1 Timothy 3 describes? What gaps do you see that the eldership should consider? Are you willing for him to take on this calling and the time it will require of your family?
- Older children, where appropriate, may also be asked similar questions in age-appropriate language. The eldership respects the family's judgment about whether and how to involve children.
- Use the Family Interview Guide (Template F) to ensure all essential ground is covered.
What the family interview can produce
Strong affirmation. The spouse and family see the calling clearly and support it. Proceed to the next stage.
Reserved support with specific concerns. The spouse supports in principle but names specific concerns. The eldership weighs these — they may be addressed by adjustment (less time committed, different role focus) or they may indicate the calling is not for this season.
Reluctance or opposition. The spouse expresses meaningful reservation about whether the calling is right for this season or for the candidate at all. The eldership takes this seriously. A calling that the spouse cannot support is not yet a calling that should be installed. The eldership shepherds the candidate and the spouse pastorally and revisits if the season changes.
Stage G — Prayer, Fasting, and Eldership Discernment
Purpose
After body input, personal interview, and family interview, the eldership withdraws for focused prayer and fasting before reaching a settled sense of "it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us" (Acts 15:28).
Activities
- A designated period of prayer and fasting by the eldership — typically a week, sometimes longer for harder cases.
- Eldership meetings in this period are dedicated to the candidate(s) — reviewing all the input, discussing concerns honestly, praying together.
- The eldership reaches one of three conclusions: proceed to installation; defer for a defined period with specific reasons; or set aside the consideration with pastoral care of the candidate.
- Unity is sought. Where one or more elders are not yet of one mind, the process is held over until unity emerges or is genuinely confirmed not to be coming.
Stage H — Public Announcement of Intention
Purpose
Where the eldership has reached unity in favour of installation, the body is told of the intention before the formal installation occurs. This gives the body a final opportunity to raise any matter not previously surfaced.
Activities
- The eldership announces — in a body-wide gathering, in writing, and through any other normal communication channels — that the named candidate(s) will be installed at a specified date (typically two to four weeks ahead).
- The body is invited to bring any concern that has not previously been raised, in private and pastoral conversation with a designated elder.
- Where a serious concern surfaces, the eldership pauses the process to investigate before proceeding.
- Where no significant concern surfaces, the installation proceeds.
Stage I — Installation (Laying On of Hands)
Purpose
The candidate is publicly installed in their office through prayer, the laying on of hands by the eldership, and the body's witness. This is the Acts 13:3 pattern.
Activities
- A body-wide gathering at which the installation occurs (typically the regular Sunday service).
- The candidate stands before the body. The eldership and lead pastor lay hands on the candidate. Prayer is offered — for the candidate's faithfulness, family, gifting, protection, and ministry.
- The candidate makes a brief public statement of acceptance of the office and dependence on the Lord.
- The body affirms the installation, typically through audible amen or a similar gesture.
- Use the Installation guidance (Template G) for the order of service.
Stage J — First Year of Ministry
Purpose
The first year after installation is a settling-in period. The new elder or deacon is intentionally supported, mentored, and given space to learn the rhythms of the office.
Activities
- A mentoring relationship with a long-standing elder or deacon for the first year.
- A reduced load relative to senior elders for the first six months, with gradual increase as the new elder settles.
- Honest debrief sessions every two to three months — what is the new elder learning, where are they struggling, what does the eldership team need to do differently.
- A formal one-year reflection at the end of the first year — the new elder, the mentor, and the wider eldership review the year together, name growth and gaps, and confirm continuation.