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CHURCH LEADERSHIP SELECTION

How Bishops, Deacons and Preachers are selected.

Every spring and fall they have an Ordnung church that explains all the rules.

If every member is in compliance with the Ordnung, two weeks later they will have communion service, where the members break bread, have one sip of homemade wine and wash each other's feet. This is to purify their soul from all their sins in the past six months. Communion service is considered very sacred, absolutely no infractions to the Ordnung, at this time, is acceptable. Should there be any infractions to the Ordnung, there will be no communion services held until the infraction is solved.

My culture multiplies very rapidly. Therefore, the need for expansions of their churches happens quite often. That means that preachers, deacons and bishops have to be made accordingly. First, you have to become a preacher before you can become a bishop. A preacher can become a bishop, but a preacher cannot become a deacon. A deacon, however can become a preacher and then a bishop.

When it is necessary to ordain a bishop, preacher, or a deacon, it is done during the communion service after the breaking of the bread, drinking of the wine, and washing of the feet. There will always be other preachers, bishops, and deacons from the other church districts of the same faith present to assist in the process of ordaining. At this time, all members are asked to step outside, so the bishop, preachers, and the deacon can prepare the process.

If the weather is nice, the members usually stand outside in the yard waiting to vote for who they think should be ordained. Any married man can be voted in. A deacon and a preacher will set up two separate booths, one where the women vote and one where the men vote.

Each member will be given a piece of paper to write his or her choice on, then they will fold the paper and place it in the bowl of either the preacher or deacon. They will keep track of who received the first vote and who received the last vote. Once everyone has voted, the deacon and the preachers will count up the votes. For an example, if the church members voted for ten different men to be ordained that day, only one will be chosen to be ordained. The bishops will place ten hymnbooks on the table. Each hymnbook will have a rubber band around it. In one of the ten books they will place a piece of paper stating that you are the chosen one. Then they will shuffle the ten books, so they don't know which book has the paper in it. Then, the books will be neatly placed in the center of the table. This table is the same table that the male elders of the church and the lead singers sit at every Sunday, as they sing their hymns.

When the bishops have completed their preparations they will ask one of their preachers and the deacon to go ask the members to come in. After everyone is seated the bishop will ask the one who was voted in first, to stand up and walk up to the table, pick out a hymnbook and sit back down. This procedure will be followed until the last one voted in has picked up his hymnbook. Then, the preacher will get up and go to the first one that was voted in and remove the band from the hymnbook and look for the piece of paper. If he does not find it he will go to the next one voted in and so on until he finds the piece of paper.

When he finds the piece of paper in the hymn book, that member will be asked to step forward to the bench in the center of the room, which is the bench where the bishop, preachers, and deacon's sit. The bishop will then ask the chosen member to get down on his knees and the bishop will lay his hands on the chosen member's head and read a couple verses from the New Testament and the member will be told he is now a deacon or preacher. From this day on, until he dies, he has no choice in the matter, he has been chosen.

The same procedure applies when they ordain a bishop, except, only the preachers can be voted in. When they ordain a deacon all members can be voted in, when they ordain a preacher all members and the deacon can be voted in.