Home | About Us | Past Featured Subjects | Bulletins | Sermons & Audio | Studies In The Cross Of Christ | Classes | Questions

Click Here for the Latest Edition of the Charlottesville Beacon

Planning to Visit Us?

What to Expect
Current Class Information

Wisdom From a Veteran Elder

An Interview by Sewell Hall

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bruce Crawley is a widely known and highly respected elder of the 77th Street Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The following comments were made extemporaneously during an interview in August, 1987.

SH: Brother Crawley, how long have you served as an elder? 

Crawley: 39 years, since early in 1949. All of this has been at 77th Street.

SH: I understand that for several years the 77th Street church has had as many as seven or eight elders. How do you account for this relatively large number? Crawley: We have had some good men growing up here and we have tried to use them and keep them involved in everything that we could. Soon after Ralph Scott was baptized and when he was married, I talked to him about preparing himself for the eldership. He and others were encouraged not to seek the eldership so much as to seek to prepare themselves to serve in that capacity.

SH: What responsibility does a man have to serve if he is asked to do so?

Crawley: I believe that all Christians should desire to do whatever they are capable of doing. If the Lord gives us the ability to do something and we shirk it, then we have shirked our responsibility to God. I think a man must be convinced that he has the qualifications and can serve acceptably, but unless he knows something that others don't know that would disqualify him, I don't see how he could refuse if the church asks him to serve. In fact, when an elder is serving, I don't think he can just resign and walk out on his responsibility to the church any more than he can walk out on his natural family. I get to the point sometimes where I feel that it would be so much easier to relieve myself of that feeling of responsibility, but I just can't do it.

SH: What can a church do if an elder proves to be unqualified for the work? Crawley: If some of the church come to the other elders and feel that one is not qualified, I think we can go back to the same system used when elders are appointed. Those concerned should be encouraged to go to the man whom they consider unqualified and be honest with him and, in love, tell him about it and see if they can't reconcile their differences. If they cannot, the brother in question should go to the other elders and, if they agree that he is not qualified, he should then just quietly resign and there should be no necessity of making the objections public. If there is any place in the world that people can be frank and honest without being ugly, it should be in the Lord's family.

SH: Do you have any suggestions for selecting a preacher?

Crawley: We need to talk to the men being considered and determine what their ideas are with reference to spiritual matters. It is also my thought that it is more important to find out what kind of work they have done where they have been than just having them come so we can listen to them preach.

SH: What suggestions do you have for preachers and elders in working together?

Crawley: They must be perfectly and completely honest and frank with each other. A preacher needs to keep the elders apprised of what he is trying to do and elders should be free to make suggestions to a preacher concerning any line of teaching which they feel the congregation needs. I don't encourage preachers meeting with the elders always; I would rather he did not.

SH: What communication do you suggest between elders, preachers and deacons?

Crawley: I believe that elders, deacons and preachers should meet at least once a month and talk about things that everybody needs to know about. Assignments should be made to deacons and they should report concerning progress they have made on anything assigned to them in the past. Then, between these meetings, at least once a month, the elders should have a meeting with no one else present. Preachers may attend that meeting occasionally, if invited, to talk about things which involve them and the elders alone.

SH: What are some obstacles to good working relations among elders?

Crawley: When petty differences exist between elders or when one elder does not have the complete confidence of the others, it makes it hard to deal with big questions. And when elders become overly concerned about whether their authority is being recognized, it poses a problem. I have said in our elders' meetings that when we get more concerned with whether our authority is recognized than we are with the welfare of the congregation, we are in a bad way. People need to be taught to recognize the authority of elders, but how it reflects on me is not the problem.

SH: What suggestions do you have for maintaining unity among elders?

Crawley: The best way to keep unity is for every man to recognize that the other folks are just as dedicated and have just as much sense as he does and not think that just because he espouses an idea it has to be that way. We have seven elders and if I have some idea and am really sold on it, but six other men who are just as dedicated and just as smart as I am think it is not a good idea, I would be foolish to push it. I should just say, "Well, my idea is wrong and we will just make it unanimous." I believe that every decision of the elders should be unanimous on that basis.

SH: What do you consider the most rewarding part of being an elder?

Crawley: I think to look around and see men like Willis West and Ralph Scott and others who have grown up in this church; and to feel that you have had at least a small part in their development and to see them active in the work of the church—you can just write, "Paid in Full." What more reward do you want than to see men grow up in a godly fashion?

  Other Articles
Changing Evil to Good
Faith Without Expectation
Could You Sign Your Name to This?