Living the Benedict Option #4: the guidance of the Elders.
By Nathan
Alleluia is led by a group of men we call the Elders. They are members of the community who have demonstrated a commitment to living community life with enthusiasm and good fruit. They are prudent and holy men with a diverse array of gifts.
Only a good double handful of elders have served the community since our founding almost fifty years ago. We’ve had as few as three elders and as many as eight (maybe nine). The number of elders has grown as the community has grown. There’s a certain logic to that: more people need more leaders.
The reason we’ve had so few elders is that they serve from the time they are elected until they turn 75 or have to resign for medical reasons. At 75, they become elders emeritus and can participate in elder discussions but not vote.
A prayerful electoral process.
Alleluia recently elected two new elders. The process goes through several phases.
First, every community member is asked to pray and fast for two weeks for the process to be protected and led by the Holy Spirit. We trust that God will help us to make a good decision together. At the end of the time of prayer and fasting, every community member is asked to submit a list of five men in the body that they think would be good elders, rated 1-5 in order of preference.
The second stage differs substantially from most modern elections. The current elders tally the votes, taking the 1-5 weighting into account. So my top pick had five times the weight as my bottom pick. Often this process will reveal a few “top contenders.” The elders discuss whether any of the top contenders are not good candidates. Since they lead the community, they know a lot about the private struggles some of our members rightly keep private. (Gossip is deadly to community life).
Depending on how many elders are being elected, the current elders will present one or more potential elders for the members to affirm. This is not a horse race with candidates contending with one another. It’s a simple up or down, yes or no vote for each potential elder. If a majority of the community affirms an elder, they will become a provisional elder for one year. So if the elders present two candidates, the community might affirm both, one, or neither.
A provisional elder serves just like the other elders and is frequently given “headship” over some particular facet of community life. The term headship means they are in charge of that thing. At the end of the year, the community holds another affirmation vote. Once affirmed, they are permanently installed until they retire.
Governing by consensus.
The elders chart the direction of the community by consensus. When they are wrestling with a question, like whether the community should start a school, all elders must agree before they move forward. They might have strong opinions one way or the other during their deliberations, but once the decision is made, each elder takes the group decision and makes it their own.
This has its good points and it’s less good points. Perhaps the best result of this dynamic is that the elders can avoid splitting into factions and are able to maintain unity among themselves. I think this translates to unity within the community itself because we are following the elders’ example as well as abiding by their rulings.
A challenging point, though I wouldn’t call it bad, is that it can lead to slow decision-making. If you have to convince everybody that a certain course of action is correct, many decisions don’t find a quick resolution. The funny thing is, sometimes no resolution is better than a quick resolution. And sometimes doing nothing is a more appropriate solution than doing anything else.
The key to all of this is that elders seek to listen to the Holy Spirit and do what God wants them to do. The book of Acts says that the apostles were in one accord (Acts 1:14). That’s the goal, the model the elders are trying to follow.
The cross of leadership.
Being an elder requires tremendous self-sacrifice. Elders hear all it whenever someone has a complaint about community life. Whenever families struggle or are in crisis, the elders will get involved. They take responsibility for when things go wrong and give credit to others for when they go right.
And their time… They give so much of their time. I complained one Saturday about being too busy to my father-in-law, who is one of the elders. He replied that he had three meetings that afternoon, and was in charge of two of them. He said it with such a good attitude that it turned off my complaints like a spigot. What a good example.
The elders give so much of themselves… And why? They don’t get paid and it’s often a lot of hassle. There’s not much glory, though they do get to form some extraordinary friendships.
At the end of the day, they do it because they love us and they love our life together. They have a deep and sincere desire that each member of the community grow into the person God created them to be. Like good fathers, they want us to flourish and grow in holiness and love. And they see that Alleluia is good soil for their children and grandchildren to produce fruit that will last unto eternal life.
For more stories about living the Benedict Option in Alleluia Community, check out the archive.
To read more about my conversion, check out Demoniac, now available on Amazon.
