Our Case Studies have been described as the most entertaining part of the day. We have a friendly draft of Elders from the delegates. These 3 or 4 Elders are presented with a hypothetical situation that Elders might face. After their first and second impressions, we open it up to the floor for discussion.
While at the store you see someone who visited your services a couple of weeks last month. You catch up with him and get his attention, introducing yourself.
He tells you that he won't be back. When you ask why he says that he noticed that Mr. Jones was an Elder, and he knows for a fact that Mr. Jones is having an affair with a lady at his office. If Mr. Jones is a spiritual leader of the church, the visitor and his family aren't interested in attending anymore. What do you tell the guest?
When you privately go to the elder and ask him about the situation he becomes very defensive and denies there is a problem. Now what?
Your son is invited to meet with a home Bible study group that is sponsored by your church. When he comes home you ask him how it went. He tells you it was a very caring group, and that he had the genuine feeling that the spirit of God was there. This seems odd, coming from your son because he never talks this way.
You find out that the leader of the group has invited a man from another church to be a guest teacher. Several people from the other man's church also attended this small group. You ask your son which church he was from, but he doesn't remember.
What do you do?
A young couple begins to attend, with several children. You discover that they are an unmarried but are living together. They continue to come with their combined children for several weeks.
One of your greeters has been making an effort to talk with them each week. One Sunday they tell the greeter that they intend to respond to the invitation and join the church that morning. A few minutes later the greeter takes you aside and tells you want they plan on doing that morning.
What do you do?