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Originally Posted by Unregistered
??? Of course I would if I were LifeGoesOn. The elders ought to have pastoral hearts and if they recognise their sheep have gone somewhere else they would have taken notice with care and love. The body is knit together in love. In our church whenever a brother or a sister has not been in touch for awhile in meetings or other settings we would always reach out to see what he or she is up to. Not to condemn but to offer love and grace. If they leave to other assemblies we would be happy to also to pray for them and wish them well.
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Elders I knew or knew of that had pastoral hearts were forced out nearly 30 years ago. Even one who stayed in a diminished capacity such as Francis Ball had a pastoral heart. I have found many of the current elders have not exhibited that. They may say we love brother "so and so", but won't go visit him. The present function of an elder is more of a local administrator than it is being shepherd. Which current elder would go to an assisted living facility or a nursing home to visit a former LC member? I can think of one former elder who did such a thing in his visits to Southern California.
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"In our church whenever a brother or a sister has not been in touch for awhile in meetings or other settings we would always reach out to see what he or she is up to. Not to condemn but to offer love and grace."
Who ever did such a thing to "quarantined" brothers? Or even that simply stopped meeting?
Often my view of the current status of Local Churches is as the elders, deacons, etc they have the attitude "we set the meeting times. Those that stop meeting, they know where we are. If they want to meet with us, we're right here."