Local churches should prioritize vine work (people) over trellis work (programs). Trellises exist to support the vine. People, not programs, are the mission. But if we’re honest, it often feels like trellis issues dominate our time, especially in elders’ and members’ meetings.
How do we work against that?
There are many ways, and one of them is to use something called a “care list.”
WHAT IS A CARE LIST?
A care list is an administrative tool that serves elders and church members in caring for weak, hurting, and straying sheep. It is comprised of members who are experiencing an acute need or are found in unrepentant sin. There’s a private version of the list seen only by the elders, and there’s a public version of the list that would be known to the whole congregation.
When the public version is used as a church discipline tool, it offers a formal way to obey Jesus’s command to “tell it to the church” (Matthew 18:17), while then providing a space of time to elapse before the final step of “treat[ing] them as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matthew 18:17). At every
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