Río Texas Conference
Letters from the chair, a public prayer wall, and the calendar of retreats and gatherings for the elders of the Río Texas Annual Conference.
riotexas.orderofelders.org →Conference chapters
Find your order
Your conference
This site is built to grow. If your conference's order of elders would like a home here — writings, prayer, calendar, and more — we would be glad to help you start one.
Write to us →The responsibilities of elders are derived from the authority given in ordination. Four charges, held together in one life of ministry.
Word
preaching · teaching · counsel
To preach the Word of God, lead in worship, teach the Scriptures, and engage the people in study and witness — ensuring the faithful transmission of the Christian faith.
Sacrament
font · table
To administer the sacraments of baptism and the Supper of the Lord according to Christ's ordinance, and to encourage the congregational use of the means of grace.
Order
administration · oversight · connection
To order the life of the church for mission and ministry; to equip lay leadership; to administer the provisions of the Discipline within the connection.
Service
servant ministry · servant leadership
To embody the teachings of Jesus in servant ministries, building the body of Christ as a caring and giving community, extending the ministry of Christ to the world.
A covenant community, made visible
Every elder in full connection belongs to an order — a covenant community bound in mutual care and accountability, watching over one another in love. But between annual conferences, that covenant can be hard to see.
This site exists to make the ordinary life of the order visible: the letters we write one another, the prayers we carry, the tables we gather around. It begins with what can be shared publicly, and it grows as the order asks it to.