What is the Big Deal about Elders?

So many of us grew up in churches with solo leadership that it is part of our ecclesiology and very difficult to shake. We think the church ought to operate like a corporation: one person at the top, the CEO, and everybody else is under him. Or, there is a board of elders or a board of deacons, or a consistory, or whatever terminology we want to use, but it is still a hierarchy, and one man (or in some churches, one woman) has final authority and can overrule all the rest.  But that is not the New Testament model of leadership for the local church. Paul instructed Titus to stay in Crete and set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. Paul gives the qualifications for elders in Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3, and he uses the plural in chapter 5 when he writes, “Let the elders who rules well be considered worthy of double honor…” In the book of Acts, we read about Paul stopping off in Miletus, on his way to Jerusalem, where he knew he would be handed over to the authorities and eventually end up in Rome. This was his last chance to minister to the church he had loved so much that he stayed there longer than he stayed anywhere else: the church at Ephesus. So, what does Paul do in Miletus? He sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. Finally, one of the most compelling passages that hold up this New Testament model of leadership by a council of elders in every church is found in Acts 14. Paul and Barnabas were on their first missionary journey, these premier church planters and perhaps the greatest missionary team ever. They went back to three cities they had preached in, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, to encourage the believers. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Elders, plural, for each church.

In each of these passages, we see the same thing. God has ordained a biblical model for church leadership, a council of elders. And I would submit to you that healthy, vital churches that are achieving what God has called them to, without exception have healthy, vital leadership. What are elders? Your translation may say bishop, or overseer, or shepherd. But it’s the same thing. The Jews preferred the term, presbuteros, which means mature, dignified, wise, even “gray-haired.” The Greeks preferred the word episkopos, and that means “overseer” or one who takes responsibility. But they are used interchangeably in the New Testament because an elder must be both: a mature believer, and one who leads the flock and takes care of them. One denotes the dignity of the office and the other the duties.

Each of the qualifications for elders are important, but I think the last thing Paul said in Titus 1 may be the most important, because it is the ground upon which elders must stand if they are going to faithfully lead the flock. “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.” An elder or pastor may have a great marriage, solid kids, and good character in the community, known far and wide for their kind words and good deeds. But if his teaching undermines the authority of God’s Word, he is the blind leading the blind. If what he holds firm to is “peace at any price,” or “a rejection of the authority of the Bible that transcends culture,” then he is not holding firm to the trustworthy word as taught, and he will not be able to “give instruction in sound doctrine.” Nor will he be able to “rebuke those who contradict it,” for he contradicts it himself!

I cannot remember where I read this many years ago, but I love it: The Dakota Indian tribe was known for its common sense wisdom. They said, If you discover you are riding a dead horse, dismount. Here’s how this basic wisdom has been re-worked for church life in America; think of the dead horse as unbiblical thinking. Some churches do nothing about the dead horse, and simply change riders, or pastors. Others say: “this is way we’ve always ridden dead horses.” Some churches form a committee to study the horse in order to see how dead it really is. Liberal churches reject the notion that unbiblical thinking IS a dead horse and merely re-classify the dead horse as “living impaired.” The ONLY way to address the dead horse of unbiblical thinking is to hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught. That’s what elders must do.

Got elders?