Elders
Podcast Transcript: 1/15/24
We’re on the topic of church leadership. If you listened last week, we saw from Scripture that the ultimate authority and head over the church is Christ. It’s his church, not our church, and he may do with his church as he pleases. Today, we’re going to talk about those men whom Christ establishes as stewards over and servants of his church. These are the elders. We’ll talk about what are the qualifications of church elders according to Scripture. Then we’ll talk about what’s expected of an elder, what’s their role and what tasks do they perform? Finally, we’ll talk about how many elders are appropriate in a local church. Is one elder sufficient to lead a church, or does the Bible prescribe a plurality of elders or more than one pastor. These are important questions, so let’s get started.
1 Timothy 3:1-7, “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.”
So here we have the Apostle Paul laying out for his protégé Timothy the qualifications of an elder or overseer of the church.
And we see something very similar in Titus 1:6-9, where Paul again is instructing Titus this time about who qualifies to be an elder, he says, “An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.”
From these passages we get a very clear picture of who we ought to look for when it comes to selecting elders of the church:
- First, this is one who aspires to be an elder. In other words, a man who has the desire to lead the church. The office of pastor, elder, overseer should never be forced on anyone. It’s a calling.
- He should be above reproach, meaning he should not live in such a way that he would bring dishonor either on the church or the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- He should be the husband of one wife. In other words, he’s a one-woman man. This should not be a man who makes other women in the church feel uncomfortable. Do you understand? He’s a man who exudes faithfulness to his wife.
- Sober minded, disciplined, not a drunkard. This is a man who is able to practice self-control. He’s sensible, reasonable, and he practices good judgement.
- Respectable. He’s able to mind his manners. He doesn’t give offense. This is not a man who has a rough edge to the extent that he’s always stepping on other’s toes.
- Hospitable. This is a man who is welcoming and loves to receive guests.
- Able to teach. Now, this is important. It’s certainly no more important than these other items, but it certainly shouldn’t be missed. Not every man who is honorable and respectable and wise is able to teach. This qualification means that he’s able to teach rightly from Scripture, helping others to better understand God’s word. He is a clarifier of God’s revealed truth. So, remember, just because someone’s a “nice guy” doesn’t mean he’s able to teach, and doesn’t mean he’s qualified to be an elder. This is one of those qualifications that I notice often gets side-stepped when considering elders.
- Not violent. Gentle. We don’t have outbursts of anger. This is not someone who is mean-spirited, but amiable. To say that a man is gentle, doesn’t mean he lacks strength or backbone. It means he is loving and caring.
- Not quarrelsome. He doesn’t love a fight. He’s turned off by discord and division.
- Not a lover of money. He isn’t greedy for selfish gain.
- A good manager of his own household. Let’s not overlook this. The church is God’s household. This is a space where people and resources must be managed. So if a man isn’t able to manage his own household, he shouldn’t be entrusted to manage God’s household.
- Not a recent convert. He shouldn’t be a man who has recently come to faith, because there must be a spiritual maturity there that comes with a season of walking with Jesus.
- Finally, well thought of by others, a lover of good, upright, holy. A pastor, or elder is not a perfect man, but he is a model disciple of Jesus Christ. This is a man who strives to live his life in such a way that he may be an example for others believers to follow.
So, these are our qualifications. I know that was a lot, but every one of these things are important when selecting and appointing elders in a local church.
Now, what do the elders, overseers, pastors, shepherds do. What’s their role. What are their primary tasks.
Let’s read Ephesians 4:11-13, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Let’s also read Acts 6:2-4, “And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.’”
The role and primary tasks of the elders are to equip church members for the work of ministry. The primary ministry and mission of the church, to go and make disciples of all nations, is actually the work of church members. And it’s the elders’ job to make sure the members of the church are equipped to accomplish that good work. The task of the elders’ is also to build up the body of Christ until every member reaches maturity in their faith and unity in the knowledge of Christ. They are becoming more and more like Christ. The main way that elders do this is through teaching and preaching the word of God and through leading in prayer. There was a reason the apostles in Acts chapter 6 were concerned that they were being distracted from their main task of teaching and prayer. It is because without these things, the church won’t be built up, and equipped for ministry.
Another task of the elders is leadership. Let me take you to Hebrews 13:17, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”
Look also at 1 Timothy 5:17, “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of a double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.”
We can also refer back to the 1 Timothy 3 passage where it speaks of an overseer being a man who is able to manage his own household well, because this is a proving ground for managing the affairs of the church.
Preaching and teaching, equipping the body for ministry, prayer, leading, managing, directing the vision of the church, these are all tasks of elders.
Now, something I need to point out, the titles of elder, pastor, overseer, and shepherd are all interchangeable. Elders are the pastors of the church. Are all of those pastors paid, no, not necessarily. I believe 1 Timothy 5:17 shows us that a church may pay one or a number of elders in the church if these elders spend a great deal of their time leading and teaching. But this doesn’t mean that an elder that is paid has greater authority than one who is not. We see in the eldership a group of equals. All elders are pastors.
I want to read you a line from the draft of the bylaws that our leadership team is working on. It reads: “Elders of the church shall be considered pastors of the congregation.” These titles are interchangeable. Who is the pastor of the church? Well, the elders are the pastors of the church. Are there elders who practice a greater gift of leadership or teaching? Yes. Are there elders who, thought able to teach, have an even greater gift for administration. Likely. So, you won’t necessarily see every elder in the pulpit preaching on Sunday morning, or casting vision for the church. But each elder is gifted a set of skills and abilities and ought to use those to shepherd and serve the church.
Ok. Now. Does Scripture tell us how many elders there ought to be? It doesn’t give a specific number for each congregation. But I will tell you this. In the whole New Testament, elder or pastor in the singular is never mentioned in the context of leading a local church. These are always plural. Whenever the New Testament speaks of leadership of the church, it always speaks of elders, overseers, shepherds.
Let me give you a few of examples. In Titus 1:5, Paul says, “This is why I [Paul] left you [Titus] in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.”
In Acts 20:17, it says, “Now from Miletus he [Paul] sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.”
Lastly, back up in Acts 14, after Paul and his missionary team had planted churches in some key cities in Asia Minor, they came back through encouraging the believers. In verse 23 it says, “And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord…”
We can not only make a case for a plurality of elders, but I say the Scriptures give us a clear mandate that a church be led by a team of elders.
So, how does all this that we’ve reviewed today play out for our church? Well, we’re currently operating under a kind of provisional leadership team, because we’re a replant. So our church is being led by a 5-member replant board. That’s fine, for now. But we will be voting on new bylaws that would establish an elder board of qualified individuals from our congregation. Here’s some of the language from the draft we will be recommending:
The River Church is to be recognized as a Jesus ruled, elder led, and congregationally accountable church in accordance with the principles laid down in the New Testament.
The directional elder board, in cooperation with the Senior Pastor, is responsible for leading the church in all matters of direction, doctrine, and discipline. The Board is responsible to oversee and evaluate the direction of all ministries and stewardship of the church.
So, you see here that we, as a church, are trying to move in a direction that is more biblically faithful. The bottom line is, we want our church to be led the way that Christ wants it to be led. We believe that means establishing a board of elders with a clear role and responsibilities.
