Despite what all the New Testament
communicates, the doctrine of biblical eldership has been sorely misunderstood.
Even churches that claim to be governed by a plurality of elders have redefined
eldership so that its original purpose and noble standing have, in practice,
been eclipsed by the ordained pastor and his staff. To clarify biblical
eldership in light of contemporary church practices, I present the following
five, distinguishing features of a New Testament, Christian eldership: pastoral
leadership, shared leadership, male leadership, qualified leadership, and
servant leadership.
Pastoral Leadership
When most Christians hear about church elders,
they think of an official church board, lay officials, influential people
within the local church, or advisers to the pastor. They think of elders as
being policymakers, financial officers, fund-raisers, or administrators. I call
these types of elders “board elders”. People don't expect “board elders” to
teach the Word or be involved pastorally in people's lives. Victor A. Constien,
a Lutheran official and author of The Caring Elder, illustrated this popular view
of the elders' role when he wrote, “Members of a congregation's board of elders
are not assistant pastors. They assist their pastor … elders help facilitate
and strengthen the working relationship of the church staff”.
Such a view, however, not only lacks scriptural
support but flatly contradicts New Testament Scriptures. A person doesn't need to
read Greek or be professionally trained in theology to understand that the
contemporary, church-board concept of eldership is irreconcilably at odds with
the New Testament definition of eldership. According to the New Testament,
elders lead the church, teach and preach the Word, protect the church from
false teachers, exhort and admonish the saints in sound doctrine, visit the
sick and pray, and judge doctrinal issues. In biblical terminology, elders
shepherd, oversee, lead, and care for the local church.
Therefore, when Paul and Peter directly exhort
the elders to do their duty, they both employ shepherding imagery. It should be observed that these two giant
apostles assign the task of shepherding the local church to no other group or
single person but the elders. Paul reminds the Asian elders that God the
Holy Spirit placed them in the flock as overseers for the purpose of shepherding
the church of God (Acts 20:28). Peter exhorts the elders to be all that
shepherds should be to the flock (1 Peter 5:2). We, then, must also view
apostolic, Christianized elders to be primarily pastors of a flock, not
corporate executives, CEOs, or advisers to a pastor.
If we want to understand Christian elders and
their work, we must understand the biblical imagery of shepherding. As keepers of
sheep, biblical elders are to protect, feed, and lead the flock and to help
meet the flock's many practical needs. Using these four, broad, pastoral
categories, let us briefly consider the examples, exhortations, and teachings
of the New Testament regarding shepherd elders.
Protecting the Flock: A major part of the New Testament
elders' work is to protect the local church from false teachers. As Paul was
leaving Asia Minor, he summons the elders of the church in Ephesus for a
farewell exhortation. The essence of Paul's charge is this: guard the flock—wolves are coming:
And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called
to him the elders of the church … “Be on
guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has
made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own
blood. I know that after my departure savage
wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own
selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples
after them. Therefore be on the alert”.
(Acts 20:17,28-31a; italics added).
According to Paul's required qualifications for
eldership, a prospective elder must have enough knowledge of the Bible to be able
to refute false teachers:
For this reason I left you in Crete, that you
might set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city as I directed
you, namely, if any man be above reproach . . . holding fast the faithful word
which is in accordance with the teaching, that
he may be able . . . to refute those who contradict [sound doctrine] (Titus
1:5,6a,9; italics added).
The Jerusalem elders, for example, met with the
apostles to judge doctrinal error: “And the apostles and the elders came together
to look into this [doctrinal] matter” (Acts 15:6). Like the apostles, the
Jerusalem elders had to know the Word so that they could protect the flock from
false teachers.
Feeding the Flock: Unlike modern, church-board
elders, all New Testament elders were required to be “able to teach” (1 Timothy
3:2). Listing elder qualifications in his letter to Titus, Paul states, “[The
elder must hold] fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the
teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute
those who contradict” (Titus 1:9). In an extremely significant passage on
elders, Paul writes about some elders who labor at preaching and teaching and
thus deserve financial support from the local church:
Let the elders who rule well be considered
worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and
teaching.
For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle
the ox while he is threshing”, and “The laborer is worthy of his wages” (1 Timothy
5:17,18; italics added).
Paul reminds the Ephesian elders that he has
taught them and the church the full plan and purpose of God: “For I did not
shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:27). Now it was
time for the elders to do the same. Since elders are commanded to shepherd the
flock of God (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2), part of their shepherding task is to
see that the flock is fed God's Word.
Leading the Flock: In biblical language, to shepherd
a nation or any group of people means to lead or govern (2 Sam. 5:2; Ps. 78:71,
72). According to Acts 20 and 1 Peter 5, elders are to shepherd the church of
God. So, to shepherd a local church means, among other things, to lead the
church. To the church in Ephesus, Paul writes, “Let the elders who rule [lead,
direct, manage] well be considered worthy of double honor” (1 Timothy 5:17a).
Elders, then, are to lead, direct, govern, manage, and otherwise care for the
flock of God.
In Titus 1:7, Paul insists that a prospective
elder be morally and spiritually above reproach because he will be “God's
steward”. A steward is a “household manager”, someone with official
responsibility over the master's servants, property, and even finances. Elders
are stewards of God's household, the local church.
Elders are also called “overseers”, which
signifies that they supervise and manage the church. Peter uses the verb form
of overseer when he exhorts the elders: “Therefore, I exhort the elders among
you . . . shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight” (1 Peter
5:1a,2a). In this instance, Peter combines the concepts of shepherding and
overseeing when he exhorts the elders to do their duty. Hence we can speak of
the elders' overall function as being the pastoral oversight of the local
church.
Helping to Meet the
Flock's Many Practical Needs: In addition to the familiar, broad categories of protecting, feeding, and
leading the flock, elders are also to bear responsibility for meeting the
practical, diverse needs of the flock. For example, James instructs sick
members of the flock to call for the elders of the church: “Is anyone among you
sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord” (James. 5:14). Paul exhorts the
Ephesian elders to care for the weak and needy of the flock: “In everything I
showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus,
that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive' “ (Acts
20:35; italics added).
As shepherds of the flock, the elders must be
available to meet the sheep's needs. This responsibility includes: visiting the
sick and comforting the bereaved; strengthening the weak; praying for all the
sheep; visiting new members; providing counsel for couples who are engaged,
married, and/or divorcing; and managing the many, day-to-day details related to
the inner life of the congregation.
