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Church Government
Let’s begin to think about the need for gathering a plurality of elders, and how to go about gathering them with biblical wisdom.
We can have a good start by reviewing the biblical data and reflecting on the practical benefits of having a plurality of non-paid elders.
Brief Biblical Background
shows that the words elders (presbuterous, v. 17) and overseers (episkopous, v. 28 [also known as bishops]) are interchangeable, and that both do the work of pastoring (poimainein, v. 28) or shepherding God’s flock.
A pastor, then, is an elder, and an elder is a bishop/overseer—all three terms refer to the same office and the same work of pastoring.
Note too that Paul “sent to Ephesus” for “the elders [presbuterous, plural] of the church [ekklΣsias, singular]” (v.
17).
The pattern is of a plurality of elders in each local church.
distinguishes the office of elder (episkopos) from that of deacon (diakonos).
Each must meet the same character requirements, but elders must also be able to teach—an ability not required for the office of deacon.
Right away, then, we see that elders are different from deacons in that teaching is pivotal to the elder’s responsibility, while the deacon’s tasks lie elsewhere.
Both offices must be present for a church to be organized, led, and served according to the Word.
further clarifies the distinction.
There we read of a controversy between Greek and Hebrew widows about the equity of food distribution among them.
The disciples gather the whole congregation and say, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve [diakonein] tables.
Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.
But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry [diakonia] of the word” (6:2-4).
The division of labor is clear.
The seven chosen men “deaconed” (served) tables, which
released the apostles for “deaconing” the Word.
Deacons, then, serve to care for the physical and financial needs of the church, and they do so in a way that heals divisions, brings unity under the Word, and supports the leadership of the elders.
Without this
practical service of the deacons, the elders will not be freed to devote themselves to praying and serving the Word to people.
Elders need deacons to serve practically, and deacons need elders to lead spiritually.
THINK HARD
1. Read .
What does this imply about the way Paul structured the churches he planted?
2. Look up at least five of the following verses: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
What do you learn about the number and responsibilities of elders in local churches?
3. Compare and 20:28.
Then compare , , and 7. What terms seem to be used interchangeably?
The Practicality of Plurality
We’ve seen some of the main biblical arguments for the distinction between elders and deacons, for the roles of each, and for a plurality of elders in a single church.
What are the practical benefits of having more than one elder in each church?
In other words, is it worth the trouble to switch from a single pastor/multiple deacon leadership structure to a plurality of elders leadership structure with multiple serving deacons?
Let’s think about some of the advantages of making the switch.
It balances pastoral weakness.
No pastor is broadly gifted enough to do all the work of the ministry equally well by himself.
There are weaknesses in every pastor’s game.
We all need other people to balance out our all-too-human deficiencies.
When you surround yourself with godly men whose gifts, passions, and abilities balance yours, you provide
more well-rounded leadership for people to follow.
It diffuses congregational criticism.
Under the single pastor/multiple deacon model, the pastor often takes the brunt of the criticism alone.
Tough decisions can be misperceived, motives can be misconstrued, and before too long the pastor becomes the target of all the critical remarks because he is the one who is perceived to be making all the decisions and
casting all the final votes—and under this model, he often is.
Within a plurality of elders, however, leadership is shared with a body of non-staff elders who have been recognized and affirmed by the congregation.
This provision alleviates the pastor from bearing all the criticism, because now leadership and decision making responsibility are shared among the group.
Other men can now stand in the gap with the pastor, and they can take both responsibility and criticism together.
Also, the congregation likely will be more willing to follow the tough decisions of a group
of both staff and non-staff elders than to follow those made alone by a paid pastor.
So some criticism may be avoided simply by the increased trust that a plurality of congregationally recognized non-staff elders engenders among church members.
It adds pastoral wisdom.
Sharing leadership with a group of godly, able non-staff elders will almost invariably keep pastors (especially young ones) from saying or doing dumb things, or from saying or doing the right things in unhelpful ways.
None of us is omniscient.
We all need to humble ourselves, share leadership, and ask advice.
In fact, many of us are impatient when it comes to implementing a vision for godly
change.
Godly elders can help us select a pace for change that the congregation can keep up with.
They can also help us formulate plans, articulate goals, and handle sensitive situations better than we may do if left to ourselves.
It Strengthen’s leadership.
That is, it roots leadership in non-staff members.
This is important because the congregation needs to be able to function and continue to grow even if something awful happens to the paid pastor.
The last thing we want to do as vocational pastors is to make the congregation so dependent on us that the church would fall
apart if we died, got called somewhere else, or (God forbid) fell into some disqualifying sin.
We want our work to continue to bear fruit long after we’re gone!
But that means leadership must be rooted in non-staff members.
The best, most biblical way to do that is to incorporate a structure of leadership based on a plurality of elders in which the non-staff
elders outnumber the staff elder (meaning: the paid pastor).
It enables corrective discipline.
Without corrective discipline, the church has no way to protect the purity of her public corporate witness from the hypocrisy of members involved in scandalous sin.
Yet the discharge of corrective church discipline is far more difficult without a plurality of elders.
Performing corrective church discipline requires a leadership structure that won’t buckle under the spiritual and relational pressures of the process.
By adding wisdom, diffusing criticism, balancing pastoral weaknesses, and strengthens leadership, plural eldership helps transfer the load of corrective discipline across the multiple pillars.
Plural eldership, then, is critical for the discharge of corrective discipline and therefore is critical for maintaining the corporate witness of the local church in the eyes of the unbelieving community as well.
It defuses “us vs. him.”
When disagreements happen between a pastor and the congregation regarding the direction of the church or a difficult decision that affects the whole congregation, an unhealthy “us vs. him” mentality can crop up.
This can make the pastor feel extremely isolated and can often breed adversarial attitudes underneath a surface of friendly pastor/congregation relationships.
Granted, a plurality of elders may simply shift the relationship into the “us vs. them” gear.
However, it relieves the isolation of the pastor, and it may prevent such opposition from ever arising if the pastor is wise enough to receive godly counsel by multiple biblically qualified elders (; ; ).
Again, by adding wisdom, diffusing criticism, balancing pastoral weaknesses, and strengthening leadership, a plurality of elders can go a long way toward defusing the “us vs. him” bomb.
THINK HARD
1.
How could you envision a plurality of elders being healthy for your church corporately?
2. How could you envision a plurality of elders being healthy for pastor Joel?
3. Are there some obstacles that are keeping us from moving toward a plurality of elders?
4. What are some ways that you can start praying for healthy change in your church?
What kind of leadership does a healthy church have?
Are we healthy as a church?
v Is it a congregation that strives to ensure that the gospel is faithfully preached?
Yes ().
v Is it deacons who model service in the affairs of the church?
Yes ().
v Is it a pastor who is faithful in preaching the Word of God? Yes ().
But the Bible presents one more leadership gift to churches to help them become healthy: the position of elder.
Surely there are many useful things we could say about church leadership from the Bible; yet we have been traveling through 1 Timothy and so we want to focus primarily on this question of elders, since I fear a lot of us do not know what we are missing.
As your pastor, I pray that Christ will place within our fellowship men whose spiritual gifts and pastoral concern indicate that God has called them to be elders.
May He prepare many such men to serve Him in our church!
If God has so gifted a certain man in the church with exemplary character, pastoral wisdom, and gifts of teaching, and if, after prayer, the church recognizes these things, then that man should be set apart as an elder.
WHAT IS AN ELDER?
In , the young church in Jerusalem began to bicker over how food was being distributed to widows.
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