The Period before Elders
To Obey the Bible or To Obey the Bible
There are two competing ideas when it comes to the appointment of roles beyond the evangelist. First, to obey the Scriptures that call for the appointment of qualified spiritual men; and second, not to appoint unqualified men. To which side should the church err? For the young church, say under ten years old, the conservative side is to refrain from appointing; but as the church rounds twenty years old, this must shift to the other side (but nearlynever does).
Appointing Deacons
Deacons must be appointed. While the word in the Greek, Διακόνος (dee-ah-kon-os), simply means servant, because of 1 Tim 3:8-13, the only such passage on Deacons, most theologians agree it is a defined role (beyond standard servant disciples). Because of the following, there are low risks appointing Deacons:
1) As detailed below, Deacons have far fewer qualifications than elders.
2) They don’t have any church authority (besides over their area of service).
3) They can be tested first and immediately if it doesn’t work out.
4) There aren’t any implications in the verses that the role is lifetime in duration.
Interim, Pre-Eldership Church Leadership
The evangelist leads the church in the absence of Elders, but the role of overseeing still exists—and it is a distinct role unlike that of the evangelist’s role and the typical temperament of evangelists.
Asking the evangelist to fill the roles of deacon, teacher, overseer, and evangelist is not tenable in the long-term. I have only seen two outcomes for this scenario: 1) The needs of the church are unmet and the evangelist and women’s counselor are sapped of life and health, or 2) The needs of the church are unmet and the evangelist and women’s counselor become more authoritarian in their leadership style (because of the tendency towards “if you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself”).
It is therefore important for the evangelist to form a group that will help him meet all the needs of their growing, maturing church. As this group is a de facto eldership, the following are important considerations:
1) Select spiritual men who most closely match the Biblical eldership qualifications.
2) Early in the church’s life, the evangelist can be on the group, but as the church grows and more men are available, the evangelist should become an adjunct member.
3) The members of the group should be rotated at some period, such as two years. This is to avoid groupthink, which is a typical human behavior. Since the group’s members are not fully qualified elders, they should not serve indefinite terms.
4) The evangelist has the final say in church affairs; however, an exception should exist for serious issues between members and the evangelist. This is because the evangelist has a conflict of interest in these scenarios.
5) It is recommended the group have a chairperson, keeping meeting minutes, and communicate regularly in front of the church and with church members. Information regarding the church known to one must be known to the group. In matters where confidentiality competes with transparency, transparency should be emphasized.
The Name of this Group
The name of this group isn’t that important, although consistency among churches would be useful to avoid misinterpretations of the group’s purpose. “De facto eldership group” doesn’t roll off the tongue. “Core Group” has been used, but this name is also used for action/implementation groups in churches with and without elderships. “Overseers group” or “Shepherding group” are possibilities.
Pre-eldership Discipline
Although 1Tim 5:19-20 is specifically dedicated to elders, the pre-eldership phase of a church is particularly fragile when it comes to accusations from the congregation to either ecclesiastical staff or the shepherding group. Because both the evangelist and the shepherding group shepherd the church in this phase of the church, I believe it is necessary they be held to this verse and that they be aware of this ahead of time.
Qualifications
Qualification-providing Bible Verses
Elders:
1Tim 3:1-7: above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, manages his own family well, his children obey him, not a recent convert, has a good reputation with outsiders.
1Tim 5:17: able to direct the affairs of the church.
Titus 1:6-9: blameless, faithful to one wife, his children believe and are not open to being called wild or disobedient; manages God’s household, not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain, hospitable, one who loves what is good, self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined, holds firmly to the trustworthy message, encourages others by sound doctrine and refutes those who oppose it.
1Pet 5:1-4: willing shepherds of God’s flock, not greedy for money, eager to serve, not lording things over people, an example to the flock.
Deacons:
1Tim 3:8-13: worthy of respect, sincere, not given to drunkenness, not pursuing dishonest gain, keeps hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience; they must be tested/approved; have wives who are worthy of respect, not malicious talkers, temperate, trustworthy in everything; faithful to his wife, manage his household well.
Evangelist:
Eph 4:11: called by God to evangelize.
2Tim 4:5: able to discharge the duties of the ministry.
Administrators:
1Cor 12:28: gifts of administration.
Teachers:
Eph 4:11: called by God to teach and prepare God’s people for works of service.
Jam 3:1: willing to be judged more strictly.
General servants:
Acts 6:3: known to be full of the Holy Spirit, wisdom.
Col 1:7: a faithful minister of Christ.
Col 4:12: Wrestles in prayer for disciples.
2Tim 2:24: not quarrelsome, kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.
General leaders:
Rom 12:8: governs diligently.
Heb 13:7,17: able to speak the word of God, respectful outcome of life, able to keep watch over the flock.
The Importance of the Eldership
The fact that so many qualifications are directly given in the New Testament points to the importance and uniqueness of the role. Paul calls evangelists to appoint elders in every town (Titus 1:5). Is it purely because of the many qualifications that most churches, especially small- to moderate-sized ones, have not appointed elders? Or is it because it seems easier to operate without them. In many churches, the oversight of the church is accomplished by the evangelist and several high-level lay leaders. But if this were an acceptable and tenable methodology, then why would God specifically define the role and call for elders to be appointed?
Selecting and Appointing Elders
A quick note regarding the word, “appoint”. The Greek word is καθίστημι (kahth-ih-stay-mih) does mean appoint. What’s important is that it does not mean “select”. Heb 5:1 is of interest because both select (λαμβάνω lahmb-ahn’oh) and appoint are used in reference the high priest. Namely, they are first selected from among the people, and then they are appointed high priest. How this relates to elders is that the evangelist only appoints them. Who then selects them? You could say God, as He established the qualifications, put the desire in the would-be elder’s heart, and cultivated the elder and his family over the preceding years. You could also say the church does, as it is the church who would know the elder candidate and know whether he met the qualifications. Note that the selection is purely on the basis of meeting the specified qualifications (i.e. none are removed or added) and the desire put in the heart of the elder candidate.
What are the unique aspects of the Elder’s role?
All roles have some pastoral aspect to them. It is difficult even to say that there is a distinct pastor role–even though many denominations use this title for their church leader. Eph 4:11 is the only verse where most versions use the word “pastor” (the ESV uses “shepherd”). The Greek word behind it, poimen, which means shepherd, pastor or ministry, is not one of the words translated “elder” in other passages; however, many scholars believe Paul is referring to Elders here and not to a general pastoral role.
Given its qualifications, the role of Elder clearly a large pastoral component. In addition, verse 5 of 1Tim 3 says, “how can he take care of God’s church?” Even though this part of the verse is parenthetical, “taking care” definitely includes a pastoral component.
Titus 1, besides repeating many of 1Tim 3’s qualifications, explicitly gives two roles: In verse 7, “manages God’s household”, and in verse 9, “encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it”. While “encourage” may relate to the pastoral component, “refute” refers to the protective component.
In the minds of many, the role of an Elder is only as a super-pastor: skilled in interpersonal communication and filled with compassion to relate with all manner of problems disciples in their flock may have. But this is not the case and can be seen in Paul’s charge to the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20:28-30(emphasis added):
28Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order todraw away disciples after them.
Here Paul warns the Elders “to be on their guard” (v31a) because savage wolves, both from outside the church and from within the church, will arise to distort the truth to draw disciples away.
False doctrine is not always obvious. In Acts 15, we see the first intra-church debate between Paul and the Gentile churches against the Apostles and Jews in Jerusalem. Verse 9 contains the issue: Must the Gentiles be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses? It is a simple statement but represented a huge contention. The book of Galatians gives a behind-the-scenes look from Paul’s perspective. Paul had received the Gospel directly from Jesus (Gal 1:12), and to him it was not a simple matter but a perversion of the Gospel such that it was no gospel at all (Gal 1:7). In Acts:15:6, it was the Apostles and Elders who met to consider the question and after “much discussion” came to a resolution. In his book, Biblical Eldership, Alexander Strauch summarizes it like this:
In order to accomplish this, shepherd elders need to be spiritually alert and must be men of courage. (page 19)
Conclusion
In all three major passages about Elders, 1Tim 3, Tit 1, and 1Pet 5, the oft-used metaphor of the shepherd guarding the flock is used. Naturally, sheep need green grass and water, but these are just places to which the shepherd brings his flock. What really makes a shepherd is his ability to gather the flock with his voice and protect them from predators—without mastery of this ability, the flock is not safe. And in the metaphor, what is the antecedent of protecting the flock from predators? It is protecting the church from false doctrine.
In my opinion, this is why God gives so many difficult qualifications for Elders. This is why the role of the Elder is cardinally important. And this is why churches without an Eldership are vulnerable and at risk of being infiltrated with false doctrine—both from within and from the outside.