Church Elders

 

The elders are the primary spiritual leaders of the congregation. In the New Testament, the words for elder, oversee and pastor are used interchangeably (Eph4:11, Acts20:17,1Peter5:1-2). The qualification of the elders mentioned in Timothy2,3 and Titus. According to the timothy an elder must be faithful to his wife, live wisely, have self-control, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, gentle and not violent or drinker or quarrelsome or not be lover of money and able to manage family

The responsibilities of elders

The New Testament   tells us that the elders are called upon to teach and preach the doctrine of church. Their role also extends to caring for the physical needs of their congregation.  If anyone is sick in the church, they are commanded to call elders upon to pray (james5:14). The responsibilities of the elders are pastoring, mentoring, preaching, supporting, disciplining, encouraging, delegating and so on. The elders in some church may perform financial, organizational, spiritual duties. Some perform liturgical duties while others serve in a teaching capacity. Some others provide administrative task and assist the ordained clergy.  As conclusion, their primary responsibilities are to teach, to pray, to set a good example, to raise the elders, to watch over themselves and their families, to exercise the oversight and shepherd the church.

The plurality of elders

The bible tells us that there are more than one elders in one church (Acts14:23,15:2-4,22-23; Titus1:5;1Peter5:1, James5:14).  Titus was left to Crete to appoint the more elders (Titus1:5). James tells us that if anyone is sick, call upon the elders to pray for James5:14).  Some elders are able to teach and ministering the word of God among the believers. In my understanding, it is biblically and practically helpful to have the plurality of elders   in order to run the church smoothly by sharing the responsibility. There are some advantages of having a plurality of elders like biblical accountability, burden sharing, balance, sets and example for the church and wisdom.

Biblical accountability: biblical elders are great means for holding the pastor accountable to live, teach, and lead faithfully. In addition, sharing authority among a number of men can keep one man form wrongly lording it over the congregation.

Wisdom: there is more wisdom to be found in a multitude of counsellors (Prov11:14; 24:6)

Balance: no one man has all the gifts that are necessary to build up the church. Having a plurality of elders serves the church by bringing men with different gifts into the church's leadership who can complement the pastor's strength.

Burden sharing: caring for the whole church is a burden God does not intend one man to bear alone. Even the most faithful and gifted pastor needs help from other godly men in order to pay careful attention to himself and to all the congregation (Acts20:28).

Set an example for the church: having the plurality of elders demonstrates that the work of ministry is not reserved for a select few. Rather, it provides an example of maturity of every man.