When Gene asked me to write an article about elders, I was a bit conflicted about what to write. As someone who has been involved in church leadership for 40 years, I’ve been convinced from scripture that elder leadership was the model most exemplified in the New Testament. I’ve taught on Sunday mornings on this topic a few times in the past couple of years at BPBC where I’ve talked about who elders are, what they do, and how the flock should respond to elders’ leadership. You can listen to them both here: https://www.bethanyplace.com/messages/elders-the-shepherds-christ-calls-to-lead-his-church/ and https://www.bethanyplace.com/messages/the-flocks-responsibility-to-the-elders/.
I would like to share from my heart about this very important issue of church leadership and I would like to present it in a more person-able way. While I believe elders are called and equipped by God to lead the church, we must understand that they, like us, are FIRST of all members of the flock with the same gifting, talents, personality, and brokenness that all of us share. They are NOT super Christians!! But God has called them, fully understanding their individual personality, to care for His flock.
The passage of scripture that I think most reflects God’s instructions to elders is in 1 Peter 5:1-4. (Please read this) Here the Holy Spirit uses the term “shepherd” to describe what elder leadership looks like. The impact that western society has had on church leadership is the view that elders are more of a “board of directors” than shepherds. I used to cringe as I heard people pray for the elders “as they make decisions”! A shepherd must make decisions in caring for the flock but that IS NOT their primary job description. It is to care for the flock as Christ cares for us, as a servant leader. The tendency in the church for members to view an elder as somehow different and the elder to somehow view themselves as different must be resisted. That is why I emphasized at the beginning that elders are first of all members of the flock with the same needs for love and acceptance as everyone in the church. 1 Timothy 3 & Titus 1 both emphasize that elders are to be out and among the flock where they know the flock and encourage the flock to know them. Both these texts list “given to hospitality” as a characteristic of an elder.
How the church is to respond to the elders is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 where much of Paul seems to instructs the flock to do (“rebuke the unruly, etc) seems to be elder-work. ALWAYS the flock does this with humility, however! We, the flock, are to love, respect, know and care for our elders. One of the best definitions of humility that I’ve ever read is “Trusting God and others with ourselves.” I believe if we practice this type of humility as elders and members of BPBC, we will experience God’s blessing on our church.
-Gary Stewart