Except below from The Church:The Household of the Living God
A healthy church member should submit faithfully to their church’s leadership. I am sure that this sounded self-aggrandizing, but let me explain in more depth why God has set up a system for particular men to lead his church rather than one man. There are two offices in the church laid out in Scripture: pastors and deacons. God gives very specific qualifications for both these offices. The Bible uses many words to describe the pastoral office: pastor/shepherd, elder, bishop, or overseer. They are used interchangeably in the New Testament (as seen in second half of Acts 20).[1] There are three things I want you to notice about the office of elder. First, an elder/pastor must be a man of godly character. Paul lays out the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3:1-7,
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
The qualifications are cleared marked out. Notice that these elders do not have the potential of these traits, but actually have proven themselves to already have these traits. Paul says “an overseer must be,” not “an overseer must be striving to be.” Elders are not perfect, but they should exemplify a godly character. God is asking the church to submit to men with a godly character.
Secondly, God is asking men to lead who have the ability to teach God’s Word. Paul says here in 1 Timothy that elders must be able to teach. They must know the Word of God. He says something similarly when describing elders in Titus 1:9 that, “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” Elders are responsible to guard the doctrinal purity of the church through their teaching. They are called to both give instruction in sound doctrine and rebuke those that contradict it.
These first two general characteristics of godly character and godly wisdom are nothing new, but there is a third thing I want you to notice about elders in the New Testament and that is their number. The Bible teaches that the church should have a plurality of elders. It teaches that multiple men, not one man, should lead the church in character and wisdom. Listen to these verses,
Acts 14:23, “And when they had appointed elders (plural) for them in every church (singular), with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”
Acts 20:17, “Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders (plural) of the church (singular) to come to him.”
Philippians 1:1, “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers (plural) and the deacons: (One church, a plurality of pastors)
Titus 1:5, “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders (plural) in every town (singular) as I directed you.”
James 5:14, “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders (plural) of the church (singular),”
The plurality of elders or pastors is clearly taught in the Bible. This does not mean the Bible teaches that there is no distinctive role for one lead teaching elder/pastor.
Paul told Timothy to, “Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and to teaching.” He also told them in I Timothy 5:17 “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.” Among a group of leaders there would be one (possibly more) that were devoted to the study and preaching of God’s Word. Their responsibility to teach does not mean they are the only elders.
Is it healthy to have a plurality of pastors? Yes. Let me provide several reasons briefly why it beneficial for a church to have a plurality of elders, both staff and lay elders.
Improves the Congregational Care – Multiple qualified men, with godly character and godly wisdom, will be better to care for the spiritual needs of the congregation. There are limits to the spiritual care that can be done by one man. 1 Peter 5:2 says to elders to, “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you.” It is both wise and biblical to have multiple men give themselves to this shepherding task. One the dangers that I have seen develop with the one pastor model is that men that are qualified to serve as elders, but do not feel called to the full-time vocational preaching ministry, feel that they are not called to be a pastor. The “preacher” is only one of the shepherds. A plurality of elders gives a platform to godly men to use their shepherding gifts to care for the spiritual needs of the body.
Protects the Church from the Pastor – Although pastors should be godly men, they are not infallible men. Pastors need to be held accountable in their teaching and their character. I Tim 4:16 “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” A plurality of pastors helps guard the church from sin in a pastor’s life by surrounding him with men to help watch his life and his teaching. It also helps to provide wisdom in decision making. Mark Dever says, “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 of doing the right things in unhelpful ways.”[2] Unfortunately, pastors can be domineering and totalitarian in the leadership and this often hurts the church. A plurality of elders protects the church from the misuse of authority because it shares authority. It also protects church from taking on the personality of senior pastor. The church should be shaped around the Word of God and not the personality and vision of one man.
Protects the Pastor from the Church – All leaders are criticized and pastors are no exception. The dropout rate of pastors is very high. One of the reasons is that most pastors are called to share the weight of the criticism on their own. Multiple elders protect the church from developing an “Us vs. Him” mentality that can be very common when disagreements arise.[3] The plurality of pastors shares the emotional load of the criticism within a church and the spiritual load of shepherding the people. Pastors also are part of a team of men who have demonstrated a lifetime for godliness and faithfulness to the church. A plurality of elders surround the pastor with men from the community which can help the pastor learn how to care for the specific group of people the Holy Spirit has put in his care. Lay elders help the pastor learn how to love the people, because they are one of the people.
The plurality of elders is both wise and biblical. They do not rule, but provide godly direction and leadership for the congregation. The final authority is always invested in the church. Therefore, if the elder falls to false teaching or false living, then it is the congregation’s responsible to remove him.
[1] Dever, Mark. 9 Marks of a Healthy (booklet). 9Marks. Washington, D.C. 2005 p.55
[2] Dever, Mark. The Deliberate Church. Wheaton. Crossway Book. 133-134. 2005
[3] Dever, Mark. The Deliberate Church. Wheaton. Crossway Book. 133-134. 2005
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