It is God's will that each congregation
of the Lord's people have a plurality of elders (Acts 14:23). Elders
have been given the responsibility to care for and oversee the church among them
and are therefore referred to as bishops and pastors (Acts 20:17, 28-30; I Pet.
5:1-3; Eph 4:11).
The elders' first priority is pastoring
the sheep. Hebrews 13:7 says they will give account for every sheep. Shepherds
are in the sheep business.
Elder is the most often used term
because the leadership of the church has been entrusted to men of age and
experience. These are men who have grown in the Lord to a high level of spiritual
maturity. This is the meaning of I Timothy 5:17, men "steeped in
Scripture" who really "know the Lord". Elders ought to be obvious by
their profound spituality.
Elders are also bishops. They are
"in charge" of the local church. Sometimes preachers run the church.
This is wrong. Elders oversee the church. Anyone, as James and John,
more interested in sitting on God's right hand than washing other's feet are out of step
with Jesus.
God has laid down over twenty definite
qualifications a man "must" meet in order to be appointed as an elder (I Tim.
3:17; Tit. 1:5-9). Any man considered must be evaluated by these texts.
Qualified elders do not harm the church. Unqualified elders hinder and destroy the
church. Remember, God chooses men for elders, not angels nor supermen. They
are still men with flaws and weaknesses. Abraham, Moses, David, and Peter were all
men of God, but they were still men with feet of clay.