The Office of Elder
Part 2: The Calling of an Elder
Andrew Rutten
Leadership within the church can be a seductive mistress for a man. Jesus clearly calls those who want to lead and be great in the Kingdom of God to serve and be a slave of all (Mark 10:43–45). However, often in the local church, leadership roles can be seen as a position of status, power, glory, or prominence. These perceived attributes of leaders can be healthy when carried out under a Mark 10 framework, but can be a stumbling block for a power-hungry, insecure man looking for affirmation. Therefore, the office of elder is not for any man who wants to lead. There must be a calling on this man’s life. The following are a few ways to understand the calling of an elder.
Called
First, while we want to recognize the idolatry of leadership as stated above, we also must acknowledge that an initial step in calling is a desire for the task. 1 Timothy 3 begins, “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task” (ESV). For an elder to be called to the ministry, there must be a level of desire that he has for the task at hand. We must also prayerfully discern whether that desire is healthy or unhealthy, but the desire itself is a noble desire and a preliminary marker indicating a possible call of God on that man’s life.
Secondly, there must be a recognition that God’s call rests on this man’s life. In Acts 13, the church prayed and the Lord called for the leaders to set apart Paul and Barnabas for a specific ministry role (Acts 13:1–3). Paul reminds the Ephesian elders that they are elders because “the Holy Spirit has made you overseers” (Acts 20:28). The calling to the office is first and foremost a command from our Lord on this man’s life. The church must, then, fervently seek the Lord in asking for his will about the calling of the elder candidate. The ministry of an elder must be desired by the man and recognized by the church (see next point), but it must first be a calling from God.
It is important to note here that this point means that not every solid Christian man must be an elder. Certain people are called by the Lord to his service in a variety of ways. The Lord may have another ministry opportunity at this time, or the church may have a different need at this time. Understanding the call comes from the Lord allows this role to not be a ladder for one to climb or a social contest of popularity or charisma. The call comes from the Lord, and the church simply hears and obeys his voice.
Third, a calling must come first from the Lord, but then must be recognized by the church. A man cannot fulfill God’s call where the church does not recognize that call. Paul commands Titus to “appoint elders in every town” (Titus 1:5). This reveals that it is in part the human responsibility of the church to hear from the Lord, but also then to make the call on a man’s life. Paul and Barnabas, before leaving the church in Lystra, modeled this by appointing elders and entrusting them to the Lord (Acts 14:23).
Shepherd
The primary calling for an elder is to teach the Word of God and exercise authority in the congregation. The broad term that is used Biblically for this role is that the elder must shepherd/pastor the church. This point then brings us to the question, is there a distinction between elders and pastors in the church? We will examine three passages to find our answer. But before we do, let us familiarize ourselves with the common terms, biblically-speaking.
Throughout the New Testament, we find three terms that are important to this discussion. The first is the Greek word presbuteros, which we often translate as “elder.” The second is the Greek word episkopos, which we often translate “overseer.” And the third is the Greek word poimaino, which we translate as “shepherd” or “pastor.” Let’s look at three passages now that reveal how these terms are used.
The first passage to examine is Acts 20:17–35, but we’ll specifically focus on a couple verses. The passage begins by stating Paul’s actions: “Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders [presbuteros] of the church to come to him” (Acts 20:17). The rest of the passage is Paul communicating with the elders [presbuteros] about their role and function in the church. In verse 28, Paul clarifies the elders’ role in the congregation, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers [episkopos], to care for [poimaino] the church of God” [1].
This passage is enlightening to our question because we helpfully find all three of these terms used. The setting of the conversation is the Apostle Paul speaking to the elders, and he says that the Holy Spirit has made them overseers in order to shepherd the church. These words are not used in this context to describe three distinct sets of people or ministry roles. An elder is an overseer of the church, and they were given this role so they could shepherd/pastor the congregation. The words are used synonymously for the same role.
The second set of passages we must look at are our lists of qualifications for this role that we have already mentioned. In a previous article we examined both 1 Timothy 3 as well as Titus 1 for the qualifications of elders. This is not an uncommon connection, as many protestant churches put these two lists together for a number of reasons. However, 1 Timothy 3 states that the qualifications are for an overseer [episkopos].
The Titus passage is a bit more interesting to examine. Initially, Paul tells Titus to appoint elders [presbuteros] and begins giving qualifications (Titus 1:5–6). As he continues to give his qualifications for this role, he switches his term in verse 7 to an overseer [episkopos]. It is not Paul switching ministry roles, but instead, he is using the two terms synonymously to speak of the one office in view. Therefore, from both passages on qualifications, we can see that Paul uses the two terms, elders and overseers, synonymously.
Lastly, let’s examine the Apostle Peter’s understanding of how these words work together in the role of an elder. Beginning in 1 Peter 5:1, Peter writes, “So I exhort the elders [presbuteros] among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd [poimaino] the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight [episkopos]” (1 Pet 5:1–2) [2].
Peter is writing to the elders, and his call to them is to shepherd the church through exercising oversight. This is the same command that we have seen in our previous passages. The three leadership terms are continuously used to describe the same office or role.
So let us finish by going back to the beginning of this point. How do the elders lead in the church? They shepherd through oversight. The role of an elder is to shepherd the church of God that he has given them to lead. And they primarily do this through a ministry of the Word. As shepherds, it is the leader’s responsibility to protect, guide, and nourish his flock. That is what it means to carry out oversight with authority through the authority of the Word of God.
Lastly, it is important to keep in mind that no other role or person in the New Testament is explicitly called to shepherd the church except the elders. Of course this is an argument from silence, so although it is not a convincing point, it adds to the evidence that shepherding the church seems to be a responsibility that is given to the elders of the church.
The Church
Our final point to describe an elder is that this man is called to shepherd in the church. The elders’ responsibility is not primarily to non-Christians, to society as a whole, or business leadership. The elder is a man who is called to shepherd the flock of God (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet 5:2). It would do the church well to free the elders to do their work of Word ministry and shepherding the church while taking off the pressure to be everything else that the Bible does not ask them to be. Paul clearly states in 1 Corinthians 12 that every Christian has a role to play in order to maintain the unity of the church and the witness to the world. The elder has a specific role to play for the body to be healthiest. While the elder is not exempt from engaging with non-Christians in his neighborhood or caring for the needs of those in the church, his focus of labor in the church is to lead and serve the church broadly and through Word-centered ministry. Other ministry areas in the church and evangelistic efforts may best be led by other members of the body under the direction set by the elders.
An elder is a biblically qualified man called by God and his people to shepherd the church. A church that holds to this definition and calls a team of men to serve in this capacity will provide a foundation for long-term health in the church for years to come.
Andrew Rutten - Providence Church - Omaha, Nebraska
[1] While the ESV translates this word ‘to care for’, it could be translated more simply as ‘pastor’ or ‘shepherd’. The NIV, NLT, HCSB, and other translations all use the word ‘shepherd’. It is the same word that the ESV translates in other places as shepherd or pastor.
[2] Both the Greek words translated ‘shepherd’ and ‘exercising oversight’ are the root words mentioned in the verb form. I kept the noun form for consistency, but it is important to note here that these two words are the actions of shepherding and exercising oversight instead of simply the noun form of those words as used in other passages. This does not change the synonymous use but shows the words can be a position to hold or an action to carry out.