Plurality of Eldership Taught

            We are now ready to deduce the New Testament’s model of church governance. The issue of church polity, the way we organize the church, is hotly debated. A quick survey of churches will reveal Popes and Patriarchs, bishops and synods, pastors and presbyters. Each will argue some sort of biblical precedent. Given the milieu in which churches operate, many simply conclude that the New Testament must not present a clear teaching, otherwise the church would be more unified. Thus, some high-quality systematic theologies will give scant treatment to the issue. One systematic theology dismisses, “Obviously no complete pattern of church government is specified in the New Testament.” And elaborates, “And although no one system is inherently right or wrong, each may be seen to have both positive and negative aspects.”[1] Wayne Grudem, on the other hand, sees a “reasonably clear” pattern in the New Testament, though he leaves actual practice to the realm of preference while clarifying that it is not “entirely unimportant.”[2]

            Nevertheless, the Bible actually seems to paint a surprisingly clear picture of the New Testament model for governing the church. Perhaps placing a matter where the Bible clearly speaks deserves a closer look and a greater estimation of its importance. The New Testament church was governed a group of men called elders. They are also sometimes called overseers. They are once called pastors (shepherds) in Ephesians 4:11. These are the men who spiritually care for the church through governance, preaching, teaching, visiting, and more. We are going to go back through some texts we have already seen in the last post. Now, instead of focusing on the terms themselves and their interchangeability, we will be looking at the implications for the structure of the church.

Clear Examples of Plurality of Elders

            Luke recounts a farewell address by Paul. Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him (Acts 20:17, English Standard Version). Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood (Acts 20:28). In this passage we find Paul summoning a group of men called elders at the church in Ephesus. First, note that Paul has multiple elders coming from a single church. This church, at Ephesus, will come up again, so it is worth bearing in mind. One church with multiple elders. It is evident that with the term “overseers” (which some translations put as “bishops”) Paul refers to the same men, now addressing himself to them. So, the second item that we must notice is that there are also multiple bishops in a single church. When we think of the word bishop, we likely picture a later development known as the “monarchical bishop,” where a bishop presides over a separate body of elders. This is not what is seen in Ephesus in Acts 20. There are a group of men called elders or bishops (overseers). Third, we notice who does the pastoral (shepherding) work in Ephesus. It is the elder-overseers. They do the work of pastoring the flock. The person who does pastoring might be called a pastor. So, this group of men is, evidently, a group of elder-overseers-pastors. There is no indication of hierarchy. There is no senior pastor. This is a clear reference to a plurality of elders as the appropriate model for church leadership.

            As Paul opens one of his letters, he addresses the epistle thus: Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons (Php 1:1). In the church in Philippi a group of leaders is addressed. Singled out are the deacons, who would be in charge of the church’s administrative tasks, rather than spiritual leadership and the overseers (or bishops). Here, as in Ephesus, there is a group of men in spiritual leadership called overseers. We do not get a lot of detail here, but the conclusions can be strong. If there were a single pastor over a group of elders, the address would have been far different. Likewise, if there were a single bishop presiding, the reading should have been singular. The whole of the spiritual leadership seems to be summed up with the word overseers.

            Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. (James 5:14) The book of James does not have a specific church being addressed. Wherever the readers were, James expected that they would have a group of men in their church known as elders upon whom they could call for pastoral visits. The implication is that the practice of having governance by a group of elders who administered the pastoral care of the church was universal. Again, we have plural elders, in a singular church.

            Some other texts also use plural to speak to the leadership of the church, but are not addressing a single church, making them less conclusive than the texts above. Yet, they still point to the same conclusions and are, thus, good corroborating evidence. In 1 Peter 5:1-5, we have “So I exhort the elders 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 the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Peter speaks to men known as elders, who are also those who oversee and pastor the church. The implication that Peter still pictures plural leadership in local churches is seen in the phrases “being examples to the flock” (notice the plural examples with one flock) and that the younger should be subject to “the elders.” Peter speaks strongly to the humble attitude that Christian leaders should have. Another text that is less explicit, but still in line with plurality is “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Heb, 13:17).

Clear Examples of Installation of Plural Elderships

            Two New Testament passages have to do with the installation of leadership in local churches. Both cases have the appointment of a plurality of elders in each local church. The first example is found in Acts 14:21-23, When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Following the evangelistic mission in the region, Paul and his companions returned through the areas where they had already preached. On this trip, Luke informs us that they “appointed elders for them in every church.” That this is speaking to leadership in the church is obvious from the context and the wording. Although the word “elder” can be used to describe physical age, the idea of appointing people to old age in churches is not coherent. Every church had elders (note the plural) appointed for them. There is no corresponding appointment of a separate pastor or bishop. Consistent with Acts 20:17, 28, the elders are likely also known as overseers and shepherd the church.

            The second example is an instruction to Titus in his ministry where Paul reminds, “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you” (Titus 1:5). This text seems to present a similar form of missionary endeavor as was seen in Acts 14. Paul and his companions had worked evangelistically in Crete. Work remained after the conclusion of Paul’s time there and, therefore, he left Titus with the task of finishing the lacking components of the mission, including the appointment of elders in every town. As in Acts, each church, since there was usually only one church per town, would have “elders” appointed. Again, each singular church would have plural eldership. Once again, there is no hint of a separate pastor. In this context, the office of bishop or overseer is seen two verses later. For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain . . . (Titus 1:7). Paul begins to enumerate the requirements for those who would be overseers of the church. The idea here is not that the overseer is separate from the elders mentioned earlier, but is using a synonym for the same office. Recall the analogy made by J.W. McGarvey, “It is the same as if I should say to a literary society of students, ‘Appoint a President of your society, if any be found acquainted with parliamentary rules; for the chairman of such a society should be acquainted with these rules.’ Now, in this example, if a person knew nothing more of the word chairman than its etymology would indicate ‘the man of the chair,’ he could not fail to see that I used the term as another title for the President of the society. It is equally clear in the case before us, that Paul uses the term overseer as another title for him who is called elder.”[3]

            Finally, both Peter and Paul seem to pass on their leadership role to a group of elders. Paul’s farewell speech to the Ephesian elder in Acts 20 and Peter’s instructions in 1 Peter 5 both seem to hand down the leadership roles they had held as apostles to local groups of elders. Peter had been a shepherd under Jesus’s authority (John 21:15-17) and now makes the elders the undershepherds under the Chief Shepherd, Jesus (1 Peter 5:4).[4] These are not true “installations” of new elders. It is significant to note that Paul did not here name Timothy his successor in Ephesus, he was not the inheritor of the oversight duties in Acts 20. As “determination of a successor was part of farewell speeches,” which Acts 20 represents well, the only other option for his successor is not a single bishop, but the group of elders.[5]

No Clear Examples of Sole Leadership

            Of course, those who support the idea of a single pastor or bishop presiding over a church also cite the Bible for support. While some will draw from the Old Testament roles that were meant to prefigure Christ (such as high priestly office, Moses, or kings like David), there are a handful of New Testament texts sometimes employed as well. We will address some here.

Timothy and Titus seem to fill the role of evangelists rather than as sole pastors. This is said explicitly of Timothy. He is to fulfill the work of an evangelist. It is generally held that Timothy was in Ephesus at the time Paul writes and instructs on the requirements for the office of overseer. Who were the overseers in Ephesus? We saw that in Acts 20:28. They were the group also known as elders.[6] Titus’s office is not mentioned, but his role is not leadership at the local church level, but the completion of Paul’s missionary endeavor by finishing the establishment of leadership in each local congregation. The role of Titus, then, is similar to that of Timothy at least in some ways. Titus was appointing a plurality of elders in each city.[7]

Some find support for the senior pastor in the angels of seven churches Revelation chapters 2 and 3. The meaning of the angels in Revelation is debated. An important commentary on Revelation mentions three primary lines of interpretation. It dismisses the interpretation that the word “angel” refers to a human messenger or senior pastor as inconsistent with the usage of the word in the rest of the book.[8]  Gordon Fee remarks, “Among the many interpretations of this word (‘pastor,’ ‘bishop,’ ‘angel,’ or some other kind of special messenger), the most likely one is that adopted by the translators of the NIV, who render it literally with ‘to the angel,’ while footnoting the option ‘messenger.’ The reason for going this route seems quite simple, and is related to the apocalyptic genre itself. Nowhere in these documents are ‘angels’ thought of as anything other than angels. What John appears to do, therefore, is to keep the apocalyptic genre alive by the use of this word, since what follows in each case is the least apocalyptic material in the entire document. Most likely it is John’s need to address the seven churches in a basically straightforward manner, accompanied by his desire to keep intact the apocalyptic nature of the book as a whole, that has brought about this unusual way of speaking to the seven churches.”[9] While it is not my intention to enter into a full exegesis of the passages in Revelation to get to the meaning of “angel” in those texts, it would be unwise to base a doctrine on a contested meaning. Even if, against these commentaries, one concludes that the angel is a human messenger, one must further adduce that the messenger is indeed a senior pastor or bishop. In at least one case, the church of Ephesus, we know that the church was pastored by a plurality of elders when Paul conversed with them in Acts 20.

I will admit one possible case of a senior pastor in 3 John. We’ll save that for another time since this post is long enough, and the case is obviously condemned by John. Few would use it to support the role of bishop or senior pastor.

Conclusions on Church Leadership

Despite widespread confusion, the New Testament actually seems remarkably clear. There are no senior pastors. There are no monarchical bishops. There is one model: each local church is overseen by a group of men called elders who carry out the pastoral care of the body of Christ.

Please pardon the length of the quote below, but do read it! J.P. Moreland’s insight is well worth the read. His book is not on church leadership or ecclesiology at all. He is commenting on how to have churches that produce more mature Christians. Here are two of his points on how to improve.

1. No senior pastors. Any local church or any individual believer should have a philosophy of ministry — that is, a view about the purpose, objectives, structures, and methods of ministry that ought to characterize a local church ministry. In my view, any philosophy of local church ministry ought to be clear about three very crucial ideas. First, the local church in the New Testament contained a plurality of elders (Acts 14:23; 20:28; Philippians 1:1; Hebrews 13:17). The New Testament knows nothing about a senior pastor. In my opinion, the emergence of the senior pastor in the local church is one of the factors that has most significantly undermined the development of healthy churches.

Think about it. More and more people go into the pastorate to get their own significance needs met, and congregations are increasingly filled with empty selves, as we saw in chapter 4. Given these facts, the senior-pastor model actually produces a codependence that often feeds the egos of senior pastors while allowing parishioners to remain passive. None of this is intentional, but the effects are still real. The senior pastor model tends to create a situation in which we identify the church as “Pastor Smith’s church” and parishioners come to support his ministry. If a visitor asks where the minister is, instead of pointing to the entire congregation (as the New Testament would indicate, since we are all ministers of the New Covenant), we actually point to Pastor Smith. On the other hand, poor Pastor Smith increasingly gets isolated from people and peer accountability, and eventually, he dries up spiritually if he is not careful. The local church should be led and taught by a plurality of voices called elders, and these voices should be equal. If so-called lay elders (I dislike the word lay!) do not have the seminary training possessed by those paid to be in “full-time” local church ministry, then the church needs to develop a long-term plan to give them that training in the church itself or elsewhere. No one person has enough gifts, perspective, and maturity to be given the opportunity disproportionately to shape the personality and texture of a local church. If Christ is actually the head of the church, our church structures ought to reflect that fact, and a group of undershepherds, not a senior pastor, should collectively seek His guidance in leading the congregation.

2. What the pastoral staff and elders should be doing. Second, Ephesians 4:11-16 may well be the most critical section in the entire New Testament for informing the nature of local church leadership. In that passage, the apostle Paul tells us that God has given the church evangelists and pastors-teachers (among other persons) who have a very specific function in the body. Their job description is to equip others for ministry, not to do the ministry themselves and have others come and passively support them. For example, the test of the gift of evangelism is not how effective you are at winning others to Christ, but rather, your track record at training others to evangelize. The senior-pastor model tends to centralize ministry around the church building and the pastor himself. Where he is, is where the action is. We bring people to him to evangelize, to counsel, and so forth. In this view, there is little need to actually equip parishioners to develop their own gifts, talents, and ministries because their job is to support the minister.

But according to Ephesians 4, this tradition has it backward. New Testament ministry is decentralized, and the function of pastors-teachers is to equip others to do the ministry. If we were more serious about this approach, we would do a better job of providing theological, biblical, philosophical, psychological, and other forms of training in our churches because without it, the ministers (that is, the members of the church) would not be adequately equipped to do the ministry.

J.P. Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul[10]

---

[1] Michael L Dusing “The New Testament Church” in Systematic Theology, Revised edition (Springfield: Gospel Publishing House, 2015), section: Major Forms of Church Government.

[2] Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Second edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 1114-1115.

[3] J.W. McGarvey, A Treastise on Eldership: A Series of Editorial Articles Originally Published in the Apostolic Times, reprint of edition of 1870 (Murphreysboro, Tenn.: DeHoff Publications, 1962).

[4] Chloe Lynch, “In 1 Peter 5:1-5, Who Are the Πρϵσβύτϵροι and What Is Said About Their Role?,” The Expository Times 123, no. 11 (August 2012): 529–40.

[5] “Farewell Speech” in Constance M. Furey et al., eds., in Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (New York: De Gruyter, 2010), 879-880.

[6] Ben Witherington III, A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John, vol. 1, Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2006).

[7] “Before we continue to the qualifications of an elder, we should note three features of the office of elder. The first is that the church is governed not by a single elder or bishop but by elders in plurality. In every town, Titus was to appoint ‘elders’ (Titus 1:5; note the plural).” Daniel M. Doriani and Richard D. Phillips, 2 Timothy & Titus, Reformed Expository Commentaries (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2020), 7-8.

[8] Craig R. Koester, ed., Revelation: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, The Anchor Yale Bible 38A (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014), 248-249.

[9] Gordon D. Fee, Revelation: A New Covenant Commentary, New Covenant Commentary Series (Cambridge: The Lutterworth Press, 2013), 24.

[10] James Porter Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul, 2nd ed (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2012) 336-338.