What is an Elder?

What is an elder?

It’s a basic but foundational question. Every elder needs to be clear on it.

Churches need to be clear too. Mis-step here, and we set up wrong expectations, could appoint the wrong people, and end up diminishing the work of the church rather than building it up.

Get it right and your role will be more enjoyable. Get it right, and you will know how you relate to others. Get it right and you will stop beating yourself up about what you cannot do, and rejoice in the things you can.

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in this role. Always come back to this question and its answer. Make this the focus of your prayers. Use it to self-assess. As elders, use it to group-assess how you are serving Christ in his church.

Let’s stick to the basics. Let’s do that by exploring the vocabulary the Bible uses for this role. What words describe your role?

We often use the language of leadership. We do find that language in the Bible, but it is not that common, even though the concept is. Instead, we find a rich tapestry of words. Together these words capture what a leader is.

The main three words used to describe leaders can all be found in Acts 20. There Paul is saying goodbye to the leaders of the church in Ephesus, a place he has served for a number of years. He loves the people there and he wants them to flourish, so he gladly leaves them in the hands of the church leaders.

Notice what they are called.

In verse 17, they are called elders. It’s a plural word. ‘Elders’ (plural) ‘of the church’ (singular). We’ll come back to that idea shortly, but let’s just pick out the word for now. It’s an Old Testament idea. You may remember Moses had seventy elders that shared leadership responsibilities with him.

The word is somewhat self-explanatory. It implies wisdom gained through experience. It doesn’t necessarily mean over 60 or over 70. It does mean the ability to apply wisdom gained to life and its challenges.

Then in verse 28 two more words appear. The first is overseer. An overseer is a manager. He over-sees people or things. He makes things work, or at least makes sure that they do. By the way, this is where the word bishop comes from. We don’t wear hats or funny clothes, but every elder is – technically – a bishop!

The second word in verse 28 is shepherd. It’s actually a verb here in verse 28, ‘be shepherds’ some Bibles say, although some Bibles simply say ‘care for the church’. But the root noun behind this leadership task is clear – shepherd. And it means all that we would expect: care, love, lead, teach, protect and so on.

Again, this word has some history – via Latin it’s where we get the word pastor from. Just as every elder is a bishop, every elder is also a pastor! Of course, we often use the word to describe one of the elders – and that’s OK – but in the Bible, the language is applied more broadly.

So let’s take stock. What is an elder? He is part of a team – it’s a plural word, remember. And that team exercises leadership by applying wisdom to situations (that’s the word elder). They exercise leadership by managing the shop, making decisions and making sure things happen (that’s the word overseer). And they do this with an end in mind which is to care for the flock (that’s the word shepherds). As they do, they follow in the footsteps of the Great

Shepherd of his sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We’ve got to be careful about being too reductionistic about these words. There’s lots of overlap. The words taken together represent what an elder is. We certainly shouldn’t be saying ‘I’m an overseer type of elder’ or ‘I’m a caring type of elder’. All the words describe the elders (plural) and – to a certain extent all the words describe an elder (singular).

It’s interesting that each is picked up in 1 Timothy 3 in the qualifications of elders. A leader, says Paul to Timothy, must not be a ‘recent convert’ – that links us to the language of elder. He must ‘manage his own family well’ – he must be a proven overseer, in other words. And he must be ‘able to teach’ which reminds us of one of the functions of a shepherd, also picked up in the caring vocabulary found there.

So let’s take these words together and use them to help us understand what an elder is. And let’s keep remembering that elders are plural. We don’t want to divide the words so that some apply to one elder and some to another.
Gifting is not identical. We know that. One may be a better teacher. Another may be better at running things. Though all have elements of these qualities, the strength of an eldership is really in the way that together they are elders, overseers, shepherds.

There are lots of practical things to think about here. Which of these areas, for example, is a particular strength for your leadership team? Rejoice in it. Which is a weakness and needs investment, perhaps some training or help? You could ask the same questions about yourself.

Or take a look at your elders agenda. How much of your time is given over to elder-ing, or overseeing, or shepherding. Are you doing all three?

It’s a great role. It’s a great privilege. In fact the Bible calls it ‘a noble task.’ Praise God that the risen Lord Jesus Christ gives the church gifts. Elders who are wise. Overseers who can get things done. Shepherds who can care for and protect the flock.

That’s what an elder is.