Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Bible-Based Leadership Structure

church procedures (when compared to the Old Testament), the atten tion given to elders is amazing. “This is why,” writes Jon Zens, “we need to seriously consider the doctrine of eldership; it jumps out at us from the pages of the New Testament, yet it has fallen into disrepute and is not being practiced as a whole in local churches.”4

A CONSISTENT PATTERN OF PLURAL ELDERS AMONG THE FIRST CHURCHES

To hear some scholars speak, you would think that the Bible doesn’t say one word about church elders or church government. But that is not true. The New Testament records evidence of pastoral oversight by a council of elders in nearly all the first churches. These local churches were spread over a wide geographic and culturally diverse area—from Jerusalem to Rome. Consider the consistent pattern of plu ral leadership by elders that existed among the first Christian churches as it is recorded in the New Testament.

- Elders are found in the churches of Judea and the surrounding area (Acts 11:30; James 5214,15).

- Elders governed the church in Jerusalem (Acts 15).

- Among the Pauline churches, leadership by the plurality of elders was established in the churches of Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch (Acts 14:23); in the church at Ephesus (Acts 20:17; 1 Tim. 3:1-7; 5217-25); in the church at Philippi (Phil. 121); and in the churches on the island of Crete (Titus 1:5). 0 According to the well-traveled letter of 1 Peter, elders existed in churches throughout northwestern Asia Minor: Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (1 Peter 1:1; 521).

0 There are strong indications that elders existed in churches in Thessalonica (1 Thess. 5:12) and Rome (Heb. 13:17).

Despite this evidence of government by a plurality of elders, it is commonly thought by most Christians that Timothy, Epaphras, and

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