Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Bible-Based Leadership Structure

writers assumed eldership to be a fixed, apostolic institution. In Titus 125, Paul tells Titus and the churches that a church is not properly ordered until qualified elders (plural) have been appointed. So he or ders Titus to install elders: “Appoint elders in every city as I directed you” (Titus 125). By doing this, Paul was going against customary cultural practices because in both the Jewish synagogue and in Greco Roman society one-man oversight was commonly practiced. Thus Paul’s choice of the elder structure of government was intentional. He was not simply accommodating himself to current social norms. His instruction to Titus established an apostolic directive that should be followed by Christians today. Many scholars contend, however, that only the instructions about elders, not the elder structure, are universally binding on churches. They would say that Paul’s instructions regarding the qualifications of an elder are binding, but that the structure is not. By making this dis tinction, they can eliminate the eldership structure from the church and apply the biblical instructions to their self-appointed institutions— the clerical structure or the singular pastorate. But this is an erroneous distinction. How, for example, would a critically important passage like 1 Timothy 5217,18 apply to the singular pastorate? This instruc tion makes sense only in the context of a plurality of elders. I conclude, therefore, that the instructions given to elders and about elders, as well as the eldership structure itself, are to be regarded as apostolic directives (Titus 125) that are normative for churches today. Ladd is quite wrong when he claims, “there was no normative pattern of church government in the apostolic age, and that the organizational structure of the church is no essential element in the theology of the church.”"’ We would do well to heed the sober warning against doubting the full sufficiency of Scripture to direct the practices of our churches today that is offered by Alfred Kuen, a Bible teacher at the Emmaus Bible Institute in Switzerland: Has not the history of twenty centuries of Christianity proved that the plan of the primitive church is the only one which is suitable for all times and places, is most flexible in its adaptation to the most diverse conditions, is the best able to resist and stand against persecutions, and offers the maximum of possibilities for the full development of the spiritual life?

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