Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

The Acts of the Apostles

Lystra, and Derbe) for the purpose of correcting serious doctrinal er ror, Paul never once mentions elders or any other leaders. He writes directly to the members of the congregations. We know only from Acts 14:23 that there were officially appointed elders in these churches, so the text provides invaluable historical data for both the study of elder ship and the Pauline letters.

APPOINTING ELDERS FOR THE CHURCHES OF GALATIA

Paul and Barnabas knew that each local church needed some struc ture for governing itself in their absence. Although the churches ex isted for a short time without elders, they still were recognized as churches (Acts 14:23). Thus, the ministry of elders is not essential to the existence of a local church; the Holy Spirit’s presence is the only essential element. But God doesn’t neglect the basic human need for leadership. No society can operate without leadership and stmcture, and the local Christian church is no exception. Even in heaven, around the throne of God, twenty-four elders sit on thrones (Rev. 424). So as Spirit-led, wise church planters, Paul and Barnabas chose the elder system of government and appointed a body of elders for each church. Luke writes, “And when they had appointed elders [plural] for them in every church [singular].” The phrase “in every” represents the Greek preposition kata. Here it is used in the distributive sense, meaning “in each individual church?”3 Literally the passage reads: “having ap pointed for them church by church, elders.” Thus each local church had apostolically appointed elders. By establishing elders for each church, Paul followed the practice of the church in Jerusalem and other Jewish congregations (James 5214). We can be sure that Paul’s choice of eldership was a Spirit-led, care fully calculated decision. He could easily have appointed one person as “chief ruler” of the local church, as was the case in all the Jewish synagogues, but he didn’t. Instead, he chose eldership because it best suited the nature of the local Christian church (see chapter 6). Paul chose elders from among the members of each new church. The reason Paul could appoint elders so soon after their conversion was that these men were already schooled in the Old Testament Scrip tures and the life of the synagogue. These God-fearing Gentiles and

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