Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Appointment of Elders

it.”l “Church leaders,” exhorts Gangel, “need to produce leaders who will reproduce leaders precisely as it is done in the family— through experience, instruction, and modeling.”2 In related com ments on the necessity for discipling men for church leadership, Bruce Stabbert says: Most churches, however, find the majority of their men sadly stunted spiritually and with little knowledge of the Bible. If this is the case, such men would probably be very reticent to view themselves as prospective pastors. This is where the plan [to train elders] becomes work. We might imagine Peter being informed upon his first encounter with Christ that within three years he would be an apostle and preach to thousands of people at one time. He would probably have said, “Who me?” How did Jesus prepare Peter and the other apostles for church leadership? He discipled them. He spent time with them. He taught them. He prayed with them and for them. And that is the primary way that true elders will be developed in a local church. Somebody is going to have to disciple some men. We may not have much more than a bunch of fishermen in our congregation, but they should be discipled. Someone must spend time with them. Someone must teach them. Someone must pray with them and for them. But they can be discipled!3 The church elders (or founding missionary) should take the ini tiative and supervise the appointment process. As the Scripture says, “but let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner (1 Cor. 14:40). ELEMENTS IN THE APPOINTMENT PROCESS: DESIRE, QUALIFICATION, SELECTION, EXAMINATION, INSTALLATION, AND PRAYER It is commonly thought that Acts 6:1-6 provides the model for all the stages in the process of appointing deacons or elders. Acts 6, how ever, is the account of the original establishment of the Seven; it doesn’t tell us how the group perpetuated itself, assuming it continued to exist

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