Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Appointment ofElders

after the great persecution of Acts 8. If the group did continue to func tion (and the need for it certainly didn’t disappear), did the Seven ask the congregation to select new members and have the apostles lay hands on them, or did they simply replace themselves? Was the group al ways required to have seven members, or could there be six or ten? Was there a fixed time each year when the church selected new re placements for the Seven? We don’t know the answers to these ques tions, and the same is true concerning the elders. Even if, in Acts 14:23, Paul and Barnabas followed the model of Acts 6, we still don’t know exactly how the Galatian elders perpetuated themselves after the apostles left. The New Testament says very little concerning such detailed pro cedures as appointing elders. In the same way, the New Testament is amazingly silent regarding specific procedures for administering the Lord’s Supper and baptism. Exact procedures for these activities are left to the discretion of the local church. Even under the Mosaic law, which prescribed detailed regulations for every area of life, matters such as the appointment and organization of elders were left to the people’s discretion. God expects His saints to use the creativity and wisdom He has given to organize all such matters within the revealed guidelines of His Word. He expects His people to do so in a way that exemplifies the gospel’s truth and the true nature of the Church. I con cur with Neil Summerton, who captures the biblical spirit when he writes: It is characteristic of Technological Man of the twentieth century to worry abnormally about the precise mechanism of selection. But biblically of much greater importance is its manner and spirit. Be we ever so precise about the modus operandi, it will be of no avail if the mechanism still succeeds in choosing the wrong people. For this reason it may not matter much whether selection of elders is by church planters, the existing elders, or the congregation as a whole, so long as all are certain that the outcome is the choice of God.4 Although the New Testament doesn’t provide a blueprint for the process of elder appointment, it specifies certain key elements. Let us consider the elements of desire, qualifications, selection, examination, installation, and prayer.

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