Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Appointment of Elders

In a detailed study on ordination, Warkentin makes the following observation about the postapostolic period: “Installation into office in the early postapostolic period apparently involved little in the way of ceremony or protocol....we see the simple vocabulary of the New Testament still being used for appointment to office.”8 For the Christian community, in which all members are priests, holy ones, humble ministers and family members, the simple word appoint best expresses the placement of elders and deacons into office. In the New Testament, no exclusive class of men is admitted into ministerial office by the rite of ordination. No one needs to be ordained to preach Christ or administer the ordinances. All such concepts are foreign to the New Testament apostolic churches. The New Testament indicates that elders were formally installed into office by the laying on of hands and prayer. Within the context of his instructions on elders (1 Tim. 5:17-25), Paul’s reference to the laying on of hands must mean appointment to office: “Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thus share responsibility for the sins of others” (1 Tim. 5222). Thus Paul thought of Timothy as for mally appointing new elders for the church in Ephesus by the lay ing on of hands. If the term “appointed” in Acts 14:23 is a summary description of the full process that is explained in Act 6, then hands were laid on the Galatian elders by Paul and Barnabas. Certainly the laying on of hands was practiced frequently by Paul (Acts 9:17, 1323, 1423, 1926,11; 2828, 2 Tim. 1:6), and from 1 Timothy 4:14 we know that the church elders laid their hands on Timothy as he was about to begin his travels and work with Paul. The first Christians were not averse to simple, public ceremony for appointing or commissioning fellow members to special posi tions or tasks (Acts 626, 1323, 1 Tim. 4214). For important events such as the appointment of elders, some kind of public, official recognition of new elders would be necessary. The formal installa tion of an elder before the congregation by the laying on of hands and prayer (or any other means) would signal the start of the new elder’s ministry. It would say to the new elder, “You now officially begin your responsibilities. You are now a member of the church’s eldership team. The pastoral care of the flock rests on your shoul ders and the shoulders of fellow elders.” It would say to the

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