Understanding Church Leadership by Leeman Jonathan;Dever Mark; & Mark Dever

Author:Leeman, Jonathan;Dever, Mark; & Mark Dever
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion/Christian Church/General
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Published: 2016-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

None of these are airtight commands for churches today. But they are descriptions consistent with our practice of setting aside one elder, supporting him financially, and giving him the primary teaching responsibility in the church. As he teaches faithfully, he will naturally accrue authority to himself, which in turn will afford him with a “first among equals” role among the elders for establishing the direction of the church. And since the elders have set him aside full-time for this work, they should look for such leadership.

That said, the preacher or pastor is fundamentally just one of the elders. And all of them possess Holy Spirit-assigned oversight, such that he possesses only one vote along with each of them.

Such a plurality makes leadership more rooted and permanent and allows for continuity in leadership when the senior pastor departs. It encourages the church to take more responsibility for raising up its own members and helps make the church less dependent on its employees. The plurality-of-elder model, in other words, is nothing less than a call for discipling and raising up leaders.

As a senior pastor, probably the single most helpful thing to my pastoral ministry has been the recognition of the other elders. Their service has had immense benefits. They round out my gifts, make up for some of my deficiencies, supplement my judgment, and create support in the congregation for decisions, leaving me less exposed to unjust criticism. My church, too, has benefited immensely from these men as they have shepherded their souls.

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