One step above some and miles below others

The problem with elders is that they imagine they're actually in charge.

A city street, Bangalore, India.

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1 Cor 4.3

With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you.

Titus 1.3

Appoint elders in every town.

Titus 2.15

Let no one look down on you.

1 Peter 5.1-2

Now as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you to tend the flock of God that is in your charge.

The problem with elders is that they think they’re in charge. How many pastors have been turned out when the elder board voted against them? Have you ever heard of elders taking orders form someone in their church? someone outside their church? In our modern world, the elders decide and the people do it, or leave.

It’s a strange thing: this idea that the elders are above everyone else in the church. Possibly their first position after becoming a member is to be an elder: all the way from the bottom to the top in one leap. They perform this super feat by having credentials that have nothing to do with the position: success in something outside the church.

(On the other have, I have seen a church without elders or deacons, and it's a miserable thing. When everyone does what is right in their own eyes, the greedy and the strong rule. It is a tragic thing to watch, and impossible to work with. It can be argued that any leadership is better than none, and I would agree, except when the leaders have promoted themselves from this cesspool and legitimatized their positions by granting one another titles. Aside from such an aberration, yes: elders and deacons are a good and necessary thing.)

But I’ll tell you a secret: the reason some people aren’t elders is that they would never take such a menial job. If you ask a missionary who has been on the field for 20 years to come back and be an elder the answer would be “why?!” No one would leave such important work to be an elder.

Yet the elders are the same ones who will decide if this missionary gets support, whether the pastor stays, whether the church stays. They probably have no experience in the work of God, only the work of the world. They truly believe that being an attorney or business owner or accountant qualifies them to make decisions on the very thing that Jesus told his followers to have no concern about.

Paul did not allow the church leaders to tell him what to do.

Titus, who was not one of the capital-A apostles, appointed elders. That made him their superior.

Peter was an elder above the elders.

Elders today are the Board of Directors of the church. The government of the church is patterned after the government of business. Part of that is because the State requires the church to be run that way if it wants to be a charitable organization. But the State does not require that the church is then run as a business. That is the decision of the church. And so we appoint business leaders to run the church: because they know most about leading.

Nonsense.

The position of elder is the first position many of them have held. Possibly they were first on a committee or a deacon, but where else in the world do you get to be the CEO in just one leap? And without any serious education or training? Are they good people? Smart? Certainly. But qualified? Certainly not. If they were qualified they would be doing something more important.

Elders are only the first level of leadership in the local church. Like a sergeant in the army. Yes, it’s better than being a private, but not so important really. There are thousands upon thousands of them. It’s not such a big deal actually.

Elders do not have the final say in how the church is run. There are people who are both outside them and above them. Their duty is to tend the people within their local church. They themselves are subject to the person who appointed them or to whomever is over them in function. There are some who not only do not listen to what they say, but tell them how to think and act.

Or at least it should be that way.