Requirements of Eldership

In this post Justin Taylor provides an excellent grid that that combines the requirements of eldership with descriptions written by John Piper. This is a helpful tool in detailing clearly what qualities are to be seen in the life of a qualified elder.

1 Timothy		Titus
3:1	one who has aspiration to the office			He aspires to the role of being an elder, bishop, overseer, pastor, shepherd. This does not exclude the possibility that he is sought out and urged to be an elder. But no pressure should be used that would result in an unwilling, half-hearted service.
3:2	above reproach	1:6, 7	above reproach	He lives in a way that gives no cause for others to think badly of the church or the faith or the Lord.
3:2	husband of one wife	1:6	husband of one wife	The question is probably one of notoriety. What is this man’s reputation with regard to whether he has had one wife or not?
3:2 3:3	sober-minded not a drunkard	1:8 1:7	disciplined not . . . a drunkard	He exercises self-control and mastery of his appetites. He prizes freedom from enslavements to such a degree that no bondage is yielded to.
3:2	self-controlled	1:8	self-controlled	He is sensible. He is prudent. He is reasonable. He has good judgment. He sees things as they really are. He knows himself well. He understands people and how they respond. He is in touch with reality, such that there are no great gaps between what he sees in himself and what others see in him.
3:2	respectable			He is honorable and dignified. He comports himself in situations so as not to step on toes unnecessarily. He does not offend against propriety.
3:2	hospitable	1:8	hospitable	He loves strangers. He is given to being kind to newcomers. He makes them feel at home. His home is open for ministry. He does not shrink back from having guests; he is not a secretive person.
3:2	able to teach	1:9	able to give instruction	He is an apt teacher, skilled in teaching. He knows biblical doctrine well and is able to explain it to people. He is astute enough theologically that he can spot serious error and show a person why it is wrong and harmful.
3:3	not violent	1:7	not . . . violent	He is not pugnacious or belligerent. His temper is under control. He is not given to quarreling or fighting. He has a conciliatory bent. His feelings are not worn on his sleeve. He does not carry resentments. He is not hypercritical.
3:3	gentle			He is not harsh or mean-spirited. He is inclined to tenderness. He resorts to toughness only when the circumstances commend this form of love. His words are not acid or divisive but helpful and encouraging.
3:3	not quarrelsome	1:7	not arrogant or quick-tempered	He is peaceable. He is lowly in his demeanor, not speaking much of himself or his achievements. He counts others better than himself and is quick to serve. He sincerely gives God the credit and honor for any accomplishments.
3:3	not a lover of money	1:7	not . . . greedy for gain	He puts the kingdom first in all he does. His lifestyle does not reflect a love of luxury. He is a generous giver. He is not anxious about his financial future. He is not so money-oriented that ministry decisions revolve around this issue.
3:4–5	a good manager of his own household; cares for God’s church; keeps his children submissive	1:6–7	a steward; his children are faithful, not insubordinate	He is the leader of a well-ordered household. If he has children, they are submissive (not perfect, but well-disciplined, so that they do not blatantly and regularly disregard the instructions of their parents). His children revere him. He is a loving and responsible spiritual leader in the home. He respects and tenderly loved his wife, if he is married. Their relationship is openly admirable.
3:6	not a recent convert			He is a mature believer. There are evidences in his life that humility is a fixed virtue and not easily overturned.
3:7	well thought of by outsiders			He meets the standards of the world for decency and respectability (as the standards of the church are higher).
		1:8	a lover of good	He loves to be involved in doing good. More than merely doing good, he has a bent and love to see goodness done. He is an expansive person.
		1:8	upright	He cares about whether people are treated fairly. He wants to see justice in the world at all levels.
		1:8	holy	He is a person of devotion to Christ with a life of prayer and meditation. He loves worship and has a deep personal relationship with the Lord.

Elder Training: Gospel Eldership

Post by contributing author, Aaron Morrow.

The following is a short book review for Gospel Eldership by Bob Thune. If you have a minimal attention span, here’s what you need to know: if you want to train & unify your Elders, using this book should be a non-negotiable!

In the industry of Christian publishing, if your book is targeted towards a narrow audience then it’s often challenging to get published by a large publisher. Such is true for a short book like this on training and unifying Elders. That is why there are not 20 books published annually on this subject, even though it is such a vital topic! So don’t let the small publisher of this book fool you because Gospel Eldership is filled with sharp thinking, penetrating questions, and concise writing.

Here’s how the book is organized:

• Introduction: What is an Elder? 
• Lesson #1 - Servant Leadership / Exercise: “Know Thyself” 
• Lesson #2 - A Biblical Approach to Church Leadership / Exercise: False Righteousness
• Lesson #3 - The Primacy of Character / Exercise: Identifying Idols
• Lesson #4 - The Leadership Triangle / Exercise:Leadership Triangle Self-Assessment
• Interlude: The Duties of Elders
• Lesson #5 - Elders Feed the Church / Exercise: The Gospel and Spiritual Disciplines
• Lesson #6 - Elders Lead the Church / Exercise: Examining Your Character
• Lesson #7 - Elders Protect the Church / Exercise: The Gospel and Conflict Resolution
• Lesson #8 - Elders Care for the Church / Exercise: Identifying Pride 
• Lesson #9 - Missional Eldership / Exercise: Mission and Your Heart 
• Lesson #10 - The Temptations of Leadership / Exercise: Identifying Your Temptations

Below are a few of the many strengths of the book.

Gospel-centered 

The center of this book is the gospel and its premise is that believing and applying the truths of the gospel to our hearts is ultimately where all of our spiritual growth emanates from. If this is what you believe, it can often be daunting to think about training and unifying Elders with clarity and precision about what gospel-centeredness means and looks like. That’s where Gospel Eldership comes into play.

This book gently but deeply drills down into the character of an Elder. And at every turn, Thune makes sure that all of an Elder’s character growth flows through the lens of the gospel. It’s really powerful! If your potential or existing Elders don’t understand the value or practicality of the gospel being at the center of their spiritual growth then this is the book to the set the tone for your team.

One more little note, some of us have reservations about reformed theology due to the tone, posture, and emphasis of some guys who are reformed. But even though Thune is reformed in his doctrine, there isn’t a strong whiff of it in this book. Granted, there are reformed underpinnings to many of the things he says, but rest assured that your Elders won’t come away from reading this book talking about reformed theology, and that’s because the gospel is clearly the center of this book.

Practical

There are questions throughout this book for readers to process that are nuanced and inviting. These questions make it quite easy for facilitators to navigate discussions. This is helpful because this book should surely be read in the midst of a small group or one-on-one.  Furthermore, each chapter has a corresponding exercise that helps the gospel penetrate with deepening practicality.

It’s fair to say that each chapter successfully avoids dappling only in the realm of theory. However, it’s important to note that even though this book is largely practical, it certainly isn’t comprehensive. This is why supplementing this book with reading Sticky Teams by Larry Osborne would likely be helpful for your team. For what it’s worth, Sticky Teams is incredibly practical but its primary limitation is its lack of gospel-centeredness.

Short & Readable

Many of the Elders we want to develop and unify are hesitant to read thick books. Some might argue that if someone can’t commit to reading chunky books then how can they have the requisite commitment to be an Elder? But this type of outlook doesn’t seem to leave room for Elder candidates who have different personalities and giftings than the ones that vocational pastors often bring to the table. That’s why a short and readable book like Gospel Eldership is a good middle ground resource that should meet almost everyone where they’re at. The author puts the cookies on the bottom shelf, which is commendable.

You should definitely buy a copy of this book and check it out for yourself!

Elder Training: The New Elder's Handbook

Training prospective elders for leadership is an essential, but often overlooked, step in creating a healthy church community. A structured training mechanism is especially important for a church plant where leaders don't have the advantage of walking with potential elders over an extended period of time. In this post, I am reviewing the new training resource, "The New Elder's Handbook" by Greg R. Scharf and Arthur Kok.

OVERVIEW: This handbook is intended to provide leaders a method by which to biblically develop faithful leaders. The authors, Greg Scharf and Arthur Kok, both bring a wealth of experience to this resource. Greg is a seasoned pastor and professor emeritus of homiletics and pastoral theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Arthur is director of training for the Orchard Network in the greater Chicago area.

INTRODUCTION: In the introduction Scharf and Kok share that this training pathway will:

• Supply steps of obedience you can take toward qualification
• Help you discern if you have biblical qualifications
• Help you to be the kind of person who could serve as an elder
• Drive you to your knees in humility and prayer
• Foster intentional fellowship in the Gospel
• Slow you down (i.e. Keep leaders from being too “hasty” in appointing elders - 1 Tim 5:22)

This handbook is intended to be used while prospective elders are also serving in some area of ministry, be it small group leader or teaching a Sunday school class.

PART 1: This section lays out the vision for the book which includes chapters on the following topics:

• The qualities that characterize biblical eldership
• Understanding the power behind leadership as observed in the life of Ezra
• Understanding the pathways for spiritual growth 
• The importance of community in the development of leaders
• Tips for identifying potential elders

PART 2: This section features 75 questions written by Dr. Scharf based on ordination topics and principals from the book of Ezra. In this section each question is stated and then followed by biblical passages and additional resources that provide answers to the stated question. Questions include topics like:

• What does the Bible claim concerning itself?
• What is the gospel? How do you explain the gospel to unbelievers?
• What do we know about Jesus's second coming? 
• How are individuals initiated into the church? How does baptism relate to a persons salvation?

Dr. Scharf gives an example of how a meeting could function using these questions.

• Participants will bring a bible and notebook to each meeting.
• In preparation for the meeting, they will have answered the question of the week through scripture and resources, and summarized their thoughts in writing.
• Participants will meet in triplets for prayer and accountability and then come together as a larger group.
• In the training hour, individuals will be invited to share what they had written with discussion guided by a facilitator.
• Before ending, the question for the following week is introduced and then the meeting concludes. 

As is obvious, the entire plan will require 75 weeks of meetings, which could easily cycle over the course of 1 1/2 to 2 years.

CONCLUSION: I appreciate this resource for the following reasons.

• It will slow you down in appointing elders, improving the quality and preparation of elder candidates
• It is centered on the Word, so it teaches future leaders to explore, understand, and communicate the scriptures to others
• It provides a comprehensive basis by which future elders can grow to become full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another (Rom 15:14)
• It will work with any orthodox Evangelical church, no matter the philosophy of ministry or theological leanings
• It is easy to use

I close with a quote from the president of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Dr. David S. Dockery, who states in an endorsement of the handbook:

A skillfully designed resource for pastors and church leaders who are serious about developing the next generation of church leaders for their congregations. With its focus on vision, training, discipling, and selection, this thoughtful handbook provides and invaluable guidance for the formation of faithful leaders.

Church Planting Eldership Series

One of the most important steps in transitioning your church plant into a healthy established church involves the identifying, training and appointing of elder leadership. In Acts 14:23 we learn that Paul and Barnabas went from church to church appointing elders and commissioning them with prayer and fasting. The question is, how do we translate this process into today’s modern context? Depending on your tradition, this path may be predetermined; however, for many in the evangelical "free-church” tradition, planters have a degree of freedom to shape this process based on the involvement of a planting church, the size and maturity of the planting team, and the model of the church being established. In an ongoing series of blog posts I will be organizing thoughts and resources based on various topics related to the appointing of elder leadership in a church plant. The topics will include subjects like:

• Elder Planting Leadership Models
• Elder Training: The New Elder's Handbook
• Identifying Future Elders
• Elder Training Curriculums
• The Role of Members in Appointing Elders
• The Value of Elder Candidacy 

This list may grow and change throughout this series but I will organize all of these resources by linking the posts from this eldership series post.

Avoiding the Anti-Elder

I don't think I'm exaggerating to say that many churches and church plants implode because leaders are too hasty or reckless in the appointment and empowerment of the wrong leaders. Just because someone is passionate about the matters of mission, shares your vision for church, or has experience as a business leader does not make them a good candidate for eldership or any other form of leadership. Here's a good article from Challies on the anti-elder and how to identify them. A fresh take on the Biblical qualifications.