We interrupt our regularly scheduled program to bring a word from the Word about elders. We talked this last Sunday morning, in a combined bible class, about the importance of elders and what makes an elder, from a biblical perspective. Participants in the class got a handy handout that will help us think through what it means to be a select good elders for our congregation. Here's the highlight reel, as I see it, from our time together.
-A really good place to begin talking about elders is back in the gospels when Jesus talks about leadership in his new community. Jesus has called a distinct community to follow him and has called them to a unique way of life. He wants leaders to emerge from within this community that can lead the community to become like him. Therefore a great place to begin looking for qualities of a elder is the life and teachings of Jesus.
-Jesus inverts the way the world looks at power. The leaders that Jesus seeks are those who are first and foremost servants of others. Jesus wants those who follow him to be servants just like him - and Jesus serves everybody. Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many." Jesus calls those who follow him to serve and so leaders in his community need to truly exhibit service to others in all that they do.
-We talked about the interesting fact that biblical leaders don't generally want to be leaders! In the Old Testament when God calls a prophet the prophet rejects God's call at first. They don't want to do it! God wants leaders who are humble and don't think, perhaps, that they actually have anything to offer.
-The leading metaphor for a leader in the bible is that of a shepherd. God is often talked about as being a shepherd, right? And so a leader of God's flock should emulate God in this. Shepherd is a powerful image for a leader in the church.
I know we talked about more. What have I left out? What moves you about all of this? What difference do you think it would make if we served our servants?
Peace,
Aaron
We are so blessed at Westside to have the elders that we have now. I think it can only make Westside better to elect extra shepherds. I know as we all think about the men we would like to shepherd us I know I am looking for a natural leader. I think we all know we don't want a power hungry man...I mean come on we wouldn't elect Donald Trump would we? Luckily I don't see any of my brothers as a "Donald Trump". I would like to see us not be afraid to elect some men that we may have overlooked in the past. I am so pleased to see Aaron leading us to base our expectations on what it plainly says in scripture. When we follow God's word we can't go wrong.
ReplyDeleteMay God bless all the men of Westside that are being considered for the elder role. My prayers are with you. And may God bless our current elders and thank you all for all that you have done and will continue to do in our family. Jennifer L.
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more about our elders. I'm amazed at the men of the faith that they are. They care so much for the congregation and spend more time than I think anyone realizes in prayer and healthy conversations for our members. I'm very excited to see how God leads them and our addition elders in faithfulness as well make difficult choices and continue to serve the God who saves. Leaders who serve are so inspiring.
Thanks again for your words and thoughts.
Aaron
Aaron,
ReplyDeleteGreat work in the class. I really enjoyed those last two weeks discussing Elders. I think it is important that we not limit our thinking about what kind of men should serve as Elders to only those verses that discuss Elders directly. Certainly there is a wealth of great teaching on being a Godly man and Christ-centered leader.
I aslo appreciate the focus on the role the rest of us should play in support of our leaders. We are all called to be servants. Those who serve us most as our Elders certainly deserve our service as well.
Finally, I will leave with a question for those in Blogland. Looking at the Church as an organization that needs leadership of various kinds, should our Elders ideally serve more in the capacity of a board of directors providing guidance and ultimate oversight of the decsion makers or should they be more like corporate officers serving as the decsion makers themselves. In some ways both types of leadership are needed in some form. If that should come from the Elders, what is the Biblical basis for that position? If it should some from others instead of or in addition to the Elders, who should that be?
No need for Aaron or anyone else to post an Answer, but if you are so moved, I would be curious. Thanks.
Josh,
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good question. I have to say, as I'm sure you could guess, that I dislike using modern titles for leadership, just because of the baggage that can come along with them, but I understand what your getting at. Given the ways we have available to us from our modern context to think about leadership, which are they more like? Ok, so, to kind of weigh in on your question:
I tend to think the former, elders are more like a board of directors than corporate officers. I base this off of one word you alluded to in your post that is actually a word used about elders in scripture, "overseer." I don't know of anywhere in scripture where elders are called, "decision makers" but I do know of several times where they are directly called or alluded to as "overseers." Now, this is sticky because I think their authority as elders (just being elderly) would have been assumed anyway...
-in biblical contexts, elders (being elderly folk) automatically had authority just because of their age. So, they already served, to use your language, as something like corporate officers, but on steroids. They lived in a very hierarchical society, and would have never understood our notions of democracy - the authority of the masses - or any of that. They just wouldn't have. So, in some ways they are already working from that system. We don't need to judge which is better, at this point, just recognize that they are different.
-From my limited understanding of this, to call them overseers would have been something of an interesting title. Remember, please remember from the class time we shared, that they are serving not just as leaders, but as CHRISTIAN leaders, meaning their immediate leadership context was not Rome, or Ephesus, but God's kingdom community. So, their claiming, from the very beginning, that all authority comes not from them, but from God. God, then, is the only corporate officer (ummm and Jesus and the HS). They, the leaders, are those who mostly listen for God and serve him and his people. Now...
-In the New Testament it seems that God speaks the loudest through Jesus (and the community that is His body) and through the Word of scripture as read in and through the Christian community. So I want my elders to be people who REALLY know how to listen, but to the church (which is Christ's body) and to the Word of God (scripture) and through this convince the church of God's presence and direction.
Does that make ANY sense?
Aaron
In our post-industrialization pro-young professional context, we tend
--just a warning as I read over this and am still doubtful as to whether I make sense-
ReplyDeleteI am with Aaron in avoiding using modern titles when referring to the church leadership, mainly because I like to think of the church as family and as I have yet to be related to any form of aristocracy, we use layman titles and antics. even so, I recognize the change/difference between our sense of family and community structure and that of the new testament culture.
I don't think it is difficult to conceive of this idea that the Elders of a community have the wisdom and experience age would afford them, or even the love of those that they would know over a life-time of growing up together, but I see how our concept has to adjust to the present day change in that age does not imply spiritual maturity, or cultural familiarity (whether church culture or other); we also consider whether the Elder is known to the congregation (who is partially transient, or transplanted, or blood-relative-less), and is seen favorably among the community. or rather, maybe it is a personal conception (my coming out of the 'bible belt') that has to change as why would it be implied that age in the early church meant spiritually mature, as the church was still accepting new converts young and old.
i think there is something to knowing the elder's backgrounds well enough to trust they can negotiate the difficulties the family meets (if it were business we would have their resume and make value judgments from there)...then again, how much do we find this necessary and why?
I am not sure what terminology works best business or familial or other, but I do agree that the conversation on how values and expectations translate over time is something we have to consider. and i do think finding a terminology a group can agree upon helps communicate clearer ideas and clearer expectations of the their role and that of the elder's role.