ELDERSHIP

 In Acts 14:23 – Elders were appointed in every church.

Titus 1:5-9 Elders were appointed in every city in Crete to set things right.

In both these places there were problems like – “For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision. Who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.  (Tit 1:10-12 )

All these problems needed to be set right.

Hence the qualifications of the Elders were -(Titus 1:5-9)

a.      Character issues (one wife, not drunkard, not troublemaker etc. etc)

b.      Their children walk in faith.

c.       Hospitable (person of peace)

d.       Honest steward of God’s money.

e.      Able to teach (1 Tim. 3:2)

f.        Ability to convince and convict those of other faiths who oppose (sign of maturity).

In our case, we never had to formally appoint an elder in any church. Overtime the system throws up natural leaders who grasp the concept of church growth and multiplication and have passion for reaching the lost. They are mostly trainers, mentors, mobilizers and problem solvers. They travel much conducting teaching seminars. Even in the case of Muslims we did not have the problem of polygamy as most of them now a days have only one wife and sometimes even she deserted them during the difficult conversion process. Age and gender had no role in natural selection of elders, just like Priscilla, Lydia, Phebe and Timothy, who was a young man.

The Greek word presbuteros is translated “elder” for men but for some strange reason, presbuteras, the feminine form, has been translated as “older women”. It can just as easily be translated as “woman elder”, as “elderess” or even as “wife of an elder” (1 Tim. 5:2). Obviously, this was done deliberately to avoid appointing women as elders in the male dominated churches. It is very easy to identify who is leading the pack. (From my book GREET THE EKKLESIA IN YOUR HOUSE)

The problem comes when a recently qualified seminary graduate comes and appoints himself as the leader or when the local leader starts calling himself the Pastor and usurps all the basic rights of the royal priests, like discipling, baptizing breaking bread etc. The focus shifts from discipling to building a church building and setting up a formal structure. The church then becomes a centre for income generation with focus on programs rather than on multiplication. Hence the role of an Elder/Elderess is crucial for setting things right in the church.