Tim O’Neill, Executive Director
Solving The Elder Issue In a Church Plant
Appointing elders is often a tricky issue in a church plant.
Sometimes they are appointed too soon, being given authority they aren’t ready to handle.
Other times they are appointed too late, with the lead planter / pastor holding too much responsibility for too long. Moses did this and was crushed by the weight or responsibility and leadership. You can read about that in Numbers chapter 11.
And at other times, the wrong people are appointed as elders. That can cause a train wreck in any plant or church!
The Apostle Paul made it clear that when a church was planted, things are left unfinished whilst elders haven’t been appointed (Titus 1:5) and so he directed Titus to appoint elders in the nearly planted churches.
Thankfully Paul provides great assistance to us even today in the advice he provided about appointing elders. In fact he writes two lists of criteria that elders should meet. At first glance the lists might look quite similar, but in reality there are big differences.
6 Categories Of Criteria for Elders
These two lists are found in Titus 1:5-9 and 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Both lists cover six categories:
- Competency
- Character
- Domestic Mandate
- Financial Integrity
- Reputation
- Faith
But the requirements in both lists are quite different. Why? Because the Titus criteria applied to newly planted churches on Crete whilst the 1 Timothy criteria applied to a relatively mature and large church in Ephesus that was probably around ten years old and likely was comprised of thousands of people.
A great example of different criteria is that the 1 Timothy list says that an elder should not be recent convert. This qualification is missing in Titus. Why? Because everyone in the churches were likely to be new converts!
Minimum v Desired Qualifications for Elders
One could say that the Titus list records the minimum criteria whilst the 1 Timothy list records the desired criteria. Following are the lists compared:
How Much Authority Should Be Passed to the Elders?
One other factor must be considered is how much authority is passed over from the lead planter to the elders and when?
This depends on the maturity of the church and the degree to which the elders meet the desired criteria. In a healthy and mature church, the elders will be empowered to provide spiritual over-site and (depending whether there is a separate board in place) governance. However in a new church plant, particularly where finding elders who meet the desired criteria is difficult, the lead planter will generally hold on to authority for a longer period of time.
One solution here may be to have some “external” elders for a period, particularly from a mother church or denominational leadership to strengthen the eldership in the early days.
Some Final Thoughts
It isn’t healthy either for the planter or the church if the planter holds all the leadership authority and responsibility too long. They will likely burn out as Moses was on the verge of and wear out the people also. (Numbers 11 and Exodus 18).
Elders should be there to help carry the weight and responsibility of ministry and leadership (Numbers 11:17) so that the key leader doesn’t have to carry it all themself.
Elders should be appointed for the health of the church, but who is chosen to be an elder, and the timing of the transmission of authority are critical issues.
Tim O’Neill
Executive Leader
Exponential Australia