Elders in Congregational Life | Phil A. Newton

Phil A. Newton. Elders in Congregational Life: Rediscovering the Biblical Model for Church Leadership. Kregel, 2005. 176 pp.

“Why elders?” The question was posed to me as our congregation journeyed through the transition to elder leadership. My home church did not have elders; neither did the three churches where I had previously served as pastor. Although elders could be found among Presbyterian and Church of Christ congregations in the community, Baptists just did not have elders. So why should I spend the energy and time, not to mention stir up potential trouble, to move to a leadership structure of plural eldership?

Three primary elements moved me into the direction of a plurality of elders: Scripture, Baptist history, and practical issues of church life.

While delivering sermons that dealt with biblical texts teaching elder plurality, I experienced numerous uncomfortable moments–uncomfortable because I softened or ignored the teaching due to my own pastoral context. References to elders abound throughout the New Testament, so it is impossible to not encounter these texts while preaching consecutively through books of the Bible. I adopted the superficial explanation that equated the early church elders with today’s pastoral staffs. This satisfied my audience but it was clear to me that I imposed a modern perspective on the ancient text. Before continuing to offer this explanation to my congregation, I had to be sure that this common interpretation was true to the biblical text. If, through studying the Scripture myself, I was not convinced that this interpretation was biblical, how could I convince my congregation? The more I studied the biblical texts, the less support I found for simply equating elders with the modern church staff. Biblical integrity called for a change in the way that I addressed these texts.

History played a vital role in affecting my thought as well. When I was a teenager, I discovered that my home church recognized elders in its early history. The first few pastors were identified as Elder Gibson, Elder Hudson, and Elder Jennings. Why were they called elder in the nineteenth century if, indeed, they were pastors? The answer to that question came many years later when a friend with a Ph.D. in Church History from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary sent to me a copy of W. B. Johnson’s address, “The Rulers of a Church of Christ” from his The Gospel Developed Through the Government and Order of the Churches of Jesus Christ (1846). Johnson, the first president of the Southern Baptist Convention, clearly set forth the biblical and practical necessity for a plurality of elders in Baptist life. Johnson’s notoriety as a leader among early Southern Baptists made his address no small historical marker for elders in congregational life. If the congregational life of some, or perhaps even many, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Baptists included the practice of elder leadership, then why did Baptists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries transition to a leadership structure of a single pastor, staff, and deacons?

Lastly, practical concerns gave much reason for questioning the common authority structure in Baptist churches. I had experienced my share of church conflicts, disheartening business meetings, poorly qualified deacons, and power struggles in congregational life. I witnessed firsthand the discontinuity between pastor and deacons that affected the unity and viability of a church. Was this just the way things had to be if you were a Baptist? Many thought so. I read, too, another pastor’s newsletter article that likened Baptists to fighting alley cats: “So don’t try to change us,” he stated. But God’s Word would not allow me to be resigned to such assertions. How would I answer the Lord of the church if I acquiesced to conflict and confusion in church leadership?

Knowing my accountability to the Lord for the way that I led the church I served, I also knew that I had to take a higher road–even if the price were also high. Is there a better way–a more biblical way–to conduct church life? That’s the question that I faced in the late 1980s, and one that many are currently facing. The necessity for change must not be ignored, but the methodology need not cause knee-jerk reactions that upset the equilibrium of congregations. Church leaders and congregations must labor, however, to discover God’s revealed will in the Scriptures and, then, faithfully obey it.

Elders in Congregational Life does not exhaust the subject of elder leadership. Rather, it explores Scripture and church history, and then offers some workable recommendations for pastors and church leaders interested in transitioning to elder leadership. Part 1 addresses the question, “Why do we need plural elders in church life?” It explores the history of elders among Baptists and considers implications drawn from early Baptist confessional documents. Although this book is written from the perspective of my own denomination, churches from other congregational settings may identify as well. Familiarity with church history helps to flesh out the applications of Scripture in any ministry. Following the historical study, a biblical and theological investigation establishes the framework for plural eldership.

Part 2 addresses the pastoral role, expounding three different texts that address elders and spiritual leadership. Rather than looking at broad theological matters as in part 1, part 2 isolates particular texts in order to delineate the basic biblical framework for elder plurality and demonstrate how that framework can be studied in a congregational setting. Thus, the purpose of part 2 is twofold: first, to further explore the meaning of elder in the New Testament context; second, to offer a model for biblical expositions that might prove helpful to pastors and leaders in teaching their own congregations. Congregations are more likely to follow leadership changes when convinced that Scripture demands the change. Preaching through the various passages addressing local church leadership provides the context for swallowing traditions and following God’s will.

Part 3 addresses some of the questions and perplexities of transitioning to elder plurality. It offers recommendations for laying groundwork for eventual transition to elder leadership, and for trusting the Great Shepherd to apply what is needed in your own setting.

Taken from Elders in Congregational Life by Phil A. Newton. Copyright © 2005 by Phil A. Newton. Used by permission of Kregel Publications, a division of Kregel, Inc., Grand Rapids, MI 49501. All rights reserved.

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