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The Church Governing Body and Elders

(Overcomer Wu)

I am burdened by the Lord to write on the topic of the proper form of church government with the office of elders, because there have been some highly respectable brothers and even leaders both in the past, Harold Camping was one of them who espoused the abolishment or the non-recognition of eldership, and present, whose names I need not mention. It is crucial to have elders both as shepherds to care for the sheep of God and as overseers/superintendents to establish and maintain order in the churches. Yes, I realize that those who are opposed to the clear teachings of the Bible that there are elders did so with a good intention to point out that there is no hierarchy in the Body of Christ. While that is a true statement and belief that I myself would uphold, there is nonetheless incontrovertible and overwhelming verses in the Bible that shows that there are elders who function as overseers/superintendents in the churches; and we need to respect them accordingly both for our own good lest we offend God by infringing upon the delegated authorities of God (I would highly recommend everyone who has not yet read the book, Spiritual Authority by Watchman Nee, to read that book for your own spiritual well-being), and to maintain order and oneness in the church.

The Scriptural form of government is a group of spiritually mature men, called elders, either appointed by God Himself through an apostle or through other elders or through the Holy Spirit Himself. God gives a vision and responsibility to this group of His chosen vessels in a locality. The man of God in turn imparts the vision and/or a message to the local assembly and allow the Holy Spirit to move among the saints and build His Church. Souls saved, disciples made, people healed, local outreach, world missions, worship and praise, and mutual love and building between the saints as members of the Body of Christ spontaneously happens when we have ears to hear the Spirit's speaking to the churches and are willing to receive the grace to walk accordingly. There is usually a plurality of elders to both balance each other and to cover each other when one or some members are either weaken spiritually or physically. God usually and naturally raises up "right-hand men" as deacons to "serve" the people and "help" the senior pastor and pastoral staff implement a vision/burden given by the Lord to the members of the eldership. The senior elders/pastors/shepherds watch as God develops gifts and ministries in a local church for its growth and building. Naturally, they would give the various gifts in the Body as given by Christ for the building of the church opportunities to function according to the portion of the grace given to them by the Lord (Eph 4:7). In this form of God-ordained church government, the most mature elder/pastor is in charge, but with a "servant" mindset as he prays and fasts before God, solicits comments from the congregation, seeks advice from staff elders and deacons and then makes decisions. In this form of government there is no voting as it is not a democracy, but a theocracy.

Obviously, the men of God serving in this capacity must be sensitive to hear God's speaking and God's leading. Then the sheep bear witness as they follow their undershepherd, confident that he is following the Chief Shepherd, Christ. The administration of each local church is local, rather than having some kind of leadership elsewhere dictating to the church what they must do, teach, or practice. Only the churches that are forsaking years of men's traditions for freshly revealed Biblical truth will opt for this Scriptural form of government; rather than follow some rigid human traditional government with a multi-level hierarchy and a headquarter that has complete control over the churches programs and activities from a distance. Only churches that are brave enough to quit leaning on the arm of flesh dare to adopt this independent theocracy form of church government. This is not to say that a church functioning with this Scriptural form of government can't be networked with other local churches of like-minded churches and have occasional gathering together for mutual edification, accountability, and enrichment. Networking among churches without falling into the pitfall of having a headquarter church or a leading brother controlling the affairs and activities of the other churches, on the contrary, has proven to be extremely helpful by leveraging the various gifts given to some local churches that have differing functions to complete and balance each other for the edification of the saints and for the building up of the Body of Chirst.

Scriptural Basis For the Functions and Office of Elders

Philippians 1:1 - “Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.”
In the above Scripture, the apostle Paul clearly speaks of three categories or groups of Christians, three functional groups within the local church: the saints, the bishops and the deacons. (Of course, the bishops and deacons are also saints as well.)

To understand what a true Elder is, one must let the bulk of God's Word interpret and balance itself, Because no single verse in the Bible by itself completely defines what an Elder really is. Obviously the choice of words that is used in the New Testament for this spiritual leader automatically gives us an initial word picture. The fact that "elder" is used in the New Testament interchangeably to denote a Christian leader and also in other contexts to denote an older person, shows us that a leader is someone with greater spiritual maturity and more influence through their experience, age, training, or anointing. But to put it in brief, I propose that the Scriptures make very clear what an Elder truly is.

Firstly, in the Bible an Elder = Bishop = Pastor = Overseer = Spiritual Leader = Ephesians Chapter 4 Shepherd-Teacher (which is the compound title given there in the original Greek text). It was the great mistake of Constantine the Great in saying that a bishop is somehow higher in position than an elder that brought about such hierarchy systems in Catholicism and in some denominations. The fact of the of matter is that they are used interchangeably in the New Testament to refer to the same group of people. An Elder speaks more of the experience and spiritual maturity of the person who can qualify to serve in such office or function; 1 Timothy 3:6 tells us in no uncertain term that an elder cannot be a “novice”or a new/young believer in Christ. Bishop simply speaks more to the function of an elder which literally means a superintendent or an overseer. Hence, you see in some Biblical translations, the word overseer is used in place of bishop.

Let us carefully consider these Scriptural passages on elders in the Net Testament:

Firstly, 1 Timothy 3:2-6 gives us a list of qualifications of one who is to be an elder: “An elder/bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money,but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence, for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?; not a novice (or a young believer), lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.”

In Titus 1:5-9, the apostle Paul delegated his authority to appoint elders in Crete which passage reveals to us not only the qualifications, but also some more of the key functions of an elder: “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you— if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination. For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.” Note: the above passage proves my point that an elder is equivalent to a bishop for they are used interchangeably in the above passage! In verse 5, Paul used the word “elders” while in verse 7, he used the word “bishop!” Thus, it was definitely a mistake for Constantine to have started a system of hierarchy by saying that a bishop is higher in office than an elder and we know that they have arch-bishop on top of bishop, cardinals, etc..

1 Peter 5:1-4 tell us some of the functions of an elder: "The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders..."

Here in Acts 14:23 as in all the other passages in the Bible that speaks of the functions and people who are serving as elders, other than the previous passage in 1 Timothy 2 which is simply listing some qualifications of an elder, the elders are always mention in the plural, which proves my point that there should be multiple elders in each locality to avoid the abuse of power and also for the mutual balancing and support of each other: "So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed."

As I mentioned above, 1 Timothy 3:1-2 gives us used an alternate Greek word which is translated bishop to emphasize one of the main functions of an elder which is a title used in God's Word as given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: "This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop (Lit. superintendent, overseer), he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach."

1 Timothy 5:17 tells us the administrative authority of an elder's function: "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the Word and doctrine/teaching."

In the last verse quoted above, it does seem to allude to the fact that there are some elders whose work is not necessarily to preach and teach. This is about the only verse I can find that might justify one thinking that there is such a thing as a mere administrative elder who has not been gifted to preach or to teach. However, taking all the passages together above on elders, I would still say that it is made quite clear that the preponderance of verses point to the fact that one of the qualifications of an elder is to teach, especially when Ephesians 4:11 gives us the compound title of a pastor/shepherd-teacher (according to the original Greek manuscript of the Bible). In other words, these two functions are inseparable! Also, one could argue that 1 Timothy 5:17 is no necessarily saying that some elders do not have the function of preaching and teaching, but that those who “labor” harder in the Word and teaching should be counted worthy of double honor, which by the way, refers to wages. Now I know that it is the practice of some churches to not give wages to elders, especially among us for fear that the eldership might degrade into a job that people can apply for instead of a calling from God or a function that one grows up into. We need to keep in mind that just because someone is a good leader in their secular profession does not qualify them to lead God's church. God Himself decides whom to call and anoint to lead. In fact, God looks at the right person based on their heart's condition and spiritual maturity more than the ability they're endowed with. To usurp and replace God's callings and giftings is a serious matter that can stunt the spiritual growth and direction of a local church at best, or cause God to withdraw His hand of blessing altogether, at worst. Also, I believe that we need to be sensitive to the practical needs of the elders as we are exhorted to do here in 1 Timothy 5:17. Through the years, I have seen too many elders among us whose families suffer greatly due to the negligence of the saints in giving their voluntary offerings to their families. We tend to take for granted that since they are living by faith, the Lord will somehow provide for them. Indeed, the Lord does provide for them and never suffer the righteous to hunger, but we ourselves have to be sensitive to the Lord's prompting us to give sometimes and not neglect the Spirit's speaking to us in this area.


To those who have been called to be elders/shepherds/pastors/teachers of God's people, Acts 20:28 exhorts: "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” The elders are to faithfully carry out the function of caring, shepherding , teaching, guiding the flock of God with utmost seriousness and diligence, because they are entrusted with the very flock of God Whom He purchased and redeemed by His own blood! Thus, there is tremendous responsibility and accountability vested in the office/function of an elder, for the Chief Shepherd Himself will someday ask them to give an account (Heb 13:17 quoted below confirms this) for their faithfulness in carrying out this office and to give an account for all the lost sheep and wounded and neglected sheep. The saints who are not elders on the other hand should also give heed with the word of exhortation given in Hebrews 13:17, “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”