Where Are All The Elders?

from Spiritual Pathways Ministries:

As a matter of confession, I grew up in a Cumberland Presbyterian church. My dad was an elder in the church and took his position seriously. It was a small church in a remote part of the county, about 7 miles from a post office. We couldn’t afford a full time pastor, nor found the need for one, so we had preacher/teachers.

The forty or so people who attended and supported the church paid about $100 dollars a week to a preacher for Sunday morning and evening services. It was a custom that the preacher was always invited to eat and stay with one of the elders every sunday on a regular rotational.

“So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” Acts 14:23

The responsiblity of running the New Testament church was intended for the elders, not a pastor or preacher.

“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–” Titus 1:5

Our old church would welcome anyone to speak a message from the word, however on more than a few occasions when a man had error-ed in his interpretation one of the elders would stand up at the end of the service and announce an elders meeting. If the elders judged this man to have been wrong or unscriptural in his message he wouldn’t be invited to speak again. From the beginning of the church age in the New Testament, the following offices are mentioned,

Elder———————————-32 times

Preacher——————————-4 times

Evangelist—————————–3 times

Pastor———————————-1 time

None of the heresies in the church today would exist if elders were functioning. The purpose of the office of elder was to keep these wolves out of the congregation. Instead today the job of overseeing the church has been relegated to pastors and in many cases the elders are members of his family.“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;” Rev. 2:2

Where are the elders in the church today? Do you know who the elders are in your church? Do the elders oversee the operation and worship in your church or do they allow a preacher to run the organization? Is your celebrity pastor’s name advertised on a billboard? If it is, then you may not be attending a New Testament church but rather supporting a personality cult.