Leadership In a Congregation Without Elders

Transcription

1 CHURCH LEADERSHIP Leadership In a Congregation Without Elders When we think of leadership in a local congregation, we automatically think of elders. However, many congregations have no elders. Probably half of the congregations of the Lord s church in the United States have fifty or fewer members; a high percentage of these smaller congregations do not have elders. Frequently, even larger churches have no eldership. Furthermore, on the mission field, whether it is India, Australia, Guyana, or Germany, elders are the exception rather than the rule. Therefore, if we confine our study of the subject of leadership to a discussion of the eldership, we are neglecting the question many face: How should leadership be exercised in churches where there are no elders? In answer to that question, let us consider four propositions. A CONGREGATION CAN EXIST WITHOUT ELDERS The first proposition is this: A congregation can scripturally exist without elders. In Acts 13 and 14, Paul and Barnabas established several congregations on their first missionary journey. As they turned back to retrace their steps, Luke records that they... appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting.... (Acts 14:23). Several congregations mentioned here had existed for some time without elders. (No one knows how long they had existed; estimates vary considerably.) Now Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in every church. Even while those churches were without elders, they were still churches! It is possible for a church to exist as a valid New Testament church without elders. A word of warning: Let us not be overly hasty in appointing elders. When brethren, in their fervor to follow the New Testament pattern, rush headlong into the appointment of elders without giving sufficient time and thought to the process, they may end up with unqualified shepherds for the flock. We should probably remember that it is better to be scripturally unorganized than to be unscripturally organized. A CONGREGATION SHOULD PLAN TO HAVE ELDERS Let us consider a second proposition: A congregation should, from its beginning, make plans to have elders. As long as a church does not have elders, it lacks something that God says it needs. Paul left Titus in Crete so that he might set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city (Titus 1:5). The church existed in those towns before Titus was left there. Why did Titus need to appoint elders? God knew that His church would need pastors in order for the body to grow in every way; therefore, He provided for the office of the eldership. Without elders, a church can exist scripturally; it can get along; it may even grow. It can never be and do all that God desires, however, until it has elders. Why Are Churches Slow In Appointing Elders? Too many churches have existed too long 1

2 without elders. Why? Have preachers done a poor job of preparing men for leadership? Is it possible that some churches fail to appoint elders because the men who have previously made the decisions in business meetings are afraid that they will lose their leadership role if elders are appointed? Could a dislike for authority cause some to reject the idea of elders; could it be that they cannot stand the idea that someone might have more authority than they? How Can the Problem Be Solved? Whatever the reason, the fact that numerous congregations have existed for years and are still existing without elders should stir us to resolve that such situations will not continue to exist. How can this problem be avoided? What steps can a congregation take to try to make sure that elders are appointed in a reasonable length of time? Three suggestions can be made: Convert men. From the beginning an effort must be made to convert men (heads of families) and whole families to the Lord. Women and children are usually more responsive, but if we expend all of our efforts seeking to convert them, we may end up with a congregation full of women and young people, with no possibility of appointing elders for many years. Train the new converts. We should immediately begin training men for the eldership. This training should include both theory and practice. We want them to learn Bible doctrines, church organization, and church leadership. We also want them to begin to practice what they learn by teaching others, teaching Bible classes, leading in worship, and speaking publicly. Training can be done personally, in classes, through reading, through correspondence or video courses, and by providing opportunities for the men to exercise their talents. Involve men in leadership. Those who may someday become elders should from the first share in the decision-making processes of the church. By this means they will prepare for the day when they will lead the church. Preachers and missionaries are sometimes afraid to take this step. Some might object to having babes in Christ involved in decisionmaking, saying, They do not know enough to be trusted to make decisions concerning the work of the church ; or They may still hold some of the erroneous doctrines of denominationalism. In reply to this objection, I would suggest, first, that most new Christians are aware that they have much to learn about the Bible, and few will venture beyond their range of competency. Second, while it is true that babes in Christ know little about the Bible, they may know quite a lot about business practices and about how their neighbors may be brought to Christ. The preacher would do well to listen even to new converts on questions like Where should we meet? ; When should we meet? ; What are the best methods of evangelism in this area? Third, to refuse to involve the members in decision-making may have negative effects. It may cause the preacher or missionary to develop the attitude that the church belongs to him, rather than to Christ, and cause new converts to have the same attitude. Furthermore, to withhold opportunities for decision-making from new converts is likely to cause them to remain spiritual babes. Only by exercising their spiritual muscles will babes become mature Christians, truly capable of leadership. A CONGREGATION WITHOUT ELDERS MUST MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR CONDUCTING ITS BUSINESS Here is the third proposition: Until it has elders, a congregation must make other arrangements for conducting the business of the church. As soon as a new congregation is formed, questions arise: Where will they meet? When will they meet? Who will preach? What classes will they have, and who will teach them? Who will prepare the communion? What will they do with the money they collect? These questions and others must be answered. Decisions must be made. Immediately, there arises the need for some kind of arrangement by which the business of the church can be conducted. Informal Methods In some congregations business may be conducted informally. Men may make decisions while they are standing around after worship services, apparently only indulging in small talk. Perhaps nothing is wrong with this; no Scripture requires a monthly business meeting. However, dangers exist in having an informal decision-making process. First, there is a 2

3 danger that no business will be conducted. If a congregation has no need to make decisions, the church may not be doing much to save the lost or to help others. Second, such a situation may give rise to a Diotrephes, who loves to be first (3 John 9). A man may like the informal decisionmaking process because it gives him effective control of the church. Third, business may not be conducted in an orderly fashion. Tasks that need to be done may be left undone; matters that need correction may continue; important aspects of a problem may go unnoticed when a solution is proposed; or decisions may not truly reflect the will of the congregation. The Business Meetings Because of these dangers (and perhaps others), more formal business meetings are often used to make decisions for the church. Who attends these business meetings? Usually, they are open to all the men of the congregation. Women are usually excluded because it is thought that by being present they may exercise authority over a man (1 Timothy 2:12). Furthermore, since only men will become elders, it is they who need to learn to lead, and the business meetings are a leadership laboratory. Even though the women are not invited to attend the business meetings, they need to be considered by the men who attend them. When a decision to be made will concern the women (for instance, if women will be asked to prepare food or if female Sunday School teachers will be asked to do something), they need to be approached before the meeting. Obviously, after the meeting all the members should be informed about what happened in the meeting. In addition, the feelings, ideas, and suggestions of the women should be considered in making decisions. It is the height of folly for the men, as they make decisions affecting the whole church, to ignore those who probably make up the majority of the church and who probably do 75 per cent of the work of the church! Ideally, the decisions made in the business meetings ought to reflect the feelings of the entire congregation, women included. How should the business meetings be conducted? The New Testament does not require that we hold formal business meetings; neither does it lay down hard-and-fast rules for their conduct. Let me, however, make some general suggestions which may be helpful: First, let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner (1 Corinthians 14:40). This principle should be applied to the business meetings, as well as to the worship of the church. Of course, what is considered properly and orderly may vary from one congregation to another. A church may adopt strict rules and observe the laws of parliamentary procedure to the letter. Another congregation may not observe the rules of parliamentary procedure in its business meetings, yet accomplish its aims in a satisfactory way. Whatever is done, the meetings ought to be conducted in an orderly fashion by the standards of those involved. Second, the meeting should be conducted in a Christian atmosphere. The men should be kind, be careful what they say, be forbearing and longsuffering toward others, and act lovingly. In such an atmosphere brethren will express themselves on the questions raised. Third, no phase of the work should be neglected. Bills must be paid; the building must be maintained; preachers must be chosen. Letters must be answered, appeals must be considered, and plans for benevolent and evangelistic work must be made. Furthermore, the spiritual welfare of the members must be considered. Sometimes we get so involved in mundane matters that we neglect the spiritual the souls of those in our care. We should not neglect material matters, but we should spend more time discussing how we can save more souls and keep them saved! Fourth, plans should be made well ahead of time. Too many congregations decide one month that they need a gospel meeting the next month. More time needs to be given to planning. Fifth, decisions made at business meetings need to be implemented. Too often, the men decide that something ought to be done but leave the decision right there. If no one is given the job to do, no one does it! What s everyone s business is no one s business, it is said. Sixth, men who attend the business meetings should learn to delegate responsibility. If the men try to decide who is to lead every song and every prayer, then they will not get all the small decisions made, and never get around to discussing important questions. A better plan is to make an individual or a committee responsible 3

4 for a particular work, define the boundaries of the task, determine how much money can be spent, and decide when a report should be given. After the job is completed (or as it is in progress), the man or the committee can give a report at the meeting and receive further instructions. One word of caution must be given: A committee system may turn out to be just a convenient way to spread the blame for not getting a job done. Committees should not be appointed until they are needed, should be no larger than is necessary, and should include only those who are willing to serve. Seventh, everyone present should have the opportunity to express himself in the meetings, but limits need to be set on each man s right to speak. No one should be given license to talk all night or to take up another s time. Meetings should not be dominated by one voice. Each person needs to feel free, within those limits, to say whatever he chooses about the proposals before the group. Eighth, decisions ought to be made in the business meetings by consensus, that is, by general agreement which is in the best interest of the congregation, rather than by majority vote. The majority vote method has several detrimental aspects. For one thing, it does not really fit God s ideal pattern for decision-making in the church. That pattern calls for elders men who are older, wiser, more knowledgeable, and more experienced to lead the flock. Brethren need to understand this kind of leadership. However, if the men are accustomed to deciding matters by a majority vote, they will not be prepared to accept the kind of leadership involved in having elders. Thus, in the meeting, everyone ought to be allowed to have his say, but one man s opinion is not necessarily as good as another s. Differences in spirituality, maturity, experience, knowledge, training, and faithfulness should be taken into account when opinions are expressed. Furthermore, a majority-rule policy may contribute to strife. If a decision is made, for example, on the basis of a vote of 8 to 5, almost 40 per cent of those involved in the decision are not in favor of the decision. It will be hard for that 40 per cent to support that decision enthusiastically or to feel good about the church; they may even believe so strongly that the wrong decision was made by the majority that they can no longer worship in the congregation. The majority vote system may magnify differences or even contribute to division. What could be done instead? First, those at the business meetings ought to try to reach a consensus on the question Is there any way that the minority s feelings on this question could be changed? A compromise should be attempted. If a compromise cannot be reached, then other plans should probably be made. The idea, obviously, is to attempt to reach decisions that will leave all, or most, of those in the meetings confident that the decisions have been made in the best interest of the souls of the congregation. Two cautions need to be observed in applying this principle. First, the tyranny of minority rule must be avoided. If one or two men oppose a suggestion, this does not mean that it automatically ought to be dropped. Second, Christian attitudes would require each one to learn to submit to others; to do otherwise would be factious. Therefore, if one is part of a small minority, he should question whether or not he really ought to impose his will on the majority. Ideally, in times of disagreement, all Christians should be inclined to give in to their brethren. MEN SHOULD BEGIN TO EXERCISE THE ABILITY OF LEADERSHIP Let us consider now our fourth proposition: Even before elders are appointed, the men of the congregation need to begin to exercise their ability to lead. This ability is a God-given talent, as is evident from 1 Corinthians 12:28, where Paul spoke of the gift of administrations or administrators (RSV) or governments (KJV). The Greek word literally means the work of a ship s pilot who steers the ship through the rocks and shoals to harbour. 1 This would obviously include and maybe even refer primarily to the work of the pastors of a church; it would not necessarily be confined to them. One commentator has said, The function is obviously one of direction, and may be the work of the elders. But we have no way of knowing. 2 1 William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians (Edinburgh: The Saint Andrew Press, 1973), Leon Morris, The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, in The Tyndale New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1958),

5 Even if the word refers only to elders, this question arises: Does God give the ability only when men are appointed to be elders? It may be more accurate to say that we recognize a man s ability of administering when we appoint him to be an elder. If so, then men have the ability of leadership before they are appointed as elders. Thus men should begin to exercise that ability even before they become elders. How Does a Man Know That He Has The Ability To Lead? How does an individual know whether or not he has the ability to lead? To answer that question, let us answer another: How do we know whether or not you have the talent of singing? By trying to sing! We cannot know whether or not we can sing until we have tried hard for some time. Likewise, the only way we can know whether or not we have the talent of leadership is to try to exercise that talent, and to try hard over a period of time. If a man says, I could never be an elder; I m just not cut out for the job, and never tries to develop into a person who could be an elder, he may be burying a talent God has given to him. How Can a Man Begin To Use His Talents? A man does not lead by ordering people around. He cannot begin to exercise the talent of leadership by bossing people! Some may think that this is the road to the eldership; in some congregations there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians, too many supervisors and not enough workers. This results from a mistaken concept of the kind of leadership an elder needs to exercise. According to 1 Peter 5:1 5, elders are not to be domineering; they are not to act as lording it over those allotted to [their] charge. They are not bosses. Their attitude is not You must do what I say, because I am one of your elders. In fact, the admonition in 1 Peter 5:5 to clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, applies with equal force to the elders! Elders are to provide examples. They are to lead by persuasion, not by compulsion; by influence, not by manipulation. Because of the beauty of their character, the goodness and wisdom that others see in them, the flock follows them gladly. Future elders must learn to serve. In business, men who are being groomed for top management jobs often start at the bottom. They work at jobs all the way through the organization. How else can they understand the organization and the problems of the men who work in it? Likewise, we begin to act as leaders in the Bible sense when we begin to serve. Future elders must seek opportunities for involvement. The man who would be an elder begins to seek opportunities for involvement in the work of shepherding. Much of the work of an elder is also the responsibility of other members. For instance, elders should seek lost sheep, yet the New Testament places that responsibility also on other Christians (Galatians 6:1). Likewise, elders are to be apt to teach; yet all Christians are to be teachers by their lives, and all should become teachers in word, as their abilities and opportunities permit. Furthermore, while elders are to refute false teachings, all of us are exhorted to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). Finally, elders are to exhort other members; but the writer of Hebrews spoke to every Christian, saying, But encourage one another day after day (Hebrews 3:13). Ideally, when a congregation appoints a man to be an elder, it does not thereby give him a new job; it simply acknowledges that he is already doing most of the things the most important things that an elder does. It officially gives him a responsibility that he already feels for the care of souls. CONCLUSION A lesson is a success when it changes the behavior of those who hear or read it. This lesson will, therefore, be successful if (1) it leads some congregation to appoint qualified elders earlier than might have been done otherwise; (2) it helps a congregation without elders to take better care of its work than it would have done otherwise; and (3) it helps men to prepare themselves to qualify to serve some day as elders in the Lord s church. The U.S. Army used to recruit men with a poster of Uncle Sam pointing a finger at young men and saying, Uncle Sam Needs You. Today, God needs men! God needs men to be preachers, personal workers, teachers, and, perhaps more than anything else, elders in the Lord s church! Copyright, 1994, 1998 by Truth for Today ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 5