WHAT’S THIS IDEA OF ELDERS?
Well, here we are, September 2024 and at the beginning of our next phase of life Gateway North. We have crossed the river in a miraculous journey both for the church and the school and have now completed our first year here in this beautiful new building in West St Paul. The Gateway North Directional Team have really given themselves to leading us through this journey and we are very very grateful to them for their hard work, prayerful wisdom and diligent leadership.
Now it is time to move into the next phase which involves identifying and appointing new elders. The current elders, Peter Hagenlocher, Dale Janisse and myself, with input and guidance from our apostolic covering Ron MacLean, will be leading us through this process over the next three months and you as a church will have your part to play. We ask that you pray into God’s choices for eldership and you will get the opportunity to share those choices with us as part of this process. Please also be praying for the East and South Gateway Churches as they are also going through the same process at the same time.
So what is an elder and what are the qualities and characteristics we should be looking for in those God is raising up among us? Over the next four weeks, I will be sharing some short teachings on eldership with you that you will be able to access online. The notes with the scripture references will also be available online and in-person at the Welcome Desk in the Atrium.
Eldership became an important part of church governance soon after the church began almost 2000 years ago. As the early church grew, we see in Acts 11 (about 12 years after Pentecost), that Luke began referring to “elders” in the church. We see this when the church in Antioch sent famine relief to the church in Jerusalem, and Luke tells us that “they did so, sending it to the elders” (Acts 11:30). Then between Acts 11 and Acts 15, on Paul’s first missionary journey, Paul was already putting elders in place in brand new churches as he visited them on his return journey. Luke tells us that “they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith… And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed” (Acts 14:21-23).
Paul and Peter then wrote letters to churches ten years or so later giving instructions about elders. Paul instructed Titus to “put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you” (Titus 1:5). And the Apostle Peter exhorted “the elders among you” to “shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight” (1 Peter 5:1-2), and exhorted those “who are younger, be subject to the elders” (1 Peter 5:5). Eldership was clearly a central aspect of church governance in the early churches. But since the church began as a community of converted Jews, their concept of elders must have come from the Old Testament.
The first time we see the word “elders” repeatedly used in the Old Testament is in the Book of Exodus in reference to the “elders of Israel.” For example, in Exodus 3:16, Moses was instructed to “Go and gather the elders of Israel together…” The Hebrew word zaqen is used there, which comes from the word for “beard” (zaqan), indicating that the Hebrew word for “elder” referred to someone old enough to be bearded and deserving of respect. It was always used in reference to men, and nearly always in the plural form to refer to a council of men in authority.
Elders would assemble at the city gates to do their business in public (Deuteronomy 21:19) and handle civil affairs (Deuteronomy 22:15), and criminal cases (Deuteronomy 19:12; 21:1-9). But the Old Testament is not clear concerning the age required to qualify as a zaqen, or to serve on a council of zaqens. It’s possible that it simply refers to the age of “legal majority,” because Paul, who understood the Hebrew views on eldership, was prepared to entrust a “young” man like Timothy (1 Timothy 4:12) with the task of identifying faithful men to teach the church (2 Timothy 2:2). If Timothy was fit to look for church leaders, he himself must have been considered a leader of leaders. This is consistent with how Paul seemed more concerned about the spiritual age of elders than their physical age, specifying that an elder “must not be a recent convert” (1 Timothy 3:6). All Paul had to say about physical age was that they be men old enough to be married (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6).