Church Leadership

Here at Romeo, we believe that the church should have a plurality of elders to oversee the ministry of the church and the teaching of the Word of God. I, Logan, was recently elected to be the church’s first elder outside of our Pastor, Rob, and there were some questions circulating about what this means and I thought it would be beneficial to look at this more closely.

First, it should be clear, that there is only one head of any church, and that is Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:22, Colossians 1:18). And the Bible teaches that Jesus gives leaders to the church so they may equip all believers to do the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12). That’s right. It’s not just the Pastor’s job to do ministry, it is the work of the church as a body.

This gets a bit confusing because there are at least three terms in the Bible that are used interchangeably for this leadership role: pastor, overseer, and elder. And they each help to paint the larger picture of this calling to leadership.

Pastor

The one that we as Baptists tend to recognize the most readily is that of the Pastor. Lead Pastor, Teaching Pastor, Preaching Pastor, Youth Pastor, Assistant Pastor, etc. We’re used to this term, but many people mentally have turned this into a paid position that would be similar to a Director or CEO of a company. However, the church is not a business, and the gospel ministry is not intended to be a “job” as much as a calling. If you take Matthew 10:8-10 at face value, it looks like Jesus is telling the disciples that they shouldn’t look at their mission as a means of getting rich but that they should be expected to be supported with what they need for life and ministry. This is confirmed in 1 Timothy 5:17-18.

The greek word for “pastor” is most literally translated as “shepherd.” This highlights the proper manner of church leadership, leading a congregation of believers the same way that a shepherd leads a flock of sheep (John 21:16; 1 Peter 5:2-3). A shepherd feeds his sheep (Psalm 23:2) and protects them (Psalm 23:4). In the same way, Christ expects pastors to perform similar duties for a church. The pastor does this primarily through their teaching ministry. They feed the church sound doctrine and protect them from false teaching. In fact, this ministry of proclamation is so important to the role of Pastor that many people think that preaching is the only thing that Pastors do.

Overseer

When I hear the word overseer, I jump back to my days loading planes for UPS and I see the supervisor standing on the sidelines calling out orders. That’s probably not the best image for the biblical role however. Some of your Bible translations may have the word “Bishop,” though many Baptists shy away from this translation because it sounds too Catholic.

This is the Greek word “episkopos,” in the first century, this word was used to describe those appointed by Rome to oversee and govern a conquered city on Caesar’s behalf. The early church borrowed the word to describe the men who led the church in any given city (Acts 20:28; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:7) on behalf of the risen Christ who is described as the foremost overseer of the church (1 Peter 2:25).

This word highlights the guidance, administration, protection, organization, and oversight that a pastor must provide to a church. Furthermore, it emphasizes the accountability with which a pastor will report to God (Hebrews 13:17). Again, this term is used interchangeably with Pastor. Therefore, pastors have the responsibility to oversee (1 Peter 5:2-3), and bishops are called to shepherd the flock of God (Acts 20:28).

Elder

Finally, there is this third word “presbyteros” that is translated as “elder.” It is a holdover from Jewish culture. In the Gospels you will frequently see the elders referred to alongside the chief priests and the scribes (Matthew 16:21; Mark 11:27; Luke 22:52; John 8:9). Jewish elders guided in worship, provided biblical teaching, and handled administrative affairs among the Jews of his city. Understandably, the church also adopted this word to describe men who led churches (Acts 14:23; Acts 20:17; 1 Timothy 5:17; Titus 1:5; James 5:14; 1 Peter 5:1). So, Elders are Pastors and Elders are Overseers.

The word elder places special emphasis on the spiritual maturity and Christian experience required of a leader. Therefore, leaders should not be a new convert, and should be well respected both outside the church and within. I don’t quite feel worthy of this adjective, since I am only in my 30s, but I have been in church since my birth, became a Christian in 1997, and surrendered to a call to the gospel ministry in 1999. I have been active in the ministry of the church ever since.

It is with confidence, that we look to the Scriptures and see a robust description of the leaders of the church. Jesus loves his church and has blessed it with men who are fitted by the Holy Spirit to lead. I count it as an honor and a huge responsibility to serve as Jesus’ under-shepherd, and I look forward to serving the church alongside Rob as we seek to preach the word of God and equip the church to do the ministry of the word.

Tags: church elder leadership overseer pastor polity