I recently asked a few friends if there is a blog topic I should take on. My friend, Brooks Szewczyk, recommended I write about the responsibilities of an elder. You should note a distinction I will be making in this blog. I aim to explain the responsibilities of an elder and not the qualifications. There is overlap between the two categories, but my focus has to do with function. As an elder of a local church, the subject is not only relevant to my life, but it’s a topic I take seriously. So here we go. Here are a few thoughts on the responsibilities of being an elder along with a few defining thoughts.  

What is an Elder?

Before delving into the responsibilities of an elder, it’s essential to step back and define the role of an elder. First, the word is used to describe an older person. So, for example, my biological father is my elder. Historically, an elder is a person who is suppose to contain wisdom from life experiences. If you are new to parenting, you can seek out someone who has gone through the gauntlet of raising kids. You seek out your elders. 

Similarly, an elder in a local church is supposed to have wisdom. This is why the apostle Paul tells his disciple Timothy the following:

He [An elder] must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. – 1 Timothy 3:6

Scripture does not provide an age, and we do not know how far from conversion a man needs to be before becoming an elder. But a man must have the maturity to fight pride and the devil. So Christian maturity develops over time. You cannot microwave Christian maturity nor the wisdom that comes from growing in the faith. The other angle to approach 1 Timothy 3:6 is that a man must have been tested. It’s through the testing of faith in which maturity and wisdom grow. Instead of trials and suffering being an obstacle, they are actually opportunities. 

Pastor/Elder 

I have a couple more thoughts on biblical eldership before laying out the responsibilities. Scripture is decisive that elders are men. Back to 1 Timothy 3.

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife…– 1 Timothy 3:1–2

And then we read in Titus 1,

…if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife… – Titus 1:6

In these passages, the qualification that an elder is the husband of one wife is accompanied by multiple qualifications. Only hermeneutical gymnastics can change the meaning of these passages. 

I also want to point out that elder and pastor are used synonymously in the New Testament. In Titus, Paul uses the word πρεσβύτερος (elder, older man). In 1 Timothy 3, Paul uses the Greek word ἐπισκοπή, which means overseer, or one who is watching over. In both passages, the qualifications of an elder/pastor are being laid out. The connections are made more explicit in 1 Peter 5 and Acts 20. Here is what Peter says about elders.

So I exhort the elders (πρεσβύτερος) among you, as a fellow elder (πρεσβύτερος) and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd (ποιμαίνω) the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight (ἐπισκοπή)… –