Is it necessary for an elder to have children faithful in the church? If yes, then how many?<\/p>\n\t
“Having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion<\/i>” (Titus 1:6).<\/p>\n
“He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity<\/i>” (I Timothy 3:4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The purpose of this requirement is stated in\u00a0I Timothy 3:5, “but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?<\/i>” It is an extension of the principle that how a person behaves with little things is directly related to how he will behave in larger matters (Luke 16:10).<\/p>\n
The question frequently arises, “What if a couple was unable to have children or they only had one child?” The wording of Titus does not allow for a childless couple to qualify; the requirements in Timothy gives us the reason: without children, a man is unable to demonstrate his ability to manage others. I do not see where the qualifications require the children must be biologically his own. A couple raising adopted children would still qualify. The Greek word is in the plural sense, indicating more than one child. As most parents know, every child is different. Being able to manage one child does not demonstrate the ability to handle a range of personalities. Again, adoption is a way to have more than one child if the couple finds it physically impossible.<\/p>\n
The behavior of a man’s children is a visible demonstration of his ability to oversee the souls within a congregation. “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you<\/i>” (Hebrews 13:17). If a man cannot encourage his own children to believe and live obedient to Christ, how could we expect him to manage those in a congregation?<\/p>\n
A man’s children must be faithful, believers, or trustworthy. In the New Testament, the faithful are those who are Christians (Acts 10:45;\u00a016:1;\u00a0II Corinthians 6:15). The children are not just Christian in name, but they have shown themselves to be steadfast followers. By requiring the children to be faithful, the implication is that the elder has successfully raised children through all their stages of growth. Therefore, the elder has demonstrated consistency in overseeing his own household that has lasted for many years.<\/p>\n
The children must not have charges against them of behaving like worldly people or unwilling to live by the laws of Christ. Such is expected of all Christians (I Peter 4:1-5;\u00a0II Thessalonians 3:6) and an elder’s children must be able to show their ability to live the life of a Christian. The children should be obedient to their father as well as to Christ (Ephesians 6:1-3). They should demonstrate dignified respect for their father; respect that is sincere and honest, and not one that is done simply for show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Is it necessary for an elder to have children faithful in the church? If yes, then how many? Answer: “Having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion” (Titus 1:6). “He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity” (I Timothy 3:4). The purpose…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[123,256],"class_list":["post-1494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-elders","tag-faithful"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9229,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-an-elder-need-to-step-down-if-one-of-his-children-falls-away\/","url_meta":{"origin":1494,"position":0},"title":"Does an elder need to step down if one of his children falls away?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My question pertains to elders and having believing children. If when they, believing children of an elder, leave home and happen to fall away from the church should the elder step down? Or does this fall under the example aspect and he should step down because of that? Another\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16719,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-have-other-material-on-an-elders-children-being-faithful\/","url_meta":{"origin":1494,"position":1},"title":"Do you have other material on an elder’s children being faithful?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read your article on faithful children per Titus 1:6 and I must say I appreciate the way you handled it. I am in my first full-time work after graduating from preaching school and this question has come up. As if by providence we began our study of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5206,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-qualifications-does-an-elder-need-that-a-deacon-does-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":1494,"position":2},"title":"What qualifications does an elder need that a deacon does not?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What qualifications does an elder need that a deacon does not? Answer: In regards to the family, an elder must have \"faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination\" (Titus 1:6) and be \"one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence\" (I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91021,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-deal-with-an-elders-wifes-gossiping\/","url_meta":{"origin":1494,"position":3},"title":"How do you deal with an elder’s wife’s gossiping?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do the wives of the elders have any authority over the other women of the congregation? Are there qualifications for the wife of an elder? How should it be handled when the wife of an elder repeats hurtful information about a member of the church she learns from her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2099,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-faithful-children-mean-faithful-to-god-or-faithful-to-the-parent\/","url_meta":{"origin":1494,"position":4},"title":"Does “faithful children” mean faithful to God or faithful to the parent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When Paul speaks of \"faithful children\" in\u00a0Titus 1:6, did he mean faithful to God or faithful to the parent? Answer: Terms in the Bible are sometimes difficult to translate because common words are borrowed and used in ways where the common word takes on a deeper meaning than it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41588,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-an-elder-an-elder-for-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":1494,"position":5},"title":"Is an elder an elder for life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A brother in our area is claiming to be \"an elder for life\" even though he has moved from one congregation to another and has not\u00a0been a serving elder in either. He was an elder for a congregation, but that eldership was dissolved because of his domineering attitude and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}