If you have three elders in the church and two elders resigned, what is the function of the elder who is left? He still has a continuing desire to shepherd the flock and the rest of the congregation has no grievance with him.<\/p>\n\t
A man can preach without holding the title and duties of a preacher. In the same way, a man can counsel and help his fellow Christians reach heaven without holding the title and duties of an elder.<\/p>\n
Elders are always mentioned in the plural, so until another man becomes qualified to assume the duties of an elder, this man becomes a respected member of the congregation. He can work “behind the scenes” to benefit the Lord’s people but does so without using the authority of a position in the church. It is a bit harder, but it is good practice in humility and persuasion. Too many elders approach their duties from an authoritarian view instead of a servant’s view. Likely this is what the man was doing prior to his becoming an elder and it is what led the congregation to ask him to serve as one of their elders.<\/p>\n
The first time I became an elder, I made a mistake that caused some in the congregation to lose confidence in me. I chose to step down to avoid strife in the church. What I found odd is that this caused people to be open with me about their own problems. I probably did more elder-work in the months that followed than in the year prior. Several years later, I was asked once again to serve as an elder and I’ve been in the position for about a decade now.<\/p>\n
Title or not, if there is work that needs to be done and you’re available, do the work.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: If you have three elders in the church and two elders resigned, what is the function of the elder who is left? He still has a continuing desire to shepherd the flock and the rest of the congregation has no grievance with him. Answer: A man can preach without holding the title and duties…<\/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],"class_list":["post-31598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-elders"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":83173,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-the-letters-in-revelation-support-the-idea-of-a-leading-elder\/","url_meta":{"origin":31598,"position":0},"title":"Do the letters in Revelation support the idea of a leading elder?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We believe in the plurality of elders in the church and that elders are equal in the sense that there is no senior or chairman elder. In Revelation chapters 2 & 3, the seven letters are addressed to \"the angel of the church.\" The angel refers to the elder\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":1497,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-man-be-both-a-preacher-and-an-elder\/","url_meta":{"origin":31598,"position":1},"title":"Can a man be both a preacher and an elder?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 19, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can an elder function as an evangelist and vice versa? Answer: The word \"pastor\" in\u00a0Ephesians 4:11\u00a0comes from a Greek word referring to a shepherd. This is the man charged with the care and feeding of a flock. As with the office of the evangelist, this office is described by\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":16170,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/may-a-church-without-elders-appoint-deacons\/","url_meta":{"origin":31598,"position":2},"title":"May a church without elders appoint deacons?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: May a church assign to a servant or servants (deacons) a specific task or tasks in which they will serve the congregation and for which they will be responsible and answerable to the congregation for performing if the church does not have elders. In other words, may they set\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":20266,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-let-a-congregation-know-that-the-preachers-son-is-homosexual\/","url_meta":{"origin":31598,"position":3},"title":"Should I let a congregation know that the preacher’s son is homosexual?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I know of a preacher in a Church of Christ, whose son is living a homosexual lifestyle. No one in the church knows this. (By the way, I do not belong to this church, I live in a different state.) I am aware that the preacher and his family\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":31598,"position":4},"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":[]},{"id":68309,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-arent-the-elders-helping-me-to-learn-to-preach\/","url_meta":{"origin":31598,"position":5},"title":"Why aren’t the elders helping me to learn to preach?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I hope this email finds you doing well. I have a question. I finally got to preach and teach for a month in another congregation. I asked the elders in my church to attend one day and give me pointers. One finally attended, but all the elders said that\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\/31598","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=31598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31598\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}