I worship at a church of Christ that has no elders. There are qualified men who do not desire the office. There is a sound church of Christ nearby that has elders. Am I putting my salvation in jeopardy? Should I move my membership? My desire is to be pleasing to God.<\/p>\n\t
By definition, men who do not desire the office of elder are not qualified. “This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work<\/em>” (I Timothy 3:1).<\/p>\n We know from the example of Sardis that a church can be generally bad and still contain some faithful Christians. “You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy<\/em>” (Revelation 3:4). While being in a bad congregation makes it harder to remain faithful, it does mean that a Christian’s salvation is not dependent on the faithfulness of the congregation he attends.<\/p>\n But in this case, while a congregation should grow to have elders, a lack of elders simply means more growth is needed, not that the congregation is in sin.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I worship at a church of Christ that has no elders. There are qualified men who do not desire the office. There is a sound church of Christ nearby that has elders. Am I putting my salvation in jeopardy? Should I move my membership? My desire is to be pleasing to God. Answer: By…<\/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":[123,544],"class_list":["post-41570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-elders","tag-membership"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18265,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-person-leave-a-church-that-doesnt-have-elders-or-deacons\/","url_meta":{"origin":41570,"position":0},"title":"Should a person leave a church that doesn’t have elders or deacons?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How long should a person attend a church that does not have any elders or deacons?\u00a0 What are some of the problems associated with a church not having any\u00a0elders or deacons? Answer: The follow-on question is: Are there no elders because none one currently attending is qualified, or are\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":20574,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-selects-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":41570,"position":1},"title":"Who selects elders?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We are stuck in the selection of elders for our church, Only one brother qualifies to be an elder. In the absence of a church eldership, who does the selecting of a faithful brother to lead the church? Please help. We very urgently need the answer. Answer: The design\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":38493,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-church-without-elders-not-following-the-scriptures\/","url_meta":{"origin":41570,"position":2},"title":"Is a church without elders not following the Scriptures?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: There are three churches of Christ in my town. I have attended all three. There is one, smaller than the other churches, that has had no elders or deacons for about 15 years. My wife likes to go there. However, when I ask about the need for elders 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":94578,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-are-the-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":41570,"position":3},"title":"Where Are the Elders?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Brad Harrub, Ph.D. Walk into many congregations today and ask a simple question: \"Do you have elders?\" Far too often, the answer is the same: \"No\u2026not yet.\" Sometimes that answer has been given for 10 years\u202620 years\u2026even 40-50 years. But that should cause us to pause and ask a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/shepherd-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/shepherd-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/shepherd-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62667,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-elders-missing-in-so-many-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":41570,"position":4},"title":"Why Are Elders Missing in So Many Churches?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 14, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Roger D. Campbell We read about \"the elders of the church\" in the New Testament (James 5:14). In the Bible, \"the elders of the church\" refers to those brothers who serve as the overseers of a local flock of God (Acts 20:17, 28). They also are identified as shepherds\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1486,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-appoints-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":41570,"position":5},"title":"Who appoints elders?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 18, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who appoint elders? Answer: The qualifications for the position of elder are found in lists recorded in\u00a0I Timothy 3:1-7\u00a0and\u00a0Titus 1:5-9. That the eldership is a distinct duty is clearly seen in\u00a0I Timothy 3:1, \"It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is\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\/41570","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=41570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}