Yesterday, a friend of mine Facebook-messaged me, asking precisely the question in the title.\u00a0 Apparently, they’d been having a conversation with a friend, and the subject arose.\u00a0 It has the sound of a rhetorical question, which says something interesting about the experiences of members of churches of Christ in the 21st\u00a0century.\u00a0 Most churches don’t have elders, so for many or most Christians (elder-less churches are generally smaller, so it may be that most Christians belong to churches with elders, even though there are fewer such churches), the business-meeting model is the norm.\u00a0 That’s their ceiling.\u00a0 They can’t imagine how different having a church with elders would be, so they feel no particular urgency to develop and appoint elders.<\/p>\n
However, even though it’s entirely possible to have an eldership that is so dysfunctional that it descends to the business-meeting level, having an eldership should make a difference.\u00a0 If a congregation has elders who fulfill their Scriptural responsibilities, they will make a great difference indeed.\u00a0 Here, off the top of my head, are a few of the most important such differences.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As prevalent as the business-meeting model is, one might think that there was some kind of Scriptural justification for it, that somewhere in Second Opinions, Paul says, “If you don’t have elders, then you have to have a men’s meeting, and here’s how you run it.”\u00a0 However, I’ve never encountered any such passage.\u00a0 Sure, you have the appointment of the Seven in Acts 6, but in that text, it’s obvious that the authority lies with the apostles, not the congregation.\u00a0 Something similar happens today when an eldership invites the congregation to propose elder or deacon candidates.\u00a0 That is not the same thing as the eldership stepping down!<\/p>\n
As a result, from an authority perspective, the kindest thing we can say about business meetings is that they are an extra-Scriptural expedient adopted on the basis of necessity.\u00a0 Somebody has to make decisions about repairing light fixtures, etc., so we hand decision-making power (I speak accommodatively) over to the men of the congregation.\u00a0 For all that we cry out against the pastoral system of the denominations, there is no less authority for a pastorate than for a business meeting.\u00a0 I suspect that churches of Christ have chosen to go the men’s-meeting route rather than the pastor route because even though men’s meetings tend to accomplish nothing, pastors tend to lead churches off into apostasy.\u00a0 It is the least bad option.<\/p>\n
That this extra-Scriptural model has become so prevalent is a massive problem.\u00a0 Every church that does not have elders is a broken church.\u00a0 Every church that does not have elders does not conform to the first-century pattern, because the first-century norm is for churches to have elders.\u00a0 As far as we can tell, some churches, like the church in Corinth, didn’t have elders (and look how well that went!), but they were exceptions.\u00a0 From passages like Acts 14:23 and Titus 1:5, it appears that most churches had men qualified to serve (and therein hangs a sermon) and were expected to elevate those men to the eldership in a prompt fashion.\u00a0 Churches with elders were the first-century norm, and for most modern American churches of Christ, their lack of an eldership represents a significant and potentially fatal departure from the pattern.<\/p>\n
During my 11 years working with the church in Joliet, I’ve spent roughly half the time under elders and half the time without them.\u00a0 Even though the congregation has had many of the same people during both those periods, it hasn’t been the same church.\u00a0 Elders have the authority to make decisions, and they do make decisions.\u00a0 During their time, the elders at Joliet made significant changes to the way the church operated in order to take advantage of opportunities or respond to threats.\u00a0 The church prospered under their leadership.<\/p>\n
During the time of the men’s meeting, well . . .\u00a0 It is a diabolical marvel that you can take a dozen godly, respectable, sincere Christian men, organize them into a business meeting, and somehow end up with far less than the sum of the component parts.\u00a0 I don’t mean this as any slight against the men of Joliet (of whom I am one, of course) because I think it’s a universal truth.\u00a0 At its best, a men’s meeting can respond to crises (“We need to appoint somebody to replace the toilet in the ladies restroom!”).\u00a0 At its worst, it degenerates into a cacophonous squabble in which the devil is surely gathered in the midst.\u00a0 However, the powers of the men’s meeting do not extend beyond maintaining the status quo.\u00a0 Too many cooks spoil the soup, and too many visions prevent the formation of a vision for the church.<\/p>\n
In early 2012, when the eldership of the Joliet church disbanded, the congregation had 110-115 in attendance on Sunday morning.\u00a0 A year later, it had 75 in attendance.\u00a0 This precipitous decline had several causes.\u00a0 There were some who were willing to submit to the eldership but weren’t willing to submit to the men’s meeting and ended up walking out.\u00a0 More significantly, though, there were a number of weak Christians whom the elders had spent years patiently nudging back into the flock.\u00a0 With the dissolution of the eldership, they were left to wander as widely as they wished, and wander they did.<\/p>\n
In theory, a church without elders will look after weak Christians as effectively as a church with elders.\u00a0 After all, doesn’t I Thessalonians 5:14 tell us all to help the weak?\u00a0 In practice, that’s not how it goes.\u00a0 In practice, most Christians, though they mean well, are too concerned with their own business to invest significant time in looking after others.<\/p>\n
This is what lies behind Paul’s description of Timothy in Philippians 2:19-20.\u00a0 Timothy was one of those rare birds who cared about people at an elder level without actually being qualified to serve.\u00a0 Of course, before we get too envious of Timothy, we need to remember the evidence of his spiritual struggles in II Timothy 1:6-7.\u00a0 Every personality trait is double-edged, and mature Christians are made, not born.<\/p>\n
So it is with most elders.\u00a0 Sure, you have some men who start out with gift-level concern for others, but more typically, you have men who are determined to serve God and learn along the way that God expects them to care about others and be involved in their lives.\u00a0 In fact, there’s some truth to the idea that elders are acknowledged rather than appointed.\u00a0 As elders, they continue doing the same work they were already doing beforehand.\u00a0 However, the eldership gives such men the authority and the responsibility to excel still more in their labors.<\/p>\n
What labors they are! \u00a0I’ve worked with elderships in two different churches, and I have a father-in-law and a number of friends who serve as elders.\u00a0 As a result, I have more of a window into the work of shepherding than most Christians, and if there is a more thankless, arduous task under the sun than that, I don’t know what it is.\u00a0 There are so many sleepless nights, disappointments, and heartbreaks (and also moments of great joy).\u00a0 Being an elder means spending yourself in the service of the church.\u00a0 In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if elders don’t live as long as non-elders.<\/p>\n
However, the elders’ loss is the church’s gain.\u00a0 The good that comes from the work of a few godly, self-sacrificing men cannot be measured by mortals.\u00a0 It’s impossible to say from looking out across a congregation how many of the faithful saints on hand are there because an elder intervened when he was needed.<\/p>\n
Such saints often aren’t the kind of Christians who stand out when they’re there.\u00a0 For that matter, they often don’t stand out when they’re gone, either.\u00a0 It is in the shepherding of brethren like that, which simply does not happen without elders, that God’s wisdom in establishing the eldership is most readily apparent.\u00a0 What difference do elders make?\u00a0 Most of all, they make that difference.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Matthew Bassford via\u00a0His Excellent Word Yesterday, a friend of mine Facebook-messaged me, asking precisely the question in the title.\u00a0 Apparently, they’d been having a conversation with a friend, and the subject arose.\u00a0 It has the sound of a rhetorical question, which says something interesting about the experiences of members of churches of Christ in…<\/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":[27],"tags":[123],"class_list":["post-50044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-elders"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":33097,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-cant-all-the-elders-in-a-city-get-together-to-direct-all-the-churches-in-the-city\/","url_meta":{"origin":50044,"position":0},"title":"Why can’t all the elders in a city get together to direct all the churches in the city?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: First, I would like to say thank you for posting your informative studies. I currently attend a church that has dissolved the eldership and has been operating without elders. After reading Keith Sharp's article on Autonomy I still have a question about elders. Our biblical example is one church\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":46916,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/elders-and-church-decline\/","url_meta":{"origin":50044,"position":1},"title":"Elders and Church Decline","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford \u00a0 Recently, there's been a lot of chatter on my Facebook feed about a survey of churches of Christ conducted by an organization called 21st Century Christian.\u00a0 According to this survey, attendance in such churches has declined by about 10 percent since 1990. I have no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/gallupattendance-300x225.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":62667,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-elders-missing-in-so-many-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":50044,"position":2},"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":25118,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-elders-responsible-for-the-employment-of-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":50044,"position":3},"title":"Are elders responsible for the employment of preachers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I enjoyed and appreciated your article on\u00a0the work of the evangelist.\u00a0 I find it quite different from many by what you might consider institutional churches of Christ. I am concerned about the final paragraph on the selection of the minister.\u00a0 As I understand first-century history,\u00a0 many preachers were involved\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":92122,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-never-met-an-elder-before\/","url_meta":{"origin":50044,"position":4},"title":"I Never Met an Elder Before","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edward O. Bragwell, Sr. Belinda, a fine young Christian from Mexico, spent six weeks of last summer with my daughter's family. Her enthusiasm, devoutness, and general spirituality were an inspiration to us all. What a delight to see one so young and so interested in so many things, yet\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":38493,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-church-without-elders-not-following-the-scriptures\/","url_meta":{"origin":50044,"position":5},"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. 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