by Perry Hall<\/p>\n
Why are congregations failing? If one answer can be given, groups rely on man’s wisdom rather than God’s. An example of this faulty thinking is found in the eldership.<\/p>\n
A common model for choosing elders and how these elders “rule” is the business model. The misaligned thinking is if they are successful in business, they will be successful in the “business” of the Lord.\u00a0Businesses are not the biblical model, or else the man who parabolically wanted to build bigger barns would have been lauded!<\/p>\nWhat, then, is the model? The family. This is seen in his relationships with his family, such as being a “one-woman man” and ruling his household (I Timothy 3; Titus 1). Then, after discussing these qualities, calling the church “the household of God” (I Timothy 3:15) emphasizes that point again.
\nWhat qualities do a good father and husband have? Faithful, strong, dependable, communication, sacrifice, love, trustworthy, and more.\n
Want healthy congregations? It starts with the overseers treating the congregation as a family.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Perry Hall Why are congregations failing? If one answer can be given, groups rely on man’s wisdom rather than God’s. An example of this faulty thinking is found in the eldership. A common model for choosing elders and how these elders “rule” is the business model. The misaligned thinking is if they are successful…<\/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,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[448,123,173],"class_list":["post-67345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church","tag-elders","tag-family"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56051,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-elder-businessman-model\/","url_meta":{"origin":67345,"position":0},"title":"The Elder-Businessman Model","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 11, No. 6, June 2011 We know the Bible is clear about appointing elders to shepherd the flock (Acts 14:23). We know Paul left Titus in Crete with the charge to \"appoint elders in every city\" (Titus 1:7). This is a clear indication\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":94578,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-are-the-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":67345,"position":1},"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":96830,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/order\/","url_meta":{"origin":67345,"position":2},"title":"Order","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier When the church comes together, we know the meetings, assemblies, classes, and studies should be conducted with decency and order (see I Corinthians 14:40). When Paul wrote to Titus, he explained that the entire church should be kept in order. This order would be completed on Crete\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":92639,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/churches-preparing-for-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":67345,"position":3},"title":"Churches Preparing for Elders","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Don Bunting via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 15 No. 2, February 2015 If a prophet is not without honor, except in his own country (Matthew 13:57), then it should not surprise us that it is difficult for churches to appoint and submit to elders. While we may dream about qualified men\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":18857,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-should-business-meetings-be-conducted\/","url_meta":{"origin":67345,"position":4},"title":"How should business meetings be conducted?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have no elders at our small congregation. Do you have information available on the workings of these meetings and its rules? What authority its president has versus its preacher? This probably a funny question to ask, but we do need some advice. Answer: It is clear in the\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":60391,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-thought-on-business-meetings-and-elderships\/","url_meta":{"origin":67345,"position":5},"title":"A Thought on Business Meetings and Elderships","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bill Jackson In any situation involving men laboring together, some decisions are going to have to be made and some course of action must be decided upon by someone if any good product is obtained. In the congregations of God, the thousand-and-one details wherein the work of the congregations\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":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67345","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=67345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67345\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}