{"id":69267,"date":"2024-08-12T13:14:24","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T18:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=69267"},"modified":"2024-08-12T13:22:27","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T18:22:27","slug":"the-church-that-does-not-have-elders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-church-that-does-not-have-elders\/","title":{"rendered":"The Church that Does Not Have Elders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Kyle Ellison<\/p>\n

Do you currently attend a church without elders? Are you an evangelist working within a church that does not have elders currently? It is quite common that this occurs at some point in the life of a local New Testament church. What should our view and response be? If you read this, you will find I may be a bit biased because of the hard work I have witnessed in the elderless church, but let’s consider some essential truths about this sometimes difficult situation.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. We know that churches exist or existed for some undefined time without an eldership. In Titus 1:5, Paul sent Titus to Crete to “appoint elders in every city, and set in order the things which are lacking<\/em>.”\u00a0One does not appoint elders and\u00a0then\u00a0<\/strong>form a local church, but rather a local church is formed, and then from that group, elders are appointed (Acts 14:23; Titus 1: 5-9).\u00a0This means that a local church must, by necessity, exist for\u00a0some\u00a0<\/strong>time as they work to become organized according to God’s plan. It may be that a church loses its eldership due to sickness, death, or life circumstances, and they, once again, spend some time preparing men for the work so that they may appoint shepherds again.<\/li>\n
  2. God’s plan is to appoint elders and deacons in His church (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5-9). This is not denied at all. Paul describes this work to Titus as “setting in order things which are lacking<\/em>.” We have no reason to avoid or skirt around the idea that God’s best for the local church is to be fully organized with deacons and bishops.<\/li>\n
  3. It is appropriate and\u00a0okay\u00a0<\/strong>to attend a church without elders if you intend to help them prepare men to serve as elders and women to serve as elders’ wives. As a smaller church preacher in this situation, please <\/b>do not pass up a church that can use you! If you are a qualified man and aren’t serving somewhere, or you are close to a church without elders, consider joining yourself to those disciples and going to work!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    A few notes to conclude: I know that going to a fully organized church can have its attractions! Who likes having to be involved in what is usually handled by elders? With that said, churches without elders need them, but as they work toward it, they should <\/b>exist and carry out their God-given work within their surrounding community. Consider how you might help the church without elders by your presence, bring your family, bring your teaching abilities, bring your gifts, and employ them in that group who needs <\/b>you! Don’t miss a blessing by missing that smaller group.<\/p>\n

    We need “missionaries” right here at home, and what better time than now to get involved?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Kyle Ellison Do you currently attend a church without elders? Are you an evangelist working within a church that does not have elders currently? It is quite common that this occurs at some point in the life of a local New Testament church. What should our view and response be? If you read this,…<\/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":[123,667],"class_list":["post-69267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-elders","tag-organization-of-the-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20574,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-selects-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":69267,"position":0},"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":16170,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/may-a-church-without-elders-appoint-deacons\/","url_meta":{"origin":69267,"position":1},"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":62667,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-elders-missing-in-so-many-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":69267,"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":17133,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-church-choose-men-to-lead-when-there-are-no-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":69267,"position":3},"title":"Can a church choose men to lead when there are no elders?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When there are no elders in a congregation and the church chooses certain men to lead, is this scriptural? Answer: I probably would need more information to answer your question. Much depends on what you mean by \"lead.\" During worship service, there are men who lead various parts 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":68628,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-elders-called-by-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":69267,"position":4},"title":"Are elders called by God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Brother, I hope you are well. I am a member of the Lord's church. I have a question: Are Elders called by God to serve as Elders? If so, why did God give us the qualifications in scripture? I don't believe this is true, but some congregations teach\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":86591,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/murmurers-and-complainers\/","url_meta":{"origin":69267,"position":5},"title":"Murmurers and Complainers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Michael R. Baggett The word \"murmur\" is not often used in our vocabulary. The King James Version uses this word to describe complainers who mutter, grumble, or express displeasure privately or publicly. Murmurers or complainers may complain against God (see Vine's, Murmurer, Jude 15-16). Moses experienced murmuring throughout the\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69267","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=69267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}