Church Leadership

One of the memories I have of life as a child was having my mom come into my room and evaluate the drawers in my dresser. In the earliest years, my mom did everything for us concerning our clothes—she bought the clothes; she gathered the dirty clothes; she washed the clothes; she dried the clothes; she folded the clothes; and then she put away the clothes in our dressers. But as my brother and I grew up, we were given more and more of that responsibility. We were being taught to be productive and contributing members of the household.

Part of my mom’s desire was that my clothing be folded and neatly placed in the drawers. As a lazy child, I didn’t want to do that. So, I had a tendency to just shove it in my drawer however I could make it fit. And if the clothes was neatly arranged, I would undo it whenever I went looking for a shirt that happened to be at the bottom of the pile.

So, once in a while, my mom would come into the room and check to see that the drawers were neatly arranged. If they were not, should would empty the drawers and tell us to fold the clothes again and put them back the way she liked them.

This leads me to a theological question—Does God care what your closet or what your dresser drawers look like? How concerned is He regarding the organization of your bedroom?

I’ll leave it to you to think about how you might specifically answer that question, but I will say this: the God of the Bible is a God who cares about order and structure.

We see structure and order in the very beginning as God creates and fills the earth. We see order in the way He designed marriage between a man and a woman. We see order in the way He structured the worship of the Israelites. We see structure, even in the way Jesus organized the multitude He fed.

Well, as we have been seeing in the past few weeks, God also desires order in the local church. The Corinthians are one example of a local church that had become disorderly. And to them, in chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians, Paul says: God is not a God of confusion but of peace… All things should be done decently and in order.

Well, in his letters to Timothy and to Titus, Paul addresses one of the most important aspects of a healthy, properly ordered church, and that its leadership structure. In Titus 1:5, Paul says: This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.

If you want to see what happens when a people are left without proper leadership, I encourage you to read the book of Judges which is the downfall of Israel without a king.

Leadership matters. And it’s not enough to simply have the proper leadership structure in place. You need to have the right people in leadership. You need to have qualified people.

Today, I am going to be talking about the leadership in a local church, and this is an important topic, not just for leader but for all of us. It matters because, first of all, here at FBBC, all you members play a part in selecting our future leaders. You need to know what God expects.

It also matters because elders serve as examples to the church. Understanding what God expects from the leaders helps you understand what God expects from you. And there is a special application for us men, who are called to lead in our homes.

When it comes to local church leadership, God has not left us in the dark about what we should be looking for. He tells us in Titus 1 and in 1 Timothy 3. As we talk about the issue of church leadership, I’m going to arrange our time under some very simple questions.

The first question I want to answer is: What is an overseer? Looking at our passage today, you see in verse 1 that Paul makes reference to an overseer. What does that mean?

“Overseer” is not a term we typically use in churches today. It comes from the Greek word epískopos, which is used five times in the New Testament. Every single time, it refers to the leaders in a local church. An older translation of the term is “bishop,” but “overseer” gives us a better idea of what the word means. It is someone who provides oversight—someone who is watching over a group.

The more common words we use today for someone in this position are “pastor” and “elder.” There are denominations and churches which separate these positions into different levels, but in the Bible, these terms are used interchangeably.

In Acts 20:17, we are told that Paul met with the elders of the church in Ephesus. Then in verse 28, he refers to them as overseers who are supposed to shepherd the church. So, you’ve got in that one passage three ideas being applied to the same group: elders, overseers, and shepherds or pastors.

In Titus 1:5, there is an instruction to appoint elders, and then Paul basically says, “Here is what an overseer should be.” So, again, He uses the terms interchangeably.

Lastly, 1 Peter 5:1-2 says that the elders are supposed to shepherd God’s flock and exercise oversight. So, just like Paul, Peter includes all three ideas when describing one group of people.

An overseer, then, is the same as an elder, and that’s the same as a pastor or shepherd. Those are just various terms speaking of the same group. This is the group who leads a local church. This is the pattern that emerged as churches began to be planted.

After’s Jesus’ Resurrection and ascension, the believers in Jerusalem were led by the Twelve Apostles. Those were men who were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ ministry and Resurrection.

In Acts 4 and 5, when people start making donations to support others in the church, it says that the money was laid at the Apostles’ feet. That was when there was only one gathering of Christians—the church in Jerusalem.

By the time we get to Acts 11, however, we see that another groups of leaders had emerged, and they were knows as the elders. People who gave money were directing it to the elders. The leadership had shifted somewhat.

There is no indication in the Bible whatsoever , that the Apostles were part of a continuing, centralized, global leadership of the church. There was only one generation of Apostles, and after that, every local church had its own group of elders or overseers or pastors. That’s an important idea. It is known as church autonomy. Every church governs itself. That was the structure Paul attempted to put in place.

When Paul goes on his missionary journeys, he preaches the gospel which forms a community of believers, and then, he appointed elders in every church. That’s what it says in Acts 14:21-23.

So, an overseer is a pastor or an elder. And that group provides the leadership for a local church.

Our second question, then, is: What do they do? What do the elders or the overseers do? What is their responsibility?

This is not the main point in our passage, but it’s important to know. Elders are called in the Bible to teach the flock, to protect the flock, to pray for the flock, to watch over the flock, to be examples to the flock, and to equip the flock. That is the role of a shepherd or a pastor.

More specifically, that means that an elder is instructing others in the word of God and then helping them live that out. We are not above the flock; we are shepherds, but we are also sheep ourselves.

The sphere of our authority is the word of God. It’s not our job to run your life, but it is our job to help you honor Christ and live for Him. We are charged with caring for the flock God has placed in our care, which is the members of our church.

On a practical level, that means we are making decisions, we are praying, and we are teaching and encouraging and admonishing.

In Ephesians 4, it says that the pastors and teachers are responsible to equip the saints for the work of ministry. So, basically, our role is to see that you are maturing in your faith and in your ability to minister for the glory of Christ.

This brings us to our third question, and it is the main message of our passage: What are the qualifications? What are the requirements for someone to become or to continue as a pastor or elder or overseer?

Let me give you four answers to that question.

Number one, an overseer, or an elder, or a pastor, is to be a man. I won’t spend a whole lot of time here because this is what we had covered at the end of chapter 2.

Verses 11 and 12 of chapter 2 told us that a woman is to be characterized by silence and submission in the church. She not to teach the congregation, and she is not to have authority over the men. Being an elder or an overseer or a pastor means you have an authority over the entire church, so a woman is disqualified.

Also, when you look at the qualifications listed here and in Titus, you will notice that Paul assumes the position is reserved for men. All the descriptions Paul gives are masculine. And Paul specifically speak of him being a one-woman man. That means he is characterized by marital faithfulness, but the assumption there is that this is a man.

Later in chapter 3, we will see that Paul talks about deacons, and there, he includes specific instructions for women. But he doesn’t do that for a pastor or an elder or an overseer. This is reserved for men.

Now, it’s important to understand that simply being a man doesn’t qualify anyone to lead in the church. Just because a woman shouldn’t be a pastor doesn’t mean that any man can be. Paul wanted to make sure the right kind of men were leading.

The second requirement is a desire to do so. Look at 1 Timothy 3:1. It says—The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

We know that this world is filled with examples of sinful ambition. But that doesn’t mean that all ambition is bad. Paul says it is a noble task to desire to lead. And the word he uses is “work” because leadership is supposed to be work. It’s not something you do in your spare time.

Don’t look down on a man who has a desire to lead in the church; just make sure he is trained and qualified. A man who wants to lead needs to understand the work he is called to, and he should want to do it.

We see the same idea expressed in 1 Peter 5 where Peter says to the elders: Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you.

God is not pleased with obligatory leadership. Don’t force a man to stay in a position he doesn’t want. And no man should feel compelled to serve in this capacity if he doesn’t want to. There needs to be desire.

So, we are looking for a man, and we are looking for desire. Number 3, we are looking at character. Character. This is the most important qualification, and it is the primary focus of this section. We won’t be going into detail here, but I will read the opening line of verse 2 one more time.

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach. This is the main idea behind the rest of the qualification. He is to be above reproach. That means that he is beyond any legitimate accusation that would damage the reputation of Christ’s church. Clearly, it doesn’t mean the man is perfect because then no one would qualify, and then he couldn’t be an example to the church of confession and repentance. But overall, the church needs to look at a man’s character.

This is a very different approach to leadership than the world’s. In the world’s standard, as long as you can get people to listen to you, or you can generate enough money or points on a scoreboard, you’re qualified to lead a team, or a company, or even a nation. That is not how the church is intended to function.

Elders are to be examples of Christlikeness to the church. It’s not a man’s physical age that matters. It’s not your success in the business world that matters. It’s not about how long you’ve been at the church. It’s not about how involved you are in the local community. It doesn’t even matter how intensely you want to be an elder. No one is allowed to say, “Well, God called me to be an elder, so you need to make it happen!” What matters is the type of character you exemplify.

It could be that in stopping the women from teaching and leading the congregation, Timothy might have been tempted to rush men into leadership. But here, Paul is saying, “Be careful, Timothy. Make sure you have the right guy.”

In chapter 5, he even says to him, “Don’t move too quickly here. Otherwise, you are going to bring sin into the leadership and into the church. Take your time.”

Now, how do you know if a man has the right character? On Sundays, everyone looks great. How do we know? Well, Paul says to look at the rest of his life. Look at his marriage. Look at his home. Look at his children. Look at how he responds to disagreement. Look at the way he handles alcohol.

I’ll just read verses 2-7 one more time so we can hear it again—Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

Included in this idea of his character, as verse 6 indicates, is that he must not be a recent convert. In other words, there needs to be a time of testing of his character. A new Christian can have great zeal for the Lord, but it hasn’t been tested yet. A mature man has shown himself to be faithful over a long period.

So, when choosing an elder, you want a man, you want desire, and you want character. And finally, number 4, you want a teacher. You want the ability to teach. This is what it says at the end of verse 2.

The ability to teach is the only qualification Paul lists that points to an ability. Paul’s requirement for pastors is very similar to that of deacons, but this is the key difference. This man has a desire to teach and also an ability. Obviously the teaching Paul has in mind is the ability to teach the word of God.

What does it take to teach? It means you know about the subject matter, and you can communicate it effectively to others. So, this is a man who has a handle on the Bible and on theology, and he can effectively pass it on to others.

How can an elder fulfill his function of equipping the flock if he doesn’t teach well? Also, why would Paul include this requirement if he didn’t intend the elders to be teaching in some capacity?

The ability to teach matters because it is what protects the church from false doctrine. Paul told Timothy to silence those who were teaching different doctrines.

In Titus 1, Paul says that an elder must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

The ability to teach is the ability to proclaim the truth but also to defend it against attack. New Christians, Paul says, are like children who can’t swim. They get tossed around by the waves of false doctrine. They need someone to help them and teach them.

Can you imagine if a man wanted to become a lifeguard but wasn’t a very good swimmer? He likes sitting up high on his platform. He likes being greeted by the kids. He likes making decisions about who should get in and out of the pool. He likes blowing his whistle. But he’s not a very good swimmer. Is that a problem? Of course, it is!

And this can be a problem in the church too. A man may like authority and control and making decisions. He may like feeling important, but if he’s not skilled with the word of God and if he doesn’t showcase the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is not to be an elder.

So, those are the four main things you are looking for in an elder. You want a man. You want desire. You want character, and you want a teacher. Man, desire, character, teacher—that’s what God is looking for in a leader of a local church.

Our final question for today is this: How does a man become an elder? What does that process look like?

The process for appointing elders is not specifically addressed in the Bible, so it will look different in each church. We don’t have any Apostles today who can just pick them for us, so what do we do?

Since the elders are called to be leaders, we want to recognize our leadership in finding new elders. Also, as a congregational church, we want to make sure the church is included. So, what is the process at our church.

At the beginning of every year, usually in February, our church has an annual business meeting. There, we talk about the budget, but it’s also a time to talk about elders. At that meeting, we ask our members to submit the names of any men they believe are qualified to serve as an elder, and ideally, you will have talked to them to see if they have that desire.

Those names come back to the elders, and we reach out to them individually. Among ourselves, we talk about whether we want to proceed with this man. And if so, we ask him about his desire. If the man wants to move forward, we begin to look more closely at his character. We have a questionnaire they fill out. We do interviews. We talk to family members. Typically, this is a man we already know well, but we want to make sure.

At the same time, we want to give the man opportunities to teach. Teaching God’s word can happen in informal conversations, but we like to see it in a more formal setting too, like a Sunday School class or an FLG.

Eventually, whenever the elders feel they are ready to proceed, we make a formal nomination, and then that man is presented during a business meeting for a congregational vote. And according to our bylaws, that man requires affirmation by two-thirds of the members who are present.

Our next business meeting is currently scheduled for the first Sunday in February, and we have one man being presented to you, which is Alex Mata who is returning as an elder after taking some time off. He is coming back to this work.

If there are any questions or concerns, we want you to let us know. You can talk to one of us, if you want. You can pass it along through an FLG leader. You can send an email or a text. However you want to do it, we want to be available to hear you and respond to any questions or concerns that you have.

In thinking about the critical role of an elder, one thing I want to ask of you is that you pray for us. Pray for us individually. Pray for our wives. Pray for our families. And pray for our walk with Christ.

Being an elder is not something we want to take lightly. James 3:1 says that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. We need to be careful with out words because God had charged us to equip you with the truth of Jesus Christ. God is watching, and so is the rest of the church.

But there’s someone else watching us too. Paul mentions him twice at the end of this paragraph. Verse 6 and verse 7 both mention the devil. That’s not a coincidence. Satan tempts us in a variety of ways, and that includes pride and arrogance and anything else that would be a disgrace.

Satan is the enemy of good leadership. Take that to heart for us elders. Men, take that to heart for your own life as you lead your wives and families. Satan is the enemy of faithful, effective leadership. He is watching, and he is working against us, so we need to cling to Christ.

As we close, I want you to turn with me to Ephesians chapter 3. Leadership in the church doesn’t just impact the members and the surrounding community. There’s an impact in the spiritual realm as well.

From Satan’s side, he is working against us. But there is also an effect on God’s holy angels. Look at Ephesians 3, verse 7. Paul is talking about the glory of our salvation, and he includes his own amazing call to take the message of Jesus outside Israel.

Ephesians 3:7 says—Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. [8] To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, [9] and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, [10] so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

All I want to point out is verse 10. God used Paul to preach the gospel and to plant churches among the Gentiles. And in planting churches, he appointed elders or pastors to lead. And though there are earthly components to planting a church, Paul has a bigger idea of what’s going on. Through the church, he says, God’s wisdom is on display—not just to the members of that church, or to the surrounding communities, but God’s wisdom is on display to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. That’s talking about angels.

That’s amazing to think about. When a church is well organized and well structured, when a church has aligned itself under the principles of God’s word and with the heart of Christ Himself, angels praise God more fully. A healthy, orderly church showcases the wisdom of God even to angelic beings. How much more will we and our community be impacted as well?