Elders and the Board

In my post about quorums, I mentioned that I have found we often govern our churches by conforming to the way the world operates, rather than follow a Biblical model. I want to continue that thought as we look at the role of Elders and the Board.

In the New Testament, when the disciples would leave a town to move on to the next one, they instructed new churches to appoint Elders to be overseers (see Titus 1:5-9). In several sections of the New Testament, we can find the qualities that we should look for in an Elder. But nowhere can we find a reference to how long an Elder can serve. And yet, every church I have a belonged to has specified term lengths for Elders, typically 3 to 5 years. And each of these churches struggles to find enough people to fill those vacancies as they arise when those terms end. Where did this concept of “term length” come from? Look no further than our local government. City councils and most organizations with boards have fixed term lengths of 3 or 4 years. For municipal government, having an election every 4 years ensures the people elected to council continue to represent the people who elected them. For organizations with boards, turnover of board members is seen as a good thing so that new members can bring new and fresh ideas to the organization. But we are not a government and not a business.

When Jesus called the disciples, they continued to be disciples until they died. It was a lifetime appointment. If Elders are called to be overseers in their church, why should we impose an earthly restriction upon them such as a term length? Does something happen to them every 3 years that affects their ability to carry out their calling? I don’t think so. Once we have selected our Elders (using the criteria presented to us in the New Testament), we should allow our Elders to serve as our overseers as long as they are able, and as long as they remain true to their calling. We need to pray for them, encourage them, hold them accountable, and submit to their authority. We also need to be on the lookout for members who have the gifts that would make them good candidates for becoming Elders, and make sure we give them the mentoring and instruction needed to become Elders. At the same time, we should not expect everyone needs to “take their turn” as an Elder. I was once a member of church that had this rule in place and it led to disastrous results as inappropriate people we put into positions where they did not want to be and did not have the proper giftedness. So you will see in our new Constitution, we explicitly state that “appointment as an Elder is a life-long appointment”.

Related to the role of Elders is the creation of the church Board. As I mentioned in my quorum post, there are some things we need to have in place from a legal standpoint to be a church in our society. Designating a Board is one of these requirements. By definition, a Board has the ultimate authority over an organization and is ultimately responsible for the organization. Another way to put this is that the Board “oversees” the running of the organization. There is no reference to church boards in the Bible, but there are references to “overseers” – in these contexts they refer to the Elders. Many churches create boards (often called councils) by bringing together all the people who exercise leadership in the church. Some appoint members at large to sit as their boards (often with limited term lengths) to provide independent oversight. But what is the Biblical model? It seems pretty obvious to me. If the Board is the body that “oversees” the church, and Elders are the “overseers”, then it seems pretty logical that the Elders should be the board.

In our new Constitution, we specify that the “non-vocational” Elders will function as the Board of Directors. The Pastoral staff (hired by the church) are also Elders who must have the same qualities as the rest of Elders, and they share the oversight responsibilities with the other Elders. Since they have accepted a call to be Pastors and earn their living in this role, we refer to them as “vocational” Elders. We exclude the vocational Elders from serving as a Board member to eliminate any potential conflict of interest (real or perceived) that could arise, such as decisions related to pay and benefits or termination.

While the Elders serve as the Board of Directors, they do not make decisions in a vacuum. There is frequent communication with other ministry leaders and congregation members, through regular meetings and informal conversations. They review the feedback they receive as part of the process they use to discern God’s leading for the church. But their ultimate accountability is to Jesus Christ as the head of the church, not to the church members. This means that sometimes, they will need to make decisions and exercise their leadership responsibilities in ways that may not be popular with all the church members. This is a challenge for both the Elders and church members. In these circumstances, the Elders need to make sure they follow Biblical principles and seek God’s guidance, and church members need to trust their Elders. The members need to test the decisions of the Elders against Scripture, but if the decision is in line with Scripture, they need to accept the leading of their Elders and move forward even if they have other reasons for disagreement. As I said, this is a challenge for everyone and one we all need to approach with love, patience, and the common goal of obedience to God.

As with my other post, I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on this. Feel free to contact me in whatever way you are most comfortable.

Jac