Biblically, being an Elder involves a lot of things: teaching, prayer, hospitality, service. Elders are required to be good at managing their homes, be self-controlled and well thought of by those outside the church. There's a high-bar for both competency and character for any would-be overseer in the church and the more I ponder it the more intimidated and overwhelmed I can feel - who is sufficient to such things!
Recently however, I attended an eldership appointment evening where I heard and saw a display of what I believe to be an expression of the core of what's required from a church elder. It can be easy to overcrowd the office of eldership or to copy models of management from the business world. When we do that we can too easily lose sight of the heart of eldership - love.
The incoming elder was asked to share his journey of faith and how he became a Christian. He then came on to talk about his relationship with the church and when it was that he began sensing a call to eldership. At this point the individual paused, looked at the congregation and said "When I met you Kings Church, I fell in love. I love you church, truly I do. You're incredible and I can't wait to see what God is going to do in you and through you, and I want to help us get there." The feeling was mutual as well. From the moment he'd started speaking people had sat up straighter, leaned in and expressed their affirmation.
He loved them. They loved him, and that's the beating heart of eldership.
The apostle John is known as the 'apostle of love' but that's only because he wrote about it the most. John loved his church, it's true, and he used affectionate terms such as 'dear children' and 'little children' but he wasn't the only one. In his two letters Peter addresses the church as 'beloved' eight times and when he writes to the elders he says "I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder... shepherd the flock of God... not under compulsion, not for shameful gain... not domineering." and then he writes "clothe yourselves with humility toward one another." Shepherd, with humility. Which means "have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus..." cue the call to cruciform love.
Paul likewise loves his churches and speaks tenderly to them. He writes to the Corinthians: For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. (1 Cor. 4:15). 'Not many fathers'. The church, the beloved flock of the eternal Son of God, the people for whom Jesus gave up his life needs fathers. She cries out for them, for men who are willing to protect her and provide for her, to feed her and clothe her. Just as good fathers create harmony in their homes and enable each member of the household to reach their full potential so the body of Christ needs elders who'll do the same. Fathers don't need to be public leaders, they don't need to be dynamic and charismatic but they do need to love the family in such a way that everyone in the home flourishes. This undoubtedly has implications for how we outwork our eldership.
For much of history and across all traditions it's been held that a core part of eldership/senior churchmanship has involved making Christ's presence known among the church. Elders are meant to help the church encounter Jesus. They enact Jesus feeding them by preaching the word to them and by ensuring the communion meal is shared among them, they relive Jesus' impartation of his Spirit to them by laying hands on them in prayer and by anointing them with oil. They wash them, bury them and raise them in the waters of baptism too. Others in the church do these things too it must be said, but elders must do them and do so intentionally as under-shepherds of the Good Shepherd. Elders play-act Jesus to the church just as husbands do to their wives.
Elders illustrate Christ's presence and are meant to execute their office in many ways, but chief among them all must surely be by how they love the church faithfully and sacrificially. This is also surely part of why crooked elders damage people's faith so much, they misrepresent the Good Shepherd to the flock. How is an elder meant to love exactly? Paul's words to the Corinthians come to mind: "Love is patient and kind; it does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful it rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Elders, go and do likewise.
Elders create the limit on the kind of community the church becomes. If an elder loves his people, they'll 'catch' that love and it'll spread among them but if he doesn't then the culture of Christ's kingdom will only extend so far. The fish, as the saying goes, stinks from the head down. Or, to put it another way: if I tell you I have chicken pox but I actually have measles, what is it you're going to catch? If I tell my church to love one another but I'm actually only in it for the social kudos, what is it the church will catch from me? It's not enough for a pastor to say they love the church, it's what they actually carry that'll be passed on.
The church deserves to be loved. Jesus longs for her to be loved, longs for her to be protected from deception and he desire for her to be held in that kind of high regard by her elders. They're given for this purpose.
Yes it's true that they have authority, and yes they must not shrink back from responsibility or shirk on their duty but those are not central to what eldership is; in fact when those things are stressed too much things can start to sour pretty quick. Above all else elders must be men who love the bride of Christ and if they do not love the church they should not be elders. They can be forgiven many failings (we're certainly not without error!), they will fight against sin and they'll be in danger of deception like everyone else. They will struggle to live up to the expectations placed on them and they will inevitably bring into eldership all of their own baggage they've acquired through life. They are not perfect and congregations ought not place too heavy a burden on them but what congregations ought to be able to expect from them is that they love the church.
The church must know they're loved, they must feel it and sense it too. It isn't enough for an elder to say 'you know I love you,' while publicly humiliating them. Neither is it enough for the church to love the elder and delight in their 'ministry', knowing him only as a stage personality. He must be in their homes and share their lives. He must communicate, across years of faithful service, his love and commitment to them. He needs to be there, just as Christ is there for them, through high points and low moments, through bereavement and divorce, through baptism, redundancy and promotions. Godly elders are gifts given to churches and as such churches ought to pray for them and pray that the Holy Spirit raises up many more among them.
Don't lower eldership to 'leadership' and don't overload eldership with managerial and CEO duties either. Use the gifts that God gives to the various men and women in the church for the careful and courageous leadership of the church, don't exclude gifted people from directing the affairs of the church - and don't neglect the heart of what the church needs from its elders either.
Love Jesus, love Jesus' people and aim to make Jesus known to the church.