Five biblical statements that help us understand the office of elder:

1. The New Testament recognizes only two leadership offices in the church:

•         Elder/overseer/pastor (interchangeable terms for the same office)
•         Deacon

2. Each local church should be led by a plurality of elders.
3. There is no authoritative office over multiple local churches after the apostolic age.
4. Elders who labour especially in preaching and teaching should be paid generously by their local church.
5. Elders should be protected from slander, but not from self-deception.

Key texts:

Acts 20:17,28: “From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. […] Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.”

1 Timothy 5:17-21: The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.” Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning. I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others

A non-exhaustive list of duties for every elder/pastor/overseer

• An elder teaches the Word and models the word in his daily life.
• A pastor nurtures eternal souls; he knows (and “smells”) like his sheep.
• An overseer sets the church’s trajectory and faithfully prays.
• Elders prioritize training up future elders.

*This lesson owes a debt to the Greek work in this article of Benjamin Merkle, Understanding Church Leadership by Jonathan Leeman, and Church Elders by Jeramie Rinne.