Elder (Christianity)

In Christianity, an elder is a person who is valued for wisdom and holds a position of responsibility and authority in a Christian group. In some Christian traditions an elder is an ordained person who serves a local church or churches and who has been ordained to a ministry of word, sacrament and order, filling the preaching and pastoral offices. In other Christian traditions, an elder may be a lay person serving as an administrator in a local congregation, or be ordained and serving in preaching or pastoral roles. There is a distinction between ordained elders and lay elders. The two concepts may be conflated in everyday conversation. In non-Christian world cultures the term elder refers to age and experience, and the Christian sense of elder is partly related to this.

Elders in the Bible

Elders are mentioned in a number of New Testament passages. Individuals such as James had a significant role in the Jerusalem church and the Council of Jerusalem. In reference to churches in Antioch, Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe, Paul appoints elders as a key step in organizing a new church and instructs Titus to appoint others. Paul spoke directly to the elders in Acts and warned them to "be on guard for themselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made them overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." The book of Revelation identifies twenty-four elders with white robes and golden crowns on their heads seated on thrones around the One seated on the throne.

Terminology

The Christian office of "elder" is drawn from the word's various uses in the Bible. In many instances, particularly in the Old Testament, it has reference to the older men in a tribe, usually entrusted with the governmental affairs, whose counsel was frequently sought because of their age and experience. This was not necessarily a priesthood calling, although the Aaronic Priesthood is listed as having ordained elders. In the Septuagint, the word for Old Testament elders is πρεσβύτερος, as used in the New Testament for both Christian and Jewish leaders. Various traditions in Christianity translate the underlying term differently depending on their particular doctrinal or practical view of the role. In the Moravian Church, an elder is referred to as a Helper.
In addition to presbuteros, there are two other words used in the New Testament to describe various aspects of this position of leadership: 'overseer' and 'shepherd': Peter draws the three concepts together in one passage: "Therefore, I exhort the elders among you... shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight."

''Presbuteros''

Presbuteros is the most commonly used term for elder in the New Testament, stemming from presbus, elderly. It is used with regard to the twelve apostles, the seventy disciples or others acting in a specific role of authority in a local assembly of Christians. It is used twenty-eight times in the Gospels and Acts of the members of the Jewish Sanhedrin and twelve times in Revelation of the representatives of the redeemed people of God. The remaining nineteen times the word is employed in Acts and the Epistles, it identifies the leaders in the local churches of the New Testament. While no specific age is given, the connotation of seniority and experience in this term emphasizes the nature of the position and the character of the person, implying maturity, dignity, experience and honor.
The modern English words "priest" or "presbyter" are derived etymologically from presbyteros.
The New Testament meaning is taken by some scholars as the Latin word Legate which describes the ancient classical function as a herald who represents the highest state office and might be a governor of a province.

''Episkopos''

Episkopos was a common word in the Greek culture for any official who acted as a superintendent, manager, overseer, controller, curator, guardian or ruler. It occurs only five times in the New Testament, once referring to Christ and the other four times to church leaders. The Authorised Version translates the word as "bishop", emphasizing the function of an elder as exercising authority and supervision "by divine placement, initiative and design." The overseer can sometimes be viewed as a lead elder or as just one of a plurality of elders.

''Poimen''

Poimen means shepherd, also translated as pastor. It is applied only once in the noun form and three times in the verb form in the New Testament in the context of church leaders. The term emphasizes the elder as one who tends, feeds, guides, protects and cares for their flock.

Responsibilities of elders

The New Testament offers more instruction regarding elders than on many other important church subjects such as the Lord's Supper, the Lord's Day, baptism or spiritual gifts, and their duties are laid out in several places. In the majority of the references, the word for elders is plural and word for church is singular, suggesting that the pattern in the early church was for a plurality of elders in each local church.
These were to be shepherds to their flock, setting an example - just like shepherds, they were to feed their flock, to work hard among them and to reprove where necessary and to care for the spiritual and physical needs of church members. Elders are considered rulers over their flocks and their judgement to be submitted to, not so that they can be "lords over God's heritage," but because they are to give account to God for the spiritual character of their church.
Elders must to be able to teach and preach sound doctrine and rebuke those who are teaching error, so that false teaching doesn't creep into the church. To this end, they are also to train and appoint others. Above all, the elder is to serve with humility, remembering that their position is a picture of Christ as the chief shepherd.

Qualifications

There are two key passages dealing with the qualifications of elders in the New Testament, and. The qualifications given by the Apostle Paul are as follows:

Blameless as a steward of God, above reproach
Faithful husband to his wife
Temperate, sober, vigilant
Sober-minded, prudent
Of good behaviour, orderly, respectable
Given to hospitality
Able to teach
Not given to wine
Not violent, not pugnacious
Patient, moderate, forbearing, gentle
Uncontentious, not soon angry or quick-tempered
Not covetous, not a lover of money
Rules his own house well, his children are faithful, not accused of rebellion to God
Not a novice or new convert
Has a good rapport or reputation with outsiders
Not self-willed
A lover of what is good
Just, fair
Holy, devout
Self-controlled
Hold firmly to the faithful message as it has been taught
Elders in the early church

Where elders are addressed in the writings of Paul and Peter, there is no inference of a monarchical episcopacy or single leaders in any of the New Testament-era churches, and presbuteros and episkopos are used interchangeably. This was still the case later in the century: the writings of the Apostolic Fathers continue to assert the apostolic authority of the bishops/presbyters as rulers of the church making no distinction between the two terms. The epistle does imply a degree of authority residing in the Bishop of Rome. Writing c.199, Tertullian claimed that Clement was ordained by Peter himself as bishop of Rome, and although tradition identifies him as the fourth pope the order is much disputed. According to the Liber Pontificalis, Linus and Anacletus were ordained with responsibility for the church at Rome and Clement for the church as a whole
Another of the Apostolic Fathers, Ignatius of Antioch, records that many churches had single bishops by the beginning of the second century, although the church at Rome was not one of them. This became the norm by the middle of the century. Ignatius distinguished the relationship between bishop, presbyters and diaconate typologically and in doing so referred to the practice of a single bishop in a church, separated from the body of presbyters and deacons:
In like manner let all men respect the deacons as Jesus Christ, even as they should respect the bishop as being a type of the Father and the presbyters as the council of God and as the college of Apostles. Apart from these there is not even the name of a church. — Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallesians 3:1.

Distinctions in practice

is generally organised in one of three main types:

Episcopal polity, in which churches are governed in a hierarchical fashion, with the role of elders being fulfilled by external bishops. It is common in Anglican, Orthodox, Methodist, some Lutheran, and Catholic churches, and was prevalent up to and after the Reformation.
Presbyterian polity, in which churches are governed on a denominational, geographical basis by committees of elders.
Congregational polity, in which each church is responsible for its own governance. Churches employing this method include Baptist, Congregational, some Lutheran, and Plymouth Brethren churches. Some churches are led by a pastor; some maintain a plurality of elders.
Anglicans

An ordained Anglican minister is usually called a priest, holding the prenominal of Reverend if they are Low church or Sister or Father if they are High church. Lay preachers in the Anglican Communion are usually called Pastors, especially Chaplains and other pastoral office holders, who are not ordained but engage with a congregation or workplace in an advisory capacity. The title "Elder" is usually given to those Anglicans ministers who are not vicars, but hold a learned role within or beyond a congregation, such as a Reader who assists a priest or a Pioneer Minister who seeks to engage with those who are outside the traditional Anglican Communion structures.