Multiple Elders As A Pastoral Team -- By: Howard L. Bixby
Journal: Journal of Ministry and Theology
Volume: JMAT 11:1 (Spring 2007)
Article: Multiple Elders As A Pastoral Team
Author: Howard L. Bixby
JMAT 11:1 (Spring 2007) p. 5
Multiple Elders As A Pastoral Team
Seminary Dean
Vice President for Seminary Academics
Professor of Leadership and Church Growth
Baptist Bible Seminary, Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania
Introduction1
Early in the writer’s church ministry as a member of a multiple pastoral staff, he had an experience that awakened him to the need for pastors to function as a team. Our pastoral staff was trying to arrange a professional development retreat with the staffs of five other large Baptist churches. We were never able to pull it off because “The Pastors” (Senior) of the other churches did not want their other staff members in the same discussions with the “senior pastors.” Their staffs were seen as lower-valued pastors, and they did not really want to fellowship with them as peers. This caused me to frame a question: Is it possible and is it biblical to see multiple elders as equals on a pastoral team?
In the first two sections of this study, A Biblical Perspective Regarding Elder Rule, the definition of elder was established and the question of elder rule was addressed. A concise summary of “What Is an Elder?” is found in “Elder Rule.”2 A brief thumbnail sketch of the conclusion is that elder (πρεσβύτερος), bishop (ἐπίσκοπος), and pastor (ποιμήν) are terms used interchangeably of the same pastoral office in the NT church (Acts 20:17, 28; Titus 1:5–7; 1 Pet 5:1–4). Elder, pastor, and bishop are terms addressing different aspects of the same office. All are associated with a called and set-apart clergy. This is not an isolated view. Other respected Bible scholars have come to the same conclusion:
JMAT 11:1 (Spring 2007) p. 6
Bishops and pastors are not distinct from elders. … The textual evidence indicates that all three terms refer to the same office. The qualifications for a bishop, listed in 1Timothy 3:1–7, and those for an elder, in Titus 1:6–9, are unmistakably parallel. In fact, in Titus, Paul uses both terms to refer to the same man (1:5,
Click here to subscribe