Elders: The Church”s Lead Caregivers

By Knofel Staton

Year of the Elder

What is an elder supposed to do? As a part of our 2008 Year of the Elder features, we”re looking at this question from two angles. This week, New Testament scholar and popular teacher Knofel Staton offers practical answers from a thorough Bible study. Next week, Arron Chambers shares answers to the question from hundreds of elders he surveyed earlier this year.

The New Testament designates church elders with two different Greek words.

Presbuteros was normally used to identify an older person (such as in John 3:4, 21:18; Acts 2:17; 1 Timothy 5:1; Titus 2:3), but was also used to identify a leader in the church (Acts 11:30, 20:17; Titus 1:5).

Episkopos is the combination of epi and skopos. Epi is a preposition that means “over” or “upon.” Skopos comes from a verb that means to “look carefully, view, see, consider.” (Our word scope comes directly from this Greek word.) Some New Testament versions translate this word as “overseer” (Acts 20:28; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:1; Titus 1:7).

Both words identify the same kind of leader, because they are used interchangeably. For instance, Paul used both words for the same leaders in Acts 20″”presbuteros (translated “elders”) in verse 17 and episkopos (translated “overseer”) in verse 28 (New American Standard Bible). He also used both words for the same leaders in Titus 1:5-7: “Appoint elders [presbuterous, the plural form] . . . For the overseer [episkopos] must be. . . .” (NASB).

Identifying a church leader with presbuteros (“elder”) may be primarily referring to a person”s spiritual maturity rather than to a chronological age, since no age is established in the New Testament; however, this person is at least old enough to manage his family with believing children (1 Timothy 3:4; Titus 1:6).

BIBLE WORDS FOR ELDER FUNCTIONS

The function/responsibility of a church elder is folded into the word episkopos; however, various translations give little help discovering the specific kinds of service. The translation “bishop” is unfortunate (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:7; New Revised Standard Version). The translation “elder” gives no help concerning the functions (Acts 20:28; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:7, New Living Translation).

The translation “overseer” (usually in NASB) is a literal translation that in our culture is easy to misunderstand and to misapply. What kind of overseer is the chosen church leader to be and for what purpose? There are many different kinds of overseers in our society. For instance, wardens in a prison, foremen, inspectors on an assembly line, CEOs, guards in a POW camp, generals, captains, sergeants in the military, and shepherds are overseers. Without further consideration, elders could easily adopt any of the above (and a legion of others) as the kind of overseers to become.

Are we to choose the kind from our culture or are there clear biblical examples that narrow the choice to one kind? The following three resources give us the answer: (1) The New Testament use of the verb for “overseeing”; (2) a specific vocation/profession/career that modeled it; (3) a specific person who perfectly lived it.

The kind of activities an overseer does is seen in the ways the verb for overseeing was used in the New Testament. The verb episkeptomai is the verb form of episkopos (literally, “overseer”). The verb for overseeing was used 11 times in the New Testament. While the noun episkopos identifies the person, the verb identifies the function, practices, and activities of that person. The chart (below) shows 11 usages that share the same overall responsibility, but with some different functions that served different specific needs.

Each of the passages in our chart shows a person or people needing someone who could look over the situation in order to look after the person or people with the need. The overseer either personally provided the needed care or ensured the care was provided by other resources.

The overseer looks over in order to look after people in need. The best functional translation (or translations) for the episkopos kind of leader in the church is not “overseer,” for that is often misunderstood and misapplied. Nor is it “bishop,” for that totally misses the point; nor is it “elder,” for that does not communicate the responsibility. The best translation of episkopos is “caregiver,” or “lead care provider.”

WHAT JESUS MEANT BY “˜SHEPHERD”

Jesus chose the ancient vocation of a shepherd because it clearly communicated to his culture the kind of care he wanted his followers to give people in need, “And seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “˜The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest”” (Matthew 9:36-38, NASB).

Among the people Jesus saw would have been many divorcees, adulterers, abusers, widows, orphans, drunkards, homosexuals, thieves, gossips, slanderers, and other imperfect, needy people. He didn”t say they needed CEOs, wardens, guards, inspectors, or controllers. He knew they needed shepherds who could look over the multitudes with compassion and look after them with care.

Those kinds of workers were few in spite of the fact that more than 20,000 priests, 6,000 Pharisee and Sadducee religious leaders, and all kinds of military and political leaders were in that area. One of the few things Jesus asked his followers to pray for was shepherd kind of workers. His exhortation came while he was modeling being a shepherd: “Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness” (Matthew 9:35).

Jesus himself was a shepherd. He had a flock and knew his sheep (people). His voice was recognized by his sheep; he led, spoke, protected, and would sacrifice his life for his flock (John 10:1-18).

Do elders in our churches today have a specific flock with members who would immediately recognize the voice of their own shepherd and know that their shepherd will look over the situation for the purpose of looking after them? If not, what kind of leader and leaders do they have? Is it the board of directors” kind after the corporate model instead of shepherds after the Christ model?

God called himself a shepherd in Psalm 23 to communicate compassionate care for his people. How many of the services in Psalm 23 are being done by elders today for members of their flock?

Paul reminded the church”s lead caregivers (elders/overseers) in Ephesus that God called them “to shepherd the church of God” (Acts 20:28, NASB). Peter reminded his readers that Jesus is “the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25, NASB). “Guardian” is a good translation of episkopos, because a guardian looks over the situation for the purpose of looking after the person in the guardian”s care. Peter also reminded his readers that overseers were to “shepherd the flock of God among you” but not “as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.” Then they would be rewarded by the “Chief Shepherd” himself (1 Peter 5:1-4).

HOW JESUS DEMONSTRATED CARE

Jesus, Paul, and Peter assigned to the elder/overseer””lead caregiver””the overall responsibility of shepherding. Jesus is the model of a good shepherd. All elders/overseers””lead caregivers””are called to mimic Jesus” examples that include, at a minimum, the following:

1. Be a person known as one whose character and conduct are full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

2. Heap grace upon grace to people who are hurting, have fallen, and/or feel like nobodies (John 1:16).

3. By character and conduct demonstrate what God is like (John 1:18, 14:9; Matthew 5:16; Ephesians 4:24, 5:1).

4. Reach out to the poor (Luke 4:18).

5. Do what is necessary to help liberate people from being imprisoned to their sins (Luke 4:18).

6. Do what is necessary to help the sick; that would include anointing with oil and praying with faith for restoration (Luke 4:18; James 5:14, 15).

7. Lift the downtrodden (Luke 4:18).

8. Be a friend to sinners (Luke 7:34).

9. Eat with social misfits (Luke 15:1).

10. Seek the lost to save (Luke 19:10).

11. Feed, don”t fleece, God”s people (John 21:15-17).

12. Forgive people (Matthew 6:14; Luke 17:4; John 20:23; Ephesians 4:32).

13. Do everything to please God (John 8:29).

14. Look upon all kinds of people and needs with compassion (Matthew 9:35, 36).

15. Love the church and sacrifice for her (Ephesians 5:25).

16. Continue to mature toward Christlikeness (Romans 8:29).

17. Be humble (Philippians 2:5-11).

18. Don”t lord it over others, but be their examples””as in “Follow me” (Mark 2:14; 1 Peter 5:1-4).

19. Be a leader who prioritizes serving others and not being served (Matthew 20:25-28).

20. Live in harmony with God and all of God”s people (John 17:20, 21).

21. Be filled with the Holy Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; Galatians 5:22-26).

22. Love as Jesus and the Father love (John 13:34, 35; 1 John 4:12).

23. Do not function like CEOs or a board of directors for a company, but as shepherd kind of caregivers who prioritize people, not property or things.

24. Train others to be servant, shepherd kind of caregivers as Jesus did by selecting people to mentor with on-the-job training.

Indeed, anyone who desires to be a shepherd kind of caregiver desires an extremely noble and essential service for Christ”s church. It requires being a full-time giver of self for the benefit of others by looking over situations for the purpose of looking after people. This kind of shepherd personally takes care of others” needs and/or engages the resources of those who are equipped to do so. To lead like this is to be fully human””living in the image and likeness of God””in an inhuman world.

We”ve missed something essential if we do not link the connection of shepherds to flocks. One is not a shepherd without a flock, and there should be no flock without a shepherd. Perhaps our church constitutions and bylaws have contributed to missing this connection by deciding how many elders a congregation can have without considering the following: (1) how many flocks are needed in that specific church; (2) how many family units and people would be in the average flock; (3) how many lead caregivers are needed to shepherd those flocks; (4) how many people have demonstrated shepherd kind of compassion and care; and (5) how we can continue to equip people to be shepherds.

Too often we have combined the qualities of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 with Titus 1:5-9 without realizing that they were intended for two different cultures with different people needs. Considering only those qualities and no more in a different culture may result in choosing people who are not shepherd kind of caregivers with compassion for all kinds of people with different kinds of needs.

It is prudent to note that the Holy Spirit did not inspire Paul to combine them or to restrict us from considering other qualities. It is also prudent to note that many other attributes are missing that we might want to consider today, such as compassion for the multitudes for which Jesus asked his followers to pray, some experience dealing with a diversity of people and with a diversity of needs, demonstrated interaction of unity with God and God”s people, aptitudes, giftedness, and the fullness of the Holy Spirit that exposes the fruit of the Spirit in relationships.

After affirming the contents of the whole gospel, perhaps no decision is more crucial for the church than how we select elders””lead caregivers””and how they serve all kinds of members in the body of Christ with their diverse needs.

Could that be one essential way we prove to those watching that we really do love one another and thus have the compassion, grace, truth, and desire to love them?

Knofel Staton maintains his teaching, speaking, and writing ministry from his home in Joplin, Missouri.