Video Transcript: Church Elder Course Introduction

Church Elder Course Introduction 

Abigail Dominiak:
Hello, we are here. I am Abigail Dominiak.

Bruce Ballast:
I’m Bruce Ballast.

Abigail:
And we are doing an Elders Course now. We also have done a Deacons Course. So maybe some of you have taken that, maybe you haven’t, but we are glad you are here, and we have a lot to discuss.

So we want to begin by just doing some introductions, first of all of us and why we are here, why we are here, doing this. And so we’ll start with you.

Abigail:
All right, I am here at Christian Leaders. I serve here. I’m also a graduate of Christian Leaders, so I’m very excited about what we do here, in offering these free courses and just empowering those called to serve the Lord in some capacity.

And what I would say about this course, very particularly, is, you know, I have grown up in the church. My dad was a church planter, and so I’ve always, kind of, again, been in that place of just church planting, church leadership, church girls, all that kind of stuff.

And so just what I’ve observed and the age I am now, it’s kind of really fun to get to talk about the important role that elders played in the church. And again, the church planting experience that I grew up with, and then getting to serve here at Christian Leaders is also part of the experience I’ve had.

But I am not the expert in this, especially compared to who I have sitting next to me. So, Dr. Bruce, introduce yourself.

Bruce:
I have been in ministry for a long time. I entered ministry in February of 1979. I graduated from seminary. I’ve been privileged to serve 40 years in active church ministry and pastoral ministry, and in the process of that, I was able to prolong for further education, play some wonderful roles in leadership in denomination which I serve and elsewhere, and have a Doctor of Ministry degree.

My focus in that Doctor of Ministry degree, many years ago, was church growth. How does the church grow? How does the church stay healthy? How does the church engage in the world in a positive way and then renew? So those are the two foci that I had there.

And so I have dealt with a lot of changes in the way elders function in the churches I have served from beginning. First church I served was in Plainwell, Michigan, and when I went there, they had a total of 60 people. So it was small church ministry.

And I realized after three years of seminary, I didn’t know what in the world I was doing. And so it was an adventure, trying to learn all of this myself. And yeah, over the years, I’ve seen a variety of things. So I’m hopeful that I bring to this course some experience in both small church.

Second church I served was a medium-sized church, which grew to a very large church—would be categorized as a mega church, that we’ll talk about later, those various categories. Last church I served was a medium-sized church. And in each case, boy, I learned a lot, and still learning and still trying to learn.

And what we want to bring you in this course is some of that learning in a way that will hopefully help you in this course. So that’s a little bit about us. Christian Leaders Institute—gotta say some words about that. So—

Abigail:
You’re taking this course here at Christian Leaders Institute. So you’re on our online platform. You’re taking this course at your own pace.

And Christian Leaders Institute really creates such a great opportunity, because all these courses you can take for free, they’re available to anybody, so there isn’t barriers for them to get the learning and education that they need.

And so Christian Leaders Institute has opportunities of different ordination paths, degree paths, and certificates, diploma. So there’s opportunities to also help those that feel called to part-time or career ministry.

But if you’re here in this course, you may be asked to be an elder. That might be one reason that you’re taking this course. Maybe your pastor’s asking you to take this course. Whatever that looks like.

Again, Christian Leaders has a lot of resources, but this particular course, we’re really here to talk about the role of elders.

Bruce:
Now, some caveats as we begin that talk. First of all, various traditions choose elders differently in the church. So if you’re just curious about elders, or if you are—you’ve been selected as an elder, or you’ve been asked to be considered to be an elder—however that is, here are some of the ways I know of.

In some churches, congregations actually vote for them. There are how many elders are needed? They have so many elders that they have on their elder board, or whatever you want to call it, and each year, so many are replaced, and there’s a vote. And so you vote between these people, and the ones with the most votes win.

That has some pluses in that the congregation’s involved in that choice. It has some negatives, and that’s only the popular people who get—are the ones who are known—who get elected.

In some churches, elders are appointed. In other words, the pastor or a small group of people will see some people who have the gifts to be an elder and say, I want you to be an elder. And in those kind of cases, that can be lengthy training time or whatever.

A growing, I would say, choice is to choose elders by a lot. And that means, you know, there are so many names. First of all, there’s a vetting process by which there are a decision made of this person qualifies to be an elder. And so these names are put into a hat, and some of the elders are needed, they’re pulled out.

Now, the advantage of that is that it takes away the vote and the whole thing—a campaign kind of thing. And the idea is, you know, Proverbs says, “The lot is in the hand of the Lord.” So we don’t know how it’s done where you are, but we’re hopeful that what we say will still be applicable to anybody who becomes an elder, or is thinking about becoming an elder, or just wants to know more about elders.

Another caveat is terms for elders sometimes differ as well. There are some traditions where once you’re chosen as an elder, you’re chosen—you’re an elder for life. And in some, you’ve got a term. Usually the ones I’m familiar with have three-year terms.

And the challenge for leadership, for somebody who’s been a leader in a variety of kinds of church, is that if you change every three years, one-third of your leadership group changes. That has some challenges too. But whatever you do, we’ll still try to be relevant to what you do in your church.

And then there’s differences in what elders do in a church, and we’ll address some of that along the way as well.

Abigail:
So, the starting spot: the Old Testament. Elders in the Old Testament?

Bruce:
Yes. Now you know, when you think of elders, you probably think—you read away—the New Testament. Yep, that they appointed elders. We’re going to talk about that more.

But elders are actually a means that God gave in the Old Testament as a means of ruling His people in the Old Testament. And so we’re going to take a look at just some of those passages in the Old Testament that allow us to get a glimpse into what God had in mind when He intended, right?

What did He intend when He—He—it’s not a choice. This is what He told people they were going to do. And in some cases there were strong leaders, like Moses, but there were still elders. And so let’s look at that together.

Okay, the Hebrew word for elder is zaqen, which means beard or older ages. I qualify. That word is used 179 times in the Old Testament. So elders is not just a New Testament thing. It has to do with how does God lead and shepherd His people? He does it through under-shepherds.

Now look at some of those passages. The first indication we have is God is speaking to Moses in this passage, and He says, “Go assemble the elders of Israel.”

Moses is sent to deliver the people of Israel, right? To be their leader. And yet God acknowledges that there are elders there who already have a position of influence and a position of leadership among the people.

And, you know, say to them, “The Lord God of your fathers, God of Abraham, I appear to be and said, I’ve watched over you, have seen what has been done to you, need you.” But this just the indication that we don’t know when this started, but we know way back at the beginning somewhere, elders were appointed somehow.

Now it may be that it was just the older influential people. For instance, in the book of Ruth, Boaz is somebody who sits in the city gate. In other words, he’s gained this position of honor. And it may have been just that, as people got older, they automatically assumed these roles. We don’t know. But we know they’re there.

Here’s a little bit later, as God continues to talk to Moses, and says, “The elders of Israel will listen to—then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt.” That’s interesting. Elders are going with them, right?

I watched The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston too many times. And, you know, then it’s like a one-man show, right? Right? No. Moses comes in there with his walking stick, and he stands before Pharaoh and challenges him, etc. But the reality is that there was some—right? The elders were a recognized group, even by the king of Egypt, the Pharaoh. And so they were there then.

So later on, we get to chapter 12, and we read that Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb.”

So the elders of Israel—apparently in every tribe there were elders—and they were now given this responsibility to instruct, to teach, to command the tribes below them.

Remember, Israel started as a tribe of families, Jacob or Israel’s family. And so apparently, as people got older, they achieved, probably, if they were worthy or respected, they achieved these positions of respect, leadership. And so now these elders go, and we don’t know what the system was, but they were the ones who were telling them, “Go, you don’t put the blood on the lamppost, the angel of death will pass over you.”

The elders had that responsibility, and it wasn’t just Moses going door to door. It was—it was these elders taking this responsibility to teach and lead.

Now they’re ready to leave Israel, and Moses is asking God about how to do this. And the Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders.”

Abigail:
Taking them with him again, support of their leadership, right?

Bruce:
And this is when they were going to get water. They were—you know, they’re out in the desert, and so the elders are part of this miracle of the striking this rock at Horeb, and the water come out of it for the people to drink. And Moses did this.

And it’s interesting, it said, “In the sight of the elders of Israel.” You know, the paintings that are done on that show all Israel gathered around, but the elders who are there when they are the witnesses, and they are the ones who are giving—giving the idea that this is the people of Israel and their leaders, and it’s not just Moses.

There is going to say this more than once—a plurality of leadership, at least God’s model.

Now you get to Numbers 11, and Moses is overwhelmed with the job. He says, “I’m out of here. Please, you just do something.” And God’s response to Moses is, “Bring me 70 of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people.”

So there are probably more of them, but these 70 rise to the top—

Abigail:
Right, it’s kind of like pick the 70 who have really shown themselves to be—

Bruce:
And they are the ones with influence. They are the ones with—they have a respectability that the nation will listen to them.

But then it’s interesting. He says, “Have them come to the tent of meeting that they may stand there with you. I’m going to come down and speak with you there. I’m going to take some of the power of the Spirit that’s on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you, so that you will not have to carry it alone.”

And then that’s what happens. We read in verse 25: He takes some of the power that was on Moses, puts it on the 70 elders. And when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but did not do so again.

Like that—it’s too bad that that last line was there. What happened there? Saying is, you know, there was something powerful that happened, supernatural, that happened, that these people were now equipped to share in the leadership, to make the judgment decisions that needed to be made to, you know—imagine dealing—there’s all sorts of estimates about how many people there were wandering through that wilderness. You know, some estimate up to 3 million people. And imagine all the squabbles that happened, and who’s going to make the decisions? Who’s going to make the decision with somebody because they stole my cow or whatever?

You know, all of that was falling on Moses. Well, now there’s these 70 elders that become the means of leading the people, judging them—in that sense, not judging them negatively, but being the people by whom justice is administered, and people are led with a confidence that God is going to be with them through these people.

Abigail:
And I like that picture that’s already there of again, why that leader eldership is so important in churches. It’s like that line about Moses: you’re not going to have to do this alone. You can have these people who, you know, I’m resting and putting my Spirit on to be able to be in this with you and to support the people and have them be shepherding them in the way they need to be.

And so I think that really paints that picture of the criticalness of this elder role in a church. Really—

Bruce:
For Moses, like you said, he’s been carrying this burden, and now there’s 70 people who are sharing—

Abigail:
Like millions of people, potentially. Yeah.

Bruce:
So in summary, we see that who were the elders in the Old Testament—they were the wise men sought out for their important decisions, guidance, and rulings. Had some teaching responsibility, had some responsibility for watching over the children of Israel. They were leaders by example and by principle.

Now some things to learn from them. One is just that plurality of leadership again, which sometimes the New Testament—in our time churches—that can get warped.

And, you know, I remember when I was taking classes on church leadership, many years ago, I remember a cartoon that one professor showed that, you know, somebody was drawing, “Here’s our leadership structure.” He had a big circle that said “me,” and then a line down that said “everybody else.”

Abigail:
Yep.

Bruce:
And that can be a danger—

Abigail:
Danger.

Bruce:
And we see it in our day. We’re doing this at the end of 2024, and wow—even in this year in the United States, where we are doing this—major leaders in large mega churches being dismissed from churches, resigning from churches, and it’s because of failure.

And in some cases, in the recent past, you know, they were accused of abusing power by belittling people who were beneath them in the hierarchical structure.

Now, our structure is not really the point of this class, but how you structure a church is very important. And so where do elders fit within that structure? That is one of the things we’re going to explore.

Regardless of what structure you may have, what does the role of elders within the church? And so, you know, this is Old Testament.

Next time we’re going to start—yeah, we’re going to start digging into the New Testament. And that’s going to take a couple of sessions, because there’s a lot to be said about who elders are, what they are supposed to be before they’re told to do anything.

And so we’re going to dig into that and invite you to come along with us next time.

Abigail:
Okay.