The Qualifications for Deacons, Elders, and Pastors-1 Timothy 3-Part 4

It has been some time since I have been able to dedicate the energy and time necessary to really dig into the word on the subject of church leadership qualifications. For those of you who were reading the series I do apologize for this. I am hopeful that today will be the beginning of a renewed effort to bring more of this series out.

I am starting to see that the pastor of the local church is really to be seen as the lead elder. There are some who would argue that no elder is to be above another. I would disagree with this concept in that in the Old Testament we see head priests and other leaders. We see people whom God placed in charge of others and I think in many ways the same is true within the church. That being said I want us to consider what it means to be old enough to be an elder.

The question is based on the fact that the Greek word Presbuteros basically means an older person. Yet we do get a specific age to use to define who is older and who is not. Is 30 old enough? Is 20? Is 40? Is more about age in the faith? Could it vary greatly from church to church based on its local area and congregational composition? Does this age requirement apply to pastors? Should it?

I think we are going to be hard pressed to find an exact answer to the age question. I tend to think of it more in terms of experience. From my perspective an 80 year old man who has been a believer for 1-2 years is not as well suited for this level of church leadership as 25 year old who has been a growing believer since say age 10.

I also do think that the age issue is relevant to the preaching pastor. We tend to think that the pastor of the church is the ultimately leader in the church. I am not so sure this has to be the case. I think in some ways it can be true but it does not have to be. I think it is clear from the leadership of Paul that one can be a preacher and not be an elder. Paul was a full time preacher and church leader. He was not however an elder at any single church. Peter on the other hand does refer to himself as a fellow elder (1 Peter 5:1) and he was also a full time preacher. In a modern sense what this means is that one could have a lead elder and a preaching pastor and they could be two different people. It also means that they could be one and the same. In either case, I believe that the ultimate responsibility (human) for shepherding the flock lays within the realm of the elders (1 Peter 5:1-2). In the case where the preacher is not an elder (for whatever reason) then the elders are responsible for doctrinal oversight.

Some of you are reading this are wondering where that leaves Deacons in all of this. I hope to dive more in that question with a later post but lets just say that I see Deacons as your ministry leaders. They are the ones who lead the way when it comes to providing service and ministry both within the church and outside the church. Their role is rather distinct from that of an elder and as such I think they should be two separate bodies within a church.

So what do you think? Should there be two distinct groups of elders and deacons? What about the age issue? What the pastor not being an elder? Does the pastor need to be an elder? What does your experience and reading/study of Scripture tell you about all of this?