The Plurality of Elders Protects a Pastor (& a Church) from Disaster - by Jonathan L. Shirk

Excerpted from here. Our comments in bold.

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We think this fellow is on the right track to understanding proper church leadership. He's not all the way there yet, however.

He accurately teaches that the church is to be led by a plurality of elders, and cites the appropriate Scriptures to illustrate this fact. He acknowledges the perils of being a pastor/chief leader of a church and how it endangers the pastor. But he doesn't put two and two together. 

Biblically speaking, pastors do not lead churches. At all. Pastors aren't necessarily even in church leadership. Pastoring arises out of the eldership as one of their duties. The author quotes the verse from 1 Peter chapter five that explains this: 

...shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you...

Peter exhorted the elders to be pastors and overseers. He doesn't tell them to install a pastor or overseer. The author sees and acknowledges all of this, yet still describes himself as "the minister of Jerusalem Church." He advocates for elder leadership yet seems to be the singular leader, presumably with underling elders performing delegated tasks.

This traditional view of pastor as the CEO leader of the church is a difficult one to shake off. So many people want to be spoon fed the faith, and so many pastors clamor to give the people what they want.

We don't wish to suggest that this man scratches itching ears, but rather, he seems to be content to partake in an unbiblical system because that is what history and tradition have handed down.
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As the minister of Jerusalem Church in the small town of Manheim, I can honestly say, and with a great level of conviction, that I am thankful for the plurality of elders. If I had unchecked power, it would be a temptation too great for me to handle and a pressure too great for me to bear.

In Acts 20:17, Paul called the elders of the church in Ephesus to assemble. In Acts 20:28, he instructed these elders: “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” Paul was not speaking to one all-powerful elder or pastor. Paul was speaking to a team of elders. It was their shared calling, duty, and privilege to oversee the church in Ephesus.

Titus 1:5 is a great text. Paul told Titus, “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.” He then proceeded to give qualifications for those elders. But it is crystal clear that God intends several elders to lead a local church. Not one. More than one.

One of my favorite passages on the plurality of elders is 1 Peter 5:1–3. The Apostle Peter said:
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

Within biblical local church governance, a body of qualified elders shepherd the flock of God together. Each of them bears a responsibility to shepherd. The same is true of their oversight. They lead together. It is unbiblical, unhealthy, and unsafe to have one supreme leader calling the shots unless his name is Jesus. All the elders must govern, lead, and shepherd willingly with joy. Money or possessions are not to be their motivation. They are not to be domineering over those they lead.

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Herman Bavinck, the famed Dutch theologian, wrote of elders:

But this gift and this authority are given them [by Christ] in order that they employ them for the benefit of the church and work with them to the end of the perfecting of the saints (Eph. 4:12). The office was instituted in order that thus the church should persevere in the teaching of apostles and in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers (Acts 2:42). [1]

In 1 Peter 5, Peter made it clear that domineering leadership is ungodly. Bavinck captures the essence of the aim of local church elders: to employ their calling and gifts for the benefit of the church. The plurality of elders is a gift of Jesus Christ to his people to benefit them, to lead them into godliness, and to protect and persevere them through ordinary means of grace ministry.

One man cannot bear the weight of leading a local church. It is too much for him. It is too heavy for him. It is too dangerous for him. It is too precarious for the congregation. God is all-wise and has instituted the plurality of elders, not only for the good of the entire church, but for the protection and preservation of the pastor.

[1] Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God (Glenside: Westminster Seminary Press, 2019), 519.