Category Archives: Elders

It’s easy to criticize the current Church of Christ system of congregational governance. In many of our congregations, it’s plainly broken. It’s an important and worthwhile discussion. But the discussion is ultimately useless unless a better system is put forward — … Continue reading →

We should next consider — (Eph 4:11-14 ESV) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 … Continue reading →

Let’s think a bit about elders and positional authority. God as giver of authority I quote frequent commenter Price, who said it better than I could — Was there ever a time in the history of mankind that God didn’t … Continue reading →

Let’s talk about positional authority. We’ve been down this road before, and so I’ll try to keep it brief. The scriptures refer to the same men as “elders,” “overseers,” and “shepherds.” What would a First Century reader have heard in … Continue reading →

If you’ve not yet read them, here are Patrick’s original posts — The Problem With Elders, Part 1 The Problem With Elders, Part 2 The Problem With Elders, Part 3 The Problem With Elders, Part 4 The Problem with Preachers, … Continue reading →

I’m a big Patrick Mead fan. He’s spoken at my home congregation more than once, I’m an avid reader of both his blogs, and I think he’s just a very fine preacher and writer. And I have great respect for … Continue reading →

Reader and frequent commenter Jerry Starling asked, I’d love to see your thoughts on these two matters: is a plurality of elders required? and what about the widower elder? Here goes– The plurality of elders Regarding the plurality of elders, you … Continue reading →