The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum How are Elders Trained?

I have noticed that there has been an absence of another important passage where bears directly upon this discussion:

Ephesians 4:11-14 (ASV) "And he gave some [to be] apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ: till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;"

I would like to point out a couple of salient things in the above quoted text: 1) re: "pastors and teachers" which I believe should be taken as a group and not two distinct offices, e.g., ruling elders and teaching elders. We can see a parallel of Paul's phraseology in 1Tim 5:17,

1 Timothy 5:17 (ASV) "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching."

Here we do see a unified Eldership where some are singled out as having given themselves to the study of the Word and teaching. 2) All the Elders therefore can rightly be deemed teaching elders or overseers, which is part and parcel of shepherding the flock. Therefore, although all must be "apt to teach", there are some who have the gift for preaching. There doesn't appear any bifurcation between ruling vs. teaching or even teaching vs. preaching, i.e., two distinct groups of men where the qualifications differ in regard to the office of Elder itself. Thus there is not a difference in authority among the Eldership; they are equal in that regard. There is likewise no prohibition in regard to preaching. All are qualified to preach, albeit one or more may be better at doing so.

The bottom line, therefore IMHO, is that an Elder is an Elder is an Elder. All must meet the qualifications, one of which is being "apt to teach", which nowhere is said to be restricted to a "one-on-one" situation. This teaching can be from the pulpit, group study and/or one-on-one.

In His grace,