An Evaluation of Church Offices

Church Offices

Scriptural texts like 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 14, and Ephesians 4 make it clear that the body of Christ is composed of a variety of parts. These parts are due to different gifts that the Lord has given to His people. There are ministerial parts, composed of elders, which includes pastors and overseers, and deacons. There are also other roles that work alongside the two offices of elder and deacon as Ephesians 4 shares, “[Jesus] gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as shepherds and teachers.”¹ There are no longer any apostles and the role of prophet is only fulfilled in the preaching of the finished canon of Scripture. However, evangelists remain, and shepherding and teaching are functions of the elder. The body of Christ also includes the congregants, which are just as important and not of a lesser status of ministers. The minister’s job is to equip the congregants to do ministry and the shepherd himself is still a sheep like the rest of the congregation.² Therefore, there ought to be a plurality of elders that counsel each other in godly wisdom.³

Qualifications of Elders and Deacons

1 Timothy 3:1-13 lists the qualifications for the offices of elder and deacon. The qualifications for elders, according to Jeramie Rinne, are the desire to be an elder, an exemplification of godly character, the ability to teach Scripture, leading the family well, of the male gender, and the establishment as a believer.⁴ Paul also lists the qualifications of deacons specifically in verses 8-13. They are very similar to the qualifications of the elder office and only differentiate in “gifts and calling, not character.”⁵

Responsibilities of Elders and Deacons

The chief role of elders is to shepherd.⁶ 1 Peter 5:1-2 states, “I exhort the elders among you… shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily.” Acts 20:28 exhorts something similar, “be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Because shepherding is one of the chief roles of elders, many associate the term with the pastoral office, which is merely the head of elders or a form of an elder. Another role of elders is to unify the people of God. Ephesians 4:12-13 shares that elders equip the saints for the work of service in order to build up the body until the unity of faith is attained. Elders do this through their role of preaching the word. Elders are to be able to teach the Bible and “[show] the glory of Christ from whatever text they are preaching.”⁷ Elders should also be in charge of things such as the church budget. Because the budget can be incredibly, spiritually complex, the leaders of the church should take on the responsibility.⁸

Benjamin Merkle states, “Whereas the Bible charges elders with the tasks of teaching and leading the church, deacons’ role is more service-oriented.”⁹ The deacons function as “shock absorbers” that lift the heavy load from elders so that the elders can continue in the ministry of preaching and praying.¹⁰ This can mean taking on responsibilities such as “facilities, benevolence, finances, ushering, and logistics.”¹¹

Conclusion

The church offices are very important to the health of the church and Jesus instituted them for a reason. It can best be summarized that “Elders lead ministry, deacons facilitate ministry, the congregation does ministry.”¹²

Bibliography

Dunlop, Jamie. Budgeting for a Healthy Church: Aligning Finances with Biblical Priorities for Ministry. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019.

Rinne, Jeramie. Church Elders: How to Shepherd God’s People Like Jesus. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014.

Wilson, Jared C. The Gospel-Driven Church: Uniting Church Growth Dreams with the Metrics of Grace. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019.

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Footnotes

1. Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references in this paper are to the New American Standard Bible (NASB) (La Habra: Foundation Publication, 1995). ↩

2. Jeramie Rinne, Church Elders: How to Shepherd God’s People Like Jesus (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014), 14. ↩

3. Ibid., 91. ↩

4. Ibid., 19-28. ↩

5. Merkle, Benjamin. “The Biblical Qualifications and Responsibilities of Deacons.” 9Marks.org. March 31, 2010. https://www.9marks.org/article/biblical-qualifications-and-responsibilities-deacons/ ↩

6. Rinne, 33. ↩

7. Jared Wilson, The Gospel-Driven Church: Uniting Church-Growth Dreams with the Metrics of Grace (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019), 99. ↩

8. Jamie Dunlop, Budgeting for a Healthy Church: Aligning Finances with Biblical Priorities for Ministry (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019), 37. ↩

9. Merkle. ↩

10. Dunlop, Jamie. “Deacons: Shock-Absorbers and Servants.” 9marks.org. March 31, 2010. https://www.9marks.org/article/deacons-shock-absorbers-and-servants ↩

11. Merkle. ↩

12. Dunlop, “Deacons.” ↩