Leadership
Grassroots Community Church is to be governed locally by a plurality of elders, often called pastors or bishops, who are assisted in their ministry to the church by deacons, deaconess, and missional community leaders.
Elders
The duties that the Bible places on the church eldership include the following:
- Prayer & Scripture study (Acts 6:4)
- Ruling/leading the church (I Timothy 5:17)
- Managing the church (I Timothy 3:4-5)
- Caring for people in the church (I Peter 5:2-5)
- Giving account to God for the church (Hebrews 13:17)
- Living exemplary lives (Hebrews 13:7)
- Rightly using the authority God has given them (Acts 20:28)
- Teaching the Bible correctly (Ephesians 4:11, I Timothy 3:2)
- Preaching (I Timothy 5:17)
- Praying for the sick (James 5:13-15)
- Teaching sound doctrine & refuting false teachings (Titus 1:9)
- Working hard (I Thessalonians 5:12)
- Rightly using money & power (I Peter 5:1-3)
- Protecting the church from false teachers (Acts 20:17-31)
- Disciplining unrepentant Christians (Matthew 18:15-17).
Obviously, such duties are difficult, weighty, and always require men of great Christ-like character. Not just anyone can pastor a body of believers. The Lord has set out requirements in His Word. There are two primary places that the Bible defines the qualifications of an elder (I Timothy 2:11-3:7; Titus 1:5-9) and the lists are virtually identical. This section of sacred Scripture lists seventeen qualifications for a man to be even considered as an elder/pastor.
#1 - Relation To God
- A man -- masculine leader
- Above reproach -- without any character defect
- Able to teach -- effective Bible communicator
- Not a new convert -- mature Christian
#2 - Relation To Family
- Husband of one wife -- one woman man, sexually pure
- (this does not require a married as Paul, Timothy, Jesus, and widowed men could qualify
- though we are very cautious to accept single men as a founding pastor)
- Having obedient children-- successful father
- Manages family well-- provides for, leads, organizes, loves
#3 - Relation To Self
- Temperate-- mentally & emotionally stable
- Self-controlled-- disciplined life of sound decision-making
- Not given to drunkenness-- without addictions
- Not a lover of money-- financially content & upright
#4 - Relation To Others
- Respectable-- worth following & imitating
- Hospitable-- welcomes strangers, especially non-Christians for evangelism
- Not violent -- even tempered
- Gentle -- kind, gracious, loving
- Not contentious -- peaceable, not quarrelsome/divisive
- Good reputation with outsiders-- respected by non-Christians
In summary, only men of finest character are fit for pastoral leadership in God's church. What is not required according to the Bible is formal theological training, though such training can indeed be very beneficial. What is also not required is a salary, though an elder/pastor is worth an honorable wage (I Timothy 5:17-18). The issue of which men lead the church is of the utmost seriousness because the reputation of the gospel in the community and health of the church are contingent upon godly, qualified men who keep in step with Jesus and can lead the church to do likewise. In this way, the elders function as an accountable team much like Jesus first disciples and are therefore quite unlike secular notions of a business or non-profit organizational board.
Presently, Grassroots Community Church is lead by single elder who is being instructed by the leadership of The Church of the Good Shepherd (CGS) until an eldership is fully established. You can find out more about our founding elder, Michael Foster, here and more about the CGS pastoral team here
