Question

Hello Sharp,

I want to start by thanking you for yoru good work among the christian in Christ's kingdom. His blessings and favour shall always be sufficient to you.

Sir, i need a lesson on this topic "The Roles of Leaders in the Church". Please, sent it to mail box.

May the good Lord be your guide always as you continue to do this good work in Jesus Name - Amen.

Answer

Please forgive me for being slow to respond. I wanted to get some information to insure I did not misrepresent the position many brethren now take.

A group of men in the Unilag Church of Christ in Lagos, men who are not elders and do not claim to be qualified elders, call themselves "leaders" of that congregation and make all decisions for the church. Likewise, I corresponded with a preacher friend in America who was kind enough to confirm that he advocates that more spiritually mature men not qualified to be elders should serve as "leaders" and, as a group, should make decisions for the congregation. This position is based on the New International Version translation of Acts 15:22; Hebrews 13:7,17,24. The translation is accurate in these verses. The question is the application.

In Acts 15:22 Luke describes "Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas" as "leaders among the brothers" (NIV). But this was in the church in Jerusalem, where there were both apostles and elders (Acts 15:2,4,5,22-23). That hardly leaves room for mature men who were unqualified to be elders to make decisions for the church. But Judas and Silas (verse 22), though not elders or apostles, were indeed leaders in the church; they were prophets (Acts 15:33). Their leadership role was in proclaiming by inspiration the word of God, not in making decisions for the congregation (e.g., Acts 11:27-28).

The overwhelming evidence and the universal conviction of Christians from the very beginning is that the Hebrew letter was written to Jewish Christians in Palestine not very long before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (cf. Hebrews 10:24-34). These brethren had had apostles among them from the very beginning (Acts 2:41-42) and elders from very early (Acts 11:29-30). This simply leaves no room for men who are spiritually mature but unqualified to be elders to make decisions for the church.

Thus, the evidence is overwhelming that the term "leaders" is a comprehensive term for those who occupied the offices the Lord Jesus Christ gave His church as a gift when He ascended back on high: "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers" (Ephesians 4:11). As demonstrated by the fact that the fourth use of the modifier "some" applies to both terms, "pastors" and "teachers," these two terms apply to those who occupy one office, the office also called "elders" or "bishops" ("overseers")(Acts 20:17,28; 1 Peter 5:1-2). This position harmonizes with the use of the word "leaders" in all four passages.

Decision-making authority in a congregation without elders is vested in all the men of the congregation (1 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Timothy 2:11-12). The younger should submit to the older (1 Peter 5:5), but that doesn't imply that the more mature as a separate group make the decisions.

The offices of "apostles" and "prophets" are no longer found in the church on earth, since these offices depended on the use of miraculous, spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1-5,28) and these gifts have ceased (1 Corinthians 13:8-13).

The leadership of evangelists is in their preaching and teaching (2 Timothy 4:1-5), which they should do "with all authority" (Titus 2:15).

Pastors (elders, overseers) lead by watching for the souls of the members (Hebrews 13:17), ruling (making decisions for) the congregation (1 Timothy 5:17), setting an example of life for the members (1 Peter 5:1-4), and perhaps but not necessarily personally laboring "in the word and doctrine" (1 Timothy 5:17).