What is an Elder?

An elder is the same as a pastor, bishop, or overseer.

In the biblical sense, an Elder is not an elderly person but a mature person, mature in the faith and life.

An elder is an office only to be held by a man, single or married, and his role is to govern and teach the body of believers-the church. This role is not to be confused with the role of a Deacon. Deacons are not recommended nor expected to be able to teach or govern. Deacons are strictly servants of the church, they are not another type of elder or a lesser elder. Deacons are there to serve.

The qualifications of an elder are found in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 & Titus 1:5-9

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. (1 Timothy 3:1-7, ESV)

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. (Titus 1:5-9, ESV)

The church should be one that evaluates and equips men for the Eldership, outside of God's calling on that man's life. Seminary is good and very helpful but the seminary cannot and should not appoint men to be elders, only the church can do that. Seminary is not necessary but education is, though education is not everything when it comes to the training of an elder. The training should be done by other men who are already biblically qualified to be an elder.

Ideas on how to train an Elder:
Find candidates that are members of the church and are in good standing with the church.

Find out if he aligns biblically, doctrinally, and theologically with church leadership.

Have a plan and vision on how you are going to construct the training and equip the new elder.

Meet once a week, and allow the candidate to sit in on a Elder's meeting once a month. Allow him to ask questions or make comments. (The new elder at this point would not be allowed to vote, as he is not yet an Elder).

Each applicant should go through one Theology book( perhaps Wayne Grudem's, Systematic Theology) and one Pastoral book(such as John Piper's book, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals).

Have the candidate be responsible for developing a 10 min. devotional.

Give and allow preaching opportunities.

Send them and take them to attend Retreats/Conferences.

Allow the man in training receive the Elder's emails to see what's going on and to see what is expected.

Create Evaluation Sundays/Vision Sundays to see if the applicants share the vision of the church, share ideas, and provide time to critique the applicants on their progress.

The new elder should shadow another Elder(Where the Elder goes the trainee goes).

Give the candidates the responsibility to disciple another man in the church.

Just hang out with the applicants, after all they are real people too.

Possibly create a 150 question intense exam at the end of the training session.

The length of the training depends on need.