A Pastor-Led Church vs an Elder-Led Church | Pastor Well - Ep 50

My biblical opinion is there should never be one single man leading a church.

I so appreciate your perspective on pastoral leadership. I’m seeing many pastors who seem to feel that they alone know the direction for the church and anyone who disagrees or opposes is wrong, led by Satan, or being disruptive.

The best treatment of this topic is a book entitled "Biblical Eldership" by Alexander Strauch. The author makes a very compelling case for a plurality of elders.

I agree with Hershael York that in the New Testament the terms poimen ('shepherd'), episkopos ('overseer') and presbuteros ('elder') are referring to the same office.

I find Hershael York's points about Timothy and Titus to be very weak. These men were in the special situation of being set a task by Paul, an apostle, to appoint multiple elders in each of the churches. Their situation can't legitimately be used to say that there is a place for single-leader churches today. The standard pattern in the New Testament is of multiple leaders in each church. This is exactly what we would expect to find anyway. Every church leader has gaps in his understanding and makes mistakes in his judgment, and having multiple leaders makes it easier for the mistakes of one man to be corrected by the others.

You can have a plurality of elders with one of the elders serving as the Senior Pastor who handles the lion share of the teaching and preaching. He is the defacto "Leader" of the church but when seated at the table with the rest of the elders, he may be "First among Equals" but is an equal just the same with an equal voice, equal vote, and mutual accountability. As a Baptist, I believe that Pastors and Elders are synonymous although each may fill differing roles (elders that rule, elders that teach, Etc.) but the qualifications are the same and anyone filling the office of an elder should have adequate theological training and not just someone who is a businessman and a faithful Christian. One of the big pluses of such a model is that the elders will have Senior Pastor's back as well as looking out for the best interest of the congregation. Also, whenever a "Policy" needs to be enacted which may not be popular among some, the Senior pastor can say that "This is coming from the elders" of which he is one. Our church is elder-led but it is also clear who fills the role of the senior pastor.

Thank you for sharing. Hallelujah! Glory be to God!

Most of the NT books that were written to churches were written to the elders, plural. Timothy and Titus were Paul's missionary helpers that he left behind to finish the work of appointing a group of elders to run the church. We have run into all kinds of accountability and serious sin problems with a 1 man at the top model. The elders need to hold any other elders or pastors accountable for their personal walks with the Lord and their teachings and decisions. I attended an elder led church, and it was the safest I have been in. I grew up in the Congregational model, and have spent a lot of my life in the Episcopal (1 man at the top) model. But I far prefer the Presbyterian (elder led) model. The elders should have the authority to override the pastor and to make him step down if he is in sin. However my particular pastor has lived a very transparent life in front of us. But my experience with the Episcopal model hasn't always been that way. In multiple cases, churches split over abusive tactics coming from men who had been taught in cultish groups.

That was great thank you .with 45 years in Christ I'm looking more to be talked with rather than talked to

sir this is dangerous. i serve under a dictatorship (one man with all the power) and it hasnt gone good out of every pastor ive sat under even though im young in the Lord. to say there is one person with the final say is essentially a recipe that says it doesnt matter what the flock or other leaders are saying. who will sit the man down when he is in error?

I personally prefer a church led by a group of no-salary elders. If the church is not growing, we have no one to blame but ourselves. One question: Are the church leaders in the Bible got paid a monthly salary? Or they all had to live on faith as everyone else?

Hello, just came across your video. Seen it in my scroll a few times. Decided to take a listen, looking forward to hear more and grow more in humility and enlighten to understand the church life.

The big weakness in Churches these days is when a church congregation regards their pastor as a “hired employee” rather than a fellow member and an integral part of the church! Pastors therefore come and go and see the smaller congregations as “stepping stones” as they progress in their career to bigger and better things. This is where so many congregations with a single lead pastor becomes a (unbiblical) “deacon led” church because the deacons (who may be reluctant to fill such a role) are the only semblance of stability in a local church. When you have a plurality of elders, this puts the leadership back into the right place and the elders are integral to this leadership and are not going anywhere! I believe there are elders who rule and elders that teach. They have different roles but fill the same office and together, provide oversight of the flock. One of these elders may be the key spokesman or “leader” of the congregation, but among the elders, they are “first among equals” and in an elder meeting, he is one of the elders whose vote and voice is the same as the others sitting around the table. Among those sitting on the elder board who meet the proper qualifications but have secular professions. The elder board shouldn’t be comprised primarily of “paid staff” who, like the senior pastor, are “Professional Christians” who have ecclesiastical “career aspirations!”

Good teaching! Pastor lead and elder lead are both found in Scripture. The main thing is for Christ to always be the head of His church in any type of hierarchy in the church.

At this point, I'd settle for a Christ-led assembly.

Also, referring to Timothy and Titus as pastors/elders of churches, is in my opinion a reach as they are apostles (apostellos) sent as apostolic representatives of Paul' and his apostolic ministry to the churches.

This is a critical topic with many erroneous problems. It starts with the fact that the word "pastor" is not a clear distinct definition in Scripture. Man has made it up and likely by Pastors. The word in Eph 4 is 'pastor-teacher'. It seems many in that role seem to think they live under a chrome dome of untouchableness. But that attitude is also prevalent with Elders. It carries with it huge job description errors by pastors and by the sheep or congregants. If we collectively removed the word PASTOR from our vocabulary and replaced it with SHEPHERD, it would clear up a lot of expectations.

Thank you for this video Dr. York. I know it will help people think about biblical leadership models. I'm a proponent of plural elder leadership in the church. However, I found your statement that failure rates are similar between one pastor vs. plural elder bodies to be very compelling. Investigating the reasons for this would be fascinating. I would hypothesize that in many churches today with plural elder leadership, the lead pastor is still considered "first among equals," and therefore still has too much power. Couple this with the fact that the lay elders frequently have little or no training to serve in that capacity, and you have a formula for failure. Thanks again for the content you put on this channel and blessings to you.

Shepherds/pastors is refering to Old Covenant but with the same goal, to take care for people of God, Ezekiel 34. When apostle Paul is writting to Timothy, he didnt say go there and there and apoint apostles, pastors, prophets, evangelists. He say: elders! Plurality of not only elders but the all Church, because everyone have gifts and talents to build the Body to maturity in and of Jesus Christ. This is missing today big way. Greets from Croatia

A problem with the final say belonging to a single man [the lead pastor], is that if a lead pastor becomes really old [or sick mentally], and starts to not make sense, or be confused in his teaching, the other pastors/board can ask him to retire, but if he holds the power in the final decision, then he can refuse them while thinking he is fine, and it's the others who have the problem, then he can go on to confuse people while thinking he is doing right. For this reason I think the final say should be held by a board/pastors, and not with a single lead pastor.