Reformed Christian Studies

By Stephen Unthank - Posted at Place for Truth : In God’s wisdom, ministry in a local church is to be led by faithful men, a plurality of godly elders who through the ministry of the word lead every member to partake in and do the work of ministry. It has frequently been noted that the requirements for elders are requirements common to all believers, the only exception really being that they are capable of rightly handling and teaching God’s word. Of course this is because their ability to rightly teach the word is how they will rightly enable and build-up every other member to rightly do the work of ministry. “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” ( Ephesians 4:11-12 ). Being able to rightly teach God’s word presupposes that they themselves have been taught by God’s word; that they are men who are controlled by and in submission to God’s word. In what

By Jeffrey A. Stivason - Posted at Place for Truth : I don’t know about you, but I find it interesting that Hebrews 13 ends with an encouragement to obey and submit to the elders of the congregation. In fact, leaders are mentioned three times from v. 7 to the end of the chapter. Now, we’re not told why it ends this way but one certainly wonders. And as I have wondered about that question the answer dawned on me. In verse 7 the pastor speaks of past leaders and in v. 17 he speaks of present leaders. But a cursory reading of these eleven verses reveals no apparent rhyme or reason. Let me put it another way. Taken as individual sayings what the pastor says makes sense. In fact, even the words and expressions tie us back into the letter itself. But when we try to understand the basic theme between verses 7 through 17 it is difficult to say the least. In fact, it seems almost dizzying! Let’s think about it for a minute. Verse 7, as we said, begins with an encouragement to rem

By Tim Bertolet - Posted at Place for Truth : For the proper functioning of the church, God has established the offices of elder and deacon. Elders have the function of overseeing the church, proclaiming the Word, and shepherding the flock. While all elders must be able to teach ( 1 Tim. 3:2 ), it seems that in 1 Tim. 5:17 the early church designated elders for the labor of teaching and preaching. It seems wise then to distinguish between ruling elders and teaching elders, the latter typically devoting more education and time to preaching and teaching. What does a ruling elder do in the life of the church? Why are they important? First, ruling elders are just as important for the overseeing of the flock as the teaching elder. Ruling elders are not like a board of directors in a Fortune 500 company. Rather, they are to be shepherds of God’s flock. God has entrusted the congregation to their care. There are not different levels of spiritual authority between teaching and rulin