Let's Go Back to the Bible

Elders Aren’t Perfect—Did You Know That?

Is there a tougher job on earth than being an elder in the Lord’s church?  I will save you some time—the answer is “No!”  Think about it.  Most of the time they are paid zero dollars.  Yet, they are responsible for the most valuable thing on this earth—the local congregation of the Lord’s church and the souls of each of the members.  They are answerable to God for shepherding human sheep, many of whom don’t want to be shepherded.  (Human sheep are more stubborn than actual sheep.)  Elders are responsible for making decisions in a local congregation that are most often in the area of subjective judgment.  (Objective truth about all things—including salvation, worship, leadership, marriage, morality, etc.—has already been determined.  That’s in the Bible.)  Elders are responsible for areas of expediency regarding the application of God’s truth—such as when to worship, the order of worship, keeping track of members, identifying tasks in the church for members, encouraging wayward members, selecting volunteers, screening teachers, choosing mission works to support, hiring/firing preachers, overseeing funds and financial decisions, handling pandemics, etc., etc., etc.  In many (or most) of these areas, there is no definite right or wrong.  These are areas of judgment and elders do their very best to make the best judgments.

Did I mention that there is no tougher job on earth?  And, guess what?  These men are not perfect.  They do their best to be compassionate, understanding, vigilant, diligent, sensible and impartial, but sometimes they will do something or say something that you may not think is the right thing to do or say.  Is it possible that they know something about a situation that you do not?  Is it possible that they are basing some actions on wisdom from past experiences?  Is it possible that they see some potential consequences that you do not?  Of course, they could just be wrong in their assessment and their plotted course, but does that necessarily have to be the case when their choice is different from your choice?  I’m not making excuses for elderships that make genuine mistakes, but remember, they are finite humans trying to oversee and shepherd a spiritual, eternal entity.  True, they are not perfect.  But neither are we.

As members of the Lord’s church, let us do our part to make the job of the elders easier, rather than harder; more rewarding, rather than more challenging.  Let us “esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake” (1 Thess. 5:13), “obey…and be submissive” to them, and let them “watch out for our souls…with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for” us (Heb. 13:17).  (As of the time of this article, I am not aware of any issues or disgruntlement toward our elders, which makes this the perfect time to write.)