1. An Evident Gift

Ultimately God determines who should be set apart to serve as an elder (pastor/overseer) by way of calling and ministry gifting. In Ephesians 4:11, Paul mentions pastors in his list of some of the leadership gifts that Christ has given the church. So these offices have been established by Jesus. They are the work and appointment of Jesus, not men (I Cor. 12:11).

This is one of the reasons we don’t vote on our leaders at Christ’s Church. Instead, we function on the basis of spiritual gifts, not elected offices. In other words, whatever we have been gifted by God to do determines our ministry role within the body. So we keep our eyes peeled for those who have been given pastoral gifts. Most often, they tend to become evident to all because they are already actively serving and shepherding without the title.

2. A Humble Heart

Second, we look for someone with a humble heart like Jesus (Phil. 2:5-8). Leadership in the New Testament is a function, not a title or a position. According to Jesus, true leadership, whether it be elders in the church, or daddy’s in the home, is to take the lead in serving (Matt. 20:25-28; I Peter 5:1-3).

Authentic leaders lead by example, they lead by serving. Their authority is derived from the amount of responsibility they are taking to serve others, not from their title or position. In fact, the purpose of all true authority in the kingdom is to build people up (II Cor. 13:10). So the acid test of spiritual authority and leadership is how many people we are serving and building up in Christ.

I’ll never forget the time I heard Joe Focht, pastor of Calvary Chapel in Philadelphia, make the statement, “If anybody comes up and tells me that God is calling them to be an elder, my initial response is to ask if he would be willing to spend the next year serving on their janitorial team, cleaning the restrooms. If he balks because cleaning the restrooms is too menial a job, he’s not ready to be an elder.” He was being a little facetious, but you get the point. A man may be highly capable, but if he’s not humble, he’s not elder material.

3. A Shared Vision

This is an intensely practical point. The prophet Amos asks, “Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction?” Great question. In order to walk together in unity, it’s important for all the elders to be moving in the same direction (I Cor. 1:10).

That doesn’t mean that there will never be any differences of opinion. In fact, one of the things I treasure most about our eldership is the freedom we have to express disagreement while we’re prayerfully working toward consensus. By shared vision, I’m talking about being in agreement with the congregation’s overall philosophy of ministry, or with the basic distinctives that make each congregation unique.

As I shared yesterday, all three of these areas line up in Jason’s life and ministry within our fellowship. After months of prayerful reflection, all the elders believe that God has gifted and called him to serve as a fellow elder here at Christ’s Church. But we think it’s important for that to be confirmed in our body through prayer. If questions should arise as you pray, please feel free to contact Jason or any of the elders. If at the end of January, there has been no biblical reservations raised, we’ll celebrate Jason’s ordination to the eldership some time in February.