10 Reasons Not All Pastors Should Be Elders

It is not a question of the meaning of the biblical terms, but of the role to be played.  

Certainly all pastoral staff should meet the spiritual maturity requirements of elders, and so should everyone in our congregations as they grow in Christ.  Simply meeting the basic requirements doesn’t qualify one for eldership, nor does it mean that such individuals who do meet them should or must serve in that capacity.  In fact, many do meet the basic requirements yet do not serve in that role.  (See my earlier blog entry, “Spiritual Maturity Is Not Just For Elders.”)

This is more a practical matter of church governance or organizational structure and leadership.  The senior/lead pastor should serve on the elder board, but other paid staff should not.  I have been in leadership in churches that have practiced this and in some that have not. 

Here is my short list of ten reasons why it is not a good idea for all pastors to serve as elders:

1. It can subvert the authority of the senior/lead pastor, who serves on the board of elders and carries out their broad directions and policies, inhibiting him from effectively leading the pastoral team he is responsible to lead.
2. It puts the paid staff pastors in an awkward position of being both above and under the authority of their senior leader.  In such a situation, they have to wear two hats (elder, staff pastor), but this rarely works well for very long.  Many take great advantage of this organizational ambiguity.
3. The pastoral staff might see themselves as accountable primarily to the board, not to the senior/lead pastor, and only in general terms.  So there ends up being minimal accountability for ministry results using any kind of meaningful measurements.
4. Simply the number of paid staff on the elder board can become overbearing, and then it minimizes the leadership and marginalizes the influence of the “lay” elders.
5. Because of the heavy pastoral influence on the elder board, fewer people feel qualified to serve alongside them in this role.  These pastors themselves often end up promoting a higher than necessary standard to serve as an elder.
6. Each staff pastor can end up carrying out one’s own vision and individual preferences in philosophy, rather than being committed and aligned within an overall church vision and approach to ministry.
7. It is not uncommon to have staff creep, a gradual almost imperceptible increase in the number of paid staff “needed” to run the ministries of the church as well as their remuneration.
8. The elder board meetings will almost invariably end up serving as an extension of staff meetings, rather than being focused on the primary duties of setting overall direction and policies, and praying for the church.
9. In reality the church ends up paying for staff pastors to sit on the elder board.  They spend many hours each month on elder items, when they could and should be spending their time on task in their assigned ministry roles.
10. Relationships among normally godly leaders tend to deteriorate over time because of the frustration generated by such a deficient church structure.


Not all ten situations will always be present when staff pastors serve as elders.  Still, the list reveals many negatives which are often overlooked, left unexamined or undiscussed, even dismissed out-of-hand as “unbiblical,” “authoritarian,” “too corporate” or by the use of some other pejorative term.   

On the positive side of things, it would be advantageous to notice that these gifted and godly pastors could be freed up from board responsibilities to give more of themselves to their ministry passions and callings.  In releasing them from the elder group, the elders themselves would be freed up to pursue their own work and not be drawn into ministry mechanics and micromanagement.  

Also it would free up the senior/lead pastor to fulfill his duties to the elders in overall church leadership, and to the other pastors as their team leader and encourager.  Finally, the church will benefit from a healthier, happier and more unified and productive team of leaders!

A Doxology For Life

Have you ever listened to the hopes people hold on to?



Maybe it is the hopes of your colleagues at work, or those shopping at the store, or those working out at your gym.  Sometimes you might share a conversation with them.  Other times you can’t help overhearing their conversation and so you listen discreetly.

The Hopes of Our Lives

Probably the main category of hope is things for this present life.  Often we as Christians have a lot of hopes in common since we live in the same world and community.  But, certainly, our focus as a Christian is God’s glory in our life above all, and seeing the Gospel of Christ transform our hopes, and through us those of the world.


Conversations get more interesting when talking about people’s hopes after death.  Many believe that we live in a time of hopelessness and despair at the uncertain future, especially after death.  So people often choose to have happy thoughts about their afterlife, some keeping their ideas general, others giving them a lot of definition.

It is amazing that so many people seem so happy about something to which they never give any definition, and typically do not want to talk about.  They take a strange comfort in not knowing much and just assuming life after death will be good and good for them.  Much of this avoidance comes from uncertainty of being able to know for certain, and perhaps moreso from a fear of knowing for certain.

But, many others have very definite ideas, and yet the basis for these ideas is only their imaginations.  They will pull together pleasant ideas from a variety of sources as it suits them, whether from spiritual sources, drama series on cable, or movies.  But, mostly their ideas are original.

I have listened to a number of people describe heaven as a Disney-like place of happiness, peace, simplicity and magic.  I have to admit I sometimes get so intrigued by the stories I keep asking questions just to hear how far this fantasy world extends.  When I insert an alternative idea, they quickly back away, or incorporate it, and let me enjoy my fantasy too.  How sweet!


However, our hope is a hope that is alive and valid, not vacuous and uninspiring, nor a wish-like hope of those without hope really. 

The Doxology of Christians

We have a specific and real hope worthy of excitement.  It is the opening doxology of the Apostle Peter’s letter.

1 Peter 1:3–5 ESV “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

This “Doxology for Life” gives us six blessings for which we can praise God.


1. For God Himself as the Blessed and Self- Revealing One in Jesus Christ.
2. For His great mercy toward us who are most unworthy.
3. For His giving us new birth, new life, and a new hope.
4. For His promise and preservation of an indescribable inheritance for us.
5. For His power in keeping it and us, and doing it through faith.
6. For the coming end of the world, which is none other than a new beginning.

More of the Details

God Himself:  God the Father of Our Lord Jesus christ has become our Father, in that He has fathered us, that is brought us to life spiritually.  He has given us new birth, new life, that is a spiritual regeneration.  

Mercy:  This was a desperate need of ours, being in a situation more dire than often realized, especially by those considered “good” by human standards.  We really were naturally dead in our sin, unable to please God, and destined for eternal judgement. 

New Birth:  This rebirth from Father by Spirit, was achieved by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This was the acceptable offering as the Son of God become Man on our behalf.  This was the merciful plan of God on behalf of His chosen ones.  

Preservation:  As Jesus Christ lives now, so our hope lives now; and so we will live forever because of Him.  Our true hope, our inheritance cannot be lost; it is untouchable and out of danger in heaven.  “Imperishable” means that it won’t disappear, die, or decay.  “Undefiled” means that it is free from impurities as a perfect gift, and that evil cannot steal it away.  “Unfading” means that it is free from the ravages of time and holds permanent beauty.

Power:  Not only is our inheritance being kept for us, we ourselves are being kept for it.  We are being watched over by God’s own power that He used to raise Christ from the dead.  God has designed it so that His power is going to be shown through the instrumentality or means of the persevering faith of His people. 


End and Beginning:  The fullness of our salvation has been ready ever since the the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We are are only waiting for God’s timing, for His predetermined date of the revelation of it all at the Return of Christ.  We will be receiving a new land and a new wealth in the Kingdom of God when Jesus Returns. Don’t over spiritualize the inheritance—yes it is spiritual, but it is also material.  There will be plenty of activities and all sorts of expressions of it in New Heavens and New Earth.  In other words think of it truly as the word implies:  it is an inheritance!

This paragraph of praise in 1 Peter is one you can use all the time to praise God.  And it can be the source of your conversation about hope with those who are desperately desiring a real hope.

Fourteen Distinguishing Signs

How can we tell whether a person truly knows and loves God, even whether we do?  

Jonathan Edwards listed fourteen signs that can be counted on as certain evidence of this love, distinguishing signs of truly gracious religious affections.  His wise counsel from his observations of human emotions during times of revival still guides us regarding such matters.

Edwards was the most prominent pastor and theologian of America’s First Great Awakening during the mid-eighteenth century.  Below is his list of fourteen signs that are conclusive in determining one way or the other whether a person has come to a true experience of God’s love in Jesus Christ.

1. Affections that are truly spiritual and gracious, arise from those influences and operations on the heart, which are spiritual, supernatural, and divine.
2. The first objective ground of gracious affections, is the transcendently excellent and amiable nature of divine things, as they are in themselves; and not any conceived relation they bear to self, or self-interest.
3. Those affections that are truly holy, are primarily founded on the moral excellency of divine things.  Or, a love to divine things for the beauty and sweetness of their moral excellency, is the spring of all holy affections.
4. Gracious affections arise from the mind being enlightened rightly and spiritually to apprehend divine things.
5. Truly gracious affections are attended with a conviction of the reality and certainty of divine things.
6. Gracious affections are attended with evangelical humiliation.
7. Another thing, wherein gracious affections are distinguished from others, is, that they are attended with a change of nature.
8. Truly gracious affections differ from those that are false and delusive, in that they naturally beget and promote such a spirit of love, meekness, quietness, forgiveness, and mercy, as appeared in Christ.
9. Gracious affections soften the heart, and are attended with a Christian tenderness of spirit.
10. Another thing wherein those affections that are truly gracious and holy, differ from those that are false, is beautiful symmetry and proportion.
11. Another great and very distinguishing difference is, that the higher gracious affections are raised, the more is a spiritual appetite and longing of soul after spiritual attainments increased:  on the contrary, false affections rest satisfied in themselves.
12. Gracious and holy affections have their exercise and fruit in Christian practice.
13. Christian practice or holy life, is a manifestation and sign of the sincerity of a professing Christian, to the eye of his neighbors and brethren.
14. Christian practice is a distinguishing and sure evidence of grace to persons’ own consciences.

See also Twelve Uncertain Signs.

Twelve Uncertain Signs

How can we tell whether a person truly knows and loves God, even whether we do?  

Jonathan Edwards listed twelve signs that we often take as certain evidence of this love, but in reality are no sure signs of truly gracious religious affections.  His wise counsel from his observations of human emotions during times of revival still guides us regarding such matters.

Edwards was the most prominent pastor and theologian of America’s First Great Awakening during the mid-eighteenth century.  Below is his list of twelve signs that are inconclusive in determining one way or the other whether a person has come to a true experience of God’s love in Jesus Christ.

1. It is no sign, one way or other, that religious affections are very great, or raised very high.
2. It is no sign that affections have the nature of true religion, or that they have not, that they have great effects on the body.
3. It is no sign that affections are truly gracious, or that they are not, that they cause those who have them, to be fluent, fervent, and abundant in talking of religious things.
4. It is no sign that affections are gracious, or that they are otherwise, that persons did not excite them by their own endeavors.
5. It is no sign that religious affections are truly holy and spiritual, or that they are not, that they come to the mind in a remarkable manner with texts of Scripture.
6. It is no evidence that religious affections are saving, or that they are otherwise, that there is an appearance of love in them.
7. Persons having religious affections of many kinds, accompanying one another, is not sufficient to determine whether they have any gracious affections or no.
8. Nothing can certainly be determined concerning the nature of the affections, that comforts and joys seem to follow in a certain order.
9. It is no certain sign that affections have in them the nature of true religion, or that they have not, that they dispose persons to spend much time in religion, and to be zealously engaged in the external duties of worship.
10. Nothing can be certainly known of the nature of religious affections, that they much dispose persons with their mouths to praise and glorify God.
11. It is no sign that affections are right, or that they are wrong, that they make persons exceeding confident.
12. Nothing can be certainly concluded concerning the nature of religious affections, that the relations persons give of them, are very affecting.

See also Fourteen Distinguishing Signs.