LEADERSHIP

ELDER-LED, CONGREGATIONALISM

Who leads Christ’s church? The answer is clearly stated in the question, isn’t it? If it is Christ’s church, then Christ is the leader. That’s precisely what the Bible declares when it refers to Jesus as the head of the church (Colossians 1:18). The Bible also declares that Jesus is the shepherd of the church; He is both the good shepherd (John 10) and the chief shepherd (1 Peter 5:4).

But how does Jesus Christ, now ascended to the Father’s right hand, lead His church? Again, the Bible is clear. The ascended Christ has granted gospel ministers as gifts to His church (Ephesians 4:11-13). These gospel ministers, primarily pastors (also called elders or overseers), feed the flock of God among them with the gospel word and lead by their example (1 Peter 5:1-5).

The Bible, though, also shows us that the congregation also has a divinely-given authoritative role in regards to church discipline (the keys of the kingdom - Matthew 18:15-20), doctrine (Galatians 1), and affirming its leaders (Acts 6; 1 Timothy 3). Our approach to church government seeks to be faithful to what God has revealed to us in the Bible. The best way to describe our church government is elder-led and congregationally-governed. In short, High Pointe is led by a plurality of Elders, but the congregation is ultimately responsible, under Christ, to receive and remove its members, to establish its doctrine (from Scripture), and to recognize its leaders.

ELDER-LED

“Elder-Led” means that God has given the Elders charge to lead the church, under the guidance of God’s Word, to carry out the mission Jesus has given the church—namely, to make disciples of all peoples (Matt. 28:18-20). The primary way Elders lead the church is through teaching God’s Word (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:9) and equipping the saints for ministry (Eph. 4:11-12).
The Bible teaches that a church should be led by a plurality of Elders (Acts 20:17; Phil. 1:1; Titus 1:5). Ideally, every church should be led by more than one elder; that is, qualified men of godly character (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9), intentional care for the members of the church (1 Tim. 3:5; 1 Pet. 5:2), a deep conviction in right doctrine and biblical knowledge (Titus 1:9), and demonstrable competence in the handling of God’s Word through teaching (1 Tim. 3:2; 2 Tim. 2:24; Titus 1:9). These four qualities (character, care, conviction, and competence) must be observed over time by the congregation for a man to be qualified to be an Elder. Furthermore, the Bible uses the terms elder, overseer, bishop, and pastor interchangeably (Acts 20:17, 28; 1 Pet. 5:1-2).

Meet our elders

CONGREGATIONALLY-GOVERNED

It is important to note that the Elders do not have the final say in all matters. At High Pointe, we do not hold to an elder-rule model of government. Instead, we believe Scripture teaches that the congregation as a whole has the final say in four key areas: doctrine, membership, discipline, and appointing elders and deacons.

Doctrine

In matters of doctrine, when Paul addresses the church at Galatia regarding the toleration of false teaching, he does not rebuke the elders, but the church as a whole (Gal. 1:6). Therefore, the congregation is ultimately responsible for guarding and protecting the doctrine of the church.

Membership & Discipline

In matters of membership and discipline, the church is ultimately responsible for receiving and removing members. In Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus teaches that it is under the jurisdiction of the church as a whole to discipline those living in ongoing, unrepentant sin. Moreover, he says to the church, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” The phrase refers to the church’s act of receiving and removing members. Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, Paul calls the church to remove a man from its membership when he is living in unrepentant sin, and in 2 Corinthians 2:6, Paul speaks of punishment of a member “by the majority,” indicating the majority of the church had acted to remove the man from membership. Therefore, in light of these biblical examples, it is evident that taking in and removing members falls under the authority of the church as a whole.

Appointing Elders & Deacons

Finally, the church is responsible to appoint its leaders. In Acts 6:1-6, the apostles seem to leave it in the hands of the congregation as a whole to appoint godly men who might serve in a role that likely formed into the office of deacon. Moreover, given the responsibility, the church bears to protect its doctrine, it follows that the entire congregation has the responsibility to appoint its elders, the teachers of doctrine.